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Second Thoughts

Second Thoughts –

Earlier this afternoon there was a knock on our front door. Unfortunately, I was indisposed and couldn’t answer it and be decent at the same time. When I finally got to the door the person was gone and all that was left was a book on the evilness of Protestantism. I picked up the book, flipped through it as I walked into the house. I put it down in the foyer and continued on with my day.

However, as I was busy with other things a thought crept into my mind; “What if someone had brushed a coat of poison on the outside cover of the book? What if there had been dust inside and as I flipped through it floated into the air and on me?” I asked my wife; “How have we gotten to a place in the world where a book left on a front porch can cause us to have thoughts of terrorism and criminal intent?”

We live in a time where nothing seems innocent. We are suspicious, judgemental, accusatory, on high alert, expecting and preparing for the worst. How do we get back to a more innocent time? Was there ever such a thing?

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #accusatory, #air, #answer, #blessings, #brushed, #busy, #cause, #coat, #continued, #cover, #crept, #criminalintent, #decent, #dust, #earlier, #evilness, #expecting, #flipped, #floated, #foyer, #highalert, #indisposed, #innocent, #innocenttime, #inside, #judgemental, #knock, #live, #outside, #poison, #Preparing, #Protestantism, #SecondThoughts, #suspicious, #terrorism, #thewannabesaint.com, #unfortunately, #walked, #worst, @BrianLoging, Book, Mind, Thought

In the Heart

Mar 28

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

In the Heart –

Earlier this week a friend called and during our conversation, she mentioned the weather forecast called for beautiful weather now and the foreseeable future. I explained it was overcast in Tennessee and rain was expected the next several days. The conversation then turned to something she needed to talk about and as I listened it dawned on me that my outside weather was cloudy and rainy and this mirrored her inside on a certain subject.

I hoped my advice helped, at least in part, to help the clouds to dissipate and for her inside and outside to match. The experience was a reminder that we carry seasons, weather in our souls. There are times and places where things are clear, warm, light, easy. There are others where our spirits are dark, overcast, dreary and difficult. Wisdom helps us monitor, adjust, and accept our inside forecast. We change what we have the power to and trust that even the worst of our inside days do not last forever.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Tags: #accept, #adjust, #beautiful, #blessings, #called, #carry, #certain, #change, #clear, #cloudy, #conversation, #dark, #dawned, #days, #dissipate, #dreary, #earlier, #easy, #episode, #expected, #explained, #forecast, #foreseeable, #forever, #friend, #Future, #hard, #heart, #help, #helped, #hoped, #inside, #last, #least, #light, #listened, #match, #mentioned, #mirrored, #monitor, #needed, #overcast, #place, #places, #power, #rain, #rainy, #reminder, #seasons, #souls, #spirits, #subject, #thewannabesaint.com, #trust, #warm, #wisdom, #worst, @BrianLoging, advice, Talk, Weather

Where You Step

Mar 23

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for cell phone watching

Where You Step –

Earlier this week I got up off the couch to walk from the living room to the bathroom. As I did my phone chimed with an email alert. I picked it up and continued walking while reading and scrolling through the message. Unfortunately, I did not see the dog who for some reason had decided he was going to sleep on one of the bathroom mats. I didn’t hurt him but did trip myself. Fortunately, I did catch myself. I had an immediate sense of shame as I help others to be focused, aware, mindful of where they step on the path of life and here I am stumbling over the pooch in my house. Sigh.

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote “Be careful when you step outside your door Frodo. You never know where your feet will lead you.” This goes for inside your house as well.

Where we look is where we end up. Our lives are often the sum of our choices and where we choose to fix our gaze. My gaze that day wasn’t on where I was headed but on a small screen with a message that could’ve waited a few minutes. Too many times we allow the illusion of urgency leads us to lack awareness and a place of unbalance.

Let’s watch our steps or there’s no telling where we’ll end up going.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #alert, #allow, #aware, #awareness, #bathroom, #Becareful, #blessings, #catch, #chimed, #choices, #Choose, #continued, #decided, #door, #earlier, #email, #endup, #Feet, #fix, #focused, #Fortunately, #gaze, #going, #headed, #help, #house, #illusion, #immediate, #inside, #know, #lack, #leads, #life, #look, #Message, #mindful, #minutes, #never, #often, #outside, #path, #phone, #picked, #pooch, #reading, #reason, #scrolling, #see, #sense, #Sigh. #JRRTolkien, #sleep, #step, #stumbling, #sum, #telling, #thewannabesaint.com, #trip, #unbalance, #unfortunately, #urgency, #waited, #walk, #walking, #watch, #WhereYouStep, @BrianLoging, Lead, shame

Stubbornness or Stillness?

Mar 22

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for burro

Stubbornness or Stillness?

This morning I had a meeting in Fayetteville, Tennessee. On my way, driving on country back roads I passed a Burro, standing by a fence. The other cows and critters in the pasture were nowhere near it but there it stood facing the morning sun. A few hours later I was returning home and passed the same Burro in almost the same spot as it was in earlier. It paid no attention to the automobiles coming and going or the other animals in the field.

As I watched the Burro I thought about its unwanted and unwarranted reputation of being resistant, refusing to obey, obstinately going its own way and doing its own thing. However, I did wonder; “Is he being stubborn or still?” I finally decided he was simply being still. He was facing the sun, he was on level ground, he wasn’t distracted.

I reflected on my day and my mental state and thought; “I long to be like the Burro; enlightened, sure-footed and mindful.”

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #attention, #being, #blessings, #Burro, #comingandgoing, #decided, #distracted, #earlier, #enlightened, #facing, #Finally, #going, #itsownway, #later, #levelground, #long, #mentalstate, #mindful, #near, #nowhere, #obey, #obstinately, #ownthing, #paid, #passed, #reflected, #refusing, #reputation, #resistant, #returning, #same, #simply, #spot, #standing, #still, #stood, #stubbornness, #sun, #sure-footed, #thewannabesaint.com, #unwanted, #unwarranted, #watched, #way, #wonder, @BrianLoging, Driving, Home, Stillness, Thought

Remains

Mar 6

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for burn blister thumb

Remains –

On Saturday, while burning some debris in the yard, I went to grab a stick which was near the fire but not burning. My intention was to put it in a more advantageous position. However, as I grabbed the still cool end of the stick a single burning piece of ash fell right where I placed my thumb. I quickly dropped the stick and began shaking my whole hand the way someone does when they burn themselves. For the past several days I have had a reminder of the encounter, a blister on my right thumb.

The blister is a reminder of the randomness of life. A second earlier or later and I probably wouldn’t have burned myself. In the same way, we often see the haphazard events of our lives. A moment before or after and there’s no car accident or more or fewer injuries in it. A doctor’s appointment a month or two earlier or later and a disease is detected or too far advanced to undergo treatments. A moment premature or delayed and we miss a relationship we cherish or disdain.

Whatever life brings our way there are remains that stay with us. Whether positive or negative who can tell? The most we can do is be aware, open to new experiences and cautiously protecting our souls.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #accident, #advanced, #advantageous, #after, #appointment, #ash, #aware, #before, #blessings, #blister, #brings, #burned, #burning, #car, #cautious, #cherish, #cool, #debris, #delayed, #detected, #disdain, #disease, #dropped, #earlier, #encounter, #enough, #experiences, #fewer, #fire, #grab, #grabbed, #haphazard, #injuries, #intention, #later, #life, #lives, #miss, #month, #more, #near, #new, #open, #piece, #position, #positive, #premature, #Probably, #quickly, #randomness, #Remains, #reminder, #scarred, #second, #Shaking, #Single, #stay, #thewannabesaint.com, #treatments, #undergo, #way, @BrianLoging, Events, Negative, Relationship

Openness

Oct 27

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for openness

Openness –

On Wednesday night of this week, I was speaking with someone about being truthful and honest to the people in our lives. He stated that being too open can lead to betrayal and pain and therefore he doesn’t share his story for fear of being taken advantage of. It was a fair argument but I told him maybe his issue wasn’t being fearful of openness but being open to the wrong people. People we can trust, who won’t use our words and experiences against us, who will listen to understand and be a shoulder to lean on are invaluable.

Earlier in the week, I shared a fatherhood presentation to a group of fathers who have young kids in school. There were dads who were going in to work late and some who had worked all night diligently sitting there to learn more about how they could be involved in their children’s lives, especially when it comes to education. After the presentation while saying; “goodbye” to the fathers one of the attendees came up and began speaking with me. She had some questions about getting a father involved and shared her story. What she told me was hard to hear with many issues and other challenges she’s had to overcome. I couldn’t believe how open she was being when we had just met a few moments earlier. She believes I am someone she can trust with her family.

Openness, transparency, is something most say they desire in themselves and others. However, these can bring feelings of uncomfortableness, questions that aren’t easily answered, and an unsettling fear of not being skilled enough to meet the need. When these thoughts are rushing through our minds the need to breathe and be still must be remembered. Most people don’t want you to fix them they simply need someone to listen without judging. If there are problems to solve and mysteries to unravel we can do them together as we travel this path called life.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: # moments, #answered, #believe, #believes, #bestill, #blessings, #challenges, #choice, #Choose, #choosebetter, #desire, #earlier, #fear, #feelings, #fix, #hard, #hear, #issues, #judging, #life, #minds, #mysteries, #need, #open, #Openness, #overcome, #path, #problems, #questions, #remembered, #rushing, #simply, #skilled, #solve, #still, #transparency, #trust, #uncomfortableness, #unravel, #unsettling, Family, breathe, Listen, Thoughts, Travel

Essentialist

Essentialist, contemplative, author, advocate, old soul

Blog Archives

Second Thoughts

In the Heart

Where You Step

Stubbornness or Stillness?

Remains

Openness

Essentialist

Essentialist, contemplative, author, advocate, old soul

Blog Archives

Second Thoughts

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In the Heart

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Where You Step

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Stubbornness or Stillness?

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Remains

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Openness

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