You are broken and messed up just like every one else.
Forgiven and loved - yes. Perfect - no!
Our tendency to want to appear perfect and hide our brokenness inhibits our spiritual growth and fosters addiction.
A practice to help break our perfectionism and lack of empathy is to think from time to time that we are just like everyone else.*
Try this...
When you are stuck in traffic, note that you are frustrated, just like everyone else.
When you have to wait in line, you are feeling impatient, just like everyone else.
When you walk by someone who appears to be mentally ill on the street, you are mentally ill to a certain degree, just like the person you just walked by.
You are forgiven and loved, just like everyone else.
I invite you to try it. You will discover immediate empathy and oneness.
Practice based on an interview with Pema Chodron on Sounds True - Video NLA on YouTube
The meditation I created is called Experiencing Oneness in a Divided World. In it, we explore a deep and comforting truth: that everything is connected.
As I venture out this morning, I'm thinking about the Mary Oliver poem, wild Geese, where she says, “You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
I just want to bow 🙇♂️ in gratitude (also laugh because there’s a 🙇 bowing emoji)
For a period in my life I used to go to a particular place in a park not far from my house to meditate and pray. It was the beginning of a practice that I continue to practice to this very day, although this post is about a time when I took a break.
Our guest today is author Eric Janzen. Eric is probably best known for his high fantasy fiction books. He's written a trilogy called The Dreamtrekker Journals Trilogy, and more recently released a new series entitled The Essence Tales. In Eric's bio, he says he will continue writing until he can't anymore.
Our daughter Jess gifted me with a poem today. She says... Wrapping up my last few days on the coast for now… it’s been so amazing to get so much “normal” time with my family, and one of my favorite things is morning walks with dad. His practice of noticing and of being quiet enough in spirit to notice the minute details is always a gift.
Our new little bundle of joy - August (Gus) Matthew Toews - has reminded us all how powerful and incredible love is.
I am contemplating emptiness this morning which I know sends cautionary shivers down the spines of some Christians. I was warned about this by a "well-meaning" Christian on the weekend when I used the word emptiness at a retreat I was co-leading.
snowy days (meditation) Hints of Gladness
Are sounds like this (birdsong, babbling brooks) meant to touch our souls? I think they are.