Dusk is a time of wonder. It is the quiet time at the end of the day and the beginning of night. It’s Ian ethereal time and one pregnant with thoughts and dreams. Tonight as I sit here in the gathering darkness I’m wondering what the future holds. I’m pursuing new directions in my life. I’m reaching out in directions I never have before. In the past month I’ve had several interviews in a variety of vocational fields. Marketing, education and today web development. I’ve also had an offer to be a communications director for a regional retreat center. I’ve been trying to listen to the voice of vocation in all of this. Meditation and yoga have opened me up and invited me to be more contemplative. I’m grateful for that change. I’ve become more carefree and less stressed. Four days off invite even more time to explore. For now I’ll be still and listen with the ear of my heart.
What impact does technology have on your breath
“After a few days of these breathing exercises, [Linda Stone] noticed something interesting: just a few minutes after doing her breathing exercises, she’d head to work, check her email, and find herself holding her breath. Noting that there may be something wrong with that, she grabbed her gadgets and got to work finding out if she was the only one holding her breath in front of a monitor.
After about seven months, and about 200 interviews, Stone found that 80% of the people that she talked to and observed were holding their breath—especially when email came into their inbox.
So I decided to buy one of these devices and test myself during the writing of this book. I scheduled email checks only twice a day for one hour, and found that during those hours, sure enough, my breathing was more shallow and more irregular than during the hours in which I was writing.
Linda describes the problem with a term she coined: email apnea. But the irregularities go beyond email: I found that when I was dealing with all different sorts of incoming information online, my breath and heart rate became irregular. Any time I was dealing with something with a number by it or a queue, my breathing changed.”
–Clay Johnson, The Information Diet (O’Reilly Media, 2012), Kindle edition, 1693
Community
Today I attended Mass at Mt. Irenaeus as I do most Sundays. And just like most Sundays I was a bit late getting there. Nonetheless introductions were just being made as I entered the chapel. Fr. Lou McCormick, OFM was the celebrant. Fr. Lou’s homily focused on today’s readings and on the difference between uniformity and unity. There is great pressure for uniformity all around us but we are really called to unity. Lou shared about a recent study that examined why people left the church in general. The short answer is that people are really seeking community. There is a tremendous call to community everywhere. It’s not just in churches, but in schools too. Unity and community are really about love and the need of the human heart for precisely that. I drive 30 miles from my home each Sunday because Mt. Irenaeus provides the sense of community I crave. When I’m at the mountain I have a distinct sense that I’m home.
The picture above is one I took earlier today in the chapel at Mt. Irenaeus. After brunch today I took a long walk all the way up to La Posada and spent sometime sitting on a bench listening for that still small voice of the Holy Spirit that I crave. I ended my time at the mountain today sitting in meditation in front of the tabernacle. It was my own very personal adoration of the Eucharist. Adoramus te Dominum, omnes gentes alleluia!
All creation is shouting for joy
Gosh, it’s been over 5 months since I last wrote! I’ve been busy. Had my first ever major surgery which scared the heck out of me. I made a mountain out of a molehill. I’m grateful to my surgeon who repaired an umbilical hernia. I’m good for another 100,000 miles now. While I was convalescing I read a book which challenged me to meditate at least three minutes twice a day. That challenge has borne great fruit as I’ve been meditating twice each day since January. My daughter suggested I take a Yoga class. I signed up for Hatha Yoga for men at Yogabetsy in nearby Olean, New York. the combination of yoga and mindfulness has been profoundly quieting and has lead me to read all that I can about how both yoga and mindfulness can help relieve our nation and world of stress.
I’ve even added a bell of mindfulness to my iPhone which chimes every fifteen minutes reminding me to “breathe.” It has invited conversation at my work place too and reduced overall stress. I just took a picture this morning which sums up how I feel today and it is inspired by the words of a song we frequently sing at Mt. Irenaeus. Namaste!
“The heavens are telling the glory of God, and all creation is shouting for joy! Come dance in the forest, come play in the fields. And sing, sing to the glory of the Lord!”
2012
What does the future hold? No one knows as life unfolds a minute, an hour, a day at a time. Suffice to say it’ll be exciting. An election year might be the worst of it. Business frequently slows in election years as people see especially undecided. The worst of it might be having to put up with the political discourse. It’s been particularly strident in the last few years. One could hope that will change. On the bright side technology continues to draw our world closer together and it empowers people in ways that are probably unintended. Just last week Verizon dropped a plan to charge customers more for paying their bills online. In like manner a major web hosting company backtracked on support of a controversial new legislation when customers began leaving in droves thanks in part to Twitter.
Social networks fueled reporting on the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street. The average citizen has lost touch with their governments on one hand but the web continues to foster transparency in spite of it all.
The last U.S. troops out
I’m glad to see that the last United States troops are leaving Iraq. Many hawks are quick to blame our president for the uncertain end of the mission. That’s unfair and unfortunate because the war never had areal mission to begin with. It was all based on lies and subterfuge. We invaded a sovereign nation that had nothing to do with 9/11 and we caused tremendous carnage. Between Iraq and Afghanistan we have spent nearly 4 trillion dollars. Imagine what good we could have done here and elsewhere with that capital. This is the season that many of us celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace so it is all the more fitting that our engagement in Iraq is at an end. Thank you to the American forces who served so admirably and at such great cost to themselves. May God bless our troops and their families and grant them a lengthy furlough at home with their loved ones. In the spirit of another great president from Illinois, let us “care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.”
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. – Isaiah 9:6
A full and thankful heart
Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States and for many of us it has many meanings. My earliest recollections were trips to my grandmother’s home and dinner with all the cousins. Later in life it was dinner at Mom’s. Still later it was turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing in US Navy chow halls. Those years made made me long for the earlier ones. Eventually I got married and thanksgiving meant dinner at our home. My wife was the hostess for our extended families and our children. Grandpa Joe says grace and then we all dive in for turkey, corn, all the trimmings and pies too.
I woke up early this morning and began reading Gratefulness.org which is one of my favorite websites on the entire Internet. I started tweeting and sharing some of their links and stories about the positive effects of Gratefulness. I dozed off again for a few hours and then re-awakened around 8:30AM. to my surprise a couple of those tweets were retweeted and the circle of Gratefulness was extended to at least 2300 others and God only knows who else will retweet again. This demonstrates the power of gratitude and social networks.
Today I’m grateful to God as I understand him and to my lovely wife and children which now include our lovely daughter-in-law. They are tangible evidence of his love and abundance. I’m grateful for my co-workers who continue to inspire me each day. I’m grateful for their patient encouragement which inspired me to return to college a couple of years ago and to graduate in May 2011 from St. Bonaventure University at the top of my class. I’m grateful to my boss, Michelle, a beautiful lady who supported me through four internships and continues to lovingly mentor me. I’m grateful to all the lovely ladies, Jessica, Greta & Katie who took me on as an intern along the way. I’m grateful to my professors and fellow students who encouraged a reluctant student to find my way. I’m grateful for the many Franciscan mentors who help to animate my life each day.
I’m grateful for my Mom who never gave up on me and continues to buoy my spirit when I get blue. I’m most grateful to my wife who has truly been God’s agent in my life. She continues to provide inspiration, love and an occasional kick in the butt to keep me on course. My blessings are so many this day that I cannot count them all. I’m closing this post with one of my favorite prayers that hangs on the wall at Mt. Irenaeus
It is not you that shapes God
it is God that shapes you.
If you are the work of God
await the hand of the artist
who does all things in due season.
Offer Him your heart,
soft and tractable,
and keep the form
in which the artist has fashioned you.
Let your clay be moist,
lest you grow hard
and lose the imprint of his fingers.
– St. Irenaeus
Peace to all and Happy Thanksgiving!
Grateful
Tonight I’m spending an overnight with our son & lovely daughter-in-law. They’re taking good care of the older generation. It’s my first stay with them since their recent marriage. I’m in the area for the 2011 NYSCATE conference. I had a great day at the conference a great meal at Dinosaur BBQ with friends and fellow Ed techers
Tonight I’m sleeping in a lovely home owned in part by a son I once held in my arms. Life is like that isn’t it. God has been good to me. Thanks to Devin & Mandi for welcoming me into their home.
Stopping by the woods
It’s not winter by any stretch. It’s a lovely fall evening as I walk along the bike trail around Red House Lake in Allegany State Park. But, on my walk I thought of Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening.”
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Deo Gratias
That’s Latin for “Thanks be to God.” I learned that years ago as an altar boy in the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church. Two years ago I began a course of study at St. Bonaventure University in Educational Leadership. Two years ago about this time I was still quite uncertain of that direction and what I have come to regard as the “Good Journey” at St. Bonaventure. I graduated in May 2011 with a 4.0 and an MSED in Educational Leadership at the top of my class and then began the certification process to obtain official credentials as a School Building Leader and School District Leader. Today, shortly after 5 pm I received email that indicated that I had passed all tests for certification. I am very relieved that this part of the journey is over with. I found the certification tests difficult and a real test of what I had learned. The tests concentrated on skills found at the upper end of Bloom’s Taxonomy and they were designed by psychometricians who knew how to design difficult tests. That’s past and now I’ve passed one more hurdle on the road to school leadership at a crisis moment in American education. I have no idea what the future will bring. I’m listening with the ear of my heart. Thank you to everyone who prayed for my good test results. I’m grateful and hopeful. I’m grateful to my advisor, Dr. Greg Gibbs, my other professors at St. Bonaventure and to those in my cohort who encouraged me throughout our time together.