Chronic unhappiness

"7 Habits of Chronically Unhappy People" by Tamara Star. When I saw this headline on Huffington Post this morning I just had to click it! (to read the article click here.)  Tamara goes into more detail on the site but here are the 7 habits she describes:

1) Your default belief is that life is hard.
2) You believe most people can't be trusted.
3)  You focus on what's wrong with the world vs. what's right.
4)  You compare yourself to others and harbor jealousy.
5)  You strive to control your life.
6)  You consider your future with worry and fear.
7)  You fill your conversation with gossip and complaints.

Know anyone who fits all 7?  how about 5?  3?  how about yourself?  I see several that I know quite intimately. And even if none of these apply to you, being around someone who lives these mantras can be draining and exhausting.

One of the things I've learned working as a hospice chaplain is that even though someone may have spent a large portion of their life viewing the world through several pairs of these skewed glasses, by the time they receive a hospice referral and we have had an opportunity to talk about their impending death, most of these beliefs have been allowed to fade into the background, seen to be not as important to keep holding onto, or even viewed with some humor. When faced with death, many begin to see more clearly or at least get a new prescription for their glasses.  Let's not wait until then to change our unhappiness habits.

unhappy sunflower taken from wallpaper4me.com

uses of sorrow

“The uses we make of sorrow

are the measure of our spiritual growth.” 

- Diana Lampen

being present to the life we have

 

 

“We travel so far only to land where we are.

We imagine other lives, only to meet who we are.

We seek out love in special ways, only to find everyone is special.

Humbly, we can’t avoid this journey.

It is precisely through it that, if blessed,

we wake to the life we want by being present to the life we have...”

 

- Mark Nepo

The Book of Awakening

 

taken from an ad for Mark Nepo’s LIVE workshop slated for June 2013 in Colorado

bless our journeys

This past weekend while attending a retreat

at St. Andrew’s House on the Hood Canal

I walked over to Harmony Hill and spent some time

within this exquisite seashell labyrinth.

And this morning I came across

this prayer from the Iona Community

which fits perfectly:

 

“Lord, bless the journeys we never planned to take,

but through your surprising wisdom

discovered we were on.”

-Peter Millar, "A Time to Mend"

 

 

Which of us could have predicted where our

journeys have taken us?

Sitting on bench in middle of labyrinth,

looking forward to the journey back.

 

plaque at entrance to shell labyrinth

“In memory of all those who have

walked this path"- The Ferrari Family

First Candle

 

Welcome to the Season of Advent...

We are 3 days in and I'm not quite feeling it yet...how about you? 

Maybe because waiting has become such an integral part of my life?

I'm finding that all I have energy for at this moment is in

lighting the first candle which represents hope

and just sitting in its presence. 

That is prayer in itself. 

Jesus is coming.

 

Listen to the opening of Sunday's Prayers of the People,

written by Christine Hemp:

 

"We have lit the first candle, Lord.

Green has turned into purple,

and we begin our walk toward Christmas.

Startle us into seeing the journey afresh this year.

Open our eyes to the sun and the moon and the stars

and what Jesus really meant when he told us to pay attention.

Help us to see you face-to-face and restore what is lacking in our faith,

in our vision of who you are and how you reveal yourself to us.

Give us eyes to see and ears to hear."

 

from Prayers of the People for the First Sunday of Advent

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Port Townsend, WA

Author:  Christine Hemp

 

what to do with sorrow

“The uses we make of sorrow

are the measure of our spiritual growth.”

- Diana Lampen

Image by h.koppdelaney

“The Harvest: Cultivating the Spirit”

found here

+

I’m so taken by this image.  What do you see?

spiritual opportunity

 

“...spiritual opportunity knocks in relationship,

not in isolation;

...people are not obstacles to the spirit,

but paths to it.”

- Rabbi Dennis S. Ross

Art is by Anne C. Brink.

“face to face”

1 Cor. 13:12

visit her website to see more of her glorious art.

revision as spiritual practice

“If a teacher told me to revise,

I thought that meant my writing was a broken-down car

that needed to go to the repair shop. I felt insulted.

I didn't realize the teacher was saying,

'Make it shine. It's worth it.'

Now I see revision as a beautiful word of hope.

It's a new vision of something.

It means you don't have to be perfect the first time.

What a relief!” – Naomi Shihab Nye, writer

Today’s quote is from Wisdom Commons – a wonderful source.

What drew me to this photo (which is by Chris Goldberg on flickr)

is that it is of a classic car on the side of the road in Cuba.

This is a '58 Buick worth repairing –

and a good reminder that the creative process is worth the work that it elicits from us. 

For a first/second/third draft of a poem, story, or sermon is a jewel that is just waiting to be mined.

Revision is a great spiritual practice!

practice

 

“You may wish to change your life,

you may be in therapy or religion,

but your new vision remains merely talk

until it enters the practice of your day.”

-John O’Donohue, Anam Cara

photo of beachfront in Kona,

where I pondered new visions

and the changes needed

for them to come to fruition

the point of practice

"The point of spiritual practice is to develop a mind so open

that it can experience great pleasure and great pain

with spaciousness, compassion, awareness, and energy."

- Sharon Salzberg

the koan

"The koan* is like a pebble in the mouth of a man

who walks in the desert.

It does not quench existing thirst,

but it stimulates the means of quenching it.

-C. Humphreys, Buddhism

*koan - n. A puzzling, often paradoxical statement,story, or parable,

used in Zen Buddhism as an aid to meditation and

as a means of gaining spiritual awakening.

I know the photo distracts from the beauty of the quote - but really,

how often do you see a man walking with a cheetah in the desert?

That's a koan worth pondering!

Taking a stroll: A Nomadic tribesman walks side by side

in the company of a cheetah that he has helped to tame.

More cool photos of the man with the cheetah from here

Prayer for My Enemies

The following prayer is from the end of the sermon I preached yesterday. 

The prayer is based on Matthew 5:43-45 in which Jesus expands 

"love your neighbor" into "love your enemies"

and oh yes, pray for them too! 

"Thank you for enemies Lord, for they drive me back to you in prayer.

Thank you God for your sun that rises on everyone.

May it bring warmth and comfort to my enemies today.

Bless them Lord.  Heal the hurts in their lives just as you heal mine.

Give me the grace to show your love to them today.

Thank you God for this rain that you have sent to quench your earth.

May it quench the thirst of my enemies today.

Bless them Lord.  And as you have forgiven me,

May your Spirit give me the grace I need to forgive my enemies today.

Thank you for these tangible reminders that your grace is bestowed on all.

And when the pain of hurt and hatred begin to overwhelm me,

and I consider seeking solace in resentment and revenge,

may your Holy Spirit direct me to the only place I can receive true comfort

and healing - in your loving embrace.  Amen"

Roberta Hiday, Spiritual Director

Sequim, Washington

stop, sit, & listen

"The greatest spiritual act

we can take is to stop and sit down."

— Anne Lamott

Haiku - The Sacred Art

Yesterday I had the joy of joining my friend Margaret McGee at Seattle University's 3rd Annual "Search for Meaning Book Festival." Margaret provided a workshop on her book, "Haiku, A Spiritual Practice in Three Lines," and I spoke briefly on the use of Haiku in Spiritual Direction.  There's something about spending the night in the big city where people are actually eating dinner after 9pm that does a rural woman's soul some good.

There were 2 keynote speakers: Anne Lamott, author of fiction and non-fiction was excellent and funny, and Tariq Ramadan, professor of Islamic studies at Oxford, was intriguing to say the least.  It's also great to run into people you haven't seen in a few years, and to end the day engaged in great conversation with a dear friend during the 2 hour drive home.  Did I mention that this Book Festival is FREE.  Yep...So mark your calendars for next February. 

So I leave you with a couple of quotes from Margaret's book and several Haikus:  "A haiku expresses the heart of a moment in a few brief lines.  Using images and senses, a haiku brings feeling to life... A haiku is a form of instant communion.  A haiku involves an exchange of sensory experience: taste and touch, bread and wine.  In haiku, the experince is shared in a few brief words, offering both the feeling of the moment and the insight that we are not alone." (p.9 Haiku-the sacred art by Margaret McGee)  And here is one of my favorites: "Haiku is a way to let God know we are paying attention."

shown a flower

a small baby

opens its mouth

         -Seifu-ni (1731-1814

a bitter morning:

sparrows sitting together

without any necks

         -James W. Hackett

persistence & perseverance

"The Ba'al Shem Tov spoke to his disciples about such persistence this way: 'A man of piety complained to the besht,* saying,  'I have labored hard and long in the service of the Lord, yet I have received no improvement.
I am still an ordinary and ignorant person.'
And the besht answered,  'Ah yes, but you have gained the realization that you are ordinary and ignorant, and this in itself is a worthy accomplishment, is it not?'

Persistence and perseverance in hard times may not guarantee that we will receive what we set out to do. But what we ourselves can become inside ourselves, in spirit and soul, in the process will be more than worth the effort."

from Becoming Fully Human by Joan Chittister
*besht - acronym for Ba'al Shem Tov

Crossing the Threshold of 2010

"Many times today I will cross over a threshold.

I hope I will catch a few of those times.

I need to remember that my life is, in fact,

a continuous series of thresholds:

from one moment to the next,

from one thought to the next,

from one action to the next.

Help me appreciate how awesome this is.

How many are the chances to be really alive . . .

to be aware of the enormous dimension

we live within.

On the threshold the entire past

and the endless future

rush to meet one another.

They take hold of each other and laugh.

They are so happy to discover themselves

in the awareness of a human creature.

On the threshold the present breaks all boundaries.

It is a convergence,

a fellowship with all time and space.

We find You there.

And we are found by You there.

Help me cross into the present moment -

into wonder, into Your grace:

that "now-place," where we all are,

unfolding as Your life moment by moment.

Let me live on the threshold as threshold."

written by Gunilla Norris from Being Home p. 14-15

And so tonight we shall cross over the threshold of 2010 into 2011.

May we gather up all that we have experienced of God's love & light this year

and bring it with us into this new year, to give away to everyone we meet.

Ode to Soup

"As the days grow short,

some faces grow long.
But not mine.
Every Autumn,
when the wind turns cold
and darkness comes early,
I am suddenly happy.
It's time to start making soup again."
- Leslie Newman

"Soup puts the heart at ease,
calms down the violence of hunger,

eliminates the tension of the day,

and awakens and refines the appetite."

-Auguste Escoffier

Alone with God

"Grant me the ability to be alone.

May it be my custom to go

outdoors each day

among the trees and grasses,

among all growing things

and there may I be alone,

and enter into prayer

to talk with the one

that I belong to."

Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav

photo of this sweet strolling child

was taken from here

she looks so pensive...

Jesus as Mystic

"Jesus was a mystic in the sense that he lived in conscious awareness of the transcendent reality of God. Everything we admire about the life of Jesus – his compassion, wise teaching, mighty acts, and sacrifice – were funded by the private disciplines of his inner life – how he learned to be tuned into the presence and power of God’s song.  He demonstrated that the transforming power of God’s kingdom is accessed through receptivity, mindful surrender, study, simplicity, silence, and solitude. Through the example of his life, we are invited to follow a path of a mystic."

'Soul Graffitti: Making a Life in the Way of Jesus' by Mark Scandrette

do you connect with any of these images of Christ?

be fully alive

June 28th, Feast of St. Irenaeus

Bishop of Lyons, c. 202

"The glory of God is a human being fully alive;

and to be alive consists in beholding God."

— Saint Irenaeus