Faith Venture

I’ve been reading a book on ethical practices where the author’s emphasis was on practicing gratitude for your mental, physical and spiritual health. He made a good case for it intellectually.

Yesterday, someone at church mentioned gratitude. I made a note.

Following two days of meetings in Chicago, I followed the Friday’s storm home. It was perhaps 4 hours ahead of me. Across northern Indiana I could see where power was out. Or where there were an occasional oasis of power where people thronged for dinner. (Busiest Arby’s I’ve ever witnessed in Warsaw, Indiana.)

We had no power from 4 pm on Friday until about 8 pm on Saturday. Then a storm blew through Sunday afternoon and knocked out the power again. It’s 11 am Monday, and I’m operating off the charge I got at Tim Horton’s this morning.

There are ways to practice gratitude from this:

• There were no deaths from the storm
• It is summer, so no worries about freezing to death
• Power and cable was on long enough for me to see the Euro 2012 Championship game (soccer-Spain was simply masterful)
• We had no property damage
• We were at a 7-in. rainfall deficit for the year, now it’s 2.5 (4.5 inches of rain in three days)
• My wife has many leaves and small tree limbs to pick up–that’ll keep her occupied for a while

It’s a good practice to spend at least 5 minutes a day looking for things to be grateful for. It’ll change your outlook on life.

Since I’m being practical for a while, I thought I’d expand on yesterday’s post about reviewing your notes. No matter whether you call it a journal, note book or thoughts book, using it to remember is only good if you go back and see it again.

A good practice is to review your week every week. Sunday evening is a good time. Review your notes from last week. Are there habits you need to emphasize? Make a little note and stick it in a spot you’ll be looking at–say by your computer on your desk.

What would you like to accomplish in the coming week?

• Meet someone new.
• Read a book.
• Write something.
• Call someone.

Make a list. Lists are your friends. You tackle one thing at a time and check it off the list. Then review it along with all your notes at the beginning of the next week.

Every month, review notes and lists from the previous month. Every few months pull out all your filled notebooks and review what you’ve learned and what you’ve done. In this way, the learning stays with you.

After all, it’s not what’s in your head that counts. It’s how it changes how you live.

Do you make notes of ideas or new things you’ve learned? Do you keep a list of things to do or reminders of habits you’d like to develop?

I have become a disciple of Getting Things Done by David Allen. His first principle is to write things and keep in a trusted place rather than trusting them to your memory. I keep a Moleskin pocket notebook with me at almost all times (and a pen). When I get an idea, someone says something I should learn or remember, or when I need to remember a to do, I write it down.

Ah, but the key is to go back and read the notes. I went to a study group early Tuesday morning and we were talking about learning things from our study and one man said, “But you have to go back and review it. I don’t have that discipline.”

Spiritual disciplines are an eclectic lot. You can work on your emotions. On your inner spiritual life. On your service. And, on your intellectual development.

That person was exactly right. One discipline essential to develop is that of reviewing your notes. And if you are not taking notes–try it. Learners have done that for centuries.

I’ve been reading some books in preparation for the next level of Yoga teacher training. That sparked my thoughts on Monday. Even though the writer has a Ph.D. in psychology, he made some points that started me thinking.

Sometimes people and/or events–or maybe just your childhood–cause you to dwell on negative thoughts. These thoughts extinguish your energy. Move you toward depression (not the clinical type, although that’s a possibility). Make you not fun to be around–that is, unless you’re a geek like me and you’re never the life of the party.

This started me thinking about living through the 80s. A similar time to now. Economy was rocky. Jobs sometimes hard to find. Even worse when the President of the company you work for makes the board of the bank to whom you owe millions mad and they force a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. I worked for four companies in the 80s that closed. Believe me, I know the signs of impending doom in business!

Back then, in order to try to remain stable in the face of all the challenges, I adopted a few spiritual practices which continue to work. You make your mind focus on positive things. Your thoughts will dwell where you let them. You can choose to think negative thoughts. Or you can choose to focus on positive ones.

One good place to start is with gratitude. What are you grateful for? Life? Family? A friend? Health? Surely there is something. Make it a regular practice–a discipline–every day to put your mind on one of these.

Now, obviously, I’m writing to “normal” people. I have no training to help people who are clinically depressed. Or those who are clinically bi-polar. I’m told there are legal drugs to help that along with counseling. If you think you can’t get out of your depressed state, or if your erratic mood swings are so radical that they affect all those around you, see a professional.

For the rest of us, try this practice. I found it a useful practice in those moments just before falling asleep when those thoughts really seem to invade. Meditating on the fruits of gratitude can lead to some of the best sleep you’ll ever get.

John Ortberg, senior pastor at the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (California), is one of today’s best Bible teachers. He’s been teaching on the soul. The teaching includes looking at the different parts that comprise a human being. The teachings come from the Scriptures.

We all have a body, that part of us over which we exercise control. The physical part. We say move, and we move. The will is the decision-making part. It comprises the ability to choose. The mind in ancient thinking describes both thoughts and emotions. As an aside, modern brain research tends to confirm this view that thoughts and emotions work together. The soul is that which combines all of these plus more into a being that is dedicated to God.

Our problems come when we allow one part to exercise control over another. When our will (ability to choose) is controlled by our emotions, then we have problems.

One of the most important spiritual practices I can think of right now, is the practice of stepping back in your soul and recognizing your emotions, realizing where they originate, and then assuring that the will is not controlled by them. Do the feelings come from a sense of powerlessness? Too much ego involved? Depression–feeling that things can’t get better? Undo influence of others who have their own problems?

That’s one reason meditation is so important. It provides a breathing space where you can calm your soul and get it back in tune with God.

Psychologists have verified what ancient thinkers knew–you become what you think about. Your mind will believe just about anything you tell it. If you associate a thought with a strong emotion, it becomes an opinion.

The “will” is the power to choose within us. And our spirit gives us power in the choice.

I’m thinking about this, because (unless you have severe emotional problems that you cannot understand yourself) you can think yourself out of your moods.

One good spiritual discipline is that no matter what the situation you choose your response. You choose how you feel about it. You can feel like a victim or you can feel acceptance and gratitude.

The most important practice is to choose how you’ll greet the day ahead.

A manager in a manufacturing plant gets in your face shouting at you do fix the machine. His voice rises in volume and pitch. It’s as if he needs to force you to get the job done.

Manufacturing used to be run that way–force of personality. Anger was either seen as a motivator or a way to transfer stress from one person to another. I grew up in manufacturing. Saw my share of that.

But I think that most anger in daily life comes from insecurity. Someone says something that slights you. They imply that you are not smart, pretty, knowledgeable, spiritual, good enough. It makes you mad and you lash out in anger.

I was reading Paul’s lists of “things of the flesh” in Colossians that we should put put aside in favor of the clothing of the spiritual life. But what discipline, or spiritual practice, should we pull out of the toolbox to deal with this anger that rises from our gut and explodes through our head?

Sure, it’s easy for Paul to give another list that includes things such as peace, joy and love. But, do those help you in the moment? I know that even in a life that’s balanced on the whole, there are times when you can’t help yourself.

Best is to walk away and allow yourself to cool down. Search for perspective. Take a deep breath to relax the body and emotions and then bring your focus on Jesus and away from your antagonist. Most of the time they are dealing with their own insecurities. You can pray for that. But only after slowing yourself down and achieving a new focus.

A guy was explaining his view of the impact of social media and mobile electronics the other day on a podcast show. He lamented the demise of focus caused by too many sources of stimulation.

Someone once said that Herman Hesse was the first modern writer because his protagonist in the novel Steppenwolf always turned on the radio when he was in his apartment. He needed the noise and stimulation. This, by the way, was in Germany between the wars.

Is it a new phenomenon that people have trouble focusing on a task? Or is it just that we have so many more ways to be distracted? Remember the story of Martha and Mary when Jesus was visiting? Martha complained that Mary wasn’t helping prepare food for the guests. Jesus said, “Martha, you are distracted by many things.”

There is a way. The practice of contemplation is older than recorded history. Contemplatives have figured it out. It’s a good practice–a good thing for a daily discipline or habit. You sit. Focus on breathing. Relax. Focus on your breath some more. If thoughts enter your mind, don’t force them out. Just let them drift away as you return your attention to your breath.

There are different traditions and practices beyond this simple stopping and focusing. You can repeat a word to focus your energy. Could be Om from the Hindu tradition. God, Spirit, Love or Jesus from the Christian tradition. Could be just a “primordial sound” such as ahhh or ohhh. Doesn’t matter. The whole idea is just to achieve calmness and focus.

At that point you can think with your imagination.  Picture yourself in one of the stories of Jesus. Perhaps you are along on that walk to Emmaus after the resurrection.

It is possible to be focused. But it is something you have to consciously choose.