“You must keep collecting threads: threads of meaning, thread of hope, threads of purpose, energy and will, along with all the knowledge, all the skill that every weaver needs.  You must keep on weaving – stopping sometimes only to repair your broken loom – weave a cloak of warmth and light against the dark and cold (oh, all the dark and cold!), a cloak in which to wrap whoever comes to you in need: the world with all its suffering, those near at hand, yourself.”

Here’s to weaving hope in these troubled times and wrapping ourselves in warmth and light!

“When the mind is consumed with remembrance of the Holy One, something divine happens to the heart that shapes the hand and tongue and eye into the word Love.”

What are your spiritual practices that shape you into Love?  My yoga teacher says at the end of class as we bow, that we surrender the wisdom of the mind to the greater wisdom of the heart.  It is the compassionate heart, consumed with gratitude and remembrance of the One beyond all names, that touches the world with kind hands, sees the world with clear eyes and sings praises throughout the whole day.

What is the outline of your day?

What helps you “get the morning right?”  I listen to music while I eat breakfast and read the morning paper.  Having Gregorian Chant or Gospel music seems a good balance to the often painful headlines.  The older I get, the more I need to stretch out the kinks and some gentle yoga moves helps lots.  Saying hello to the dog and cats and fresh fruit on homemade granola put me in touch with the ordinary blessings of life. A little quiet time to journal and reflect on the day is key before I turn on the computer and tackle the tasks of the day.  Breathe.

As Jeff Brantley, director of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at Duke University, wrote, “Even if you wake up tense or cranky, your brain hasn’t had a chance to feel overwhelmed by these feeling yet, so it’s easy to find relief and set the tone you want for the day ahead.”

What are your ways to get the morning right?

Me?  I have a file folder with handwritten quotes, bits of paper torn from articles, copies of pages from books with quotes underlined in yellow.  It is a bulging file. I keep thinking I will organize it.  Nah.

It is easy to go to the internet and type in a topic and see what comes up but I like pulling out the file and being surprised.  Often quotes can be used in unexpected ways, going beyond any narrow category.  So, it takes some time searching for the right  quote, but along the way I dwell with some good friends who I had forgotten about.  A gentle laugh, a deep sign of appreciation.  Such gifts. I might just take some of them along on a different project.

Here is one from my file.  “I believe that life is given us so that we may grow in love and I believe that God is in me as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower-the light in my darkness and voice in my silence.” Helen Keller, The Open Door.

I didn’t know whether to be angry or laugh.  Actually, a little of each as I put him outside with a stern, “not good, Thor!”  And then I laughed.  I don’t know if there is a moral but it was good for a laugh.  He left me one slice.  Good enough.  A little kindness, even if it was a heel.

“How much?” “How long?” “How good?” These are the questions of the anxious mind, and are of no help. Leave them behind, go into the meadow, and wait. Our hearts thaw out, and sins melt away, not under pressure, not by grinding or digging, but by resting in the warmth of God. Rest there, then, and enjoy the grace that even with ice at your feet you are enfolded in a gentle, warm embrace. Let it hold you. Forget the blizzards of your guilt, let go of yearning for the summer of you perfection, and simply be in this present moment, held in the warmth of God.

Enough for this day.

Sunshine. Warmth. Spring.  Thanks to the red fox for sprinting into a new season.  Soon the peepers will join the chorus of the birds and I will gladly put on tennis shoes and leap with joy into this season of possibility and growth.

I had an uneventful return flight, made it through customs with my cookies (biscuits) and arrived home by 7 pm on the same day of travel.  I showed up at the office the next morning at 9 am and promptly fell asleep in my chair.  My body was here but I was not so sure about the rest of me.  It made me remember a story about Native Americans working on the Alaskan pipe line who rested on a Sunday even though the crew chief promised them triple time if they would work one more day. They were good workers and had built a lot of pipeline that week, but would not work an extra day.  When asked, “why?” they responded, “we are waiting for our souls to catch up.”

There is wisdom there.  How often do I go so fast that I leave part of me behind?  Thanks for stories and bodies that remind us to rest, take sabbath.

He may have overstated his case to get our attention (and some laughs) for it is certainly true that many of us Gutenberg folk use facebook and even blog, yet he was right that the world has changed and rather quickly, too.  Though I  like to read newspapers, I have also bought a smartphone to keep better in touch.  Maybe it is a question of balance, staying connected and yet preserving moments of quiet reflection.

A Harvard study published in the journal Science suggested that meditation or mindfulness may even increase brain gray matter and boost mental alertness. Even with TGIF, there is always a need for quiet focused reflection.  What do you think?

I attend a yoga class on Wednesday mornings.  Each week at the end of class, the teacher says, “thanks for coming to practice.” Not class, or workshop or exercise or experience, but “thanks for coming to practice.”  Practice.  I don’t have every pose mastered.  I sometimes inhale when I should exhale.  Some mornings I don’t bend as well. But I want to get better. Practice.  Practice awareness of breathing.  Practice paying attention to how my body feels.  Practice  holding “pigeon” long enough to let the hips open. Practice stillness that I can carry throughout the day. Practice.

Many of us carry memories of being forced to practice something as a child, like piano or dance or sports.  It can leave a bad taste in the mouth for practice.  Yet, choosing to practice so we are more aware, more flexible, more prepared is a sign of maturity and growth.  I practice so I can be more fully human even as I recognize that so much of life is a gift and I will never be the master no matter how hard I practice. I am comforted to know that baseball players practice a lot and yet get a hit only 2 or 3 times out of every 10 at bats.  Practice but be gentle with yourself if you are not perfect.

Even if no one has said it to you recently, hear my words, “thanks for the ways you practice to be a better person and to make this a better world.”