How to: Change Dead Ends

no way out?
no way out?
Does your life feel like this image sometimes? Maybe now? Here is a road that is signaling both a Dead End, but also a No-U-Turn sign too. It’s a tough spot to be in, and we’ve all been there. That sinking feeling washes over us, and we start to think, “It might not get better.”

Maybe you’ve thought, “Is this all there is?” What do we do to resolve feelings or circumstances that seem just like the situation illustrated above?

Reframing. Reframing is pulling one’s self out of a situation, mentally, long enough to find a new perspective that changes how one will cope and adjust to the circumstance at hand. When it seems dire, one can always find a new way to see it. It’s a decision of the mind, not the feelings. Later, we find that our feelings will follow.

It’s like the story of the two children who were sent to clean rooms entirely filled with awful manure. One saw the mess, and all at once sank into despair, the other got to work happily, why? She said, “With all this poop, there has to be a pony around here somewhere!”

But what about a Dead End, No-U-Turn situation? Can something like reframing really help, when it seems that desperate? What then? Then, you tear down the signs. You challenge the very premise. Should the signs really be there? Who put up the signs? Was it you? Your parents? Someone else? Society? Was that proper, and should they come down? Who says it’s a true Dead End? Who says No-U-Turns?

Look for new options, unseen possibilities, and new ways to find hope, renewal, and paths to a better place. Treasure hunt for them. It may take time, help from others, concentration/prayer, sweat, and tears, but that’s how a person makes a game-changing move. That’s how you change the road on which you travel, and the scenery you are seeing.

How have you changed your scenery?
What would you like to change right now?

chime in : )

Digg!

Hope

Hope-

It’s the fuel to get past the obstacles before us. If it didn’t exist, we’d have to make it up. Because it exists, we carry on, and we may do it well. Through it we know that our present condition is not all there is, and not all that is most important. Hope is not just joy (sturdy happiness) and courage to persevere for a better day, but for the perfect day. A day that we cannot truly wrap our brains around quite yet. But, it’s a state and circumstance ahead in which our hearts count on. We believe in this beautiful thing, and, in that way, we are more human, not less.

It is not futile to believe in something one can’t see, or to set one’s sights on a place one’s never been. Every great explorer journeyed somewhere they had never seen, and found a place they had never set foot on, that had once been myth to everyone else.

Have hope, never give it up.
Of the three enduring things -faith, hope, and love- the greatest is love, but faith and hope support it. Faith is trust. Hope is fuel for it all.
-lcd

Leave your comments about hope . . .

Ways of Examen for greater fulfillment

The practice of Examen (pronounced: EGGS-aye-men) brings our living and our growth into focus. It helps us see God, (and the Divine presence) in our day, and/or helps us see far more meaning in our day than we could by merely living without really noticing.

For me, the practice of Examen has sometimes turned self-critical, and produced guilt, instead of helped me see God and his encouragement. My spiritual director Lenoir Wible offered me her notes from her teacher, that are a more positive slant on the ways of Examen. It’s quite beneficial–even life-changing.

Remember God sings over you.

Give it a try for a week or so, and tell me if it’s helpful.
Have you ever tried the spiritual practice of Examen before?
(Chime in with your comments…)
 

Consciousness Examen

  • In the morning, upon awakening:
    Ask The Divine, Light of the World, to walk with you throughout the day.In the evening, before sleep:
  • 1. Briefly review your day.
  • 2. Thank God for the specific gift of the day.
  • 3. Celebrate God’s undefeated love at those moments of the day when you were loving or loved.
     
  • 4. Celebrate God’s undefeated love at those moments when you were less than loving – and hear God say to you: “I know that and I love you!”
     
  • 5. Ask yourself “What grace am I being invited to ask for?”
    Ask!
  • “What would life look like were that grace given?
     
  • Sit with this and ponder the answer with prayerful thanksgiving


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Wellness is found in community

house-painting

One reason I’m planning to be involved in community projects soon isn’t just to be a do-gooder. It’s because I sense that we all become more well within community. Isolation creates unhealth, healing is found in community, and interaction, and it forces us to grow. It gives us opportunities to smooth off our rough edge, and be tried. Community done well reflects the Divine, and the essence of the Divine is community–Trinity. Out of the overflow of Love Divine, humans were created. Then to carry on love, we must enact community and enlarge Love within and through each other by harmony and interaction. It’s a way to experience the Divine, if we understand it this way.

Making our communities better is ministry, and it’s ministry we can all do.