What do you find yourself noticing, paying attention to? Do you tend to notice what’s going on outside of you or inside of you? Where do your thoughts, your body, the actions of others, your feelings fall on the list of what grabs your attention? Do you tend to gravitate toward the difficult or uncomplicated, …
Learning to Notice – how to be with ourselves and the world Read More »
Recently, I’ve had an unusual (as in not in the last 20 years) amount of space open up in my life. I don’t know what to do with it. Right now, I’m staring at it like a found object wondering, “what is this?” But I’ve noticed some other tendencies as well. I’d like to fill …
…Draw alongside the silence of stone Until it’s calmness can claim you. Be excessively gentle with yourself… (excerpt from John O’Donohue’s blessing For the One Who is Exhausted) The lockdown that started in the spring of 2020 brought a variety of effects, responses, voids, and awakenings. Whenever I find myself reflecting with friends about an event …
At the beginning of any season there is a huge expectation of movement in a new direction, or continued movement in the current direction or maybe even, stillness. The common idea of seasonal adjustments is that sense that there is change, there is something unexpected ahead. The start of a new year or a new …
One of the great gifts of Life, is that we get to fall in love over and over. It’s like the parable we often refer to as “The Prodigal Son.” We may wander far from home, but we get to return again. Not only that, we get to experience returning home again. We get to …
I was sitting in my favorite chair today not thinking about anything in particular when I noticed that a patch of sunlight was in the wrong place! In the mornings over the summer the sun reaches beyond the tiles and onto the carpet. Today, it barely warmed the tiles. Ah, a change in the light. …
My grandma died a couple of years ago, she was 100 ½ years old and died peacefully at her own kitchen table. She sat down with a teapot full of tea and passed away before it was empty. When her things were being packed up I was asked if there was anything I wanted as …
On the feast of the Annunciation, I began to think about Mary. We know the story, we revere her for being the Mother of our Lord. But when Gabriel brought her the message and the request, she said, “Yes, I’ll do it.” What was she saying yes to? I’m reminded of unwed mothers all over …
I invite you to be present to Psalm 23 in an imaginative way. Before beginning, take in a few deep breaths to quiet and center yourself. I invite you to read the psalm a first time and just to take it in. Psalm 23 The Lord is my Shepherd. I will have everything I …
One of my favorite people in the world is someone I never met. Well, in person that is. I did meet with him on a daily basis as a child on our family’s black and white television. He welcomed me into his neighborhood and home, introduced me to his friends and neighbors, and told me, every day, that I was special and worthy of love.
