Earth intention

What comes up for me when I ask what my intention is has nothing to do with far-distant time but is that my actions today might be in harmony with what brings about a healthier, better loved planet so that no more trees have to suffer, no more species go extinct, rivers can run clear, villages are safe, children have clean air to breathe, and people feel a real living connection with the earth. The result might come soon or not-so-soon, but I want my actions today to be in alignment with that ideal of alleviated suffering and restored harmony.

And one day, life :)

I'm feeling a kind of rolling blessing inside today, a big beautiful cloud of quiet joy that is edged with a lining of contentment. It's funny to me that these words and all the emotions connected to them bubble up so clearly now, because I awoke with that "I'm behind!" feeling, aware that almost all the projects I'm involved in at the moment (eight of them at once! Unthinkable) range from a little behind schedule to a lot behind schedule.

That's not like me, as I have known "me" in the past. Deadlines have been non-negotiable lines in the sand. You just make them. It doesn't matter whether you have to work all night, or skip meals, or forget to take the dogs out (sorry, dogs). You just have to make those deadlines. That keeps food on the table and the roof over your family's head and besides, you gave your word. Your agreement to those deadlines is your bond.

Except grace comes and hangs around, haunting you. And one day, it moves into your space. And life curls its breezy little finger at you and you have to go see what party it's inviting you to. Years ago I didn't have room for this type of grace in my work. I did have a place for it in my life--usually with my kids--but that playful, life-arising energy had to sit outside in the hall when I was working. I was too busy for exploring. I had deadlines to meet.

And deadlines are still important to me today, but the beckoning finger that life used to draw me hesitantly out into the sunshine before has become a living force within me. It moves me now and causes me to throw my arms open and breathe in, deeply, and damn the deadlines (for the moment). It offers me choices and directs me when it can, and somehow it has become a stronger energy than the tight, clamped down, gotta-do-it energy I used in the past to keep a tight grasp on my projects.

I can't explain it except to say that life has moved in, somehow, and animated the moments, bringing joy and warmth and energy to everything--my teaching, my speaking, even my technical writing. For that matter, I can write a check today and feel attuned to spirit moving. It's a beautiful, wonderful thing--an almost inexpressible richness of being. A swelling, swirling, beautiful cloud of life arising right now, and right now, and right now.

Of course I have to deal with my deadlines, and of course I need to finish my projects, and I will. But it's so infinitely much better to feel connected to the spirit of creation--with all its love and joy and color and possibility--while I do.

I am grateful. :)

Creating the day

I've been thinking a lot lately about the images we create in our heads--or perhaps, I should say *I* create in my head, although I think it's a pretty universal tendency--and then react against them. For example, this morning I woke up with anxiety running around inside me. The images popping into my brain almost right away had to do with deadlines, and expectations, and responsibilities. How would I get it all done? I'd better leap right out of bed and get busy!

But I noticed that anxiety was driving the start of my day, and I decided I wanted to reset things and start over. So I prayed to release that "image of lack" that was making me want to spring into action during a time when I normally pray and meditate and do yoga. I wondered what positive gift would fill that hole left by the now-erased "image of lack," and a sense of creation popped in there.

Okay, I create my day. I've heard that a thousand times. Maybe today I can get closer to understanding that and seeing the effects. So as I started my morning, I decided to choose as a kind of mantra/affirmation that I have what I need ("no lack") to create my day. So my inner mantra was a kind of Q&A session:

Do I have the courage I need to create my day? Yes.
Do I have the knowledge I need to create my day? Yes.
Do I have the desire I need to create my day? Yes.
Do I have the support I need to create my day? Yes.

These questions help me fill that former "image of lack" with the very real tools I have for creating my day, affirming that the power flows through me to create a day in harmony with God's principles of love, peace, honesty, goodness, and abundance. I am hopeful for the day ahead, and look forward to that moment when I turn off the light, feeling "this was a good day." I will let you know! :)

The beauty of bread labor

A friend and I went to our State Fair yesterday and had a wonderful, dusty, hot afternoon visiting cows and lambs, pigs and horses. We saw the old farm equipment and stopped to talk to a blacksmith. We ran into a few friends and laughed and chatted like people who have nothing better to do on a Wednesday afternoon. On the way home, we talked about honest work. Simple, meaningful tasks you do with your hands to create a life. So much of what we do now is head work, intellectual figuring, technology wrangling, web wrestling. It's not tangible labor that makes us sweat and gives us something solid to see for our efforts. This summer I've been spending a lot of time doing things that have more connection to "reality"--baking bread, making my own yogurt, learning how to can jams and vegetables. It feels so good! There is something immediate and contactful about it. And I feel that *all of me* is involved in the effort--not just my head, and not just my skills. It feels like a whole experience.
I just ran across this page where Ghandi is talking about the sacredness of "bread labor," and after this wonderfull--and wonder-full--summer, I think I know what he means.

Rolling the Stone Away

I hope wherever you are in the world and whatever tradition you claim as your own, you had a beautiful day filled with life and love yesterday. I attended my Quaker meeting in the morning and our pastor (my meeting is semi-programmed) spoke about the immediacy of the presence of God in our midst...how the resurrection is really about Life not in the past but Now. A wonderful message.

I left envisioning that moment in the story when Mary goes to the tomb and the rock has been rolled away. The one she's looking for is no longer there. I was thinking, "what have I entombed in my life that isn't there anymore?" Perhaps saving love for a special someone. Maybe holding back from telling the whole story. Maybe keeping a rein on my own creativity. Perhaps clinging to old stories that no longer fit.

What have you entombed in your life as "that's the way it is" or "welcome to my life"? Perhaps if you really look, you'll see the rock has been rolled away and all that energy is free now, out in the world blessing others, flying to the points on the globe where it can do the most good.

Epiphanies

In honor of the 58th anniversary of Thomas Merton's epiphany (shown below), the Merton Institute of Contemplative Living invited people to share their own epiphany moments. The result is a set of PDF files with more than 100 entries. The stories are uplifting and hopeful--if you have a moment, check it out.

In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race ... there is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.

I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all of the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed...

Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, 1996

Daily blossom of mindfulness

Hi everyone, I hope you're having a good March! I created the PDF available at the following link after reading a beautiful online interview with Thich Nhat Hahn. I thought it would be wonderful to print the reflection and put it where I will read it each morning as I'm preparing for my day. What more do we need? A grateful and graceful life full of compassionate action. Beautiful. :)

Download Mindfulness Makes Life Beautiful and Meaningful

Thinking of friends in Santiago...

Promises for you...

He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

...and...

For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

-- Psalm 91:4 and 91:11-12

Spiritual direction(s)

It is interesting how life continues to shape us (as we shape life) and bring happy new possibilities and opportunities for growth. Not long ago a friend who is also a family therapist recommended a dear client to me for spiritual direction, and that sweet event planted a seed that is blossoming into a spiritual direction practice. This is a natural outgrowth of my time in seminary (with an MDiv in pastoral care and counseling), my years as an on-call chaplain for two Indianapolis hospitals, and the observing and living and writing I do here on this blog (as well as on my Narrative blog and Scribd publications).

• Here is my practice statement
  
• Here is my privacy policy

Fascinating, growing, wonderful things...blossoming in love. What is your heart whispering to you today? Take a minute to listen quietly...I'll bet whatever it is, it points you in the direction of Joy. :)

I *heart* Albert Einstein

Whether you interpret this quote through a Christian, Buddhist, Taoist, naturalist, environmentalist, genealogical, historical, or quantum physics lens, it whispers come out and play...

“A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” --Albert Einstein

Manifesting what we hope for

I've been thinking a lot lately (really, always) about our ability to create. A number of years ago, I heard someone say, "If you want to see what your own thought looks like, look around." This was a profound statement for me. Look at my relationships; look at my house; look at my work; look at my dreams. What did my thoughts look like? What was currently manifesting in my life? If it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for in my heart, did I have some blocks to break through in that area?

That idea has stayed with me all these years and I can look around today and see and know that I do in fact have great shaping power on my own life. I'm not saying there are no other influences, but perhaps the volume on those other influences can be turned down (or off) depending on how well I am able to lovingly manage and direct my creative thought. I can see how my own beliefs about certain things have created barriers (that could and can be dissolved) to some aspects of wholeness I am still opening to.

I've watched movies like The Secret and What the Bleep Do We Know? and I love the creative power they represent and the ideas they hold out to us--that perhaps the ability to create loving, harmonious, beautiful lives is truly within us. My own developing thoughts and beliefs need to put all that creative potential in the context of divine relationship--I want what I create in my life to be the expression of God; creations in line with truth, beauty, goodness, wholeness, kindness, and peace.

To get a clearer picture of both my intention to create and the result (I often skate right on by the result and move to the next thing, which keeps me feeling like I never reach any destination), I created this simple form yesterday to help me identify (1) the idea I want to manifest; (2) whether the environment is supportive for that idea right now or not; and (3) what actions I need to take to make it happen. Seems simple, right?

The big aha for me was in realizing that creating something doesn't just involve an idea and effort--it also needs a supportive environment, which I haven't always had for the things I wanted to create. I'd have the idea and dive right into the effort, working and working and working at something, without noticing that the right supports weren't present to support the idea's growth. Maybe others weren't cooperating. Perhaps I didn't really have the time. It could have been any number of things. But I recognize that my own pattern is to throw myself head-long into projects and then work really hard--maybe even harder--if the environment doesn't have the support I need to reach the goal.

Well, no more. This form helps me assess the supportiveness of the environment, as well as crystalize the idea, plan my action, and then name and celebrate the result. Let's see what happens! Here's the form in case you want to try something similar, too. If you use the form and find that it's helpful (or not, really), post a comment or write to me and let me know--I'd love to hear about your experience, too.

Happy Friday!

I am grateful to the earth

From "This Is Where We Live," by Pablo Neruda, in The Poetry of Pablo Neruda:

I am grateful to the earth
for having waited
for me
when sky and sea came together
like two lips touching;
for that's no small thing, no?--
to have lived
through one solitude to arrive at another,
to feel oneself many things and recover wholeness.

Responding to a crisis

The pastor of my Quaker meeting sent me a postcard after I first visited the church, ten years ago now. It says

I Am a Quaker.
In Case of Emergency
Please Be Quiet.

That postcard is still hanging right here in my line of sight, just over my monitor. It hangs there in large part because it says something true about who I am and how I approach things. When life speeds up too much, when crises come, when friends struggle, my first instinct is to slow down, to pray, to listen carefully, to tune into my heart.

Here's what we know about crisis:

• Crisis throws your normal way of doing things up in the air.
• Crisis can bring panic.
  
• Crisis interrupts what you know about your life or yourself and makes you scramble to figure out what to do next.
  
• You feel out of control in a crisis.
  
• It's hard to see clearly in a crisis.
  
• Emotions are very loud in a crisis, and problem-solving (which comes more from the rational parts of our brains) has trouble being heard.
  
• Crisis often involves others as well as you, so you are dealing with the chaotic feelings and fears of many people--not just your own.
  
• Our sense of "shoulds" can get stirred up in a crisis ("I should be handling this better," or "I shouldn't cry," or "My dad would have known what to do about this--but I don't.")

So what constitutes a crisis? Often we think of a crisis as something horrible--a car wreck, a divorce, a lost job, a bankruptcy, an illness. Yes, crisis can be triggered by all of those things, but you can also get thrown into crisis in the middle of good or growth-inducing things as well:

• you get married
  
• you find that job you've been looking for
  
• you have a baby
  
• you start training for a new position
  
• you buy a great new house
  
• you take a major step toward a new dream

In short, any time you step boldly--or get thrown--into the unknown, you can feel lost, uncertain, and unsure of what to do next. You are out of your comfort zone, and that can potentially trigger a crisis response.

Some situations resolve all on their own--you get used to the new job, you fall in love with your baby, your dream gains momentum and you feel more confident about it. In those situations, some simple techniques can help us support ourselves while crisis situations are working themselves out:

• take three deep breaths and exhale completely;
• say a favorite prayer or mantra;
• focus your eyes intentionally on one beautiful thing and really feel it;
• use an old EMDR trick to look straight ahead and then move your eyes first as far left as you can and then far right. Doing this a few times gets each side of your brain talking to the other, which increases oxygen and helps you feel more able to problem solve;
• recount the facts of the situation to yourself or others. This anchors the situation to what's really happening and turns down the volume on the fears, anxieties, and "what ifs";
• begin naming everything you can think of to be grateful for. I know this one sounds difficult, especially if there's a lot of upset in the situation, but I'm convinced that there is always something to be grateful for--even if it's only that you don't have to face the circumstance alone (which is a major blessing).

When the crisis situation is too big or threatening--or you simply need or want some extra support--reach out to people around you. Your pastor or spiritual leader knows how to be with you in crisis; your doctor can recommend a counselor; various agencies can offer a collection of resources. Spiritual direction also helps us explore where we draw the resources to meet the crises in our lives. There is always another view--God's view--and being open to that view, even in the midst of a chaotic and scary time, can bring peace, and calm, and healing.

Many blessings--beauty, joy, peace, and light--right where you are today!

That peaceful easy feeling

This morning something strange happened. It was before dawn. The candle was burning. I slowly--mindfully--moved through the yoga-t'ai chi routine I've done for years. Somewhere around the warrior pose, I felt a sense of profound quiet--inside and out. I continued the slow movements, in time with that felt sense. Completing the yoga, I settled on the floor as usual for a few moments of meditation. I sat, said a prayer of blessing, and heard myself think, "I'm listening, God."

And then...nothing.

Quiet. Peace. Silence. Stillness.

Breath.

No fluttering thoughts. No straining muscles or awareness of my breath. No internal to-do list took shape. No thoughts about deadlines, or expectations, or plans.

Quiet. Peace. Silence. Stillness.

I raised my hands to my face slowly, and felt the contact of my fingers on my cheeks. I smiled in the darkness. No, I wasn't having a stroke. I was just non-anxious.

My cycling mind was at rest. My body was at rest. My spirit was listening.

Strange, wonderful, beautiful, nourishing.

I hope to do it again tomorrow. :)

Enjoy your day!

Everything present

I've been thinking a lot about our own personal influence in the way our days unfold. How much do we actually co-create, and how much (if anything) happens outside our control? I'm fascinated with the circumstances, situations, emotions, and interactions that seem to arise unbidden in our days. Where do they come from? Where do they go? What is being expressed? How am I contributing?

Yesterday it occurred to me that perhaps all emotions are present in any given situation, much light all light waves are present and all audio waves are present. I've heard it said that sound waves are all around us all the time, but we need to be tuned to them--or have the right receiver--before we will be able to hear them. I've heard something similar about colors and light--all colors are present in all light, but we have to have the right objects and the right amount of light in order to see the colors clearly.

What if all our emotions are already present in our surroundings, like light and sound? If emotions are simply energies, with a personal twist, or coming through a personal receiver, it isn't such a farout thought to imagine that we might be expressing certain emotions for somebody else or simply as a mouthpiece for our environment. Have you ever felt "mad" for someone else? Have you caught someone else's tiredness? Do you feel your spirit lift when you hear someone else laugh? Perhaps our emotions are not our "own" but part of the expression of life that is happening within us and around us in any given moment.

Pray to God and row to shore

This quote appeared in a newsletter I received this morning, and it occurred to me that I understood it differently than I did the last time I heard it, which was years ago. The question of our agency--how much do I do, and how much does God do?--has always been a struggle for me. As an independent, self-employed writer, I tend to conceptualize, plan, and produce something on my own. I work well that way, when it comes to books and articles and web content. But for the larger, life-impacting things, for organic life-blossoming possibilities, for love and healing and grace and unfolding, the lines of agency seem much fuzzier to me.

When I first heard "Pray to God and row to shore" years ago, it meant to me that the action was really all up to me. God wanted things to turn out well for me, of course, and was there for me to talk to (and listen to) when I needed the support and encouragement. But when push came to shove, it all depended on my choices and actions. So I continued to live that way, trying real hard, working real hard, taking everything pretty seriously with all the earnestness a stoic work ethic requires.

But today I heard this phrase differently. I'm glad to say there must be a lot more grace within and around me. It's certainly present in my thinking. Today "Pray to God and row to shore" means simply that my actions need to blossom naturally from my beliefs. They need to be in alignment with the beliefs so the beliefs can manifest in my life. When I believe God is good, that God is caring for me, that God is at work in my situation, I can act with gentleness, confidence, peace, patience. When I say I believe God is good, caring for me, and at work in my situation and then feel burdened and overwhelmed and work myself half to death trying to solve something, my actions are not in line with my beliefs. It's not all up to me. That's the opposite of my inner beliefs.

That's worth at least one hallelujah. Thank God for growth in grace and understanding! May your own discoveries today help you relax into these Loving Arms that uphold us all.

Kinship with all life

“Look at the animals roaming the forest: God’s spirit dwells within them. Look at the birds flying across the sky: God’s spirit dwells within them. Look at the tiny insects crawling in the grass: God’s spirit dwells within them. Look at the fish in the river and the sea: God’s spirit dwells within them. There is no creature on earth in whom God is absent. ..When God pronounced that his creation was good, it was not only that his hand had fashioned every creature; it was that his breath had brought every creature to life. Look too at the great trees of the forest; look at the wild flowers and the grass in the fields; look even at your crops. God’s spirit is present within all plants as well. The presence of God in all living things is what makes them beautiful; and if we look with God’s eyes, nothing on earth is ugly.”

Beautiful! From Pelagius, in Listening for the Heartbeat of God: A Celtic Spirituality, by J. Philip Newell

What redemption looks like

This morning Ruby (age 3), Henry (10 months), and I were playing ball in the music room. We sat on the rug and rolled the ball to each other in different ways, laughing and having fun. Suddenly Ruby looked at me with a startled look on her face. Her eyes were sad.

"I am so so sorry," she said. "This morning I hit mama. Mama said it is not okay to hit."

I nodded and smiled. "I can hear that you're really sorry," I said. "And mama is right--hitting isn't good." I asked her whether she wanted to call mama and say sorry, and at first she said yes. But then, just as suddenly, the cloud of contrition was gone and she wanted to play roll-the-ball some more.

I've had those moments of self-realization when a regret for a word, an action, an intention washes over me like a wave. Being able to confess it and put it in context--out loud with another person or silently, in my heart, with God--is one of the instant, saving graces I'm so grateful for. Whether we go to confession, pray, or simply share our feelings with a friend, something lightens, a little light shines in, and we are released from that which had us bound just moments before. Nice.

Being named

Hello! I hope you're enjoying the changing seasons wherever in the world you find yourself. Just a little while ago I ran across this simple but profound verse:

Watching gardeners label their plants

I vow with all beings

to practce the old horticulture

and let the plants identify me.

Loving the Earth

Happy 83rd birthday, Thich Nhat Hahn! A favorite quote:

Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Bring the Earth your love and happiness.
The Earth will be safe
when we feel safe in ourselves.

Thich Nhat Hanh
Source: Kiss The Earth
Found here: http://www.gaia.com/quotes/Thich_Nhat_Hanh