40 days of Lent: A Spirtual Journey -- Day Eight

Today's Lenten Challenge: "Give up at least one of your prejudices. Don’t have any?

Think again."

This one was tough.  I tend to think I am pretty open-minded, liberal, and ever striving toward being non-judgemental.  But the more I thought about, the more I realized I do have certain prejudices.  Some I am aware of and call myself on.  Others, until they are brought to my attention, remain in the background, unconscious, and steer me toward making decisions based on pre-conceived notions.  Some things that I do automatically, I do out of judgements made long ago.  Many of those conclusions are no longer valid.  Perhaps that is why an exercise like this is so important...and so challenging.  Giving up prejudice takes some internal reflection and self examination.

I began this work by looking up the definition at my favorite source for definitions, Merriam-Webster.com (see bottom of page):

I would say this is referring to to definition number two.  And I have to say I am definitely guilty of this.  It comes from years of trying to sort out the universe.  There are just so many hours in the day and yet unlimited shapes, sizes, and varieties of people.  Judging based a preconceived notions certainly makes it easier to get through without having to interact with too many people.  That would take time.  You would have to get to know each individual on an individual level.  Easier to just to type them, categorize them and put them in the proper compartment.

Sigh.

It really doesn't work that way, does it?  Just when you think you have everyone figured out, they go and do something that doesn't fit the box you put them it.

http://ourfunnyplanet.com/funny-quotes/

Dang.  You have to re-think things and re-consider your first impression.  Sounds like work.  But then if you don't open your mind and become aware of your prejudices, well, then, I am sure you will miss out on a lot of good people.  But it will be easier.  Unfortunately once you become aware of your prejudices, you can never really ignore them again.

Its called growth.

¹prej·u·dice

 noun \ˈpre-jə-dəs\

Definition of PREJUDICE

1

: injury or damage resulting from some judgment or action of another in disregard of one's rights; especially :detriment to one's legal rights or claims

2

a (1) : preconceived judgment or opinion (2) : an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledgeb : an instance of such judgment or opinionc : an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics

Related to PREJUDICE

Synonyms: favor, nonobjectivity, one-sidedness, partiality,parti pris, partisanship, ply, bias, tendentiousness

Antonyms: impartiality, neutrality, objectivity, open-mindedness, unbiasedness

40 Days of Lent: A Spirtual Journey -- Day Seven Part 2

Update!

Okay, today was the day to give up procrastination.  And I decided to just do it.  And, well, I think I succeeded!

I let go and let God.  That of course is the first thing one needs to do when giving up procrastination.  You see, if you are busy listening to your ego (self, inner voice, little kid, whatever you call it) you sometimes end up following the path of least resistance.  Which in my case means, feeling overwhelmed and not accomplishing much.

Today I sat down and got to work.

I have a folder (several actually) on my desk.  One in particular is marked "To Do".  Today I did several to-do's.  I filled completed requests for insurance reimbursements, (an onerous task), took the kids to the vet, (a fun task, but always expensive),  revisited an personal commitment with someone and renewed same and several other items.  In all, it was a good day.  

Just doing it, is, well, just a matter of just doing it.  If you don't start somewhere, you don't get anywhere.

So how does that tie in with letting go and letting God and giving up procrastination?  Well, once you discern what it is you want to accomplish, God will support you.  The universe moves and you can get things done.

Giving up procrastination is a easy...as long as  you don't put it off.

40 days of Lent: A Spirtual Journey -- Day Seven

And for Day Seven of Lent: "It's a Leap Year and

today is the extra day we get in 2012. The perfect day to give up procrastination.

Whatever you've been putting off, do it now."

A Leap Year Sundial Calendar

Morning.

The day is young.  I have a list a things to do.  I have procrastinated on several of them, so today's admonition hits home.  So, with that is mind, I am pulling out the list to see what I can accomplish.  Just getting started can sometimes be the problem, but it is Leap Day, so the key word is leap.  Just go out and do it.  Pick up the phone, write the note, clean the next drawer.  Plant the tree, review your budget.  Walk to the plaza, learn a new word, volunteer.

The list may be long, the journey strenuous, but it all starts with the first step.

This is it.

Tonight I will report how I did.  Fingers crossed, hands folded.

40 days of Lent: A Spirtual Journey -- Day Six

For this, the Sixth Day of Lent: "Give up the television remote. Let someone else control it. You know who you are and if this suggestion is for you."  

---UCC Lenten Devotional Calendar 2012

I generally watch TV alone.  Of course I do; after all, I live alone.  The dogs don't care, and the cat is usually in the other room or outside with her friends.  So really, I have to control the remote.  Funny thing, though, the remotes on both of my TV have not been operating correctly for some time.  I called the satellite service, but they were really not helpful.  I wrote to them earlier today, so maybe something will change.  But that is not what I am supposed to be thinking about or musing on.  

Control.  Control is the issue at hand here.  Give up control.  Now there is a concept.  

The first thing I thought about when I read the charge for today, since the TV remote thing doesn't apply in my case, was driving.  I can be a control freak when driving.  Now I know I will pay for this, especially when I "carpool" or travel with any of you (and you know who you are) in the near future.  I tend to want to drive.  I do have trouble relinquishing that control.  There are a couple of people with whom I am comfortable being the passenger (and you know who you are).  But usually I like to be behind the wheel.

Control.  That is definitely the issue.  That rarely seen part of my persona comes out: the alpha male side.  Imagine, me, alpha male.  Well, it had to be there somewhere.  Anyway...

I think the real issue for me is letting go and trusting.  Whether it be trusting the process of building consensus, believing that everything will come out okay or having faith in my own ability to weather the storms of life, control is something that must be reckoned with.  And like it or not, usually, there is no control for much of anything in life.  Life happens.  It rolls as it will.  The only thing we have control over is, you guessed it, how we handle it, what we think about it, and what we do with the experience.

So I think, no I know I have gotten better.  I can let the river flow.  It knows what it needs to do to get to where it is headed.  It can sometimes rage in the form of whitewater rapids or rush swiftly over the banks on its was to the sea.  In either case, even if I build the strongest dam, the river will get to where it needs to go.  I on the other hand, can go with the flow or drown in my resistance.

So today I remember to give up control when my control would only only force an unnatural outcome.  I will control my own feelings and reactions be remaining aware of them as they occur.  I will use them as tools to understand myself and the world around me.

And as for the TV, well, I have to remember only I can control the TV with or without the remote.  And I have to admit that as I realize that I don't have to share the remote, I sometimes wish I did.  And, yes, I know, only I can control that, too!

40 days of Lent: A Spirtual Journey -- Day Five

Assignment for Day Five: Think of someone you need to thank and write them an old-fashioned thank you note. Even if it’s just to say “thank you for being you.”

Such a simple thing: writing a "thank you" note.  Okay, I said to myself, I can do this.  Think about who you owe a note of thanks to.  Oh, my.  Well, that took about an hour or so more or less.  So many people!  I owe thanks for the help getting this very computer!  I owe thanks for the encouragement I get writing this blog.  And there is much thanks due to those among you who listen to me go on about some of the silliest things that truly aren't all that important in the big scheme of things, but seem so very important to me at the time.

Thanks go out to all of you who actually read this blog whenever I write it and don't give up when I don't.  Thanks for the kind words that often come my direction unexpectedly but at just the right time.  And a big thanks go to the "man upstairs" for all the blessings in my life.  Yep, thanks are due, so that is why I set out to write at least one as the directions for this fifth day of lent suggested.

Okay.  Yep, that's just what I set out to do.

So I remembered that I had come across some very nice note cards embossed with my name on the front given to me several years ago by a dear friend (thank you BB).  I went to my old roll top desk given to me for birthday many years ago (thank you KD).  I had to move my laptop which some a good friend helped me pick out when I retired (thanks ML) and search through the stack of bills and mail (thank you service providers) to find them.  But I could not find them readily, so I went into the spare bedroom (thank God for the roof over my head) to look.  I was sure I had seen them in there when I was sorting and decluttering recently (thanks for the time and energy I have recently been enjoying).  No dice.

Okay, then I remembered there were other thank you notes in a drawer (thank you healthier diet for the improved memory) and found some.  I sat down and wrote out a thank you.  It was simple but heartfelt.  It felt so very good I wondered why I didn't do it more often.  Of course the excuses piled up around me until I couldn't see over the top and then the wind of personal responsibility blew them all away.  "Procrastination be gone!" I commanded.  And I wrote one. One simple thank you.  A step in the write, I mean right direction.  Strangely, it felt so very good.

We don't put pen to paper very much these days.  The advent of phones started it and then instant communication via electronic systems has practically made the art of writing the personal note obsolete.  So easy to just leave a message or blast out a e-mail.  Heartfelt maybe, but nothing like the pleasure of drawing symbols on paper that create words that carry sentiments of appreciation and positive regard to others.  Who doesn't enjoy receiving a hand-written note in the mail?  

So there you have it.  I think the point of this particular exercise was to think about gratitude.  We take so much for granted.  Taking time to say thank you, whether by a formal note or even just that transient electronic press of the keys on a keyboard, reminds one that when you are in the state of gratitude, you remember just how much we live in the state of grace; and just how much the other people in our lives give us every day.

Thank you to all and to all an owed note may soon be coming.

*****

Coming for Day Six:

"Give up the television remote. Let someone else control it. You know who you are and if this suggestion is for you."

These assignments continue to come from the UCC Lenten Calendar of Daily Devotionals found at 

UCC.org (Middle tab, PDF document available)

40 days of Lent: A Spirtual Journey -- First Sunday

For The First Sunday of Lent:

"Sundays are actually "in" Lent but not "of" Lent. Sundays aren't counted in the 40 days because Sunday is always a "little Easter."  Try shouting for joy somewhere, sometime today because it’s a "little Easter."

*****

Happy little Easter.  I like this idea.  Every Sunday as a "little Easter".  Sunday, like no other day in the week, is set aside for rest, reflection and restoration.  Of course in modern day life, it has become the go-to-Costco-wash-the-car-mow-the lawn-do-the-laundry-fit-in-church-if-you-can-bath-the-dog-clean-the-toilet-day mainly because we modern types have gotten so busy during the week already multi-tasking between work and home and school and hobbies if we have them, that we don't have much time to just sit and ponder.  We can't just "do nothing" it seems, without wondering what we should be doing.

But little Easter.  It is the day when you can "die" to everything that has kept you from meditating.  It is a time when you can "lay in the tomb" all those things that just aren't working for you.  And then it is when you can "resurrect" yourself to all that is holy within you.  You can be reborn and renewed.  Easter can be every Sunday if you set your intention to make it so.

On the way to church this morning I was slightly miffed that I had not been invited to a certain party I heard about.  That only compounded the nose being out of joint about another party list my name did not appear on.  Sure, I was invited to another party...but did I think about all the times I sat home alone and didn't know anyone who was having a party? Of course not!

"I tawht I taw a puddy cat.
I'm so mwiffed."  Elmer Fudd

On top of that, I just a bit stressed over having to do coffee hour when I was sure I had signed up for altar flowers.  Surely I would not have signed up for coffee hour because this was the weekend of my late mother's birthday.  I know I intended to do the flowers in her honor.  I remember thinking that as I signed on the sign up sheet.  But sure enough, I had affixed my name to the wrong list. And I went ahead and did the goodies for coffee hour, etc., with less than a joyous heart.  Shame on me, I said, but, well, I was, as I said already miffed and this just miffed me more.  

But of course church changed all that.  The music, the inspiriing words from the pulpit, the thank you's for my home-baked cookies, even the compliments on the fairly tasteless lemonade.  Di-miffed and moving on.  A sort of resurrection of spirt.  An Easter moment.

Oh, if only I could remember to lay to rest the urge to travel down those side streets that take me no where!  The highway is the high way, eyes on the prize, you know, all that jazz that reminds you that only you can prevent forest fires...I mean, only you can choose what you think and where you are headed.  Letting go and letting God, your higher power, the Universe guide you, that is what it means to have a little Easter.  And little Easters can happen any time...not just Sundays!

Now there's a state of mind I am ready to work toward achieving.  

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magellanslog53/primrosepath.htm
*If you choose to go to this website, don't be put off by
the first question.  It really is all in fun.

40 days of Lent: A Spirtual Journey -- Day Four

The Assignment for Day Four reads, "Make time today for the one you love and for God.  Each minute is a brick in your life's bridge, not only over troubled waters and loss, but to million cherished memories."

Memorey Bridge by Leslie Allen

I had a tough time with this one.  The directive to make time for the one you love assumes that you indeed have someone to love.  Being single, and having been so for a very long time, how does one make time for the one you love?  Then the "aha" hit as I realized my presumption was that the it was my interpretation of who the one I love should be.  And of course my belief was that the person was someone other than those already in my life.  It presumed that it was someone out there who I should be in love with.  What I didn't realize was until later in the day that it could mean many other people or things.  

The one that I love could be those already in my life.  And there are many, many people in my life who I truly love.  However, as the Wizard said to the Tin Man in the movie, The Wizard of Oz, "A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others."   And then is when I began to see the true meaning (at least for me) of today's directive.  The one you love can be...yourself.

It was another epiphany.  With that realization, it became clear that each moment is indeed a brick in my life's bridge to millions of cherished memories.  I only need to remember the people who have been in my life either in the past or present, to know each has inspired memories of good times and some bad times, but ultimately times where the love we shared came shining through.  Those are the bricks that build a life.  

So again during this journey of fasting, praying, giving and preparing, the clear message is to be mindful.  Creating memories is a craft.  Today for some reason I kept thinking about my grandfather who died many years ago.  I remember his kindly smile, his quiet presence and his way of supporting my grandmother, my mother and me without ever giving it a thought to do otherwise.  I remember his jaunty way of dressing and shy way of speaking.  I remember picking blackberries, pears and apples with him in his backyard and going to see The Ten Commandments, just he and I one Saturday matinee.  Those are my bricks.  

And so today I became aware how important it is to create memories each moment of every day and to love not other others, but yourself as well. And so, let it be.

****

For Tomorrow, The First Sunday:

Sundays are actually "in" Lent but not "of" Lent. Sundays aren't counted in the 40 days because Sunday is always a "little Easter." 

Try shouting for joy somewhere, sometime tomorrow because it’s a "little Easter."