We all underestimate our need for joy. If we are not careful, we live as if our schedules are our lives. We cross one thing after another off the list. At the end of the day, we have completed our chores, but we haven't necessarily been present for our own experiences.
This sure does sound like me. I have a lot to learn about just living life....My dogs and my husband are always reminding me to take time off, to play. Thank God they're in my life.
This bit of wisdom is a treasure, particularly in our day, when it takes 4 feet of snow (those in D.C will understand) to slow the pace of our daily lives enough for us to celebrate as a community. Life is a collection of stories and narratives that give meaning to our lives and help show us who we really are. Our stories and the people in them help define us, and if we can't slow down enough to be a part of those stories, to enjoy them, we end up losing parts of ourselves. I pray that we would not let the pace and businesslike atmosphere or our culture alienate us from each other and the stories we create together. I pray that we would recognize we are not individuals but a people on a journey, God's journey. Let us not be so busy that we cannot find joy in that.
I have lists upon lists. thanks for this reminder. Even at a retreat center, one can get consumed in the details. Joyful thanks.Larry Peacock, Rolling Ridge retreat center, Massachusetts.
Mindfulness is my usual concern, but I don't practice it well or often, becoming aware, if at all, only after the fact. I tend to look at presence and spirituality at one end of a continuum, while 'not being present in my own living' would be at the other end.
My wife and I took our 7-year-old daughter to a serious film she wanted to see, but it wasn't showing, so we saw The Chipmunks 'Alvin 2' and experienced our child responding with sheer delight and gales of laughter. It was a tonic to me just to see her.
During the film I experienced 'fun' from seeing it, but joy flowed into my own spirit from seeing my daughter. I learned something about my own need for joy, and was glad to have had a change of intended schedule.
Here! Here! I need this printed on a street sign in my yard. A neon in my kitchen? A tattoo on my face? I just want so very much today to INTERNALIZE these words.
And by the way - the great Mary Pipher is from my very own town Lincoln, Nebraska. To say I am her admirer is an understatement. ;-)
"A person should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul." ~~Goethe
I really needed this reminder this morning. Before I retired, home was where I came to relax and enjoy myself after a tough day at the office. Now home is my office. I really need to "indulge" myself and get out, and enjoy the rest of the world.
Me
What a great quote for this busy day that didn't seem to be cooperating with my plan! The quote itself was a spot of joy and a reminder to take time for the joy.
I keep Brigadoon, South Pacific, the Anonymous 4 singing American hymns, Harry Belafonte, and such like music in my car. When my day is making me feel weary and heavy, I remind myself to sing instead of put on my headset and make more calls, instead of listening to more news of dismay and terribleness on the radio. She who sings, prays twice. When I sing, I breathe. I am present to the music, and I sing songs of joy or silliness or faith or love, because to me it is not cheesy to have stuff like this in my head. It is a necessary corrective, a tonic; a way to break the intensity and tightness and list-orientedness into which I can fall. God can winkle back into my consciousness through the air holes that singing can leave behind.
not cheezy at all - you r choosing your focus - we can never go wronge in choosing GOD as our focus - thanks for sharing Lizzy
We could also look at our "have to" as "GET TO" - I no longer have the ablity to do much of anything - so I see all things as a blessing to be able to be a part of - even empting the garbage or drive in traffic. CHOOSE HOW TO WANT TO SEE LIFE.
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