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Guardians
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. — Max Ehrmann, The Desiderata How often do we consider protecting our spirit? We use sunscreen on our bodies; limit what our minds encounter through ratings and reviews. But our spirits, delicate and resilient, require a different type of care. In this verse, Ehrmann instructs us to guard against loud and aggressive people. Yesterday at Target, a woman was having words with her child. She was several rows away, but her tone was notable. I observed myself becoming more attentive to my surroundings and beckoning my daughter closer. It was a primal response to danger. Involuntarily, we avoid loud,…
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Taking Good Care
The change in the seasons has ushered in a round of colds in our house. Oddly, this time I started it. Patient zero. So begins all the things we do to take extra good care of ourselves…better sleep, healthier foods, and an abundance of vitamin C. The irony, of course, is that if I had been doing those things all along, I might not have gotten a cold in the first place, or in the very least, it wouldn’t have been as bad. Taking care of ourselves strengthens our immune systems. The same holds true for our emotional and spiritual selves. The principle of self-care building immunity transcends our physical wellbeing.…
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Keeping Peace
Things have been tricky lately. Certainties seem uncertain. A bit like freshman Algebra, it feels like life has more variables than constants. Not knowing what Santa will bring you is one thing–the uncertainty of a future delight. But future mysteries in our jobs, relationships, and even the global community are different. Uncertainty in areas of our lives in which we’re more heavily invested can really disturb our peace of mind. Over the next few days, I’m going to share about peace of mind in two parts. First, in honor of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, two ways to think plus two ways to act when faced with challenges in our relationships (including sharing meals with your parents and extended…
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Question Marks
question mark — noun 2. something unanswered or unknown I saw my friend Jessica ask for help the other day. She didn’t do it directly, and it wasn’t premeditated. She was relating a bit of a story about herself and, as sometimes happens with humans, she took a brief, stream of conscious detour. A need was revealed. It was clear that revelation was not her intent. She was just joining in the conversation and out it came. Her question mark. A little later, another one of our friends approached her. She gently leaned into the tender spot that Jessica had made known and offered some assistance. Both of their lives will change as a result. Sometimes,…
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Why and How
Constitution – the aggregate of a person’s physical and psychological characteristics. Growing up, now and then I heard references made to a person’s constitution. Having a “strong constitution” was considered praise amongst the sturdy, Midwestern farm stock from which we had descended. It meant that someone was physically strong and emotionally resilient. With that point of reference, I came to believe that a person’s constitution was mostly driven by their physiology and most certainly determined at birth. Not unlike a litter of puppies, there were alphas and runts among us. As time passed, my perception changed. While we certainly have some predetermined physical characteristics, there is much over which we have influence.…
