Blog Archives

Stemming the Tide

Stemming the Tide –

Not a perfect solution by any means but at least this organization is trying to stem the tide of homelessness in California. This program could be adopted by other caring neighborhoods, cities, communities, and statewide agencies. (Watch video that inspired this post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wCHtOTxQak)

It’s heartbreaking to know that individuals, couples, and families are homeless while so many in our country live in homes that are too big, paying mortgages they can’t afford, to keep all the stuff they buy and don’t need.

Homelessness is one in a long list of societal ailments that could be solved if we all took less and gave more.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannbesaint.com

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Tags: #adopted, #blessings, #cantafford, #caring, #cities, #communities, #couples, #families, #gavemore, #heartbreaking. #individuals, #homeless, #homelessness, #mortgages, #neighborhoods, #organization, #paying, #perfectsolution, #program, #societalailments, #solution, #solved, #stateswide, #StemmingtheTide, #stemthetide, #thewannbesaint.com, #toobig, #tookless, @BrianLoging

Tribalism

Aug 28

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

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Tribalism –

It is incredibly easy to start an argument these days. Declare your allegiance to a political party, voice your opinion on an issue, talk about who you voted for or why you didn’t vote for the other person, accuse someone of not caring because they don’t share the same convictions you do.

I am amazed, but not really, how terribly divided our world, nations, states, communities and even our families are over matters of the mind and heart. We are so quick to pick a fight, defend our position, be suspect of anyone and everyone.

I was reflecting today over what it will take to bring us back together again. Then I wondered if we had ever, truly, been together. Maybe all the hate and vitriol had been under the surface all along and we couldn’t keep it hidden any longer. I don’t like thinking that way. I’d rather believe we, humanity, are going through a rough spot and, in time, something deeper will bring us back together. To be honest I don’t have much hope in what’s deeper being what’s better. Throughout human history we have hated, warred, fought against, killed and used one another to further our own goals with little thought of how it impacts the other.

Wisdom teaches humility first. Serving, helping, putting our neighbor (hint: everyone’s our neighbor, including our “enemies”) and their needs above our own. It doesn’t seem likely to happen soon, if ever, but it starts with the choice to love, be kind, refusing to see the other as separate, apart from us. We are human. If we could only find our purpose, our “being”.

For more reflections, posts, and other writings, please visit: http://www.thewannabesaint.com

blessings,
@BrianLoging

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #accuse, #allegiance, #apart, #argument, #backtogether, #being, #bekind, #better, #blessings, #choice, #communities, #convictions, #deeper, #defend, #divided, #enemies, #families, #fought, #hate, #hated, #heart, #helping, #hidden, #humanhistory, #humanity, #humility, #killed, #nation's, #neighbor, #pickafight, #politicalparty, #position, #posts, #putting, #reflecting, #refusing, #serving, #states, #suspect, #teaches, #Tribalism, #underthesurface, #Vitriol, #voice, #vote, #voted, #warred, #wisdom, #wondered, #www.thewannabesaint.com, @BrianLoging, love, Mind, Opinion, Separate, World, Writings

Black and White

Jun 27

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Black and White –

Last night I had the privilege to be the representative of our company as a partner with our local Housing Authority at their annual Family Night. It was fun, festive and hot! There was a balloon obstacle course, face painting, lots to eat, door prizes and giveaways. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

My booth was to inform families, moms, caregivers and especially dads how important it is for children to develop a love of reading. We had free books, zip line book bags, and special gifts for a lucky few. As I met countless people and watched the afternoon turn into evening it was nice to see people of all shades and colors coming together. It was also great to see community organizations, churches, other agencies give of themselves to a common cause.

There is much division in our families, neighborhoods, communities, nation, and world. Everyone sees things as black and white, one side or the other, friend or enemy and it seems there is no common cause to gather around. I wish I knew what that cause could be or how to make people drop their raised fists and shake one another’s hand. The world isn’t black and white. It never has been but this doesn’t mean we can’t come together if we have the eyes to see.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #agencies, #black, #blackandwhite, #blessings, #children, #childrens, #churches, #cometogether, #commoncause, #communities, #communityorganizations, #countlesspeople, #develop, #division, #droptheirraisedfists, #enemy, #enjoythemselves, #eyestosee, #families, #friend, #gatheraround, #give, #greattosee, #important, #inform, #makepeople, #nation, #needs, #neighborhoods, #oneside, #partner, #peoples, #privilege, #representative, #shakehands, #thewannabesaint.com, #white, @BrianLoging, Family, World

Balancing Act

May 24

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for balance lawn mower hill

Balancing Act –

There is an area in our yard next to the road that is tricky to mow. It is a sharp incline and in order to the get the job done the mower and the rider has to be at a steep angle. When I mow this particular spot in the yard I sit halfway on the seat with my body leaning in the opposite direction of the incline. The balance has to be perfect. Too far off the seat the mower doesn’t sense enough pressure on the seat and shuts off. Don’t lean far enough and there’s a chance the mower and rider could topple over. It’s a twenty-five yard long, difficult and dangerous, balancing act.

Life is also a balancing act. We live in perilous times. All one has to do is turn on the television, log online, and get the sense our families, communities, nations, and world is one mistake from toppling over into a dangerous place and we may not recover.

The problem is balance. Sides are chosen, political parties picked, litmus tests are given, judgments made and those on the other side, even ones seeking a middle way, are labeled as; “the enemy.” I don’t know if we are going to make it back from the edge of disaster but I do know it takes more strength to listen than to ignore, to understand than to shout down, to accept than to reject, to see others as us than ‘less than,’ to find balance than to demand conformity.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: ##opposite, #accept, #act, #angle, #area, #balance, #Balancing, #blessings, #chance, #chosen, #communities, #conformity, #dangerous, #dangerousplace, #demand, #difficult, #direction, #disaster, #edge, #enemy, #families, #findbalance, #ignore, #judgments, #labeled, #leaning, #lessthan, #life, #litmustests, #middleway, #mistake, #nation's, #otherside, #particular, #parties, #perfect, #perilous, #political, #pressure, #problem, #reject, #road, #seeking, #sense, #sharpincline, #shoutdown, #sides, #steep, #strength, #thewannabesaint.com, #times, #topple, #toppling, #tricky, #understand, @BrianLoging, Listen, World

Untangle

May 4

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for tangled hosepipe

Untangle –

Yesterday I made a promise to my wife. Actually, it was more of a threat. I threatened to leave the hose pipe outside all winter instead of putting it up in the fall. The reason for this is no matter what I try it all seems to be one giant tangled mess when I pull it out in the spring. One of my chores on Thursday was to untangle the jumbled mess of about three hundred feet of hose pipe. First I grabbed and dragged out most of it. Then I detached the ends to make them easier to work with. After this, I pulled each pipe end going over and under the other until I finally had one section free! When I did this six or seven times all the sections were in their own place and then hooking them together again one at a time I was able to run the hose pipe to the different areas of the yard. Whew! It was a hard, difficult job but had to be done.

In my work with men, fathers, and families, the initial times we meet to set up a plan of learning and action can seem like wrestling with a jumbled mess of hose pipe. However, with time and patience slowly learning, finding and breaking down the challenges, habits, hurts, and hang-ups, we can begin to put the pieces back together again.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #action, #areas, #backtogether, #begin, #blessings, #breakingdown, #challenges, #detached, #different, #difficult, #drug, #easier, #families, #fathers, #Finally, #finding, #giant, #grabbed, #habits, #hang-ups, #hard, #hooking, #hurts, #individual, #initial, #instead, #job, #jumbledmess, #learning, #meet, #men, #mess, #nomatterwhat, #oneatatime, #outside, #over, #patience, #pieces, #plan, #promise, #pulled, #reason, #section, #setup, #slowly, #tangled, #thewannabesaint.com, #threat, #threatened, #Under, #Untangle, #Whew, #work, #workwith, #wrestling, @BrianLoging, Free

Protests

Mar 15

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for walk out protest

Protests –

Yesterday, almost one million students across the United States of America, walked out en masse to protest school shooting and the inability of adults to agree upon how to make our schools safer.

There were two types of protests that were happening. One was #walkout which encouraged students to leave their school classrooms and #walkup which encouraged these young adults to find someone who seemed to exist “on the edges” and talk with them eat lunch and begin a conversation that hopefully would develop into a relationship. I supported the #walkout and the #walkup protests and thought both had merit and could change lives. Neither was a perfect way of protesting but each one was worth doing.

However, I noticed that many folks were for one or the other. Not many looked for balance in the two approaches. Students were either labeled #walkup or #walkout. It seemed not much conversation was happening between the quickly diverging groups. This made me sad. The reason the students were protesting is that adults can’t talk to one another, find a compromise, work together on behalf of our nation’s youngest and brightest. Now, it was happening again.

I am sick of litmus tests that divide us as a nation, community, and families. I am tired of people not being able to listen to one another even if we do not agree with the other. There is almost always a middle way where we remember we’re all human, deserving of respect and kindness instead of disdain and meanness. Perhaps one day we will realize we have more in common than what we allow to tear us apart.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: ##enmasse, #able, #across, #adults, #again, #agree, #allow, #apart, #approaches, #balance, #begin, #behalf, #between, #blessings, #brightest, #change, #classrooms, #common, #compromise, #conversation, #deserving, #develop, #disdain, #diverging, #eatlunch, #encouraged, #exist, #families, #find, #groups, #happening, #hopefully, #human, #inability, #instead, #kindness, #labeled, #leave, #litmus, #lives, #looked, #meanness, #merit, #middleway, #nation, #nation's, #noticed, #onemillion, #ontheedges, #perfect, #protest, #protesting, #protests, #quickly, #realize, #reason, #remember, #respect, #sad, #safer, #school, #schoolshootings, #seemed, #shootings, #sick, #students, #supported, #tear, #tests, #thewannabesaint.com, #types, #UnitedStatesofAmerica, #walkout, #walkup, #worktogether, #worth, #youngadults, #youngest, @BrianLoging, Community, Listen, Relationship, Talk

Learning and Letting Go

Sep 18

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for zen quote of the day

Learning and Letting Go –

Today was a training day for learning what is and how to do Motivational Interviewing. It sounds like a discipline someone would learn who is a professional job seeker! However, it is a counseling, teaching, technique that helps people overcome their biases and objections and allowing them to live a better life. I have done a quite a bit of training in Motivational Interviewing but the leader today was a Certified Motivational Interviewing Trainer so she had more information than online learning could give.

The two biggest keys to Motivational Interviewing are listening to learn the client’s story and needs and letting go of the idea we are responsible for the client’s success in counseling and/or learning. Our work is helping the client get to the place where they can choose for themselves their own path. By listening to understand who the client is and their willingness to get healthy in mind, body, and spirit, we can help them find the inner strength to make the changes that will impact them and their families.

I liked the training and the approach through my anxiety makes it difficult for me to sit for long periods as was the case today. It was a great reminder that we can’t fix people. It is not within our power to do so. What we can do is come alongside and help them discover their path and the willingness to walk it.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #alongside, #anxiety, #approach, #biggest, #body, #changes, #Choose, #client, #counseling, #difficult, #discover, #families, #fix, #healthy, #helping, #impact, #innerstrength, #Interviewing, #keys, #learn, #learning, #lettinggo, #listening, #Motivational, #path, #periods, #power, #reminder, #responsible, #spirit, #success, #themselves, #understand, #walk, #willingness, Mind

Role Play

Aug 29

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

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Role Play –

Today I attended a training in Nashville, Tennessee. After lunch, when all of the information had been given, we broke up into groups for role-playing. We were supposed to use the tools and insights we had gained from the speaker and put it into practice. We would either be the client with certain needs or the specialist seeking to help. We were also encouraged to improvise whichever role we were assigned to best fit the situation we found ourselves. It was interesting. My introvert side was certainly not thrilled about having to role play with a stranger but putting into practice what we’d learned was helpful.

As I drove home I reflected on the exercise and stepping into another’s shoes. When working with a client the most important thing we do is listen, try to understand where a client is coming from and to know their story. Only when we understand our client’s history can we truly give them the tools they need to reclaim their families, places in society, their lives.

Listening, seeing the world from another’s point of view, is the first and only way to love another as you wished to be loved.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #client, #comingfrom, #exercise, #families, #listening, #lives, #loveanother, #loved, #mostimportant, #pointofview, #reflected, #seeingtheworld, #society, #theirstory, #tools #reclaim, #understand, Listen

Apocalypse

Aug 11

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for nuclear apocalypse

Apocalypse –

The last several days have been tense! Words of threats, warnings, retaliations, and war are being thrown back and forth between leaders of nations who are acting like petulant children. It worries me but angers me more. Both men seem to think it’s a game and forget the millions of lives which would be impacted, endangered, and ended if this fiasco goes further.

I wonder how leaders can become so distant from the people they represent? It isn’t just dictators and presidents but people in businesses, families, churches, and organizations in all shapes and sizes. The penetration of power into our spirits seem to corrupt whoever tries to yield it. It is why all wisdom leaders flee from power over people. They understand the grip and the destruction which can be wrought by good men turned and twisted by power and its propensity for evil.

I hope one of the two “leaders” will take a step back and take a deep breath. I pray they think of the people and not their egos. I want to see humility, not hubris. I’d like to be surprised by one of these men showing wisdom.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #businesses, #corrupt, #destruction, #dictators, #distant, #egos, #evil, #families, #goodmen, #grip, #hope, #hubris, #humility, #penetration, #power, #pray, #presidents, #propensity, #represent, #shapes, #sizes, #spirits, #stepback, #surprised, #takeadeepbreath, #turned, #twisted, #wisdom, #wonder, #yield, Leaders

Maybe a Mexican!

Jun 7

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Maybe a Mexican!

Earlier this week I was in a store looking at shirts for summer. As I perused a middle-aged white woman walked up to me with a shirt in her hand and blurted out; “Isn’t this the ugliest shirt you’ve ever seen? Who would wear it? Nobody I know. Maybe a Mexican.” She laughed, I grimaced, forced a smile and choked back the question; “You’re a Donald Trump supporter aren’t you?” Instead I moved on, saddened by her attitude and aggression.

Too often people associate the unsightly, problematic, ills and woes of our families, communities and societies with certain races, religions, sexes and ages. Our biases and judgments automatically see the worst in others and the ugliness in ourselves stops us from beholding the beauty that exists in us all.

Blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

2 Comments

Tags: #ages, #associate, #beholding, #biases, #communities, #exists, #families, #ills, #judgments, #ourselves, #problematic, #races, #religions, #sexes, #societies, #ugly, #unsightly, #woes, #worst, beauty, People

Essentialist and Wannabesaint

Essentialist, contemplative, author, advocate, old soul

Blog Archives

Stemming the Tide

Tribalism

Black and White

Balancing Act

Untangle

Protests

Learning and Letting Go

Role Play

Apocalypse

Maybe a Mexican!

Essentialist and Wannabesaint

Essentialist, contemplative, author, advocate, old soul

Blog Archives

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