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Mush

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Mush –

My brain has officially turned to mush! After two full days of training in Nashville, my head organ can take no more! It is full of pieces of information, stories, facts, figures, graphs, bars, charts and more. I know in a few days when everything I received processes everything it will be worth the mental fatigue but right now it’s like my brain is in a blender set on high. My eyes are heavy from lack of sleep, my back hurts from sitting for two straight days in a non-reclining chair, my stomach hungry for homemade food and nothing pre-packaged. It’s amazing, or horrifying, that your body, mind, and spirit can be so out of sync after a couple of days.

This morning, on my way into Nashville, I listened to a prayer app and it has a time, after the invitation to pray, to pause and be silent. As silence filled the car I thought about how disjointed I felt, vowed to never work in Nashville and drive into the city every day, reflected on the difference between a room full of forty people plus four teachers and the quietude of the moment and then the app started playing scripture. I wasn’t ready for the noise. I said out loud; “Not long enough!”, then sighed and continued.

Silence is underrated.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: ##brain, #amazing, #back, #bars, #besilent, #blender, #blessings, #body, #charts, #continued, #difference, #disjointed, #eyes, #facts, #fatigue, #figures, #full, #graphs, #head, #heavy, #homemade, #horrifying, #hungry, #hurts, #information, #invitation, #lackofsleep, #listened, #loud, #mental, #Mush, #Notlongenough, #organ, #outofsync, #pause, #pray, #pre-packaged, #processes, #quietude, #ready, #received, #reflected, #scripture, #sighed, #Sitting, #spirit, #stomach, #thewannabesaint.com, #time, #training, #turned, #underrated, #vowed, #worth, @BrianLoging, Mind, moment, Noise, Prayer, Silence, Stories, Thought

A Picture is Worth…

Mar 27

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for david hogg

A Picture is Worth…

A picture is worth a thousand words unless you are the kids who survived the Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Florida, several weeks ago. This past weekend there were gatherings in cities around the world. It was called; “The March for Our Lives.” Since this protest event, David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez have become targets, again. There are news articles, memes, pictures and opinion pieces written that would make adults question their sanity, worth and the innate goodness of humanity.

My heart is broken and my spirit crushed as I listen, read and watch adults attack these children with vitriol. They are being bullied, lied about, crushed by those whose opinions differ from theirs. These young people have survived what will probably be the most traumatic event in their life. They are processing their grief, the loss of their friends and their innocence. They are trying to take a stand, find their footing after an event and in a debate bigger than them. They are exercising control by speaking out, marching, becoming an advocate against an act of violence that ripped their lives apart. Yet, while they attempt to put their lives back together, people online, on the radio, on television are tearing them down and apart, again.

Are these kids being used by persons and corporations with agendas? Maybe. Perhaps they are also smart and resilient enough to know what they want and believe. Have they said and done everything perfectly? Of course not. Who has? You don’t have to agree with them to see they are still in pain. You don’t have to march with them to stand by their side. You can disagree without abuse. We should be better than that. These kids deserve better.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #abuse, #act, #adults, #Advocate, #agendas, #agree, #apart, #attack, #attempt, #back, #becoming, #believe, #better, #bigger, #blessings, #broken, #bullied, #bullying, #children, #cities, #control, #corporations, #crushed, #DavidHogg, #debate, #deserve, #differ, #disagree, #EmmaGonzalez, #event, #exercising, #find, #florida, #footing, #friends, #gathering, #goodness, #grief, #grown, #heart, #HighSchool, #humanity, #innate, #innocence, #kids, #lied, #lives, #loss, #MarchforOurLives, #marching, #mass, #memes, #online, #opinions, #pain, #Parkland, #perfectly, #picture, #pictures, #pieces, #processing, #protest, #question, #radio, #read, #resilient, #ripped, #sanity, #several, #shooting, #side, #smart, #speaking, #spirit, #stand, #StonemanDouglas, #survived, #targets, #tearing, #television, #thewannabesaint.com, #thousand, #together, #traumatic, #violence, #Vitriol, #watch, #words, #worth, #Written, #youngpeople, @BrianLoging, Articles, Listen, News, Opinion, People, World

Smoldering

Mar 5

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Smoldering –

On Saturday afternoon I burned a pile of branches, old newspapers, and other miscellaneous items. The smell of the ashes and leftover debris lingered in the air the next day. I had forgotten to grab an old wooden rocking chair out of the reading room which also needed to be disposed of. When I noticed it Sunday afternoon I wondered if the smoldering ash would still be hot enough to do anything. I took the chair out, broke it into several pieces and put some under the coals, which were still a faint orange, and put the rest in a pile on top. I checked it after a while and noticed the smoke had increased. About an hour later the wood was ablaze with a good flame. It didn’t take long to consume it once the fire restarted. Not too long afterward the chair was gone.

I wrote last week about the struggles I have when February rolls around. Many years have passed but the layers of hurt, anger, and uncertainty still lay buried, ready to ignite when fuel is added. What I try to do, instead of dwelling on the past, is not feed the flames. When I am aware and notice my mind drifting back to the place of pain I find a place to breathe. I close my eyes and take deep breaths. I remind myself of the truth that I cannot change the past but I can be present in the now. Does it always work? No. Does it work? Yes. Maybe one day I will be healed, maybe not, but I don’t want to give up on living today because of the difficulties of yesterday.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #ablaze, #added, #air, #always, #anger, #ash, #ashes, #aware, #back, #blessings, #breaths, #broke, #buried, #burned, #cannot, #change, #checked, #close, #coals, #consume, #debris, #deep, #difficulties, #disposed, #drifting, #dwelling, #eyes, #faint, #February, #feed, #find, #flame, #flames, #forgotten, #fuel, #giveup, #healed, #hot, #hurt, #ignite, #increased, #instead, #items, #layers, #leftover, #lingered, #living, #maybe, #miscellaneous, #Myself, #needed, #notice, #noticed, #now, #pain, #passed, #past, #pieces, #pile, #place, #present, #ready, #remind, #rest, #restarted, #smell, #smoldering, #struggles, #thewannabesaint.com, #time, #today, #truth, #uncertainty, #Under, #wondered, #work, @BrianLoging, breathe, Mind

Caged

Jan 8

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

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Caged –

He paced back and forth like a caged tiger. I watched him as he went side to side, back to front. At first, he was on a phone call and then afterwards he continued his anxious pacing. I was sitting, waiting, in a room at our county jail which was mostly glass facing the pacing man. I knew what he was feeling because I was struggling with the same anxiety. My classroom wasn’t ready and I was asked to stay in one room until the other one was available. Inside I felt emotionally restless, ready to go, get the class underway.

However, unlike the man pacing back and forth, I noticed what I was doing and took a breath. I folded my hands together placed them on my knees, inhaled and exhaled again. When I was allowed into the classroom I was no longer anxious but settled. I organized the chairs, wrote my notes on the dry-erase board as the men began to come in and find their seats. A worker from the jail checked in to see if everything was okay and I assured her it was. She apologized for the wait. “That’s okay,’ I replied, ‘sometimes having nothing to do, being forced to wait is exactly what we need.”

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: ##struggling, #Afterwards, #allowed, #anxiety, #anxious, #apologized, #asked, #assured, #available, #back, #blessings, #Caged, #call, #checked, #classroom, #continued, #emotionally, #exhaled, #facing, #feeling, #first, #folded, #forced, #forth, #front, #hands, #inhaled, #inside, #need, #nolonger, #nothing, #noticed, #organized, #paced, #pacing, #phone, #readytogo, #restless, #settled, #side, #Sitting, #tiger, #underway, #wait, #waiting, #watched, breath

Attention!

Dec 7

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Attention!

This afternoon I stopped at a store and picked up a few items. When I was done I walked to my truck, put my seatbelt on and began to back up. My mind has been full of different and difficult thoughts the last several days and for some reason, I only glanced out my rearview mirror. When I looked again there was a woman behind me with a horrified; “This guy’s gonna run me over!” look on her face. I slammed on the brakes and waited for her to pass. I then rolled down my window and apologized profusely telling her it was my fault I wasn’t paying attention.

When I arrived at my mother’s house I asked her to wash a few items of clothes for me and she said she would. I gave her the clothes and was turning around to walk back down the hall when I heard her yell; “No!” I came back and asked what had happened and she said she had poured fabric softener where the bleach was supposed to go. I then told her my story about the woman in the parking lot and we both agreed our attention has been elsewhere.

Stressful times full of difficulties and challenges taxes our minds. We don’t sleep well, eating what’s available, our minds, emotions, and spirits quickly become depleted because our energies are used in other areas. As hard as it is we need to take time to be focused and still. Catching up on rest, eating at more regular times and a decent diet can help. Deep breaths, times of meditation and prayer, trying to be still so the muddied, frenzied water can still so we are able to see.

Finding the mindful way when the way is rough isn’t easy but it might be the only thing which will keep us sane until we reach a more welcoming and easier path.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #again, #agreed, #apologized, #around, #arrived, #asked, #attention, #available, #back, #backup, #bestill, #breaths, #came, #Catching, #challenges, #clothes, #days, #decent, #deep, #depleted, #different, #difficult, #difficulties, #easier, #easy, #elsewhere, #emotions, #energies, #fault, #finding, #focused, #frenzied, #glanced, #happened, #help, #horrified, #last, #looked, #mindful, #minds, #mother's, #muddied, #otherareas, #pass, #path, #paying, #poured, #profusely, #quickly, #reason, #regular, #rest, #rough, #runmeover, #sane, #several, #slammed, #sleep, #spirits, #still, #stopped, #story, #Stressful, #supposed, #taxes, #times, #turning, #waited, #walk, #water, #way, #welcoming, #well, #yell, meditation, Mind, Prayer, Thoughts

Essentialist and Wannabesaint

Essentialist, contemplative, author, advocate, old soul

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Mush

A Picture is Worth…

Smoldering

Caged

Attention!

Essentialist and Wannabesaint

Essentialist, contemplative, author, advocate, old soul

Blog Archives

Mush

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A Picture is Worth…

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