Tell Me a Story…For Brain Power

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No matter our age, most everyone likes to hear or read a good story. Whether we read the story to someone or narrate as storyteller, these activities are powerful medicine for our brains because these behaviors activate neural pathways which might otherwise not get mobilized. Some might argue that reading to ourselves is just as effective as reading out loud to others, however, silent reading is similar to watching television in terms of the amount of mental energy utilized by the brain.

So remember, if you want to sharpen your intellectual edge and build some brainy muscle, then gather together a friend or two and tell or read them a story. You never know, but your doing so could spark creative inertia  among your group of listeners; your story telling might just be the catalyst which inspires another person to write and tell a story. Perhaps their story is just waiting for a reason to be told.

Life must be lived with a writer’s courage. Just as a blank page cannot be improved, nothing can be done with an unlived, untried life. To dare to live will involve mistakes and missteps. You and I will end up with choices we regret, opportunities we missed, words we wish we could go back and say or leave unsaid. Perfection is impossible. But a rough draft, no matter how flawed, sits within reach of an artist’s redemption.
Michele Cushatt ~ Undone, A Memoir

Live, Laugh, Love

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The Sound of Silence

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It is a holy thing, is it not? The sound of silence. It can clarify my murky thinking if given ample time in this place. Silence. It brings to brilliant relief those thoughts, ideas, attitudes, and feelings of mine that need to be examined and reduced to their most base elements. Silence. If I will only allow the quiet of silence to settle on me, like a misting fog, so that it may wrap me in its enveloping Presence. Silence. In the quiet, if I will linger for awhile, I may be delighted again, to hear the faint whispers of the Divine; his Breath as healing and loving kindness to my inmost being; like a flower’s fragrance of which I want to inhale deeply. Silence. His quieting Essence draws me out from myself; from the nooks and crannies of brokenness and into the light and life of Being.

The sound of silence invites me to intimacy with my former self, to the place of my beginning…my first residence where I was knitted together in the invisible realm; where the only sounds known to me were of heartbeat and breath; the sounds of love and life. Silence. To this place which I am drawn, my pursuit of quiet oneness. Because it is in this place that I become aware of communion with the One. I can hear the Heartbeat, I can feel the rhythmic Breath cradling me back to life; I am keenly exposed, yet not undone. It is in this place of beginning, that I find I am remade and renewed.

Silence. When I listen and soak to the full, I learn and re-learn how to live in the other place, in the outside, noisy world. But for now, I will delight in this quiet place; I will settle down into myself and into the company of the One. Yes, this is the place I will take myself to, run to, expectantly, and often, when I am in want. Silence. Because this is the place where I find and meet again, the Maker of me. In the quiet and still I will be hushed and comforted by his Presence; after all this I know, the sound of silence is a holy thing.

Forget Me Not

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It’s Mother’s Day and I’m fortunate enough to have my mom yet alive so as to celebrate this day with her. There have been times this past year when her health brought her mortality into sharp focus. While she is currently living in remission, this too is a gift because this reprieve of disease is a reminder to all of her family, that each day is a gift to be lived to the full.

But I’ve also noticed that when life settles into dull routines, minus the urgencies of life-threatening drama or stress, it is easy to get lazy about cherishing the gift of life and the gift of those precious people God has put in our midst to love.

This is why it is a special comfort and delight to know that our Maker, the Designer and Engineer of Mother-Love, has no capability or capacity for forgetfulness. The proof of His abiding love for all of us is in the indelibly engraved love note in the nail-scarred hands of Jesus.

Can a woman forget her nursing child?
Will she have no compassion on the child from her womb?
Although mothers may forget, I will not forget you.
I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.
(Isaiah 49:15-16 GOD’S WORD Copyright © 1995)

Wind and Rain

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I had to kick my butt out the door this afternoon for today’s run. Not having a race on my calendar to train for really makes it easy to stay indoors, especially when the weather is threatening rain with gusty winds. It’s not that I haven’t run in the rain before or that I’m afraid of getting wet. I ran earlier this week on a morning that looked less rain-ful than today and I ended up getting hailed on before I finished the 4-mile out and back. Rain is one thing, hail is much more hurtful.

Thankfully, the rain held back for me this afternoon, and the temperature was perfect (50 degrees +/-) even with the gusting wind. Today’s run put 30 miles on my legs this week, and they felt a little weary and my breath too came in heaves because I was running at mile high elevation this afternoon. But all in all, I am glad I got over myself, and got out the door and moved myself down the trail and back.

Word as Bond

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In the old days, a trustworthy person could be described as one whose ‘word was their bond’. In modern times, ‘our bond’ has been greatly depreciated. It has been replaced with credit scores and background checks. I wonder what our society, our communities, and our families would look like if we valued the power of spoken words more than credit scores. What if we spent our words carefully each day, speaking those things that are only needful and helpful for others? What sort of dividends could we amass as a society and personally if we only spent our words as currency of love and truth?

“Be Impeccable With Your Word: Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.” Don Miguel Ruiz

DEFINITION: Impeccable: faultless; flawless; irreproachable

That’s heady stuff; to be impeccable with my word. That means I would have to think before I speak. I would not veil what I mean with empty fluff; I would not seek to harm or reduce another with my words. How often am I impeccable with my words? I hate to admit, but not very often. Maybe, on a very good day, once or twice in the course of my waking hours could I be accused of speaking with impeccability.

Jesus too, the WORD incarnate, taught this about communication: “Say just a simple ‘Yes, I will’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Your word is enough. To strengthen your promise with a vow shows that something is wrong.” Matthew 5:37 TLB

What indeed would happen if I had it in my mind to only do my very best whenever I opened my mouth to speak. What effect would that have on those with whom I communicate; with those who overhear my communications? I can only imagine…

Running…How To Do It

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“I told him I’d started running, and I wasn’t sure if I knew how to do it. He said there wasn’t all that much to it, aside from remembering to alternate feet.”
Step by Step ~ Lawrence Block

This quote made me laugh when I first read it and I knew I wanted to share it on my blog one day soon. I just finished reading this book and enjoyed Mr. Block’s memoir; running and walking was (and I hope still is) a prominent feature of his life’s story.

Tomorrow I’ll be running my first 10K of 2015 and I’ll probably be smiling while I think about this silly little quote about alternating my feet. The Dr. Gann’s Cinco de Mayo 10K is in it’s 35th year, but tomorrow will only be the second time I’ve run this race. It’s an out and back mixed, hilly route which thankfully ends with the last 2 miles downhill. Should be nice and warm too, around 70 degrees at 7am.

I’m not as trained this year as I was last year, my schedule was full of work and caretaking for a sick parent, so tomorrow’s race is for the pure pleasure of running, simply because I can and I have no where else to be at 7 o’clock in the morning. I hope to at least run the same pace as I did last year, but if I’m feeling fresh and strong you can count on me to push the pace up a bit too. So here’s to tomorrow’s race and to how to do it!

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving. ~ Anatole France

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “The Happy Wanderer.”

It’s time…actually it’s way over due. A road trip is the only thing that can cure this need for escape; this lust for adventure; this hunger for new vistas; this thirst for conquest; this drive to nowhere; this drive to everywhere. To the land where clocks and calendars and phones have no power, to distract, to cast and reel the breath of life out of me.

I need to get in the car and drive…away…fast…without a rear view mirror. Where will I go? It doesn’t matter…north, south, east, west? Pick one. What? Only one? I want them all!  What shall I pack? I don’t need much…my joggers, a GPS, some music, gas in the tank, money in the wallet, pedal to the metal…away I go in a cloud of dust. Destination? Nowhere just yet, anywhere but here. Time of arrival? Depends on when I run out of go; out of drive; out of stress. It depends on all those things that push and propel me to get in the car and drive away. How many hours? How many days? Oh what luxury to drive to anywhere for weeks on end before being recalled to the place of my beginning. Such fantasy!

One of these days…perhaps soon. I’m going to get in my car for no other purpose than to drive; and I’ll say to myself…today is the day. Let’s just drive…away.

 

Let’s Just Drive…Away

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Rituals, Routines and Religion

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My morning ritual is one that I especially look forward to: rise, eat banana, make coffee; sip coffee; read my devotions; be quiet…listen…wonder…listen…pray…jot down the ideas or inspirations that have been piqued during my morning quiet time. I will write about these things; I will think about these things as I prepare  for the new day. So now you know my morning ritual…for waking up and for making a connection with the Divine One.

Now I’m ready for my morning exercise routine; I’ll have some toast or half a bagel and get ready to go for my morning run. On Monday, Wednesday and Fridays I head out the door for a 3 to 8 mile run, depending on the schedule for the day. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I put on my Zumba fitness garb and lead an hour long group fitness class. Saturday or Sundays are reserved for long runs of 8 to 10 miles or a mountain bike ride with my husband. My exercise routine is so well entrenched in my body and on my calendar that I feel completely out of sync when I miss a morning run or class.

But that’s the value of having and using rituals and routines. They help us stay connected and in touch with those activities that are important for us to do every day. Do these things long enough and they become a part of you, of your subconscious.

However, rituals and routines do have their downsides. Rather than keeping us on track, they can become a source of  great boredom for us…in other words we can feel stuck in a rut by the very routine that once gave a us a firm sense of being or accomplishment. If I ever feel stuck or bored in my routines, then I know they have outlived their purpose. It’s time to recycle or reinvent a system that will continue to propel me in a positive, forward frame of mind and/or way of going.

We should not hold a ‘religious’ attachment to rituals and routines. Even though their very existence in our daily life provides a semblance of structure, this framework should not be allowed to solidify if it is no longer useful for its original purpose. If our rituals and routines fail to motivate us to engage in the desired behaviors or actions for which we initially employed them, then it’s likely that they have become a religion of tired belief rather than a reflex of purposeful action.

Are your rituals and routines working for you? If not, don’t be afraid to change things up for yourself. Your creativity, your fitness, your personal goals or spirituality can only improve when you reset your rituals and routines.

 

No Longer an Exile

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Death is no longer banishment, it is a return from exile, a going home to the many mansions where the loved ones already dwell. We are not far from home–a moment will bring us there.
(Morning & Evening ~ Spurgeon)

I love the image that is conjured in my mind when I consider Spurgeon’s description of death being our return from exile. I strongly identify with being in exile because that’s what I so often feel like as a resident of O town ~ exiled from the larger world, from so many friends and family. And yet, these feelings perhaps are not too far from true if I view them in perspective of eternity.

If I believe that I am a created in the image of the Living God, then while I exist in this world He created for us to inhabit, it only makes sense that I feel like I am living in it as a foreigner; this world is not my home! While I clearly delight in the natural beauty of His creation, my heart tells me that there is so much more to life than what I experience through my senses. This world is not my final destination! I was created and designed to live in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the only possible explanation that makes sense to my heart; this can be the only explanation as to why everything here on Earth feels so other worldly. So while I live on Earth I live as one with dual citizenship. A resident of Earth, but a native of the Kingdom of Heaven. This world is not my home!

“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.” John 14:2-4 NIV

So as Spurgeon notes, “we are not far from home — a moment will bring us there”, my dual citizenship allows me great privilege indeed. I may access the Kingdom of Heaven while living in the Kingdom of Earth when I practice the native tongue of my homeland: LOVE. So then, I am indeed something like an Ambassador…a representative of the homeland, and as such I live closest to my homeland when I live in LOVE during my exile. And while I simultaneously straddle today and eternity, I find comfort and joy knowing that my days in exile are not so long as to make me forget from whence I came. Because, in a moment, in the not too distant future, I will close my eyes and awaken again…no longer an exile.