Choice

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choice, freedom, Meg Wheatley, perseverance, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

At this time when there is such a clear sense of dichotomy in our country and in the run-up to our national elections (only 70 days away), we need some voices of wisdom to get us on the road of reason. Meg Wheatley has one question at the end of her brief essay on “Choice” that we ought to consider – maybe today – instead of wringing our hands and hoping for a good outcome. Listen:

Why, in this world of infinite freedom and choice, would we lock ourselves into one petty story, no matter how much time, attention and creativity we’ve spent on composing it? (Perseverance, p.103)

Choosing

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choice, choosing, decision, Meg Wheatley, questions, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Saturday proved to be a great example of flexibility for the Sisters of St. Joseph here at our assembly. After having spent several hours at different times preparing for our 2-day meeting and thinking the agenda was all in place, we were thrown a significant but necessary curve that could have derailed the entire timeline. But it didn’t!

After some quick thinking in two brief meetings, a way forward was determined and smooth sailing was assured. I was reminded of that this morning as I read a reflection from Meg Wheatley called “Choosing.” She says, in part:

“These critical questions require a momentary pause, a little reflection. Rather than just striking out or being reactive to a bad day, we offer ourselves freedom…we’re not trapped by circumstances or fatigue. We give ourselves a moment to look as clearly as we can at the current situation. And then we make a conscious choice. Every day.” (Perseverance, p.59)

So step back a pace or two, if necessary, take a deep breath to recognize what benefit there might be in openness, smile and then go forward into the freedom of your day. See if it doesn’t surprise you with a good outcome.

Choice

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acceptance, choice, interpretation, judgment, Meg Wheatley, perseverance, react, respond, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Life sometimes seems to be offering us little choice. When we’re young we have to go to school, we eat what our parents put before us, we do what we’re told, etc. When older, sometimes it feels the same when our patterns are established and we go to work, we spend our money on necessities (or not) and sometimes life seems to winnow the list of choices we have to fit into how much time we have in our busy schedules (but who makes the schedule?).

I am considering the topic of choice today not because I feel constrained by the number of hours in the day (although as I get older that sometimes rankles) but because of Margaret Wheatley’s book, Perseverance, that I chose for my morning reflection. Here’s a little of what she said – which you might choose to consider as I did, whether you are making judgments about time constraints, other people or anything in your life.

We need first to notice that we’ve made choices about everything in our lives. How we react and respond, every single feeling, is a choice. Every situation has infinite possibilities for interpretation and reaction. But we collapse all those possibilities the second we assign a feeling or judgment to the situation. (Page 103)

So, really, it’s more about how we feel about our choices and/or how we judge them that makes the difference in our acceptance of them. I will be spending some time with this thought today. Will you?

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Listening With Your Heart

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Benedictine, choice, debate, decisions, Joan Chittister, listening, pray for wisdom, spirituality, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, voice of God, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily

I felt I needed to check news headlines this morning as I had been rather “out of the loop” during a whirlwind week playing “catch-up” with myself. It was an interesting few minutes. Most of what I read were a number of interpretations of the debate performances of one or all of the ten top candidates of the Democratic Party for our next President of the U.S.A. Everyone has an opinion and, although I do realize many of the reporters do their “homework” before, during and after events such as these, I will now be better off reading transcripts of what they really said and following my own heart in making decisions. I would wish for some face-to-face time with each one of those still standing but will have to settle for replays and reflection for the next several months.

After my foray into the news headlines I spent some time with Joan Chittister’s Wisdom Distilled from the Daily. Sister Joan always has a way of pulling me back into my own head and heart with just the right words. (I would do well to support her for some lofty political office, I think.) Here’s what she said that, by way of analogy, reinforced my confidence this morning.

Benedictine spirituality is, then, the spirituality of an open heart…At one point in the monastic life, I was sure that knowing the Rule and practicing its practices was the secret of a holy life. Now I know that knowing the document will never suffice for listening to the voice of God wherever it may be found. No longer do I hope that someday, somehow, I will have accumulated enough listening so that there will be no further questions about pious practices that can easily be learned. Now I have only a burning commitment to those qualities of the spiritual life that must be learned if I am to grow. (p.24-25)

It’s far-fetched perhaps as a way to proceed in winnowing the political field for office, but I do think there is a relevance in Sister Joan’s comments. It’s up to me to go beyond the words offered by the candidates, to feel their motivations and check their past and present actions for what is really the make-up of their agenda – to the best of my ability, of course. And in the end, to pray for wisdom and the best hope for the future of our country.

Choice

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choice, day, poem, prayer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning I started reading something about how everything in our lives is a choice, even when it seems that life has treated us unfairly. Suddenly I was repeating the first line of a prayer card that I had kept in my Bible for years. The first two lines pop up frequently for me in the morning as I’m looking forward (or not) to the day. I’ve often wondered about the rest of the prayer of which I have no memory. It must have seemed that what I remembered was sufficient advice for the day. This morning, however, I decided to “Google it!” although I had little hope of success. Wouldn’t you know! Google is the memory of the world – even of little known and seldom used information. I still think the beginning is enough but repeat what I found simply because I found it. (No author attached)

This day is mine to mar or make. God, keep me strong and true. Let me no erring bypath take, no doubtful action do. Let all I meet along the way speak well of me tonight. I would not have the humblest say I’d hurt them by a slight. Grant me when the setting sun this fleeting say shall end, that I rejoice over something done, be righter by a friend. Let there be something true and fine, when night slips down to tell, that I have lived this day of mine, not selfishly, but well.

Not stellar poetry by any means, but as I typed the poem/prayer in its entirety I came to understand why I kept it. I could do well to live the words – all the words – every day that I am given.

To Each Our Own

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Black Friday, choice, freedom, homage, humanity, nature, Peace, silence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Yesterday afternoon the sun was so inviting that I decided to go for a walk. I was pleasantly surprised at the mildness of the breeze but still grateful for the layers of clothing I had decided to wear. There were no cars at the golf course next to our land and the path onto the 10th hole – close to the road – called me to abandon the street and walk the quieter path down to the river. The grass had been well tended so that it looked like a gigantic blanket of still vibrant green decorated only with numerous pine cones dropped in areas inhabited by the gigantic evergreen trees. I walked along the river and it seemed the river was keeping in step with me; we were definitely going in the same direction. The silence was profound and calming. I stopped often on my way back along the winding paths meant for the golf carts to listen to the silence and pay homage to the towering trees…

My foray into nature only lasted about 25 minutes but the peace that enveloped me there remained. The gift of the experience far outweighed for me anything I could have garnered from a “traditional” Black Friday at the mall. As I write that, I know that the small prepositional phrase “for me” is essential. Each person is different and I have no right nor desire to judge the value of any experience for another person. For some, the mall offers a yearly opportunity with friends or a special family member to leave the crowd at home watching football and enter a whole other universe of “shop till you drop” humanity. I’m just glad we have the freedom to choose the experience that best fits us and I am so content with my choice!