My theme word for this year is 'in harmony'. My group at work started doing this last year and I really love it. It is so easy to let life get away from you. I think it is important to really try to grasp tightly to it and having a word, or idea, to always go back to has been helpful.
What it means to me is to be in harmony with the Taoist Three Jewels: Compassion, Moderation, and Humility. I have the lines from the Tao Te Ching in my office and I read it often. Our minds pull us in all directions and it is so important to constantly remind ourselves of what is important.
As part of my focus, I have decided to rejoin the church I discovered when first moving to The Woodlands. It feels so good to be back in that space where I can breathe deeply that I feel it is important for me to make the commitment. I have also joined a covenant group within the small group ministry of the church. This is something really outside my comfort zone because opening up and sharing to complete strangers? ... yeah, very odd to me but I know it is important. In the end of this life, I know it will be the relationships that matter to me the most.
Yesterday was a wonderful exercise in being in harmony! I went to my first group meeting and it was so interesting and also so intimidating. The topic we will cover over the next four months is how to observe our mind and attempt to quiet it. It is about knowing we are not our thoughts and our emotions. Instead you observe, acknowledge, and let go. I have learned to do this in yoga through out my two years of practicing. I am no longer pulling muscles and nursing injuries because I have learned humility is important! My body is different each day I practice. My hips are tight or I have no balance or my shoulders ache and that is the body I have to work with on that day. How wonderful to be able to do that with your mind, thoughts, and emotions. How wonderful to observe, acknowledge, and let go of who you are today without judgements or harshness. I see a long road of hard work ahead of me!!
~ Steph
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
MLK
Martin Luther King could still be alive today and that thought always makes me sad. His work was not complete and we could have really leaned on King during the last 40 years. I hope he would have taken on the rights of homosexuals and been a voice of compassion and understanding during the 1980's. And I hope he would have been a voice of reason and restraint during the two wars that resulted from the September 11th attacks. I hope he would have spoken against the way this country has turned against Muslims, in the way people do when presented with an 'enemy'. I know he would have been able to painfully relate.
In the face of great despair, after each violent attack, and hearing about yet another murder, King would speak of his vision with just as much passion, just as much hope, and just as much commitment. That is what is so moving to me: He started each day with a new dose of optimism. I know it was slowly eaten away through out his day but then he would start anew the next. It is only in living each day like this that we have any hope of making things more peaceful, more compassionate, and more loving.
Here is part of his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize:
I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.
I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. "And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid." I still believe that We Shall overcome!
~ Steph
In the face of great despair, after each violent attack, and hearing about yet another murder, King would speak of his vision with just as much passion, just as much hope, and just as much commitment. That is what is so moving to me: He started each day with a new dose of optimism. I know it was slowly eaten away through out his day but then he would start anew the next. It is only in living each day like this that we have any hope of making things more peaceful, more compassionate, and more loving.
Here is part of his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize:
I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.
I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. "And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid." I still believe that We Shall overcome!
~ Steph
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Day 2
My yoga studio has changed the type of class they offer from Bikram to this Bikram-esque class that is only 50 minutes. Due to the shorter class, they are able to offer 50+ classes each week. So to kick off the new schedule, the studio is doing a 50/10 challenge: 50 classes in 10 weeks. I just finished my second day.
It will be an easy challenge for me except for the consistency over the 10 week period since I usually take a 'break' every couple of months and not go as much as I normally do (or as much as I should). While I think it will be easy, it did make me laugh when someone else told me it would be easy. "That's only 5 days a week." It was funny to me because I really don't know ANYONE who exercises 5 days a week!!!
It will be an easy challenge for me except for the consistency over the 10 week period since I usually take a 'break' every couple of months and not go as much as I normally do (or as much as I should). While I think it will be easy, it did make me laugh when someone else told me it would be easy. "That's only 5 days a week." It was funny to me because I really don't know ANYONE who exercises 5 days a week!!!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
The Coke
Brianna: My Coke is empty! Avery why did you drink all my Coke?
Avery: I didn't. Stop blaming me.
Brianna: Well Dad has his own and Mom doesn't like Coke so it had to be you!
Avery: Maybe you drank it subconsciously.
Brianna: What does that mean?
Avery: That you drank it but didn't realize it.
Brianna: No! You drank it! Let me see your eyes and tell me you didn't drink it!
Avery: (looking at Brianna) I didn't drink it.
Brianna: See! You are lying because your pupils are big. That means you are lying.
Avery: No, my pupils are big because it is dark in here. They would be small if there was more light.
Brianna: (turning on the light) OK, then look at me and tell me again.
Avery: I didn't. Stop blaming me.
Brianna: Well Dad has his own and Mom doesn't like Coke so it had to be you!
Avery: Maybe you drank it subconsciously.
Brianna: What does that mean?
Avery: That you drank it but didn't realize it.
Brianna: No! You drank it! Let me see your eyes and tell me you didn't drink it!
Avery: (looking at Brianna) I didn't drink it.
Brianna: See! You are lying because your pupils are big. That means you are lying.
Avery: No, my pupils are big because it is dark in here. They would be small if there was more light.
Brianna: (turning on the light) OK, then look at me and tell me again.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
a letter to santa
November 30th 2010
Dear Santa Claus,
I realy wanted a bike and a scooter so I just wanted to say can I have those things. PLEASE! I been begging for those cool stuff. Any ways let me introduce myself. My name is Brianna. I am 7 years old. My favorite kind of music is G6. And my favorite color is blue and black. And I am in 2nd grade.
Sincerely,
Brianna
GOOD LUCK ON YOUR TRIP! I love you!
PSST. Santa I want to have my presents up stairs because I have something for you.
Dear Santa Claus,
I realy wanted a bike and a scooter so I just wanted to say can I have those things. PLEASE! I been begging for those cool stuff. Any ways let me introduce myself. My name is Brianna. I am 7 years old. My favorite kind of music is G6. And my favorite color is blue and black. And I am in 2nd grade.
Sincerely,
Brianna
GOOD LUCK ON YOUR TRIP! I love you!
PSST. Santa I want to have my presents up stairs because I have something for you.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
thankful - 8
Today I am thankful for my mom's delicious cooking and her willingness to make me my own vegetarian dressing.
Later, I will be thankful for pants that are made with 3% of spandex.
~ Steph
Later, I will be thankful for pants that are made with 3% of spandex.
~ Steph
Sunday, November 14, 2010
thankful - 7
I am thankful of some quotables I got during my minister's sermon:
Expect less so you can be surprised more
and
If you replace expectations with gratitude, you will not know disappointment
The sermon was titled Hustle and Humbug about the excess and over consumption of the season. Wow! Can you imagine how wonderful the holidays would be if you could throw out all expectations (of your kids, your family, what you will give others, what others will give you) and only feel gratitude? It might actually end up being ... Merry!!
~ Steph
Expect less so you can be surprised more
and
If you replace expectations with gratitude, you will not know disappointment
The sermon was titled Hustle and Humbug about the excess and over consumption of the season. Wow! Can you imagine how wonderful the holidays would be if you could throw out all expectations (of your kids, your family, what you will give others, what others will give you) and only feel gratitude? It might actually end up being ... Merry!!
~ Steph
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