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How To Develop Who You Are

May 4, 2017

Paul wrote at least twice in Romans thoughts that today could be translated “You become what you think about.”

Where you choose to place your attention determines what sort of person you become.

This is part of the law of sowing and reaping.

Marketing master Seth Godin puts it this way:

We get what we invest in. The time we spend comes back, with interest.

If you practice five minutes of new, difficult banjo music every day, you’ll become a better banjo player. If you spend a little bit more time each day whining or feeling ashamed, that behavior will become part of you. The words you type, the people you hang with, the media you consume…

The difference between who you are now and who you were five years ago is largely due to how you’ve spent your time along the way.

This is why I recommend every year that, instead of goals or resolutions for the new year, we imagine what sort of person we’d like to be. Then we cultivate habits to become that sort of person.

Godin says that those habits determine us. We practice a musical instrument, or a foreign language, or praising people, or choosing positive thoughts.

Where are you, and where do you wish to be?

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Treat Each Other With Love

May 3, 2017

I heard words I never heard in the Bible. –Paul Simon

“Hi, Honey. How was the game?”

“(mumble, mumble)”

“What? And you seem to be home early.”

“I can’t believe it. They threw us out of the park. Me and my friends just had a few beers and started yelling names at the other team’s center fielder. Then one of us threw something at him. And then we were out of there.”

I often imagine conversations. How do you go home and tell your family that you’ve acted like an irresponsible jerk? And then suffered the consequences.

There is a story in this morning’s local newspaper about a guy who had too much to drink, chose to drive his car, caused an accident that killed someone. Now he has very public consequences–three years in jail.

We all do something stupid at times.

For some people, it’s a lifestyle.

It is possible to change.

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Take A Journey In Your Mind

May 2, 2017

Leave your cares behind
Come with us and find
The pleasures of a journey to the center of the mind

Come along if you care
Come along if you dare
Take a ride to the land inside of your mind

Beyond the seas of thought
Beyond the realm of what
Across the streams of hopes and dreams where things are really not — Amboy Dukes; Ted Nugent and Steve Farmer

OK, so Ted Nugent went from writing psychedelic rock to being a conservative political activist. There may be some kind of meaning there.

The 1960s witnessed a spiritual revival. Not religious. Spiritual. Some of the spiritual quest was, well, illegal. This song was no doubt an attempt to write about “psychedelic” experience.

But as often happens in poetry, there are meanings beyond what you write.

In meditation, you suspend thought and facts. You focus on God. Perhaps a story like maybe an interaction that Jesus had with someone. Or a parable. And you don’t analyze. You experience.

And sometimes God breaks through. And you experience.

And you believe in God, not because you read somewhere that you should or someone told you that you should. You know.

And now spiritual truths make more sense.

Psychologists will sometimes instruct patients to go somewhere where they can be alone with their thoughts. Then settle in and just tune in to the inside.

A patient once told Carl Jung, the famed Swiss psychologist, that he couldn’t imagine anyone worse to be with than himself. I think Dr. Jung probably thought, “You’re right. And I’m trying to help you get over that.”

Find 15 minutes today. Slow down, concentrate on God, a story, a bird, a leaf, a bug, whatever is around. Relax. Become aware of where you are and what you’re doing.

Your blood pressure will thank you. Your brain will thank you. People around you will thank you.

Posted in Awareness, Disciplines, Meditation | Leave a Comment »

Avoid Those Who Cause Dissensions

May 1, 2017

Some people just seem to love causing trouble. We knew them in elementary school. We knew them in high school. They are in our churches, our organizations, our businesses.

There are people who show up at your church with one agenda–raise dissensions and split the church.

Paul finished his teaching in his letter to the Romans. He was greeting people by name.

Then, while thinking about all the people, he must have had a thought about those he didn’t wish to greet. He gave a final instruction inserted in his greeting people and his good bye.

“I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them.”

What was the teaching? First, believe that God raised Jesus from death to life. Second, love everyone always.

Does sowing dissension and splitting fellowships show love? Does that attract outsiders to a loving fellowship? Or, like Paul wrote, does it just serve to feed the ego of the sower?

Consider wisely.

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Are You Teaching Quality

April 28, 2017

Some of you may have seen my Facebook post about the death of Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values as seen in The New York Times.

The book is not really about Zen (a form of Buddhism popularized by Alan Watts and the Beatnik generation) or about repairing your motorcycle. “The real motorcycle you’re working on is yourself.”

Along with the Bible and St. Augustine, this book was most influential in my life.

While teaching rhetoric at Montana State University in Bozeman, another professor asked while passing him in the corridor, “Are you teaching quality?”

That led him into a deep dive into the meaning of quality.

Part is philosophical as he detailed his battles with the famous leader of philosophy at the University of Chicago. (I’ve read Mortimer Adler. I prefer Pirsig.) I think he was right about the decline in western thinking with the over emphasis on rationality thanks to Plato and Aristotle (especially the latter).

Part was details on working on his motorcycle preparing for a cross-country trip with his son and two friends. He must have been worse than me, by the way, as a travel companion. I often get lost in thinking. He must have gone a bit overboard on that.

He talked about learning skills in metalworking to do his own repairs because he was upset with the lack of care so many mechanics took in repairing thing.

Quality in part comes from caring about what you do.

He also taught logical troubleshooting. Something more of us need when we approach a problem.

Posted in Disciplines, Learning, Thinking | Leave a Comment »

You Can Be a Mystic

April 27, 2017

Meditation is greatly misunderstood by most people. You can do it.

You can do it if…you can sit still and focus.

We focus on our breath. Slowing it down. Paying attention.

Then we focus our attention on God. We just sit (or lie, or walk) in the presence of God.

It may last 5 minutes. I may last 2 hours. Doesn’t matter.

Mystics? Not a popular word these days. Well known in previous centuries.

They are just people who make a daily practice for longer and longer times of sitting in the presence of God.

It changes their lives. They slow down. Are less anxious. Can face adversity.

We sometimes have visions of things God wants us to see.

And then again, sometimes not.

But we have conversations, speaking and listening, with God. We thank him. We ask him for guidance. But then we must listen and pay attention to what he tells us. Sometimes that is hidden within other people. It is up to us to discern.

Posted in Awareness, Disciplines, Meditation | Leave a Comment »

Enjoy Your Day

April 26, 2017

I am still in Germany. It is great seeing old friends and meeting new ones. My last appointment ran late and I’m about to be late to my next encounter. That means it is easy to get into a rush and not relate properly.

In the midst of busy-ness, remember to breathe. Maintain awareness. Be calm. Enjoy your day.

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We Will Be One

April 25, 2017

Traveling again, I’m staying in a small town in northern Germany about 10 miles from Hannover. Most of the people I have met do not speak English. I am from an area of the US settled by German immigrants. Other than I understand about 10% of what I hear spoken, there are not many differences between here and home.

In my meditations, I have been given the awareness of the unity of all people.

It seems that our nature as humans it to divide. We divide people into groups. The groups may be based on any number of perceived differences. But the key is that we can identify people like us and people not like us.

I have experienced whole religions and churches within them organized on the principle of “us versus them”. Think of the divisions among Christians. “We have the truth; they don’t.”

Then I remember my awareness of how people essentially are all the same.

As chance (?) would have it, I just attended a press conference in Hannover, Germany, with the global energy and automation technology giant ABB. I won’t get into the gory details of high-voltage DC power transmission. But the speaker made an interesting observation. There is discussion at some of the highest technology levels about the imminent possibility of a single, global electrical power grid.

Step back in your mind and consider how commerce and business and technology have perpetrated changes in global political structures. We have not always had nation-states. Is it possible that technology and commerce can continue to propel us into a “global village”?

And I can see spiritual conversations among people from many and diverse cultures.

One of my favorite philosophers, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, talked about us reaching the “Omega Point” where “Christ will be all in all” as Paul the Apostle stated.

Despite the racism, bigotry, divisiveness we can see around us, I remain optimistic that Christ will win. In fact, I read the end of the book as they say (the Revelation of John, of course), and John says indeed that Christ already won.

We will come together. Especially if we all do our part. God if funny that way. He always expects us to do some of the work!

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Disrupted by Power of the Wrong Kind

April 24, 2017

Recommended reading–The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World. It is a conversation held in 2015 when Archbishop Desmond Tutu traveled to India to meet with old friend the Dalai Lama.

The Book of Joy

Both men had know much suffering in their lives. Yet, the spirituality of each shines through.

What most got to me was toward the end of the book during a description of a celebration for the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday. Children from the local Tibetan school presented their stories of escape from Communist China.

It struck me that people everywhere just want to live their lives. Work, worship, dance.

Yet there exist everywhere men (almost always men) who seek power (political mostly) over people. They want to tell them what to do. To obey them. Exert power over the daily lives of people.

Even in America there exists a movement since 1979 where a group of men decided to try to turn American Christians into political activists–of course in support of their causes of telling people how to live.

And that movement has somewhat succeeded. It has ruptured Christianity in America, splitting churches, separating friends. All in the name of politics.

At least, for the most part, we don’t shoot each other. Yet.

Then I think of the moment of realization when I came to knowledge of what Jesus meant by turning the world upside down. He lived in one of those power hungry eras. The Romans were quite brutal.

Study Jesus. He said time after time that he came to turn that power relationship on its head. The leader washes the feet of the follower. A powerful example in his own life of that new power relationship.

We give power to the Spirit. We use the power from the spirit we receive in return to help people live better. Now, that’s a vision.

Posted in Disciplines, Relationship, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

I Was Such A Mess, And Then

April 21, 2017

“I was such a mess,” said Radek, “and then I started studying productivity and became productive, happier, and found a great job.”

This is from The Podcast, a conversation between the developer and CEO of productivity application Nozbe Michael and the Nozbe Apple App developer Radek. Two Polish guys who speak English on the podcast better than some of my friends.

Episode 93 asks, Why is studying productivity a worthwhile pursuit? Many people assume it’s all useless — and much of it is! Like with dieting, it’s a field filled with charlatans promising amazing results with barely any effort at all. Yet, underneath all the nonsense is wisdom to be discovered.

They are correct. The first “productivity” or “self-help” seminar I attended was 40 years ago. I’ve been through DayTimers, ProActive Management, Franklin Planners, a series of software applications, and now Nozbe. I like Nozbe. The link above is an affiliate link (thank you to all who have downloaded or purchased the app).

But you have to use it to benefit from it. I ditched the others because I could incorporate Nozbe into my daily workflow better than the others.

I remember from my days of selling and installing automation in factories that if the technology got in the way of work, then it was turned off–quickly.

Radek and Michael agree–you don’t become productive overnight, just as you don’t lose 20 pounds and keep it off overnight. You start with one habit change. Do it for 30 days and see if it works. Then maybe go to the next habit change. Repeat.

Spiritual formation is the same thing. You don’t go from “worldly” to “spiritual” overnight. Perhaps you go from “not-God” to “with-God” overnight. You went from “who’s Jesus” to “oh, Jesus” overnight.

But then what. You were a mess. You’re still a mess. Just have a new awareness.

In my life, I’ve seen many (too many) people “get saved” but still remain the same person. The New Testament tells us over and over that we’re in a long-term race.

You change one habit. Bring it into your daily life (maybe reading spiritual books and the Bible every morning for 15 minutes). See how it works. Then add another habit (maybe prayer and meditation every day, maybe twice, regularly). Try it for 30 days and see the benefits of incorporating it into your daily life. Then maybe you begin to see little acts of service you can do daily.

Then one day someone says to you, “Wow, you’re really a changed person!”

That is going from a mess to a maturing Christian. People see it in your life and ask, How can I get some of that?

Posted in Disciplines, Intention | Leave a Comment »

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