A Simple Meditation

Due to the pandemic the last two and a half years have been very challenging because of the isolation and the heightened concern over our loved ones – those we serve – or ourselves, contracting the COVID-19 virus. This situation, in addition to the divisive social and political atmosphere in our country, as well as the ongoing emergence of global conflicts, has created a great deal of personal stress and disconnection between ourselves and others.

I would like to offer this simple meditation based on maitri , a Sanskrit word that is translated as unconditional friendliness, as a means to bring more peace and connection back into our lives. The steps are very straightforward and the mediation will take only 10 to 15 minutes out of your day. The heart of the practice lies in generating positive wishes for all beings. I encourage you to make a commitment to do the meditation for 14 days in a row and then determine for yourself if you are experiencing any positive benefits.

Take your meditation posture, either sitting on the floor or in a chair. Sit upright and sense where your body makes contact with the floor or the chair. Relax your face, shoulders, and arms, and let your hands rest on your thighs. If at any time during the meditation you realize you have been distracted, gently return to the exercise without being hard on yourself.

You can let your gaze rest on a spot a few feet in front of you, or you may close your eyes. Bring your attention to your natural breathing, feeling the flow of your breath. Do this for a few moments to settle the mind. Let’s begin the maitri meditation.

Envision a person you truly cherish sitting in front of you. Looking at your loved one, send them the following wishes; May you be Safe, May you be Happy, May you be Healthy, May you live with ease. Think about what these wishes may mean for this person.

Bring your awareness back to your breath. Now bring the image of a neutral person to mind; a person that you do not have strong feelings for one way or another. While looking at this individual, send them the same four wishes; May you be Safe, May you be Happy, May you be Healthy, May you live with Ease. What might these wishes mean for this neutral person?

Bring your awareness back to your breath. Call to mind a person that you are having a difficult time with. They are making your life harder. While looking into this person’s face, send the four wishes; May you be Safe, May you be Happy, May you be Healthy, May you live with Ease. What might these wishes mean for this person that is difficult?

Back to your breath. Now envision yourself; your body, your face, your eyes. Send yourself these same wishes; May I be Safe, May I be Happy, May I be Healthy, May I live with Ease. What do these wishes mean to you?

Bring your awareness back to your breath. Bring together the person you love, the neutral person, the difficult person, and yourself. Picture all of you sitting together. Add to this vision every being in your neighborhood, in your town, in your state. Now picture all the beings in your country, all the beings on the continent, all beings on every continent, all beings on earth. All beings everywhere. Radiate love and compassion from your heart out to all these beings. Send the wishes; May we all be Safe, May we all be Happy, May we all be Healthy, May we all live with Ease. May we all be Safe, May we all be Happy, May we all be Healthy, May we all live with Ease.

Bring your awareness back to your breathing. Feel the flow of your breath. Gently and fully open your eyes.

May this practice help you cultivate loving-kindness, warmth, and compassion towards all beings, including yourself.

Namaste, Peace

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Welcome 2025!

By Gerry Beagles • January 21, 2025

Looking forward to the new year at Garden Center.

Physical Plant Updates & Giving Tuesday

By Gerry Beagles • November 8, 2024

It’s hard to believe that soon it will be mid-November and we’ll all be making plans for our Thanksgiving celebrations. With all the tension and conflict that are present in many parts of our world, it is still very true that we have much to be grateful for. I have been emphasizing to our staff recently that my gratitude for our agency just continues to grow as I experience Garden Center Services as being a haven of safety, support, and kindheartedness for the individuals we serve and for our employees. I have frequently spoken about our services and programs and how proud I am regarding the quality of our supports and the high marks we get from the state surveys. An additional massive area of responsibility that we deal with is the upkeep, maintenance, and repair of the agency’s many properties and vehicles! We currently have 10 group homes, the 15 bed ICF, the State Road community day services program, the thrift shop/administrative offices on Kedzie Avenue, and 25 vehicles at last count! Now, knowing the wear and tear on your homes and cars, can you the imagine the impact over time on our holdings! Overseeing this huge task are the two fine gentlemen you see pictured here; Mr. Bryan Kochanny, Director of Maintenance and Transportation and Alan Maciel, Maintenance Specialist. Yes, you heard me right, TWO!! I am amazed at what these guys are able to take care of. Under the direction of Mr. Ralph Storino, Director of Fiscal Management, Bryan and Alan repair many things on their own and also manage the subcontractors that are brought in to work on more complex concerns or new installations. Just in the last six weeks or so here are some of the projects we’ve tackled; painted multiple bathrooms at the Moody CILA, completely redesigned two bathrooms at the ICF to be totally accessible, painted one of the BMA Manor apartments, laid the extensive in-ground piping needed for the new generator that will power the ICF in case of a natural disaster, and mechanical work on multiple vehicles. Please realize these are the projects dealt with in addition to all the daily crisis that come up. The other fact that I can share with you is that there is very little state funding provided to cover the extraordinary expense of these physical plant needs. We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to keep our properties safe and looking nice, and it is our fund development efforts that help make this possible, which is a great opportunity to talk about Giving Tuesday! This year, Giving Tuesday will be on Dec. 3rd. This is a day identified nationally when individuals and businesses are asked to consider making charitable donations to non-profits as a way of kicking off the Christmas Season of caring. Here at Garden Center Services we would certainly appreciate it if you would choose our agency as one of the organizations you donate to. Thank you, and on behalf of myself, Cindy, and the Board of Directors, May you all have safe, healthy, and joy filled holidays. Gerry

Fulfilling Our Mission

By Gerry Beagles • June 21, 2024

Inside this month’s Leaflet you will find an article speaking about the accrediting body, the Council on Quality and Leadership (CQL). We decided to seek out this accreditation to ensure that the focus of our programs and supports at Garden Center Services will always be on each individual that we serve, and will be driven by what each person wants as we give the utmost respect to the inherent rights and personal choices that every individual has. We believe that we have a really strong and positive culture at our agency, but we can always do better, and I am very pleased and proud that we have taken this step and are now accredited by CQL. This formal status is recognized widely as an agency’s commitment to offer the best practiced programs and services to this population and will be helpful as we go forward applying for grants and financial assistance from charitable foundations and major gift donors. I also wanted to gratefully announce that the Illinois’ legislature has once again demonstrated their understanding and support of disability services in our state by voting in a $1.00 an hour increase for our Direct Support Professionals in the coming fiscal year budget. Even though Governor Pritzker’s original projected budget contained no increase for services like ours, the intense work and advocacy of our professional associations, our families and supporters, our staff themselves, convinced the House and Senate of the importance of providing a decent living wage for those employees that provide compassionate assistance to persons receiving services. In terms of fulfilling our mission statement here at Garden Center, I am also pleased to share that all the final items have been addressed regarding our Permanent Supportive Housing project that will be located in the town of Worth will begin construction this August! This beautiful apartment building will provide a home for 16 individuals with disabilities that can live independently in the community with minimal support. I am very grateful for the support that we have had from so many for this project, and really appreciate how this enhances Garden Center’s view as an agency fully committed to all persons with disabilities. Finally, I want to express so much gratitude for everyone that found ways to support our recent fundraiser, the Sunny Smash softball tournament. Or, as some of us have been saying, the Soggy Smash tournament, due to the rain that visited us on the day of the event. I’m pleased that even with the drizzle and rain we were able to get some games in, had numerous raffle prize won, enjoyed delicious food provided by Calabria Imports and Cravings Ice Cream Shop, and people were able to stick around and enjoy each other’s company. Even with the inclement weather we overshot our financial goal and raised over $45,000 for the agency programs. I want to specifically give a well deserved shout out to Anne McFerron and Shannon Voves, the two staff that put a lot of time and energy into planning and running the event! Please be safe out there and continue to enjoy what I hope will soon be a cicada free summer. Peace, Gerry