CHILDREN LEARN- What They Live :

If a child lives with criticism, she learns to condemn
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight
If a child lives with ridicule, she learns to be shy
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty
If a child lives with tolerance, she learns to be patient
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence
If a child lives with praise, she learns to appreciate
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice
If a child lives with security, she learns to have faith
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, she learns to find love in the world.
© Love Unlimited – Arcata, California
From our heart to yours Science of Mind Center/Ukraine Cherkasy

YOUNG ADULTS:

Young people are the future, and the present, for right here and now they need our support, encouragement, guidance and love in order to develop within themselves the sense of meaning and purpose which will guide them through the challenges of transitions into adulthood.

For the past 5 years we have had a ‘young adult club’ in Cherkasy designed for ages 16 - 22 and we met weekly to discuss life issues, explore challenges they are facing and to get to know themselves more deeply. All is done in the context that within them, as within all people, is a creative power, which they can learn to use to create more joy, harmony, success and love in their lives. Learning to balance the desire for freedom with responsibility, dreams with intentional living, trust with trustworthiness are just some of the areas we explore.

Our young adults are also involved in leadership of our organization, serving on projects and on our leadership team which visions, plans and works on implementation of programs and leading development of new video products.

Many of our young people now serve as interpreters and translators for classes / homework / seminars at the conference. We believe that consciously empowering young adults to know and believe in themselves is a vital step to which we add the vehicle for developing their skills and talents in our organization.We love to get together for 'movie nights' and dinners to catch up - we feel such depth of love and connection.

This Spring we will be hosting a new 'young adult club' for students who participate in the current Laws of Life contest. Plans for the future include working together to set up a summer camp program for next year, with our young adults being leaders in the planning, development and staffing at the camp. This new program is designed to provide leadership training for youth as well as to create a peer-based, learning environment. Camp will be values based and each year we plan to use the camp to teach young people how to create something of relevent value,We are grateful for the support of Santa Rosa Sister City program and a donation of equipment from North Face, an outdoor gear company in California.

CONTEST:

Each year we sponsor the ‘Laws of Life’ Essay contest for high school students, inviting young people to contemplate the life principles they value and the application and benefits in their lives. Essays are written, collected and then read by 5 people who asses them for clarity of value, creative self-expression, grammar and presentation. Reading these works show the depth of awareness that lives within our young people. We have a celebration to announce the 3 winners and the 4 honorable mentions and at this party, all who participated in the contest receive a certificate and recognition for their willingness to explore the laws that they value.

As we go around the room listening to them share about their experience in this contest, is not uncommon to hear that:
No one has ever asked me to think about this before or I didn’t realize how important my family is to me or Discovering how this works in my life will help me in many ways.

This contest is an excellent way to introduce young people to the role that values have in our lives and makes the invitation to live more purposely in accord with constructive laws of life. For more information about how you could start a Laws of Life essay contest in your community, go to the Templeton Foundation website for complete details of this program they started which is now worldwide.

This year our young adult group created a 60 page youth journal 'Rhythms of Life' using the Laws of Life essays as the basis, teaching youth skills of teamwork, writing, editing, computer graphics, photography and marketing planning. The finished product is beautiful and we use it in the promotion of our current Laws of Life essay contest.