Entries from January 2008 ↓

Things are seldom what they seem.
Skim milk masquerades as cream.
—Gilbert and Sullivan

A favorite saying around our home is “Oh, I didn’t know that!” In addition to two newspapers, my husband and I get a lot of magazines and newsletters. Among these are Science, Science News, and various wellness newsletters reporting the latest research. Whenever one of us reads something of interest we pass it on to the other. It’s a great reminder of how little we know about the world. In one sense we’re like the little girl in the picture, trying to hug the “other little girl” in the mirror. She doesn’t understand how mirrors work, and there’s a lot that we adults don’t understand. The universe is complicated, and the world is changing rapidly, so many of our ideas of reality will prove to be outmoded. It behooves us to keep ourselves…mind, body and spirit…in good shape. It behooves us to keep learning and growing.

One of my latest “Oh, I didn’t know that!” moments came via Bob at every, every minute. He’s inviting bloggers to join the St. Francis Project. The idea is to write a post once a week in February on part of the Prayer of St. Francis. I’ve agreed to do it, and in the process I learned that the prayer may not have been written by St. Francis. I didn’t know that! Apparently the first known appearance of the poem was in French in 1912. Its association with St. Francis may have been because in 1920 it was printed and distributed, with the title Prière pour la paix (Prayer for Peace), on the back of an image of St. Francis. It’s just another slight adjustment to my imperfect view of the world.

What about you? What have you learned lately? How are you responding to this rapidly changing world? What’s your reaction to the Prayer for Peace? (Included below.) Please share your thoughts and experience in the comments section.

Photo by Eric & Kari via Flickr. Creative Commons license.

Week One: February 1-9
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;

Week Two: February 10-16
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

Week Three: February 17-23
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

Week Four: February 24-March 1
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

Thanks to bikehikebabe, Wendy, Tom, Peter, and Chris for commenting on last week’s post.

Related posts:
Lifelong Learning,
What I learned From Being Downsized,
Looking, Learning, Opening Up to Life,
Stay Curious annd Open to Life,
Holy Curiosity,
Creating Our Own Inner Guide,
Building a Solid Foundation

Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.
—A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Whenever I find myself temporarily stuck in life, I think of the Winnie-the-Pooh quote. I also think of a single mother I once read about. She was overworked, overwhelmed and in a support group. She was working until 7 o’clock every evening to make ends meet and didn’t have enough time with her young son. On weekends she had to do chores and clean the apartment. Again, she didn’t have quality time with her child. The other people in the group felt for her and kept making suggestions for how she could lighten her load, but she could always explain why those suggestions wouldn’t work. Then one Saturday she finally decided she had enough. She hired a student to clean the apartment and went to the zoo with her child. They had a great time, and it gave her some needed perspective.

The next morning she scoured the newspaper for other available jobs. It turned out all the ones that appealed to her were just like the one she already had. Except for the hours, her job was a great match for her. So she rethought what she was doing at work, and on Monday she talked to her boss about a way she could get the job done and still leave at 5 every evening. It turned out that was fine with him…it had been her assumptions that had been keeping her stuck. Until then she hadn’t been able to get beyond her perceptions to see the situation clearly.

Not all situations can be turned around this easily, but I do believe that reality, the world, is more complex than our small minds can comprehend. We make “maps” of how the world is. They’re stories we make up based on our experience. When things are going well, these maps are adequate. When what we’re doing, what we’re perceiving, doesn’t work, we need to revise our maps, our stories. When we’re stuck it means we have options we can’t yet see…we’re shutting out information that could help. So one of the greatest favors we can do for ourselves is to stay open to life and not trap ourselves by the stories we tell. A commitment to holy curiosity and lifelong learning is empowering.

What about you? What new things are you learning? How is your view of life, the world, opening up with time? Do you find yourself recapturing that feeling of magic, the feeling that you’re seeing the world anew, with all the joy that comes with it? Please share your thoughts and experience in the comments section.

Picture by Dude Crush via Flickr. Creative Commons license.

Thanks to Robert, bikehikebabe, Dar, Adam Kamerer, Adam Alexander, Ellen, Sean, Truthteller, Square-Peg Karen, Craig Harper and Tracy Ho for commenting on last week’s post.

Stay curious and open to life. No matter what happens keep learning and growing. Find what you love to do and find a way to share it with others.
—The Cheerful Monk

I’ve just gotten back from a vacation…without even leaving home. As I mentioned in Rediscovering the Magic, I took an exercise break over the holidays. That meant buying/renting some DVDs to watch while I used my NordicTrack treadmill and jogging trampoline. It was a great success…I discovered Gilmore Girls and watched the whole series. I found it intelligent, witty and heart-warming. Watching it, plus the extra exercise, was a great way to end 2007 and to start the new year refreshed in body and spirit.

The experience reminded me that the easiest way to change our habits is to be curious and creative. I had a chance to try that this past week, when it was time to deal with an ongoing insurance issue. My usual reaction is to dread dealing with bureaucracies, to get frustrated by the “waste of time”. But I wasn’t about to give up that vacation feeling, so I got curious. Was there some other way to look at it? Did it really make sense to get upset about something that wasn’t earth-shaking… something I had no control over? I did have a choice… I could ignore the money at stake, figuring my time was more important. Or I could keep following through and change my attitude.

How could I get this done and enjoy the process? Ah, that was a question that resonated. It was just an exercise in creative problem solving, something I love to do. So as I explained in Are You Enjoying the Process?, yesterday’s post at Transforming Stress, I planned ahead and took a mini vacation during the long periods of being on hold. I also used the interactions with the agent as a chance to practice being friendly but firm.

Curious, creative and open to life. That’s my new mantra. I’m mentally rehearsing it by remembering incidents in the past that didn’t go as well and replaying them in my mind with more successful strategies. I want this attitude to be “down in my bones”, or, more accurately, in my process memory. I want it to be there for me when I need it. I’ll let you know how it goes.

What about you? Do you have some habitual patterns you would like to change? If so, how are you going about doing it? Please share your thoughts and experience in the comments section.

Picture by Daily Puppy. Used with permission.

Thanks to Robert, Sterling, tNb, Adam, bikehikebabe, Life Reflection, Not Yet a Bodhisattva and Shamelle for commenting on last week’s post.

It’s a magical world, Hobbes, ol’ buddy…let’s go exploring!
–Calvin to Hobbes

I’ve used this quote already… twice. And I’ll no doubt use it again, because that’s one of the main things this site is about…how to regain that sense of wonder and excitement, the feeling that a whole new world is open to us.

As I mentioned in my last post, in 2007 I spent a lot of time in the flow state, where I’m completely immersed in a project, forgetting about time and everything else. Usually when I emerge from that state the world looks fresh and exciting again.

I still want to learn more about HTML and Cascading Style Sheets, and that’s on my Possibility List. But I put a number of things on hold while I was getting my blogs started, and it’s about time I started doing them. The crucial question is “How do I get them done and enjoy the process?”

The first thing on my list was easy: I wanted to get more exercise than the basic amount I get every day (a few minutes on the weight machines at the local Y every other day, plus 30 minutes every day on my Nordic Track treadmill or my jogging trampoline). My exercise time at home is fun, because I play Sudoku or watch DVDs/video tapes while I’m doing it. So I joined Netflix and bought some DVDs of my own and took an exercise break during the holidays.

The next thing is to unclutter my apartment. I’m getting started on that by breaking the job down into small steps and putting them on my Possibility List. I can now look at the list every day and pick whatever appeals to me. I know from experience that once I start recycling and tossing things out, I will eventually build up some momentum and get in the flow there, too.

My real challenge is to learn to shift gears more smoothly. My favorite nightmare when I was working was I was going on a trip and I had to rush home and pack and get to the airport on time. But I couldn’t pull myself away from work until the last moment. It’s the downside of being involved and loving what you do. So I’m starting 2008 by exploring…by experimenting how to make my transitions smoother. I’ll let you know how it goes.

What about you? When do you feel the magic, the joy of being alive? Please share your thoughts and experience in the comments section.

2007–A Year of Adventure
Living More Fully
Do What You Love
Waking Up to Life
Are You Spending Enough Time “Doing Nothing”?

Thanks to Bob, bikehikebabe, Wendy, Cathy, Not Yet a Bodhisattva, Adam, Ellen, tracy ho, Simple Simon and tNb for commenting on last week’s post.