self-knowledge

Some Small Resolutions.

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cranberriesSince our out-of-town company arrives this evening for a stay of a week, I may not be posting much over the next few days and figure that I’ll get something written about the resolutions I’m making as of RIGHT NOW. (Why should I wait until Jan. 1?) These resolutions are in the area of small, consistent actions, the kind of thing that I hate doing. I mean, like, DESPISE. My kitchen has been a disaster zone for the past week, for example, because I never got it completely cleaned up after last week’s big baking extravaganza for our church’s Christmas party and then haven’t been very consistent about cleaning up after meals since then.

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The Tyranny of Possessions

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PictureSalisbury House, EnglandI was reminded of this principle awhile ago when I was in an enormous house for a meeting.You walked into the front door and there you were in a foyer with one staircase curving down into a family room with a pool table and a fountain in the floor and the other curving up to the main level with another fountain, this time as a sheet of water flowing down a glass wall. I sat in the beautiful living room facing a fireplace with some kind of fancy poured-concrete mantel and huge shelves on either side of it going all the way up to the very high ceiling, with decorative objects and photographs. All I could think was, ‘How on earth do you get up to that top shelf to dust?” It wouldn’t be a matter of a stepstool; more of a stepladder. Maybe even a crane.

Before I go on, I do want to make it clear (not that anyone reading this has the faintest idea whom I’m talking about) that I’m not in any way criticizing the people who own the house. I have no idea how they use it or what their rationale was for buying it. I really enjoyed being there, and I came home fired up with the intention of keeping my own house a little more pristine.

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Time to Learn Emotional Hygiene?

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There’s a program on NPR called “The TED Radio Hour.” I was listening to it yesterday as I drove across town to a concert. Fascinating! Here’s the entire TED talk that’s referenced in the show. Note here that I (although perhaps not Dr. Winch) would make a distinction between mental/emotional health on the one hand and spiritual health on the other. But I found his ideas to be very intriguing. Be sure you listen to the whole thing. He has some great stories!

Circles Around a Problem

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concentric blue circles

Yet another post in which I borrow shamelessly from the Gretchen Rubin and Liz Craft podcast. You really, really, really should listen to it every single week. I don’t actually subscribe to it but just remember, “Oh, it’s Wednesday! Time for Gretch and Liz!”

Anyway, yesterday they were discussing the issue of how to deal with people who are very upset about your problems and so aren’t helpful. A woman had written in earlier saying that she had cancer, and her mother was so devastated about it that it was draining and upsetting for the daughter to be around her. Instead of her mother comforting her, she was having to comfort her mother. So the woman just didn’t want to be around a person who should have been a great help and support.

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I Must Stop Saying, “But First . . . “

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man counting to 1 on his fingersA terrible, terrible habit of mine. I’ll be all ready to get started on an actual task, something that needs to be done, and then I’ll say to myself, “But first let me check my e-mail. But first let me see what so-and-so is saying on that website I like. But first let me have a snack.” Whatever. Half an hour, forty-five minutes, an hour can go by. 

So earlier this afternoon I was all set to sit down at the keyboard and go over my music for the Cherry Creek Chorale concert next week. (Got your tickets yet? Get them here. Read my fascinating commentaries here.)

And since I had my phone with me to I could listen to the practice music files loaded onto it, I thought, ‘But first let me . . . ‘ and then I thought, ‘No. I have to quit doing that.’ It’s almost as if I’m afraid to just go ahead and get going.

Ever happen to you? How do you deal with it?

Knowledge Is Not Enough.

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woman's silhouette filled with colored gearsA short post today as I wrap up the week.  I was thinking this morning about the phrase “knowledge puffs up while love builds up” in the New Testament book of I Corinthians. This particular verse comes from chapter 8, but the 13th, so-called “love chapter” continues on with the theme: “If I . . . can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge but do not have love, I am nothing.” (Both quotations are from the NIV translation.)

I haven’t really said anything about the election in this blog, although I have another page (Intentional Conservative) that has been devoted to that subject and will continue now that the election is behind us. I find myself asking, “What is the truly loving response to those with whom you disagree?” This will be a question of supreme importance as we move forward into the uncharted waters of the new administration.

I’ve been very conscious of the desire to be proven right and how prideful that attitude is. On the other hand, I have to ask myself what true love is, what it desires. And the answer is that it must be focused on the ultimate good of the its object.

So . . . no funny stories for today, or extended ramblings. Just a question: How will you work for the ultimate good of the people around you?

 

I Get a Taste of My Own Medicine at the Tile Store.

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black and white checkerboard tile floorAre you familiar with the terms “maximizer” and “satisficer”? I notice that the spellcheck on my website platform has flagged both of those words as being misspelled, but since my hero Gretchen Rubin uses them they must be okay. (She’s not the only one who uses the words, but I believe I got them first from her.) i guess I should define those terms. So a “maximizer” keeps looking and looking for the perfect whatever-it-s, comparing and analyzing and second-guessing. (Some people actually enjoy this process; others are driven crazy by it but feel they have to keep going.)

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What’s Your Empty Water Jar?

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Row after row of clay waterjugsAre you familiar with the story in the Gospel of John chapter 4 about Jesus’ meeting with the woman at the well? I’ve been taught it since I was in Sunday School. You wouldn’t think there’d be anything new for me to glean from it, would you? But there is.

We studied the passage this week in the wonderful Bible study I attend. There was a discussion question about an issue that I’d never considered before. Perhaps I’d better set the stage a bit, just in case you’re not familiar with the narrative:

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Self-awareness isn’t the same as self-absorption

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Lincoln reading to his sonPicture two runners in a race. The first one is thinking, “I’m so tired. I’m not going to make it. My heel’s getting a blister. I should have gone to bed earlier last night. I should have drunk more water before the race. Everyone’s passing me. I’m not going to make it.” The second one is thinking, “Okay, not such a good idea to stay up late last night. I need to just pace myself, get to each fencepost. Feeling a little dehydrated. Well, nothing to be done about that now. Focus on the race. Catch up to that guy ahead of me. Plan better next time.

 

 

 

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How Do I Exercise My Free Will?

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I said in my post last week on Joseph Luzzi’s new book In A Dark Wood that I’d be writing more posts about his ideas.  Here’s the first of those.

One of the most vexing topics we face, whether coming at it from a secular or a religious viewpoint, is the question of the limits, or even the possibility, of free will.  Modern scientists have postulated that there is no such thing; that the existence and location of every particle in the universe is the result of random chance and is therefore (somewhat counter-intuitively) preordained.  As I sit here writing this post, my ideas arise only from the purposeless chemical interactions that are occurring down there within my brain.  (There’s a great discussion of this concept in the book I wrote about back in the very first post on this blog.)

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