Benefits of Meditation

How can meditation help me?

• Reduces muscle tension and fatigue.
• Strengthens the immune system.
• Reduces pain.
• Reduces insomnia.
• Alleviates headaches.
• Helps with stress management and irritability.
• Gives inspiration.
• Improves mental focus.
• Improves creativity.
• Helps with weight loss.
• Lowers blood pressure.

Those are just a few of the benefits of meditation.
If you feel meditation would be difficult for you, just start with 5 minutes twice a day.  Set a timer so you won’t be watching the clock.  Just sit in a quiet place and clear your mind.  Add 5 minutes to your time weekly.

Sit for even one minute; this is God's prayer and the time will grow. It is natural to have thoughts, but let them go and return to your word or to your heart space.

 

Found here, thanks to my friend Trudy sending me the link.

Desert Father's Advice

As he was dying, Abba Benjamin taught his sons this:

Do this, and you'll be saved:

Rejoice always,

pray constantly,

and in all circumstances give thanks.

No Words

Quotes on Equality

Diane Vogel Ferri compiled these quotes on her blog Co Exist.

Gay people are born into and belong to every society in the world. They are all ages, all races, all faiths. They are doctors and teachers, farmers and bankers, soldiers and athletes. And whether we know it, or whether we acknowledge it, they are our family, out friends, and our neighbors. Being gay is not a western invention. It is a human reality.

Hilary Clinton

The truth is that male religious figures have had - and still have - an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have for their own selfish ends overwhelmingly chosen the latter. Their continuous choice provides the foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world.

Jimmy Carter

Memorial Day

" Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. "

John 15:13

They are in formation. They are not marching, they are not in battle; no, they are at rest and in peace. We remember on this sacred day those who answered the call to duty.

Honor and sacrifice is their gift to us all.

From Brother John, John Gaudraeu at Perfect Peace and Joy.

I am honoring the memory of all and especially my parents who served in the Marine Corps for WWII and my dad in the Korea Conflict and in Vietnam before he retired from the Marine Corps.

Another Poem: The Healing Time

The Healing Time
                                                Finally on my way to yes
                                                I bump into
                                                all the places
                                                where I said no
                                                to my life
                                                all the untended wounds
                                                the red and purple scars
                                                those hieroglyphs of pain
                                                carved into my skin, my bones,
                                                those coded messages
                                                that send me down
                                                the wrong street
                                                again and again
                                                where I find them
                                                the old wounds
                                                the old misdirections
                                                and I lift them
                                                one by one
                                                close to my heart
                                                and I say . . . holy
                                                          holy.
       
                                                       © Pesha Joyce Gertler

Pesha Joyce Gertler was the Poet Populist for Seattle, WA 2005-2006.  She is an English professor at North Seattle Community College. Her biography is here.

Pentecost

With thanks to Purpletologically Speaking.

What if?

What if you slept
and what if, in your sleep you dreamed
and what if, in your dream you went to heaven
and there plucked a strange and beautiful flower?
And what if, when you awoke you had the flower
in your hand?
. . . .Ah, what then?

~~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Friday Five: Inspirations

Sally brings today's Friday Five to RevGalBlogPals:

1. What has encouraged you?
I have been greatly encouraged by the people at church who showed up for a meeting about the church library and then came to help clean and sort things! I am so encouraged by the enthusiasm and help they are putting forth. Soon the library will be painted, too!

2. What has inspired you?
A friend who compiled info about the TX primary candidates and shared that.

Getting and starting to read Praying Dangerously: Radical Reliance on God by Regina Sara Ryan. I read it years ago and loaned it to someone and never got it back. Fortuitously, I saw that it had been revised as its 10th anniversary issue, and order it. It is what I need to be reading right now.

3. What has challenged you?
The church library! I am challenged to stay in the moment and do the next right thing, instead of jumping off into the future and figuring out everything that must be done. I go into automatic and rev down the lane of controlling the outcome, which is impossible anyway.

4. What has made you smile?
The picture above about "inspiration" makes me smile.I always connect "inspiration" with "creativity," and the latter is what I don't see in myself. So it's somewhat freeing to know I'm headed that way!

5. What has brought a lump to your throat or a tear to your eye in a good way?
Last night we went to a graduation party (make your own pizza!) for the son of friends. There, we encountered many people who go to our former church, First United Methodist Church. When I was catching up with one of the moms, she reminded me that my older daughter AE, who is now 30 years old, babysat her daughter when they first moved to Corpus Christi. It was before AE drove; odd, because I don't even remember AE babysitting too often. But it was sweet to think of AE back then, while looking at the girl she had taken care of, who is now a sophomore in college. The juxtaposition of time, ages, and appearances jumbled in my mind getting me to think of all four children back in the 1990's.

Naked Pastor's 3 Ways to Leave the Church

Visit Naked Pastor's blog.

Who were you in high school?

Today in the wisdom class, one member who happens to be a retired Episcopal priest, asked me if my husband was a football player and I was a cheerleader in high school. I laughed and laughed!

My answer, "We were nerds."

CB and I went to the same high school in Bellingham, WA--Sehome High School as it was built on Sehome Hill. It was the second high school in Bellingham. We were both "good" kids, not getting into trouble and getting good grades in honors classes. We knew were going to go to college, even though we had to live at home and attend the excellent state school in our hometown. (And that's what we did!)

Oddly, CB and I never dated in high school. We only started dating in college.

Mystical Hope

According to Cynthia Bourgeault in her book Mystical Hope: Trusting in the Mercy of God, mystical hope is:

1. Mystical hope is not tied to a good outcome, to the future. It lives a life of its own, seemingly without reference to external circumstances and conditions.

2. It has something to do with presence--not a future outcome, but the immediate experience of being met, held in communion, by something intimately at hand.

3. It bears fruit within us at the psychological level in the sensations of strength, joy and satisfaction: an "unbearable lightness of being." But mysteriously, rather than deriving these gifts from outward expectations being met, it seems to produce them from within.

Bourgeault, Cynthia, Mystical Hope: Trusting in the Mercy of God. Cambridge, Massachusetts; Cowley Publications, 2001. 9-10.

This is a reminder for me to sit in quiet meditation daily. Through such prayer, I am more able to live in the present moment and not worry about whether or HOW I am contributing to the future.

I am grateful to my friend Louise who pointed this out to me last week.

Writing Letters of Sympathy

Due to my mother's death in 1992 and my father's death in 2002, I have long felt that I should write a letter, not merely a card, to someone who has lost a loved one through death. Taking the time to do this is something I put off though, as it takes so much time and thought. But I found encouragement from the following blogs, which I am directing you to:

Today at the Letter Writers Alliance I found a lovely link to Cole Imperi's blog Simplicity Embelished:

Donovan (LWA) wrote:
"Most recently, I found a great wealth of points on what not to say in sympathy writing over at the European Paper Company blog. This article, written by Cole Imperi, really analysed some of the typical items mentioned in sympathy notes and had insights that I hadn't considered."

As you probably feel, I would rather get a personal note saying the sender is thinking of me than nothing at all. Cole even writes a post about "Why I write letters".

Send someone a postcard, note, card or letter!

Glass Recycling Here!

Today is Glass Recycling Day in Corpus Christi, TX--through efforts of private citizens. Our city recycling service does a pick-up every two weeks, but does not take glass. A local company plans to incorporate the glass into road composites for paving in Corpus Christi. I'm so glad, because my husband always tells me that glass recycling is not cost effective. Even so, it is environmentally effective!

These community-minded volunteers collect the glass quarterly and today is the day! I did not bring my glass to be collected three months ago, because I was still inhibited by my shoulder recovery. I have quite a bit to take today. Yay!

Friday Five: Fleas and Other Pests

Cartoon from here along with flea info.

1. What kinds of  pests are in your area? 

Unfortunately, there are over 300+ varieties of mosquitoes found in Corpus Christi, TX or the gulf coast area of TX. Plus, there are many cockroaches, as there is rarely ever a freeze. And there are fleas. . . . which have overrun our house!

2. Is there a time of year or day that increases their activity?  Weather affects them or not?

Hotter weather makes all the insects more visible. Since it is HOT here at least six months of the year, that is much of the time. Mosquitoes are more apparent after heavy rains, which we had last week and so they are out and about, especially in the morning and early evening when walking is more appealing. (the only advantage of having a drought for the past few years is that the mosquitoes and fleas were not as abundant.)

3. Is there any pest that was new to you when you moved here?

Until I moved to Corpus Christi for the first time in 1978, I had never seen big cockroaches and rarely had seen small ones. I had never even heard of "water bugs" until then, though that is just another name for the "American Roach."

It wasn't until two years later, when DC was 1 year old, that I found out about tree asps or "puss moth caterpillar" . How I learned about it was through a mishap with toddler DC:

He had a wooden swing in a big tree in the backyard. After pushing him in that swing one day, I discovered a BURN on his skin! I could not imagine how he got that and immediately took him in to see his pediatrician. The doctor looked at the sore and casually said, "It looks like an asp bite." Ignorantly, I asked him in a horrified voice, "A snake bite??" (I only knew about asps from seeing the Elizabeth Taylor movie "Cleopatra".) Then I was told that this was a kind of caterpillar.

Here is what I read about tree asps today:

"The puss caterpillar has several different names, including asp caterpillar, tree asp and southern flannel caterpillar. It's most commonly found in Texas apparently (which isn't surprising since Texas seems to be a hot spot for poisonous, venomous and dangerous organisms.) The caterpillar resembles a fuzzy cotton ball but stings like five wasps. Brushing against its fur even slightly will result in an immediate, painful stinging sensation that can spread throughout the body in a matter of minutes."  (My poor DC!)

4. How do you treat insect bites? Are you allergic to any?

Husband CB is allergic to bee stings, which could be very dangerous. Just like our old Lab Licorice, I think I am allergic to flea bites, as I have such an extreme reaction of itching and swelling.

On Wednesday night I was so bothered by flea bites on my feet and ankles that I looked online for ideas to relieve the itching. I tried alcohol swabs and that seemed to help temporarily. I also took some benedryl, but didn't notice any change. 

Yesterday I did not wear sandals; instead, I wore socks and tie-shoes sprayed with Deep Woods Off--see how desperate I felt?

5. Anything else:

The worst attacks of mosquitoes I ever experienced was on my first and only back-packing trip in Oregon, way back when CB was going to graduate school at Oregon State University and I was teaching in Eddyville. Swarms overwhelmed us, especially when we had to relieve ourselves! That time stands out so much in my memory that we never went camping with our children, which I must admit is partly due to the heat and bugs in TX (and poisonous snakes). I'm a wimp.

Another Graduation Picture

The English teacher for our oldest daughter AE took this picture after MJ's college graduation, and it's such a good, natural one that I want to post it here. Mr. W. was there because his son graduated with MJ.

In fact, there's a good story with that: Gus and MJ were friends in preschool and then his family moved to another part of Corpus Christi, so that he and MJ never saw each other again until college. They became reacquainted through chemistry classes and liking to study together. Still friends after so many years. . . .

A Tight Spot

Today I had lunch with a friend at the restaurant in the Art Museum of South Texas. After our leisurely lunch and long chat, we came out to the parking lot to find my car wedged into this truck. However, when I parked there at noon, I had empty parking spaces on both sides of my car!

I went back in to the museum, where the security guard found the cars on his security camera. He came out to look at it, as he thought he might be able to move my car. Instead, he went back in the building to find the owner/driver of the truck.

I was expecting a good ole Texas boy to come out as the driver of this big truck--but a little, old lady came out to say she hadn't heard anything when she'd parked there! (She left almost two feet clearance to the parking spot line on the right.) I really do not know how she could get that close to my car! She kept asking me what time I'd arrived, somehow indicating that I'd done the parking job.

The whole incident turned out well, because the security guard moved the truck back, clearing my car completely. Whew!

There are only some scratches on the side mirror, while the truck had about a six inch scrape (from the protruding mirror). I am surprised the mirror wasn't pushed to break off from the car. (I'm also wondering how my old sliding cell phone could take such a reasonably clear picture.)

The Love of Morning

The Love of Morning

It is hard sometimes to drag ourselves
back to the love of morning
after we've lain in the dark crying out
O God, save us from the horror . . . .

God has saved the world one more day
even with its leaden burden of human evil;
we wake to birdsong.
And if sunlight's gossamer lifts in its net
the weight of all that is solid,
our hearts, too, are lifted,
swung like laughing infants; 

but on gray mornings,
all incident - our own hunger,
the dear tasks of continuance,
the footsteps before us in the earth's
beloved dust, leading the way - all,
is hard to love again
for we resent a summons
that disregards our sloth, and this
calls us, calls us.

~ Denise Levertov ~

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Gay Marriage

By Chan Lowe

MJ's Graduation Pictures

MJ after graduating from Trinity University May 12, 2012

CB and MJ

Jan and MJ

Trinity U's Graduation!

Bury Me in the Library

Please bury me in the library

In the clean, well-lighted stacks

Of Novels, History, Poetry,

Right next to the Paperbacks.

Where the Kids' Books dance

With True Romance

And the Dictionary dozes.

Please bury me in the library

With a dozen long-stemmed proses.

Way back by a rack of Magazines,

I won't be sad too often

If they bury me in the library

With Book worms in my coffin.

J. Patrick Lewis

Friday Five: Randomness

Revjarla brings today's Friday Five to RevGalBlogPals:

Today's Friday Five has no theme, other than randomness:

1. What is the first thing that comes to your mind (right now) that you want to share about yourself.
I had my last physical therapy appointment on Wednesday. I'll miss Pam, my physical therapist. I've seen her for the past five months since my shoulder surgery on January 4. she has guided me to better health and better posture!!

2. What is your favorite piece of jewelry or accessory? Why?
Most used accessory is probably my purse, but favorites are stud earrings. I especially like the bright green glass ones my youngest daughter gave me a few years ago, because they glimmer and match many of my shirts.

3. If you could have a starring role in a TV show, movie, series, which one would it be, and what would your character be like?
 I would love to be in "Downton Abbey." When I took the quiz about which character I would be, I turned out to be Violet, the dowager countess. That was discouraging at first, but the more I think about it, I would like to be her, because she expresses her mind as she pleases and also is more understanding than her demeanor suggests. Perhaps next year, I would want to be Lady Cora's mother who will be played by Shirley MacLaine.

4. What is one thing you will eat this weekend?
Tonight we are meeting our youngest daughter's boy friend's parents. We're going to have dinner at our favorite restaurant in San Antonio, Cappy's. I am sure to have salmon or halibut there.

And this is just the beginning of lots of eating this weekend. Tomorrow morning our youngest daughter MJ will graduate from Trinity University. Her oldest brother, his wife and Avery will also join us for this weekend, with lots of celebratory meals, concluding with a Mother's Day brunch!

5. How do you waste time?
As I recently posted, I spend too much time playing "Words with Friends" and "Draw Something" on my Ipod or Kindle Fire. Of course, this is limited to where I find free wifi, which is assured of at home. My children play these with me, too, which I like.

fear + ignorance = hate

Keep Moving

Keep walking, though there is no place to get to.

Don't try to see through the distances. That's not for human beings.

Move within, but don't move the way fear makes you move.

~~Rumi

College Graduation!

Our youngest daughter MJ is graduating from Trinity University on Saturday, May 12. We are proud and excited, just as we were with each of our other three children. Here is a picture of MJ moving into her dorm at Trinity, something that will not happen to her again.

National Postcard Week!

I just learned that this is National Postcard Week! It started on Sunday, May 6 and goes on until Saturday, May 12.

Although I had never heard about this special week until I saw it tonight on the Letter Writers' Alliance blog, I then found more information about this week at a blog that is dedicated to Edward Gorey entitled Goreyana:

"National Post Card Week began in 1984 with the idea that the International Federation of Postcard Dealers and different clubs would create and send cards to celebrate the postcard and promote postcard collecting as a hobby. From 1984 to 1995, Edward Gorey created a series of postcards celebrating NPW for Gotham Book Mart. The cards announced an annual exhibition of postcards at the gallery and invited recipients to a cocktail party to mark the opening."

On vacations, I love to send postcards to friends and family. Sometimes I buy too many to send, and I end up storing them in a basket in a cupboard. I guess I will go and retrieve some to send out this week. I will have to buy some new postcard stamps, which now cost  32 cents so I'll have to buy some new stamps.

Don't miss the boat!

Believe in hunches

not opinion polls
You are not your name
or your telephone number
At boarding time
don't miss the boat
that has your name on it
It sails only once
Head for the deep
Hold to your course
even if your vision
shipwrecks you

~~James Broughton

"Little Sermons of the Big Joy"

Quotes from Thich Nhat Hanh

The man Martin Luther King Jr. called "an apostle of peace and nonviolence" has been a teacher, writer and vocal opponent of war. Here, Thich Nhat Hanh shares a few words of wisdom.

~ "Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice... No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out." ~

~ "People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar." ~

~ "Enlightenment is always there. Small enlightenment will bring great enlightenment. If you breathe in and are aware that you are alive—that you can touch the miracle of being alive—then that is a kind of enlightenment." ~

~ "Many people are alive but don't touch the miracle of being alive." ~

~ "It is possible to live happily in the here and now. So many conditions of happiness are available—more than enough for you to be happy right now. You don't have to run into the future in order to get more." ~

~ "People suffer because they are caught in their views. As soon as we release those views, we are free and we don't suffer anymore." ~

~ "Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes." ~

~ "Life is available only in the present. That is why we should walk in such a way that every step can bring us to the here and the now." ~

~ "When you love someone, the best thing you can offer is your presence. How can you love if you are not there?" ~

~ "To be loved means to be recognized as existing." ~

~ "Every thought you produce, anything you say, any action you do, it bears your signature." ~

~ "We have to continue to learn. We have to be open. And we have to be ready to release our knowledge in order to come to a higher understanding of reality." ~

Read Oprah's full interview with Thich Nhat Hanh

Couch (or Ipod?) Potato

Though I am lately feeling like a couch potato (who reads rather than watches tv), I am wondering instead if there is an "Ipod potato" or "Words with Friends potato"? That's what I have been doing too much of lately. Choices, choices!

We had a fun day (24 hours) away for a friend's  daughter's beautiful wedding outside. Oldest son DC and his wife AA were there, also, along with long-time friends from Corpus Christi, which is where the bride is from. The setting in the Texas hill country was lovely, but HOT (91 degrees at 9 pm!).

The wedding reception had sumptuous feasts with different serving stations featuring Southern food, including cheese grits with a shrimp sauce and fried green tomatoes;  Chinese food; Mexican food and much more! And then the tall, elegant wedding cake was a carrot cake with multiple layers of cream cheese frosting. At least, I drank many glasses of water and only one Margarita! However, I was not discerning in how much I ate and still feel full, though that is caused more by the wedding brunch today.

There were several heavy thunderstorms as we slept last night, so today's temperatures in the hill country were much more temperate. It was cooler and less humid, so we really enjoyed the brunch, which featured cheese grits again, fried chicken, grilled huge shrimp, and fruit kabobs. The dessert was pecan pie with ice cream.

It is a good thing that I walk every Sunday night with my good friend Katherine, so that will get me moving this evening. That is a good choice!

Living Buddha, Living Christ"

Bonnie of Bonnie's Books motivated me to buy (yet) another book: Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh. I finally had time to start reading it today, being captivated by Brother David Steindl-Rast's "Foreword" and Elaine Pagels' "Introduction."

In fact, I am so entranced with the first paragraph on the first page of the book that I am going to quote it below. This is by David Steindl-Rast:

Come alive! Bloom!

"Twice in this book Thich Nhat Hanh puts before us a powerful image of Christian legend: In midwinter, St. Francis is calling out to an almond tree, 'Speak to me of God!' and the almond tree breaks into bloom. It comes alive. There is no other way of witnessing to God but by aliveness. With a fine instinct, Thich Nhat Hanh traces genuine aliveness to its source. He recognizes that this is what the biblical tradition calls the Holy Spirit. After all, the very word 'spirit' means 'breath,' and to breathe means to live. The Holy Spirit is the breath of divine life." (xiii)

Nh'at Hanh, Thich. Living Buddha, Living Christ. NY: Riverhead Books, 2007.

Power of Words

Someone who is brave enough to use her words wisely is Sister Joan Chittister:

"Silence About the Global Treatment of Women is Disquieting."

The Nest in the Mesquite Tree

I was surprised that I could get such a good picture of the mother bird sitting on her nest in the mesquite tree that is on the side of our house. It is hard to see her and the nest, with all the leafy branches obstructing the view of her well-hidden abode.The nest is 10-12 feet high. We think she may be a kind of dove, though not one with the plumage of the doves I saw at Lebh Shomea.