Quote “A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?”
Author
Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) was born in modern-day Lebaban. With his family, he emigrated to the United States where he began his literary career, studied art and wrote his inspirational book “The Prophet” which became so popular that he is reputed to be the third best-selling poet of all time.
Soul-Questions
1. As you consider people you have considered over the years, what common qualities/characteristics do they share?
2. How do you distinguish between a friend and an acquaintance?
3. Have you ever been betrayed by a friend?
In your Journal, reflect about the circumstances and consequences of that friend’s betrayal.
4. In your world of friends over the years, what distinguishes those you would call a ‘close’ friend and those you would call ‘best’ friend?
5. Social media connects people as ‘friends’. Is social mediat another category of friendship for you and if so, what qualities/characteristics do such friends have which distinguish them from other friends?
6. Picture your best friend in your mind. What is it about this person that draws you to him/her?
7. In your circle of friendship over the years, have some friends changed categories – i.e. acquaintance, close friend, best friend, cyberfriend?
If so, reflect on your role in the changing friendship in your journal.
8. Reflect on a relationship with a “friend who is far away.”
Is that person “nearer than the one who is a hand”?
If so, how?
******************** How to use “Soulistry Soul-Questions” You may want to begin a Journal so your responses are all in one place.
From time to time, a quotation will appear along with accompanying Soul-Questions. Write the quotation. Add the first question and write your response.
Take your time in writing your replies. This is your time – these are your answers.
Then at your leisure, add the second Soul-Question and respond and continue on. Btw, it helps to put the date after each Soul-Question response.
The “Soul-Questions” group on Facebook can be found www.facebook.com/groups/soulquestions
The “Soul-Questions” website and individual quotes/soul-questions can be found www.soulistry.com/soul-questions-blog-posts
Quote “Those who ask questions may be fools for five minutes, but those who do not ask, remain fools forever.” Author: Chinese proverb
Soul-Questions
1. What questions do you have about
* life
* yourself
* the world
* love
* forgiveness
* eternity
* death
2. What questions have been more important to you than the answers?
3. What questions have spoken to you on your spiritual journey?
4. In your journal, reflect on one of those questions. Why was this particular question more important than the answer?
5. Have there been questions about individuals / situations / finances / values / background that you did not ask and wish you had?
In your journal, reflect on those questions and how you might move beyond whatever blocked you in those circumstances?
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How to use “Soulistry Soul-Questions” You may want to begin a Journal so your responses are all in one place.
From time to time, a quotation will appear along with accompanying Soul-Questions. Write the quotation. Add the first question and write your response.
Take your time in writing your replies. This is your time – these are your answers.
Then at your leisure, add the second Soul-Question and respond and continue on. Btw, it helps to put the date after each Soul-Question response.
The “Soul-Questions” group on Facebook can be found www.facebook.com/groups/soulquestions
The “Soul-Questions” website and individual quotes/soul-questions can be found www.soulistry.com/soul-questions-blog-posts
Quote “The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” Author: Francis Bacon <1909-1992 was a self-taught Irish artist whose life as an artist was a bleak chronicler of the human condition and after the death of his partner, his art became preoccupied with death in a unique style that was bold, austere, graphic and emotionally raw. He claimed to be descended from the Elizabethan philospher with the same name.
Soul-Questions
1. What does “the mystery” mean to you?
2. What gift of creativity have you been given?
3. What defines / makes someone an “artist“?
4. When you express yourself in some creative way, do you think of yourself as an “artist”?
If not, what would it take for you to see yourself as an artist (be that someone who bakes, sews, sculpts, paints, gardens, draws; does carpentry, flower-arranging, calligraphy; makes cards etc.)?
5. How can you, as artist, “deepen the mystery”?
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How to use “Soulistry Soul-Questions” You may want to begin a Journal so your responses are all in one place.
From time to time, a quotation will appear along with accompanying Soul-Questions. Write the quotation. Add the first question and write your response.
Take your time in writing your replies. This is your time – these are your answers.
Then at your leisure, add the second Soul-Question and respond and continue on. Btw, it helps to put the date after each Soul-Question response.
The “Soul-Questions” group on Facebook can be found www.facebook.com/groups/soulquestions
The “Soul-Questions” website and individual quotes/soul-questions can be found www.soulistry.com/soul-questions-blog-posts
The initial shock of COVID19 has hit. Grief is emerging as people deal with the loss COVID19 is bringing: … issues of death and dying because of a diagnosis of COVID19 … loss of income because their place of employment has been shut down … loss of freedom because schools, parks, businesses, swimming pools, recreation centres, pubs, theatres, conferences, etc. are closed … loss of control over lives … and more.
How to deal with the stress of it all? How to maintain some sense of emotional stability? How to find peace in the panic?
Perhaps the words of a woman who lived centuries ago, will help. Dame Julian of Norwich wrote something very simple at a difficult time in her life. She wrote this: “All shall be well. All shall be well. And all manner of thing shall be well.”
As a grief counsellor, I’ve found it helpful to encourage people, when they find themselves in a difficult situation, to use Dame Julian’s words with a conscious pattern of breathing gently, deeply, slowly and properly.
We breathe, but not always properly. And at times of stress, our breathing becomes more and more shallow which can lead to further stress. One way to test how you breathe is to place your hands in front of you on your belly/tummy with the longest fingers gently touching. As you breathe in, check to see if your shoulders are moving up or if your fingers are gently moving apart. Hopefully, it’s the latter. Keep practicing until you’re able to do this.
Then, using Dame Julian’s words, consciously doing some gentle, deep, slow breathing, try following this:
1. Gently inhaling … say/whisper/think/pray “All shall be well.” 2. Gently exhaling … say/whisper/think/pray “All shall be well.” 3. Gently inhaling … say/whisper/think/pray “And all manner of thing 4. Gently exhaling … say/whisper/think/pray “Shall be well.”
Then just sit for a few moments. Sit in the calm. Sit in the peace.
By doing the above, you have slowed down your breathing, brought oxygen into your body and welcomed a gentle reduction in your anxiety. Peace. Maybe just for a moment – or a few moments – but peace.
And, there is more. While Dame Julian’s words don’t say that “All IS well,” the words offer a hopeful message to our brain that “all SHALL BE well.”
When we combine Dame Julian’s words with a pattern of conscious breathing, we are sending positive messages to our body and our mind. “All shall be well.”
It will take time, but “all shall be well” and we will get through COVID19 – together.
Breathe, my Soulistry friends. Breathe in ruach, peace, hope. “All shall be well. All shall be well. And all manner of thing shall be well.”
“Stocks surged after the worst day since 1987 crash!” “Countries are closed off.” “Sports games, concerts, worship services are cancelled.” “It’s going to get worse, not better.” “COVID-19 is the end of the world.”
We’ve heard them all – and more. So what do we do?
Perhaps we do an attitude-adjustment.
Perhaps we intentionally focus on the goodness around us the examples of compassion the incidents of kindness the expressions of love the gifts of colour in flowers, children at play, puppies and kittens instead of the yuck.
Perhaps we look to the Creator of the present moment who stills the storm and soothes the frantic heart, who brings hope, courage, strength as we wait in uncertainty and who brings peace that passes understanding so that we may rest at night, heal and awaken in the morning to the gift of a new day where we focus on making time to breathe, deep and gently and inhale peace … and calm … and hope.
People seem to be reacting to news of the spreading COVID virus in different ways.
Discrimination of certain ethnicities is becoming one of the consequences of the rising fear of this virus.
My hope is that everyone will treat others “as the sacred being they are”and that bullying, abuse, violence, hatred, war, road rage, prejudice, gossip, racism, ageism, sexism, terrorism, religious intolerance, injustice, discrimination … for any reason … will cease.
May every human being be treated as the sacred being they are.
Reminds me of a winter I lived in Shawnigan Lake when I looked out my office window and saw this bird — created by snow covered a bush in front of that window.
It was magical — a beak, an eye, a wing … and I didn’t create it or move anything around to reveal those parts or anything!
There it was – in front of me. I watched in wonder as the snow descended on the bush outside my office window and a snowbird magically and gradually formed out of the bush.
Rushing to get my camera, I realized that the snowbird captured the essence of Wonder, Joy, Awe and Peace.
The timing was quite remarkable — I had just been diagnosed with mercury poisoning; had just moved to the little house in Shawnigan; hadn’t met any of the neighbours; it was a miserable winter storm; I was incapacitated with no family nearby and friends who weren’t able to come over the Malahat Mountain because of the distance and weather.
The doctor told me “The good news is … you won’t die from this. The bad news is … you’ll wish you had.” There were times when he was right. And that morning, was one of those really difficult mornings when I wasn’t free from severe pain, had beyond-limited mobility (when mercury poisoning sets in, muscles atrophy), and the list went on.
In my mind/thoughts/prayers, I wanted/needed a “sign” of reassurance. I slowly made my way to my office … and saw this.
A sign. A sign of reassurance that I was not – and would not be alone during the time of recovery and that there would be eventual recovery.
That recovery was difficult and lengthy and there is still evidence of the mercury expressing itself in my system but … I will always remember the SnowBird — the sign of Spirit with me.
And now, I hope and pray, you will too and that if you are going through a difficult time, you will take comfort from the SnowBird. 🙂
May you experience “moments of wonder” in the coming days and weeks in ways that you can’t even begin to ask or imagine!
We have twelve months in the year 2020 to see, feel, hear, taste, touch, embrace, consider, reject, ignore (and the list goes on). However, never again will we have a year that can speak to us at both the level of 20/20 physical vision and the level of 20/20 spiritual maturity – insight.
The metaphor of 20/20 vision is apt for many who were born with vision issues. As we age, eye issues like cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration can surface and cause problems with the ability to read, maintain balance, see well at night or even during the day.
Gratefully, scientific strides have been made and today’s ophthalmologists, optometrists and opticians work hand in hand with one another as well as with pharmacists and various companies so that medication and eyeglass wear has greatly improved. More and more, people who anticipated restricted or no vision in their senior years are finding help in improved medication and eyeglasses.
Vision – such a gift!
Here we are, at the beginning of the year 2020 and my mind can’t help but reflect on possible connections between this year 2020 and the clarity that 20/20 vision can bring.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful, as the image says, if this were a year of “perfect vision”: a year where we saw … reason, truth and commonsense replace lies. … politicians, seeing the damage done by their selfish opposition to climate change, enact stringent environmental protection laws. … corporations put people before profit. … politicians put country before personal gain. … humanity took the call to ‘love one another’ seriously and put love into into practice in homes, communities, neighbourhoods, streets.
A “year of perfect vision” … physical sight and insight. I pray for that.
The song by Robin Lamont is a wonderful reminder of the need to be ever mindful of the clarity about the future that we all need … one where we “see” more clearly; love the Creator/one another/ourselves more clearly; follow the path of the holy ones whose lives modelled thoughts and acts based on love: Day by Day, Day by day. Oh, dear Lord, Three things I pray: To see thee more clearly. Love thee more dearly. Follow thee more nearly. Day by day. <lyrics by Robin Lamont>
May 2020 be a year of “perfect vision” for our world.
Flight 753: 176 souls lost … 63 Canadians and many Iranian students returning to Canada to continue their post-graduate studies along with grandparents, parents, children, siblings, plane crew. So much loss.
In the midst of global tragedy where fires in Australia have re-ignited and people are being told once again to evacuate; the United States has added new sanctions against Iran; Puerto Rico has had another earthquake today while still trying to recover from the hurricane forcing people to sleep in the streets … it may look to some as if the end of the world is coming to pass but … it is not.
Modern communication not only means that news of such tragedies can be shared almost immediately they have happened, it means that news networks can have their journalists/reporters comment almost ad nauseum, leaving little room for people to grasp what is happening.
What is happening is not the end of the world – it is life in a world that is in chaos. We must all take a moment (or several) to breathe … and then breathe again.
May the souls of all who have perished in all of these tragedies rest, and may the hearts and minds of those who grieve their loss be comforted by the outpouring of love and concern, prayers and practical assistance.
And may this little daffodil be a reminder that even in the midst of the brutality of a cold winter … even in the midst of death, there is life – and with life, there is hope.
