A few months ago, I was invited to give my first public talk since I stopped pastoring. There are so many things about public speaking, which make me nervous. It is not that I cannot speak publicly, it was that for the longest time I took others response to my sermons or talks as an evaluation of my message. It was as if I was giving others the power to tell me when I was doing a good job and when I was not. I struggled with my response to others applause and comments, or lack thereof. I was intentionally working on moving to the place where my self-evaluation was unrelated to the evaluation of others, albeit positive or negative. There were times people would clap wildly, jump to their feet, yell out “you betta say that Pastor” or some other expression. I struggled with how much value I placed on their reaction.
Read moreSimple Joy
This past Tuesday my spiritual granddaughter passed away on her 43rd birthday after a long struggle with kidney disease. It was a day of mixed feelings and emotions. There was the expected feeling of loss, grieving, numbness, sadness accompanied by feelings of regret, compassion, and a whole host of feelings. Then there was joy; joy that she was no longer suffering. Joy that she got to celebrate her birthday with her mother, who had transitioned a few years earlier. Joy I had been able to know her and joy I could grieve her passing.
As I moved through my feelings, I began to realize that joy is a simple state. When I am practicing joy, I am happy, light, and at peace. The grieving and the sadness were complicated.
Read moreMore than Doughnuts
There are so many ways to practice creating joy in our lives. This weekend I was watching a CNN report of a group of Muslims who brought 1000 doughnuts to a Donald Trump rally. In the midst of people saying derogatory things to them, they came from a space of love and kept offering doughnuts, passing out over 300 to people who had seconds before shouted hateful words about them. A doughnut became the vehicle, which might have a longer lasting effect, then one may realize.
Read moreFlash of Joy
The other day I was having a conversation with someone about flashmobs and the first one that came to my mind was the one we do each year at SUNY Brockport, where I teach part time, in March as part of the One Billion Rising movement. While I was searching online for examples of flashmobs to share with my friend, I came across this one, which captured my heart and reminded me to fill my moment with joy.
It has been a while since I have listened to the final of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125. I had forgotten how it fills my heart and soul with joy just to listen to it.
Read moreUse Your Spiritual Imagination
So often, when we think about our imagination and using it, we think about creating something like some of artwork or creative writing. We think of works of art that we see in museums, galleries, or hear at poetry readings, writing exchanges, or even at comedy nights at local clubs. We tend to think of things that occur with some sort of external presence we have experienced or witnessed. However, as I have been thinking about imagination one last time this month, I began to think about how we can use our imagination as a way of experiencing compassion for others in all aspects of our life or even gaining a deeper understanding of any sacred texts, which are a part of one’s faith tradition.
What if we imagined the Divine in everyone and every situation that we met?
Read moreA Never Ending Story
I thought it would be fun to build on one of the Sharing Time exercises where I asked people to look at a picture of clouds and tell me what they saw. The other day I posted the image from above on my personal FB page and several of my friends used their creativity and imagination and helped write a story that began with Once upon a time. Here is the result of our collective imagination.
Once upon at time,
Read moreAssumptions and Imagination
Earlier today I woke up singing The Temptations song, It’s just my imagination and at first it reminded me of all the times I had been told to not be so imaginative. There are times that having an imagination can be positive and help us develop a deeper relationship with the Divine. There are also times our imagination can be harmful. One of these ways is when we use it to answer questions we don’t know the answer to. Rather than ask questions and seeking clarification, we imagine the answers. We begin to imagine what people are doing or saying. We imagine what they are thinking. Sometimes we even imagine what they are wearing, where they are sitting, and before we realize it we have created this whole story to answer a question we do not know the answer to.
Read moreHands
Hands have always fascinated me. When I was younger, my grandmother used to let me play with her hands. Her skin, as I remember it was wrinkly, soft, and baggy. Baggy might seem like a strange word to describe skin, but it was. She would play this game with me. She would pinch my skin and it would go right back into place. Then she would let me pinch her skin and it would form little peaks and valleys. Her skin became like clay that I got to play with and create landscapes. Her skin had also become more translucent, you could see the veins, and they become streams of water flowing into the peaks and valleys I was creating in her hands. Her hands would fascinate me for hours as I sat and moved skin around creating ever-changing images.
Read moreIs the universe a friendly place or not?
The universe has a sense of humor. Recently I had read that Albert Einstein, when asked to identify the most important question in life, said, "Is the universe a friendly place or not?" Shortly, after reading the question on which I was going to reflect, my computer began dinging, the equivalent of you’ve got mail. It is the beginning of the semester where I teach part time and as with every semester, students are stressed because something has not come in yet. This normally means that either their financial aid has not come in or the books they ordered online have not come in yet.
Read moreLessons from the Desert Dweller
One of my favorite places to go for nourishment and inspiration is the Spiritual Literacy library on YouTube. This week I was pulled in by a one-minute story about the hospitality of a person known as nothing more than the Desert Dweller. According to the story, this person has lived in the desert most, if not all, of his life. At the end of each day, the Desert Dweller leaves a lit lantern by the side of the road and a now worn out note in a plastic sheet protector letting people know how to find his cottage should they be in need. This story comes from a book by Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart.
For me this story is about the attitude we have about our willingness to open our hearts and homes to others. It is not about whether or not people accept our invitation. Rather, it is about our willingness to extend the invitation in the first place.
Read moreHospitality and Hostility
It is interesting how hospitality and hostility sound so much alike but are practiced so differently. Other than the first three letters, these practices have nothing in common. Hospitality is about building bridges and welcoming all of humanity. Hostility is about building divides that separate us from one another. Hospitality thrives on peace and healing and hostility thrives on conflicts and confusion. Practicing hospitality helps us to increase our tolerance of those whose lives are different from ours. Practicing hostility helps us to become more distrustful and suspicious of others.
Read moreThe tie that binds
One of the things I so appreciate about our love and inspiration group is that I always leave with some sort of inspiration. This weekend we spoke about being mindful about what makes us feel welcomed. What is it that hosts do that makes us feel welcomed? What do we do to make our guests feel welcomed?
A while back I heard a story about a pastor who would stand outside her church and greet the migrant workers as they came in from the fields. She spoke to them in Spanish and they responded. And soon a bridge was forged. This rural community embraced the migrant farm workers and welcomed them. They offered them radical hospitality and in doing do they discovered that it is the recognition of our common humanity which binds us together
Read moreThe Tightrope Walker
I have been struggling this month to find the words to write about hope. Each week I would hope for the words or inspiration about hope to come, but then I would fail and I had to be okay with that. It was when I found this video about the tightrope walker that I began to understand that this past month for me has been like the process of being a tightrope walker. Every time I sit down to blog, it is about climbing up to the tightrope. The climb up can seem secure, at least in contrast to being on the tightrope, but even in the climb, one can fall. Acknowledging that one can fall and climbing anyway is part of the practice of hope. You acknowledge what can happen and you move forward in faith on the hope that it won’t.
Read moreThis Little Light of Mine
My friend Kelleigh says “Hope is something you don’t know you have until you don’t have it.” It seems that this is when we look at those who have hope and it is like a lighthouse, it seems to provide a path to safety. This is what Kert Nerburn writes about in his book Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace. He said,
We are not saints, we are not heroes. Our lives are lived in the quiet corners of the ordinary. We build tiny hearth fires, sometimes barely strong enough to give off warmth. But to the person lost in the darkness, our tiny flame may be the road to safety, the path to salvation. It is not given us to know who is lost in the darkness that surrounds us or even if our light is seen. We can only know that against even the smallest of lights, darkness cannot stand. A sailor lost at sea can be guided home by a single candle. A person lost in a wood can be led to safety by a flickering flame. It is not an issue of quality or intensity or purity. It is simply an issue of the presence of light.
Read moreI Can See Clearly Now!
Someone asked me what I do when I feel like giving up. I do a few things. I pray, I light candles to remind me to focus on the light at the end of the tunnel and I listen to some rock music. Rock music, in its own way always inspires me and reminds me the best is yet to come. Amongst my favorites are Jonny Nash’s song “I Can See Clearly Nos, Sly and the Family Stone’s “You Can Make It If You Try, Bob Dylan’s, “I Shall Be Released”, and Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” They all have a common theme. No matter what is going on in my life, the best is yet to come. As the song says all of the bad feelings will wash away and I will see clearly now because the rain has come.
Read moreHope Begets Hope
One thing begets another. Fear begets fear. Love begets love. Hate begets hate. Hope begets hope. Sometimes we get so caught up in the process of begetting fear that we forget we have the power to beget hope. Then something will happen and we will be able to find our way back to being hopeful and being able to give hope to others. This is the lesson behind a story I read in a book by R. Wayne Willis called Hope Notes.
"There's an old Egyptian story about a little boy named Miobi who came to a village where the people were very strange
Read moreThe Gratitude of A Warrior
A few weeks ago, at our Living the Five Agreements group we were talking about gratitude from a Toltec Perspective. We read a paragraph from Sheri Rosenthal’s book The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Toltec Wisdom. One of the points she made was that from a Toltec perspective Warriors do not see experiences as good or bad, but instead as learning experiences. Her writing reminded me of a piece of wisdom my Bubby shared with me that I was to seek the blessing in all situations and circumstances. There is a lesson in every moment of life she would tell me. See the lesson. Who knew that my Bubby, who had never heard of Toltec wisdom, knew that this is what she was teaching me.
Read moreMaking the Unconscious Conscious
I am not quite sure who said the last thing to discover water would be a fish is, but whoever it was, thank you. Sometimes we are like the fish, it is not until you take us out of our fish bowl that we become conscious of all the blessings in our life. Thich Nhat Hanh in his book Peace Is Every Breath, tells the story about how he remembered to be grateful for the water when the plumbing broke down. Sometimes I forget to give thanks for the electricity, until we have a power outage. I forget to give thanks for my dishwasher until it stops working. I had forgotten what a gift it is to go to the bathroom until I woke up one morning and was unable to urinate. How many things happen in our daily lives that we forget to give thanks for or do not even think of as blessings until we are suddenly and unexpectedly deprived of them
Read moreGive it to the King
Every faith tradition has a teaching about how gratitude balances out greed. One of my favorites can be found in Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche’s book The Way of the Buddha. In it he writes, "At the time of Buddha Sakyamuni, a monk found himself in possession of a marvelous jewel that granted any wish — all the gold, silver, and precious stones you could ask for. The lucky owner thought: 'I am a monk and have no need of all these riches. Better to give this jewel to a poor person. But there are so many of them, why favor one over another? Buddha is omniscient. He will tell me whom to give it to.' So, going to Buddha, he explained his difficulty and asked him to designate a fitting recipient. Buddha Sakyamuni recommended that he give it to the king of that area, a very wealthy and powerful monarch. The monk made the offering, and the king accepted it, inquiring about the reason for the gift. The monk explained, 'I thought I should give this gem to a poor person, but not knowing whom to choose, I asked Buddha Sakyamuni. He advised me to bring it to you.' "
Read moreGratitude is __________
On November 1st, our Love and inspiration gathering had a powerful discussion about gratitude. We talked about how gratitude, when practiced, has the potential to be the tapestry of our lives. Everything we give thanks for leads to something else. For example, we talked about giving thanks for indoor plumbing, which led to us giving thanks for our showers, our toilets, our dishwashers, all the appliances that use water. This led to us giving thanks for those that have given to ensure water flows into our homes, which led to a discussion of how often we take things for granted. It is not until our water is shut off for some reason, albeit temporarily that we realize how grateful we are for having it and when it is restored, we are immensely grateful. How rarely do we think about all the people in this world who cannot just get up and get a glass of water? Those who do not have access to clean water? Those who have to walk for miles to even bring water to their families. It is when we stop and follow the thread that we begin to have a deeper understanding not only of what we are grateful for, but why we appreciate it as much as we do.
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