Archive for the ‘Disciplines’ Category

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Fill Me Up, Or Kindle A Fire

March 9, 2017

Enthusiasm is a fire to be kindled not a vessel to be filled.

So, this email proposal came my way. Register and come down to our conference and let our team fill you to overflowing with enthusiasm.

I’m sure these are great people. They no doubt believe in what they are doing. And, like all God’s children, they need to earn a living.

But enthusiasm leaks.

It leaves a trail behind of dribbles to puddles.

Have you ever been to a lecture, conference, church service, or whatever else where one of those speakers skilled at getting you fired up is leading?

How fast did you lose the enthusiasm? Could you remember much even the next day?

I did not attribute the quote at the beginning because I made it up. But the thought comes from many ancient and not so ancient philosophers. Socrates used the phrase regarding education. Steven Covey also borrowed it.

So how do you kindle the fire from within?

  • Work on something you believe will change the world for the better.
  • Work with people who are focused on the same ends and also a joy to be with.
  • Eat well–meaning appropriate nutrition, balance.
  • Exercise your body appropriately.
  • Exercise your mind–read inspirational things first thing in the morning before you get hit with the day’s bad news.
  • Pray/meditate several times per day.

How does that old song go? “It only takes a spark, to get a fire going.”

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Anger And Bitterness Disappears Before The Fragrance of Humility

March 8, 2017

Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.

After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. –Zen proverb

Enlightenment. The direct experience of God.

I began meditating some 45 years ago with the goal of enlightenment. This meditation became known as Centering Prayer promulgated by Father Thomas Keating among others at the time.

Then I began exploring the Desert Fathers and came across John Climacus and his work, “The Ladder of Divine Ascent.”

These writers and mystics went beyond enlightenment in a way. What they worked diligently on was bringing our entire life before God. Later, Richard J. Foster (“Celebration of Discipline“) called it the With-God life.

John Climacus wrote, “The first step toward freedom from anger is to keep the lips silent when the heart is stirred; the next, to keep thoughts silent when the soul is upset; the last, to be totally calm when unclean winds are blowing.”

There are people who seem to exist only to stir up those hearts, blow up those unclean winds.

Notice that John considers anger something that binds us, imprisons us.

He continues (this is Step 8 on the Ladder of Divine Ascent, by the way), “Just as darkness retreats before light, so all anger and bitterness disappears before the fragrance of humility.”

Humility–putting others before us in our attitude and awareness. When we leave behind being so wrapped up in ourselves and begin to consider others, then we have taken a step with-God.

The Zen proverb tells us that enlightenment is good, but we still have to live out our  lives every day. John Climacus is one of those guides who can help us.

Posted in Attitude, Awareness, Disciplines, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Thinking Too Much Can Stir Up Anger To Rule You

March 7, 2017

He’s 90 now. An amazing guy. Ran marathons in his 80s. Went mountain backpacking into his 80s. During chats in the steam room at the Y he introduced me to numerous great books.

Life happened. He’s all alone. Don’t often see him.

He’s always angry–at them.

While I was running through the park early one morning I pulled up beside him and slowed down to talk.

“I have lots of time out here to think about things,” he said. “I think about them and what they’re trying to do to me.”

We were just talking about how Paul had warned us about how our thoughts set the direction of our lives here at Faith Venture. I thought about my friend who is now far from the guy I met 16 years ago.

I’m a writer in my “other” profession. Getting well known simply means getting on the radar for publicists and press relations people. I just received a release promoting a book by a guy who is a university professor and “TV Expert.” His book, “Do You Know Your Anger Type?”, is promoted as just the information we need in the age of Trump.

“Let’s face it, everyone gets angry,” says the blurb. “Anger is a normal and acceptable human emotion. Unfortunately, anger is usually expressed in non-productive and unacceptable ways.”

In this book, we will learn:

  • How thoughts determine your emotions.
  • How to control and express your anger.
  • The 12-types of anger.
  • The rules for managing anger.

The concepts and strategies in this book will not only help you with your anger-management, it will also help you understand why you are angry and how to create positive change in your life.

Dr. Peter Sacco is the author. The Rate Your Professor website shows him rated as “hot”. Comments all are that his class is easy, although divided among whether that is a good or bad thing.

I have not read the book, yet. But it is timely. Although, (to the 40% of my readers who are not in the US) not all Americans go around angry all day. Just the loudest ones. The rest of us just go about life as it happens.

I expressed (I think that’s a psychology word) a lot of anger at a stage while growing up. I still remember the spiritual moment when I saw myself from the outside. I thought, “This is stupid.” And from that moment when I was around 12, I’ve always tried to be in control of those negative emotions. It’s why people get the impression I’m calm. Most of the time, anyway.

I practice Paul’s philosophy. I watch what I think about. Where my thoughts dwell. What information I take in.

Maybe this book will help. I’ll let you know. Or–you can read it and let me know. Maybe I’ll even have an opportunity to interview the author. That would be cool.

Posted in Attitude, Awareness, Disciplines, healing | Leave a Comment »

Building Up People As A Personality Trait

March 6, 2017

Wouldn’t it be great if we built people up?

Imagine a dialogue where you are trying to help someone rather than hurt them.

What if leaders at every level were more interested in building up than tearing down?

What if I were more interested in the welfare of others than in mine?

I know that there exist people who don’t agree with that last statement. But as a disciple of Jesus, I try to emulate the teacher. He tried to build up even those whom he knew didn’t really want it. His pointed remarks were aimed at those who built themselves up at the expense of others.

What if I asked of everyone I met today, “How can I help you?” What if we all lived that question?

Let our imaginations dwell on this for a while in the mornings. A great start for the day.

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Are You Prejudiced?

March 3, 2017

Remember how Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?”

Recently I saw one of my many friends from India. “Are you prejudiced?” he asked me. Three times.

I don’t feel any, I thought. But I was raised in the rural Midwest. I know I was raised with prejudices. Some were taught outright–never marry a Lutheran, my mom often said. They are almost as bad as Catholics. (Whatever that meant.)

My first date, when I was a senior in high school by the way, was a Lutheran. Go figure. But I married a Baptist–who was born in Kentucky. Oops. A family of outsiders had moved into town when I was little. All the old women whispered about “hillbillies.”

Except my wife was raised in Michigan. Oops. Everyone around is an Ohio State University fanatic. Hate Michigan.

Prejudiced? I don’t know. Nothing came to mind quickly. It’s hard to get past your roots. I’ll admit it takes me maybe a minute or so to get past piercings and tattoos to see the person underneath the rebellion.

There are behaviors I don’t like. Strong opinions not backed up by facts. Hate. Injustice. Am I prejudiced against the people? I don’t know. Maybe.

The first time I talked with a person of another race was when I was a freshman in college. Never had a problem with that. Gay people? Doesn’t bother me. People are people.

Even when I look at my Teacher. Jesus had no trouble with the Samaritan woman. But he did have quite the discussion with the SyroPhoenician woman about prejudice of Jews toward other tribes. “Even the dogs get table scraps,” she told him.

So I am still watching. Where are my prejudices? I must have some. You must have some. The way to get past them is to first recognize them. And then realize that all humans are created by a God who loves them.

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

What Form of Sacrifice Works For You

March 2, 2017

Lent began yesterday. Somehow Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday just went past me, almost unnoticed. I was not raised in a tradition of emphasizing Lent. My virtual friend, Jon Swanson, has written a book for people like me–Lent for Non-Lent People. You can check it out, if you’re like me.

I guess it was the guy who gave up watermelon for Lent back when I was a kid that emphasized the frivolous nature of such traditions. That was back when Catholics fasted on every Friday. We had two or three Catholic kids in our school. The school cafeteria served either fish sticks or grilled cheese every Friday. I couldn’t stand either one (terribly finicky eater back in those days). Figured I could never become Catholic. Ah, kids and their ideas.

But I digress.

I’ve been reading people’s stories about their Lent experience. Many seem to be turning the fasting or sacrifice idea on its head a little. Instead of giving up something that they normally eat, they are finding ways to serve.

How about that? A special way of serving as a Lenten sacrifice? That sounds intriguing.

As a culture we build up Advent as anticipation of Christmas, but not so much Lent as anticipation of Easter. I guess there are so many secular Christmas songs–usually about snow, friends gathering, food, that sort of thing.

Easter is the end of winter, beginning of spring. Bad weather. Mud. Tornadoes. We’re tired of friends coming over mooching all the food.

I’ve been reading a lot lately about the meaning of the resurrection. How we would not be Christian without it. I am a liberal in many ways, but I never understood liberal theology that couldn’t explain miracles, so they didn’t think a resurrection such as described by all those eye witness writers could have happened.

Bill Hybels just explained his “Do…Done” explanation again last week at Willow Creek. Use it with a seeker who asks. Some people say we get on God’s good side by what we Do. The more we Do the better. That is, until we discover it’s a gerbil wheel getting us no where. Then we discover the Done–what Jesus already has Done for us. We just acknowledge it and believe. It’s so simple.

So Easter–we celebrate the “Done”, the culmination of what began at Christmas.

How do you focus?

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Fear Not For God Is With You

March 1, 2017

Anger leads to fear; fear leads to hate; hate leads to suffering. Yoda

Every time God appeared to someone through an angel or whatever means, what was the greeting?

It was never, “Hi, how are you doing?”

“Don’t be afraid.” or “Fear not.”

We are seeing Yoda’s warning played out in major parts of the world right now. Certainly not a majority of people. However, media coverage make certainly makes it appear that everyone is angry, fearful, full of hate. And there is much suffering in the world.

These are emotions. Negative emotions. And philosophers from ancient times have taught us about how important it is for our well being, and the well being of our society, to control our emotions.

It is similar to James talking about the tongue. How it is the small rudder that steers the giant ship.

Most of my anger is the son of insecurity. Then it is triggered. Then comes regret.

We practice mindfulness to place a barrier around the negative emotions. We step back in our minds and watch ourselves as if a drama is playing out on a screen. And we see how foolish we look to have been manipulated into a situation of losing our balance emotionally.

How foolish it is to yell at someone who is only trying to help. Or at someone who is helpless , and whom we should be reaching out to help.

Paul tells us about living in the spirit. How we set our minds on things of the spirit and find life. In other places he talks of the fruit that comes from living that life. Things like peace and joy.

We become what we focus on. Do we want to be remembered as angry, hateful people? Or remembered for our spiritual walk? It really is our choice. We can choose anger and fear; we can choose the spirit.

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The Words of My Mouth And The Meditations of My Heart

February 28, 2017

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. –Psalm 19

Saw in a cartoon strip. Two 50-something men sitting in a bar. Old friends. One is a priest. Woman walks up who is an old friend not seen for many years. “Gosh, Nicole, you look, er, wonderful.”

The man turns to his friend, the priest, “Forgive me Father, for I am about to sin.”

“I don’t do funerals,” replied the priest.

My wife is in a small group studying the Sermon on the Mount. They hit the divorce teaching of Jesus. We talk about it. Not to get one, of course, but to consider the current cultural environment.

For example, the Religious Right chose an issue it thought would get the most emotional allegiance from politically conservative Christians. It did not choose divorce. In fact, it doesn’t even have a divorce teaching. One of the founders was quite frank about it–too many people are divorced and accept it as just a part of living. No big deal.

And the legal reason back in Jesus’ day for divorce was–adultery.

Jesus, when asked one of those trick questions, said that Moses put in a law about divorce because humans are sinful. But God didn’t create us to have disposable spouses. Then Jesus talked about the meditations of our heart.

In fact, Jesus said, just to contemplate how “wonderful” another person is in a sexual attitude is the same thing as adultery.

Words can be cruel things that cannot be recalled. The meditations of our heart, though, corrupt our very soul. That’s like yesterday’s teaching. Where we set our mind is the direction we’ll go. We become what we think about. Don’t let your imagination get carried away.

Posted in Attention, Disciplines, emotions | Leave a Comment »

Where You Set Your Mind, So Shall You Go

February 27, 2017

You become what you think about.

It’s Monday. Are you thinking about your week ahead?

What am I going to do this week? What will I work on? Who will I meet? Where will I go? Will I be surprised at the answers come Friday?

Maybe a better question to begin each week is, Who will I be this week?

Earl Nightingale was a radio personality making the first “personal development” recordings on actual records. He devoted his life to seeking wisdom. He discovered the phrase quoted above was repeated by almost every ancient philosopher. It’s the strangest secret, he said.

I’ve been teasing out meaning from Paul’s letter to the Romans. It began to dawn on me in Chapter 7 and then hit me in Chapter 8. “Fix your mind on” was the phrase as translated into English in the New International Version.

Fix your mind on matters of the spirit, and you will find life. Fix your mind on matters of the flesh, and you will find death.

It helps to rise each morning, and after drinking 8 oz. of water and fixing that cup of coffee or tea, sit down and read something spiritual and then contemplate. What shall be my focus today?

I will be [calm, joyful, thoughtful, patient, forceful] today. I will watch for opportunities to serve anyone anywhere.

I will become what I think about.

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Have You Lost That Creative Feeling?

February 24, 2017

If you want to hire a creative employee, you’ll have a 98% probability of success by bringing in someone who is 3-5 years old. On the other hand, you’ll have a 2% chance of success by hiring an adult. –attributed to a NASA study

A European speaker at the conference I attended this week opened with this remark. I didn’t try to validate it. It’s almost a truism.

As we age, we so easily fall into ruts. (For the young people, that refers back before all the roads were paved. Wagons and other vehicles would go over the same path and over time grooves would be worn called ruts. So you could just let the horse pull the wagon or take your hands off the steering wheel and the vehicle would just follow the rut.)

Check it out if you’re old enough to read this post.

  • Have you tried any new foods lately?
  • Have you read any books that cause you to stretch your mind?
  • Have you traveled somewhere out of the ordinary?
  • Do you have the same ideas and prejudices that you’ve had for years?
  • Are you in the same profession doing the same job the same way?

Or, like children.

  • Do you try different combinations of things?
  • Do you learn something new every day with joy and anticipation?
  • Do you dream of things being different?
  • Are “what if” and “why” a dominant part of your vocabulary?
  • Can your imagination just take off at times and you can sit in it for extended periods of time?

Try this.

  • Sit quietly for 20 minutes a day and list ideas. At least 10 ideas a day.
  • Meet and talk with someone new every week. Maybe make it 5 people instead of 1.
  • Begin to learn another language. That forces your brain into new ways of thinking.
  • Are you fascinated with NASA’s discovery of six earth-like planets? What can you imagine about them? What if we could travel there?
  • Pick up a book on a topic you haven’t read since elementary school.

Many of these I’ve tried. I had a great opportunity once to start a magazine. I looked at the space we’d cover looking for what’s new and different? That worked for 8-10 years. But things changed. So I tried to imagine what was next in industry. So, I went off in a new direction.

And that is the next step. I’ve always imagined things, but seldom had the courage and confidence to do them. That was then. And I grew up.  Even now I hold back at times.

What is holding you back? Dream of a new you.

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