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I’d rather write than talk. Nobody interrupts! Posting monthly or less now--see below. |
My original purpose for this blog, which I started in August of 2019, was to see if I could maintain consistency, to discover what I want to write about, and to find my writing voice. In January, I started a "niche-less" blog at Wordpress.com where I've published weekly. -- Kit’s Kontemplations  . -- I'm preparing to start a Catholic blog on Wordpress.com where I'll post weekly, and another site to put the rest of my writing. I also want to spend more time reading other blogs and offering thoughtful comments, both here on WDC and elsewhere. At most, I will publish once a month at no set time in this blog starting in September of 2020. Thank you to those who have read and rated any posts on this blog. I really appreciate it. I did NOT want to write “about” me on this blog. I wanted to share my interests, discoveries and maybe a few useful insights. If anything I've written helps even one person, whether or not they respond to the post, then this blog has been successful. |
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. -- Maya Angelou There are more things in life that we complain about than things for which we express gratitude. That is not because more bad stuff happens than good stuff; rather, we naturally focus on the negative. It’s not so much because some people are optimists and others are pessimists. At the end of the day, I think all of us recall the negative stuff more readily and with greater clarity than the positive things. Could one reason for this tendency be that, in caveman days, threats and disasters made a bigger impact than finding a new food source or a better shelter? When life presents you with a challenging or painful situation, what’s your first reaction? If you have a more passive temperament, how uncomfortable do you need to be before you take some action to change the undesirable circumstances? If you’re a “take control” kind of person in this scenario, do you reflect and plan, or do you jump the fence without checking to see if there’s a bull in the field? My first reaction is to ask myself “how important is it?” Since I tend to be passive and patient, the problem or situation must be distressing and vexatious before I’ll take action. I rarely complain; it is unproductive, and creates negative energy in both myself and in my listener. When the situation is grave and will worsen if I don’t take action, I’ll consider carefully what the most effective strategy is. If I need help, I’ll ask for it. When I joined Overeaters Anonymous, I learned the Serenity Prayer. Having the serenity to accept what I couldn’t change wasn’t difficult for me. Having the courage to change what I could was more of a challenge. I still tend to rationalize not taking action, telling myself that nothing I did would have any impact on the situation. This made the third part of the Serenity Prayer a real challenge: having the wisdom to know the difference. There are some times when there is nothing that can be done about a situation, and other times when you have a few limited options. After doing what little is possible, the situation may still have a significantly negative impact on your life. In such a case, how can you change a negative attitude? I’m writing this near the end of April 2020. We’ve been cooped up at home with nowhere to go for two weeks with no end in sight. This is due to the self-isolation protocol directives from our local and federal governments because of the Covid-19 pandemic We can’t visit friends, we can’t go to coffee shops, and grocery shopping has become a significant ordeal. Many of us are working from home. Even more have been laid off. Some of us live alone and are more bored than we’ve been since taking history in high school. Others are at their wit’s end, keeping young children amused or are dealing with squabbles. “Challenging” doesn’t begin to describe this experience. What can you do to change your mindset, to practice mental self-care in really tough situations? Can you simply decide to think differently? Can you simply make a decision to exert your mind to seek reasons for which to be grateful while going through such times? I live with my husband and we are both retired. We do some things together each day; we play a game or watch movies while I knit or crochet. Aside from practicing gratitude at the start and end of each day, here are some things that are helping me:  I maintain a routine and have a structure to my days. I don’t follow my daily plan exactly, but I have one. I engage in a spiritual practice for at least 30 minutes once or twice each day. I practice self-care by eating healthy and exercising. I aim to get to bed at the same time each night. I study each day by reading articles, listening to podcasts, and pursuing online courses. I enjoy either watching a movie or reading some fiction each day, sometimes both.Reflection How do you deal with a difficult situation once you get past your initial reaction?If you could go back and change something in your behaviour during your last trial, what would it be?How do you most often react to emotional discomfort? If you’re not satisfied with how you’ve handled it in the past, what would you like to do differently next time?Were you able to find something to be positive about or grateful for in your last difficult situation? What was it? |
| There is so much talk of being “spiritual” and not being “religious”, as if the two were mutually exclusive. Most people whom I know that speak this way have an aversion to religious practices, fixed belief systems and codes of behaviour. I wonder how many of these people have been wounded by “religious” people, by church authorities or by someone in their childhood who “represented” God to them. I believe that being spiritual means being connected to God in an intimate and personal way. To be a spiritual being is to experience and live out of a sense of connection with the presence of God. As a Christian, I have an inner awareness and conviction that Jesus lives in the center of my being. When I pray, I am being “present to Him”, choosing to spend some quality time with the One whom I know loves me. Being “spiritual” also involves having an awareness of and a connection with one’s own soul, not the false ego-self but the true self. For Christians, our soul was placed in us at the moment of our conception. Each of us was created by God to love Him eternally and to experience a daily loving union with Him through His gift of the Holy Spirit. The root of the word “religion” means to bind oneself to something. It is the tangible external expression of an intangible internal reality. Being religious does involve holding a specific set of beliefs about the nature of God. It includes engaging in specific activities and rituals to express love and allegiance to God. It is often a way to seek an experience of God’s presence, either alone or as part of a group. Religion lived apart from genuine interior spirituality is empty and often toxic. Many religions, both current and obsolete, have one or more practices with the goal of appeasing and or communicating with the supernatural powers in which they believe and from whom they seek protection and power. As a charismatic Catholic on a mystic path, I consider myself to be both religious and spiritual. The practices by which I express my devotion to Jesus are the evidence of my commitment to Him. These daily external practices include: attending Mass, prayerful Scripture meditation, spiritual reading, praying the Liturgy of the Hours and other forms of prayer. These activities neither earn nor increase His love for me. The more diligently I engage in these practices, the better prepared my soul is to more deeply experience the love He has had for me since before I was conceived. These practices bring me to a deeply quiet contemplative “space” and interior silence which is when God works deep transformation in me so as to conform my soul more closely to His original intention for me. It is comparable to being anesthetized before surgery. At times when this experience is less absorbing, it is like being in the car on a long trip with my husband where neither of us speaks and we deeply enjoy each other’s peaceful, loving presence. Reflection: What does “being spiritual” mean to you? What activities, if any, do you engage in regularly that you consider “spiritual” practices? What does “being religious” mean to you? If the word “religion” evokes negative emotions in you, what is their root? |
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Yes, I know some people do that but I'm a creative writer not a journalist. Poetry sells ... but it's a money-maker for only a few. I write A LOT. Almost 180 pieces since Spring equinox. My goal is 300-400 per year. One year I went over 1,000. I need to do more editing, polishing, sharing, submitting. Writer's block? Who has time for that? I don't.