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Tag Archives: slow down

Humility

17 Thursday Sep 2020

Posted by thesophiacenterforspirituality in Uncategorized

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Beverly Lanzetta, coronavirus, humility, pandemic, slow down, Spiritual Practices & Formation for the Monk Within, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As I was checking my e-mail this morning I found a message from yesterday that I hadn’t seen. It’s a great follow-on to yesterday’s post about love. The topic is humility. I learned long ago that humility is not beating yourself up and thinking less of yourself but rather is a recognition of who you really are, what capacities you possess and – most importantly – the willingness to embrace of the truth of yourself as a great gift, regardless of what/who you would prefer to be.

During this pandemic that we are all living in, many of us see ourselves as “less” than we thought we were: less energetic, less creative, less useful, less competent… We watch the days go by and the projects we planned either done poorly or not at all. We continue to plan but seem unable to achieve. For most of us it’s more of a “slow-down” than a failure, but we wonder, nevertheless, when we’ll “get back to normal.” A little humility, in the words of Beverly Lanzetta in a forthcoming book, may be helpful.

Humility implies radical trust in divine reality…Humility says, accept the limits of your situation and the fullness of your life the way it is. Humility says, be content with where God is taking you. Be content with what you are given. (Beverly Lanzetta, Spiritual Practices & Formation for the Monk Within, Forthcoming in late fall 2020)

One Thing at a Time

17 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by thesophiacenterforspirituality in Uncategorized

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challenges, intention, Life Is a Verb, one thing at a time, Patti Digh, practice, slow down, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, to do list

alistI woke up this morning at around 3:00 and realized about ten minutes later that I was not likely to go back to sleep as my mind had begun ticking off things on an already-made list and things that I needed to add for completion in the next few days. I gave up trying and, in a rare move, got up to read what was left of our “assignment” for the book club meeting tomorrow. I smiled at God’s sense of humor as I read the chapter heading: Intention: Slow Down. Sprinkled throughout the chapters of this book (Life Is A Verb by Patti Digh) there are activities which the author calls challenges. What I read before I was finally able to go back to sleep for two more hours certainly fell under that title. There were two parts to the challenge. I was happy to see the first part because I have recently begun such a practice – at least while I eat – but the second will, I think, be the more difficult process for me. Here is what Patti recommended.

  1. Today, for one hour, imagine that you can only do one thing at a time. If you are drinking coffee, you can’t check e-mail. If you are talking to your neighbor, you can’t be folding laundry. If you are walking to get your mail, you can’t be talking on your cell phone. If you are eating, you can’t be reading. One. Thing. At. A. Time. Try it.
  2. Write for five minutes without stopping in answer to this question: What is on my to-do list today? List every single thing you need to do today, those things that are past due, and those things that are coming up. Stop. Now write for five minutes on this question: What must I do or I shall die? Using your answer to the question, What must I do or I shall die, practice different ways to say no. For the next 37 days, when you are asked to add something to your to-do list, if it doesn’t match your do-or-die-list, say no.

How outrageous these thoughts are to someone with an overactive sense of responsibility! They did not, however, keep me awake. As a matter of fact, I went back to sleep rather quickly, so perhaps there is something in these “challenges” that I am called to consider. It can’t hurt…and might help considerably! I can only try…

 

 

 

 

 

Wait For It…

18 Saturday Nov 2017

Posted by thesophiacenterforspirituality in Uncategorized

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dawn, hope, silence, slow down, slow work of God, spirit, sunrise, Teilhard de Chardin, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

amagentasunriseHaving set up the coffee last night for the Sisters staying on the guest floor at our Province Center, I was surprised to be the first arriving in the kitchen this morning. I thought someone would have been awake before 6:30…I could hardly click the switch on the coffee maker, however, so glorious was the scene unfolding outside the window. The still darkish dawn sky was splashed with waves of deep magenta, growing brighter by the minute! But there was nothing hurried about the sun’s rise to the top of the hills across the Hudson River in Troy – nor of the coffee maker, I might add…

Joined by another Sister seeking a wake-up, we stood in silent stillness, companioned by the trees – unmoving as we all were in the silence, facing east – waiting for the brilliance that was sure to come. We watched as much of the magenta turned to gray, leaving a center patch that slowly morphed into deep gold…then a lighter, less ostentatious backdrop. Occasionally we shared a whispered hope for this day of deliberation at the Province Assembly: “May we move from the enthusiasm of our greetings with one another, carrying good feeling to the work of the meeting…”  “May we slow down and quietly wait for the Spirit to speak among us…”

It sounds strange to describe something that has been so deliberately awaited as sudden, but the actual breaking of the first rays of the sun and the swift blinding light that followed over the mountain was a breathtaking event! As I arrived back in my room, the clock told me we had been there for a full half-hour! I was reminded of Teilhard de Chardin’s famous adage: “Trust in the slow work of God!” Clearly God’s work of today has been marvelously begun. Now it’s up to us to join our effort to God’s in the work that awaits us. May we all trust the certainty that God’s loving light will unfailingly lead us!

 

 

 

 

 

Good Conversation

01 Friday Jul 2016

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acknowledge, conversation, curious, deeper level, family, gather, Margaret Wheatley, messy, recognize, remember, slow down, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, travel, Turning To One Another

atravelI’ve been thinking lately, because of recent experiences in a number of situations, of the value of good conversation for deepening understanding and recognition of how similar we are, even in all our diversity. It wasn’t a surprise, therefore, when my copy of Turning To One Another, a book by Margaret Wheatley that I’ve had for years, showed up when I wasn’t looking. The book is subtitled “simple conversations to restore hope to the world.” This morning I read what might be a good reflection for those of us who are preparing to travel – near or far – during this Independence Day holiday time. Here’s some of what she said:

I first fell in love with the practice of conversation when I experienced for myself the sense of unity, of communion, that is available in this process…Although we each benefit individually from good conversation, we also discover that we were never as separated as we thought. Good conversation connects us at a deeper level. As we share our different human experiences, we rediscover a sense of unity. We remember we are part of a greater whole. And as an added joy, we also discover our collective wisdom. We suddenly see how wise we can be together. For conversation to take us into this deeper realm, I believe we have to practice several new behaviors. Here are the principles I’ve learned to emphasize before we begin a formal conversation process:

  1. we acknowledge one another as equals
  2. we try to stay curious about each other
  3. we recognize that we need each other’s help to become better listeners
  4. we slow down so that we have time to think and reflect
  5. we remember that conversation is the natural way humans think together
  6. we expect it to be messy at times.

If you have the opportunity to gather with others this weekend, especially with friends and loved ones that you don’t often see, (or even if you stay at home) I hope that you will remember the adage that “what is seldom is wonderful” and take counsel from Meg Wheatley in your time together. Safe travels, everyone.

 

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