You have set before us many hours. What will we do with those hours?
Choices. There are choices to be made.
Some choices bring change … in our relationships … in our work environments … in our education … in our health … in our decisions
Some choices bring results in our attitude. … Will I see this day as a day to dread? … Will I see this day as a day to consider possibilities? … Will I see this day as a day to anticipate?
Will this day bring … joy to my heart? … peace to my soul? … life to my intellect?
It’s up to me. Each day.
This day I choose … Joy: work in the garden with the earth and seeds and the sunshine … Gratitude: deal with some paperwork so there’s a beginning sense of order in the “to be filed” box. … Creativity: play with with pen and ink and coloured markers for an hour or so.
So today I celebrate you and thank you for the opportunity of yet another Monday on Planet Earth to evolve, learn, feel, experience, reason, breathe, walk, blog, play, eat, laugh.
Hello Monday – and thank you! It’s good to see you again. May we meet again in seven days.
These days, there seems to be a daily reminder that peace is elusive: news of the pandemic’s “numbers” rising quickly; its variant strains complicating matters; vaccine appointments slowing down in some areas; political goings-on; on top of difficult economic times; how/when/where to grieve the loss of a loved one; increasing sense of abuse happening in relationships; teachers, ferry workers, bus/transport drivers who see their jobs as ‘essential,’ but the government doesn’t see it that way, so they’re not on any vaccine list.
Peace is not just elusive for some. Peace is elusive for a growing number of people around the world and as a result, stress and mental health issues are on the rise.
While we sometimes experience ‘stress’ as “eustress” (from the Greek “eu” meaning “good”), according to the endocrinologist Hans Selye, eustress is the kind of stress that is healthy and gives a good, positive feeling.
However, more often than not, the stress that is experienced is “distress” (from the Latin prefix “dis” meaning “having a negative force”). Distress describes unpleasant/negative feelings or emotions that impact the level of functioning. Sometimes the stress is related to work. Sometimes the stress is related to relationships. Sometimes the stress is related to health or finances or lack thereof. Sometimes the stress is related to busyness or needing to be perfect or organized or … Sometimes the stress is related to grief. Sometimes the stress is related to fear … fear of the known … fear of the unknown. Sometimes the distress is a combination of several of the above.
S e r e n i t y. We want it. We want to exhale fear and inhale peace. P e a c e. We need it
But fear, busyness, worries, grief, physical pain, guilt, sleepless nights, and those everpresent “what-if’s” creep into our minds. And then there are the actions of bullies (at work, school, cyberspace), politicians, media, conspiracy theorists who further propel thoughts away from experiencing any sense of peace.
And yet … and yet … serenity and peace are available. We only need to be aware of them in the gift of our breath in the gift of words, spoken in the silence of hearts to one another, and to ourselves. Like these words, this prayer, this Celtic spirituality-based prayer this whispered hope … bring some semblance of peace this night.
Circle me. Keep protection near And danger afar. Circle me. Keep hope within. Keep doubt without. Circle me. Keep light near And darkness afar. Circle me. Keep peace within. Keep evil out. <adapted from the work of David Adam)
Blessings to you, my friends. And, peace. May the nourishment of the earth be yours, May the clarity of light be yours, May the fluency of the ocean be yours, May the protection of the ancestors be yours. <John O’Donohue>
A Facebook friend posted this comment: “Today I will stop giving so generously and freely
… I close my heart.” I was sad.
Guard her heart?
Of course.
Do self-care?
Of course.
But close her heart?
No.
Please, no.
There will always be people who will do what they can (consciously / unconsciously)
… to take us down.
There will always be people who don’t like us
… not everyone will like us.
But, that’s not a reason to close our heart.
Maybe the reason some people don’t like us is because of our religion.
Maybe it’s because of our gender or sexual preference or language or skin colour or …
Maybe it’s our choice of partner/spouse.
Maybe it’s our personality, or our clothing, or our food choices, or our history, or …
Maybe it’s because of who we support politically.
It could be any number of things.
The bottom line is that not everyone will like us.
Sometimes, we are
… Just … Not … Liked.
No identifiable reason.
When I learned that stark reality,
I also learned that ‘others not liking me’ is not my problem.
It’s their problem.
In that discovery, came another learning.
As long as I do my best each day.
As long as I love and take care of myself, I can be myself
and in so doing, life can become more gentle, more fun, more enjoyable and more loving.
I never want to close my heart.
The consequences of such a decision are too tragic to consider.
What about you?
Have you ever thought of closing your heart?
Sadly, in today’s political and pandemic climate,
more and more are echoing the words “I close my heart”
and it seems that as hearts are closing,
minds are closing even more
bringing beyond-difficult consequences
for our world.
I hope you have not closed your heart,
but … if you have,
I hope that you realize that as long as you do your best each day,
as long as you love and take care of yourself, you can be yourself.
And in so doing, life can become more gentle,
more fun, more enjoyable and more loving.
May we follow the lead of our pet friends …
they never close their hearts.
But it’s not easy to step back. So many are hungry or cold or thirsty for clean water
or scared or homeless or racist or uneducated or abused
or hurting or unwell or in pain or grieving
or unemployed or waiting as a loved one faces death
or are watching time slip by as their own death approaches.
The cumulative effect of it all
can drag us down or drain our energy or make us numb
or make us accident-prone or even become ill ourselves.
When we experience Soul-Fatigue
we *must* take care of ourselves. First.
We must love ourselves enough
to say ‘no’ and to let go.
We must remind ourselves
we are human *beings* not human *doings* and make time to simply ‘be’.
Make time to fill our own cup to show the compassion we show to others – to ourselves to inspire our heart to enjoy the arts listen to, look at and appreciate the simple things of life around us laugh and play and be carefree recognize and express gratitude or the blessings we often take for granted.
Because if we do not
we will become
unable to care for anyone else. Anyone.
This day and each day
we must take a sip
from the cup of kindness
for and to ourselves.
May we heed the wisdom of the ages
expressed in song and poetry and art
and prose and Scripture and drama
and airlines which remind us to first put our own oxygen mask before helping another put on their oxygen mask.
“Miss Pudgy Angel – it’s time for you to come and lift us out of the fear many are feeling these days.”
I wrote this blog four years ago. Tonight, a friend’s Facebook post began: “I was feeling a little … just a little bit paralyzed by fear today.” Her words echoed within me and I decided to share this again and add something personal at the bottom in the hopes that “Lifted Out of Fear” brings a bit of relief from the fear my friend is experiencing, that I am experiencing and that others may be experiencing.
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Many are feeling fear these days … fear of “what next” when people watch the news … fear of flying … fear of a medical diagnosis … fear of aging … fear of an unknown future … fear of pandemics … fear about unemployment … fear of ‘what next’ …
I wish I could say that I’ve never been fearful, but …
I remember a terrifying plane ride when the plane heaved and starting falling, luggage began to come out of overhead bins, and people screamed. My hands were in a death grip on the arms of the seat. My breathing was shallow and swift as my mind raced through possible scenarios. I was scared … big time.
“God, help,” I heard myself whisper as the crying around me seemed to increase. And then, *she* appeared. Miss Pudgy Angel.
Well, that’s what I called her when I was given her as a gift many years earlier. She sat on my mantle for years and years and I delighted in her presence and in her sweet and gentle smile. Why I thought of her at that moment, I didn’t know, but I was grateful. Her image brought a smile to my face and for just an instant my concentration was on her … not on the fear.
I soon found myself imagining Miss Pudgy Angel with three of her pudgy angel friends: Miss Pudgy Angel was underneath the nose of the plane, two of her friends were under each wing of the plane, and one was under the plane’s tail. Each was working to stabilize the plane and help the plane climb back into its proper flying pattern.
The more I visualized Miss Pudgy Angel and her friends, it seemed that there was less and less space for the fear to take over my thoughts. Slowly, I realized that my breathing had slowed down … my grip on the armrest had lightened … and I was smiling! Those four pudgy angels were ridiculously funny! They huffed and puffed and pushed their pudgy arms into place. And as I continued to visualize the four of them under the plane, lifting it, stabilizing it, the more I became aware that the heaving of the plane had slowed and my fear was dissipating. Do I understand what happened in that moment in the sky? Not for a second.
Of course, there was no Miss Pudgy Angel or her pudgy-angel-friends underneath the plane.
It’s not surprising that giving serious attention to the existence of angels is difficult. If angels are part of the realm of the Spirit, that’s the realm of the unknown and the mysterious, and it’s not a world to which many can easily relate.
But in the Book of Job in the Old Testament, these words give rise to the possible reality: “God does speak. Now, one way. Now another, though we may not perceive it.” To believe that there is a Holy Other, Creator, By-Whatever-Name, to believe that such a Holy One speaks to us, and to believe that such communication happens through the form of an angel, well, that takes an openness – an openness to Mystery.
Do i believe in the possibility of angels? I did then. I do now. Many times since that moment-in-the-sky, I have uttered / prayed / whispered / thought words of gratitude. Were the pilot and co-pilot, crew, air traffic controllers, my Miss Pudgy Angel and her friends … angels that day? I don’t know.
I just know that for that brief terrifying moment, when I visualized Miss Pudgy Angel and her friends lifting the plane, as the pilot, co-pilot, crew and air traffic controllers were working hard to stabilize the plane and get it back on its flight pattern, I was being lifted out of fear.
This week, fear seems to be welling up inside me as dental surgery looms to extract a tooth revealed total decay underneath a Crown and the tooth (repaired decades ago with amalgam – mercury – which was standard practice at the time) was revealed.
Over fifteen years ago, when I received a devastating diagnosis of mercury poisoning. I lived with constant pain, helplessly watched as the muscles in my body and mind began to atrophy because of the poisoning and never returned to my place of employment. Unexpected, far-too-early retirement struck me in the face. I was told that while I wouldn’t die from the poisoning, there would be days when I wish I had. The specialist was right. He told me that I still had some amalgam in my teeth and the advice he gave me then and dentists have given me since over the intervening years was “if a tooth with amalgam becomes a problem, extract it. You can’t take the chance of exposure to it ever again.” That’s where I was last week at last week’s consultation. When the surgeon spoke the ‘there are complications’ words , the fear was overwhelming. My usual “go to” prayer is Dame Julian of Norwich’s “All shall be well. All shall be well. All manner of thing shall be well” and words from Scripture, but if my blood pressure was any indication, something more was needed. Nothing was helping.
And then tonight, reading my friend’s message on Facebook, I remembered Miss Pudgy Angel. I remember how she had lifted me out of fear long ago and decided to share the story and image with my friend and on the Soulistry blog for others.
This Thursday afternoon, when I am seated in the dental surgeon’s chair, I will pray Dame Julian’s prayer, along with Scripture passages, and envision Miss Pudgy Angel, lifting me out of fear.
To my friend whose words on FB this night sparked an addition to the original blog post about Miss Pudgy Angel, and to all who experience fear (of whatever form for whatever reason), find words that comfort, and recall an image that puts a smile on their face … even if only for a moment.
And if you can’t find such an image, feel free to think of Miss Pudgy Angel. That’s what I’ll be doing. 🙂
