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Facebook: Torment, Time-waster or Spiritual Practice?
A little over 10 years ago, none of us had even heard of Facebook, let alone imagined how it would come to impact our daily lives. My first introduction to Facebook was through my daughter Savannah who began her freshman year at CCA in Oakland, California in the Fall of 2005. I remember how excited she was about this “cool site for university students to connect”. I have no idea who told her about it or invited her to join but to say Facebook has caught on like wildfire is underselling its impact like saying Hurricane Katrina...
read moreStillness Speaks
When the unexpected, the fearful or the utterly ordinary happens, the Stillness within will comfort, encourage and enfold you in peace. This is what Stillness says whether you are listening or not……….why don’t you pause and listen for awhile? Let each word and sentence caress your heart and remind you, you are loved. I need do nothing. All is being done on my behalf for our greatest awareness of joy. There is nothing I need for all my needs are met in their first infancy of awareness. Everything is conspiring with me...
read moreThe “Artistic” Kid
April is Autism Awareness Month so I decided to share this brief story. Many years ago when my daughter was in early middle school she and a friend helped babysit children who came to a party we were hosting for our directors. The parents were on the property but since we have a pool and I wanted the parents to relax I hired Madison and her friend Kristin to look after the few children who were going to be there. They were to play games, watch movies and keep everyone away from the pool. Unbeknownst to us one of our directors at the time...
read moreRx: Stillness
There are times when the only thing you can do is be utterly still. Not so much as you are all calm and meditative but as in there is literally nowhere else to turn, nothing else to do or think, i.e. fear has you at a complete standstill. When the unexpected happens (and it will) and someone in your circle attempts suicide, or receives a diagnosis, or you get your tax bill and think perhaps the government is planning to pay off its debt with only your contribution. When the baby’s birthdate is no more due to miscarriage or the chronic...
read moreLove: Fool’s Errand or Lion Tamer?
Two years ago today I began my adventure of a Twelvemonth of Self Love by extending love to my epic fears (one fear a month for twelve months) and blogging daily about my experience. I purposely began blogging on April Fool’s Day as I wasn’t yet totally sure that I wasn’t sending myself on a fool’s errand to see if Love really was enough to meet fear head on. It feels dramatic to say it changed my life but what it did was totally change my own experience of my life. By this I mean, life unfolded; events (both...
read moreThe Golden Elixir of Now
I often wonder how to integrate into my living the vastness of eternity and God-is-Love with the concept of NOW, this minute here right in front of me. More importantly, how do I feel the vastness without immediately slipping into feeling overwhelmed? My Holy Friend is who I turn to in all things, especially the ones that make you want to shout “WTF???!!!” at the top of your lungs. Me: So how do I claim the vastness without experiencing overwhelm? How do I feel All-That-Is without screaming “TOO MUCH!!!”? HS: Precious...
read moreHow Can Joy & Grief Live Side By Side?
As I began to take in the miracle of integration happening during the intensity of last year I sought daily guidance for living what felt completely and utterly impossible; daily wedding joys and deadlines coexisting with moment by moment prayer requests and updates from the bedside of my cousin’s son in (what we would learn were to be) his final days. This was intense joy intertwined with deep grief. I could only go within (about every five minutes) and ask for comfort, guidance, relief and peace in the intense NOW that was unfolding....
read moreA Course of Love
Late last year, smack dab in the middle of the wedding hubbub I came across a breathtaking spiritual text I couldn’t get enough of. It was as if I had found a new translation of the Bible, I had never dared believe existed. This text, these words, this book straight from the heart of Jesus into my own (bedraggled, exhausted, hurried) heart was indeed the salvation I had asked for. Because I was so desperate for any and all help to stretch time, bring eternity into our midst and because I was grateful to sit (even if only for a...
read moreThe Clarity Clause
“I just don’t know what to do….” she said softly. I could picture the fat tears slowly making their way down her cheek. “Grrrr, no news yet. Waiting is SO HARD.” “WTF?!! What are we going to do NOW?” I know several friends going through that path oft travelled where you catch yourself saying “I don’t know” a hundred times an hour. That time of fog and stand-stillness when you do not know which way to turn. It is as hard to watch another feel the betwixt and between as it is...
read moreFear Not Your Path
I have noticed it is relatively easy for me to feel overwhelmed. It might be because I have too much on my plate or in my day. Sometimes it is because I find myself embarrassed or feeling oafish at an untoward thought or retort. Finally, I am beginning to see this feeling of overwhelm as more of an alarm clock I set myself to wake me to unloving tendencies or fears rather than the onslaught or annihilation I used to think of it as. The Holy Spirit reminds me again (and again and again…..) that fear is just a reminder to open my eyes....
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