Sunday Musings – February 26, 2017
It has been a week of many blessings. I try always to be aware of the blessings of food, clothing, shelter, and friendships. I want to be intentional about reminding myself to not take any of these for granted – to not forget that so many in the world do not have these basics. I also have freedom. My mind is free from a compulsive need for something outside of myself. I may have strong wants or desires, but none that force me to lose the ability to allow my core values to be in charge of my behavior. Compulsions or addictions imprison one in that they limit what one can do or not do. In many ways, they are worse than the physical prisons in which we, as a society, throw many people.
The blessings this week also included the ability to access books and other information from the library and the internet as well as the ability to choose and listen to music at home, in the car and even on my phone.
This week I spent time with friends, attended a magical performance by a string trio, and attended the performance of a play, “Hope and Gravity” by Michael Hollinger. Later today I will attend a performance of the Pittsburgh Symphony.
I could go on and on listing the blessings, but the important issue is how I choose to spend the abundance of energy and freedom. It would, of course, be easy to use this energy to air my concerns about how so many of us treat each other or to rant and rave about what I see as the futility of increasing the military budget while simultaneously decreasing money for the arts. I could cry long and hard about the return to dumping waste into our streams. I could advocate on behalf of those who cannot advocate for themselves. In short I, could create lot of new negative energy in an attempt to decrease what I perceive as the negative energy. I have previously written about the false math of that approach.
This week has brought many reminders of how much I have yet to learn. Poems, music, food, people, ideas, relationships and much more wait to be discovered. Yet, even as I write this one of the voices in my head yells at me to slow down and think about who is going to feed the homeless, who will build the houses, who will paint, sculpt, draw, discover new songs, gather the crops, stop to listen or bury the dead. Who will build the new electric plants or harness the sun and the wind to provide more means to cook, heat or take a shower?
I am reminded that one must be fed in order to feed. One must be loved in order to love. One must be clothed in order to clothe. One must know one’s own nakedness to cover or embrace the nakedness of others. One must experience gratitude before one can share the fruits of gratitude.
I can self-care as a way of hiding or I can self-care so that I may have the strength to face the pain of my limits as a human. Once faced, I will discover strength, joy and arms large enough to share an embrace, cook a simple meal, build a shelter or share a song and a dance. The magic will always happen when I least expect it and when I allow it to happen rather than attempting to make it happen.
Written February 26, 2017
It has been a week of many blessings. I try always to be aware of the blessings of food, clothing, shelter, and friendships. I want to be intentional about reminding myself to not take any of these for granted – to not forget that so many in the world do not have these basics. I also have freedom. My mind is free from a compulsive need for something outside of myself. I may have strong wants or desires, but none that force me to lose the ability to allow my core values to be in charge of my behavior. Compulsions or addictions imprison one in that they limit what one can do or not do. In many ways, they are worse than the physical prisons in which we, as a society, throw many people.
The blessings this week also included the ability to access books and other information from the library and the internet as well as the ability to choose and listen to music at home, in the car and even on my phone.
This week I spent time with friends, attended a magical performance by a string trio, and attended the performance of a play, “Hope and Gravity” by Michael Hollinger. Later today I will attend a performance of the Pittsburgh Symphony.
I could go on and on listing the blessings, but the important issue is how I choose to spend the abundance of energy and freedom. It would, of course, be easy to use this energy to air my concerns about how so many of us treat each other or to rant and rave about what I see as the futility of increasing the military budget while simultaneously decreasing money for the arts. I could cry long and hard about the return to dumping waste into our streams. I could advocate on behalf of those who cannot advocate for themselves. In short I, could create lot of new negative energy in an attempt to decrease what I perceive as the negative energy. I have previously written about the false math of that approach.
This week has brought many reminders of how much I have yet to learn. Poems, music, food, people, ideas, relationships and much more wait to be discovered. Yet, even as I write this one of the voices in my head yells at me to slow down and think about who is going to feed the homeless, who will build the houses, who will paint, sculpt, draw, discover new songs, gather the crops, stop to listen or bury the dead. Who will build the new electric plants or harness the sun and the wind to provide more means to cook, heat or take a shower?
I am reminded that one must be fed in order to feed. One must be loved in order to love. One must be clothed in order to clothe. One must know one’s own nakedness to cover or embrace the nakedness of others. One must experience gratitude before one can share the fruits of gratitude.
I can self-care as a way of hiding or I can self-care so that I may have the strength to face the pain of my limits as a human. Once faced, I will discover strength, joy and arms large enough to share an embrace, cook a simple meal, build a shelter or share a song and a dance. The magic will always happen when I least expect it and when I allow it to happen rather than attempting to make it happen.
Written February 26, 2017
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