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Unexpected Places

Unexpected Places –

Bikers that live in our area are not the most subtle folks around. You can hear their loud, screaming engines coming from miles away and can’t hear yourself thinking when they whiz by. The noise plus the obnoxiousness which comes from that “look at me, hear me, acknowledge my presence” of some who choose to ride these cacophonic bikes, amplify their exhaust systems, spew black smoke from their diesel engines gets on my nerves. There’s a part of you which wants to put all these drivers in the same negative category and be frustrated with the whole lot!

However, I came across this video today of motorcycle riders helping an elderly woman cross the street. None of the other drivers stopped to help her, some in factory normal vehicles were speeding past her on their way to someplace important. These guys decided to make sure she arrived safely at her destination. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I7XUW4Co_c)

The video was a great reminder that categorizing, generalizing, labeling, putting everyone in the same basket is foolhardy and certainly not wise. Be slow to judge, we never know what’s happening “under the helmet.” After all, a lot of good in this world comes from mysterious and unexpected places.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #acknowledgeme, #amplify, #arrived, #blessings, #categorizing, #category, #certainly, #decided, #destination, #drivers, #folks, #foolhardy, #frustrated, #generalizing, #good, #greatreminder, #happening, #hear, #hearme, #helping, #important, #judge, #labeling, #lookatme, #loud, #motorcycleriders, #mysterious, #MysteriousWays, #normal, #obnoxiousness, #onmynerves, #otherdrivers, #places, #putallthese, #safely, #samebasket, #screaming, #slowtojudge, #stoppedtohelp, #subtle, #thewannabesaint.com, #thinking, #underthehelmet, #unexpected, #wise, @BrianLoging, my presence" of some who choose to ride these cacophonous, Negative, Noise, video, World

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

Beneath

Mar 8

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for fire ants rotted wood

Beneath –

Today I was tearing down an old wooden, raised flowerbed that was built many years ago. It was mostly rotten and needed to be removed. I was on my hands and knees prying apart a corner and noticed the wood seemed to be moving. Looking closer I realized there was an ant bed behind the wood. If you know anything about ants it is that they’ve noticed you before you notice them. This was true. I looked and they were on the sleeves of my shirt and hands. Fortunately, I was stung only one time. I quickly stepped back and brushed myself off. It was amazing to watch how quickly they went on the defense when under attack. There was no discussion, no plan, just instinct and getting rid of the intruder.

I know people this way. They are quick to attack, slow to find out what’s happening. If they even perceive that someone is going to be a threat they become defensive and hostile. Some people attack themselves. They are more critical of their life than any critic would ever be. Others’ aggressive style protects themselves from getting hurt.

Wisdom teaches us that this is not the way to live with ourselves or others. We are to be patient, kind, grace-filled, faithful, hopeful, and loving with everyone, including us.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannbesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: ##protect, #aggressive, #amazing, #anything, #attack, #before, #behind, #beneath, #blessings, #built, #closer, #critic, #critical, #defense, #defensive, #discussion, #down, #enemy, #everyone, #faithful, #find, #Fortunately, #getting, #grace-filled, #hands, #happening, #harshly, #hopeful, #hostile, #hurt, #including, #instinct, #intruder, #kind, #knees, #know, #looked, #looking, #loving, #mostly, #moving, #needed, #notice, #noticed, #patient, #perceive, #plan, #prying, #quick, #quickly, #realized, #removed, #rid, #rotten, #sleeves, #slow, #stepped, #teaches, #tearing, #themselves, #thewannbesaint.com, #true, #Under, #watch, #way, #wisdom, @BrianLoging, People, Style

Full of Junk

Feb 19

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for mindful quote of the day

Full of Junk –

Today is President’s Day. I wish I would’ve remembered that before this afternoon. The last few weeks have been rough weather wise. Cold, rainy, windy and our trash has piled up in the bin outside. Finally, today, it was dry enough to put the all the trash in the back of the truck and take it to the Refuse and Recycle Center. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to do it before meeting with some fathers today so it sat in the back of the truck until afternoon. My truck looked like Sanford and Son. After finishing up my appointments I headed to the dump. I was almost there and thankful to get rid of the trash. Then, to my disbelieving eyes, the gates were closed and it dawned on me; “President’s Day.” It was a holiday and county employees weren’t working today. My truck would stay loaded down until tomorrow. “Grrrr!” and “Sigh.”

“Don’t let what’s happening around you get inside you and weigh you down.” Easy sentence to write a hard sentence to live. We are surrounded by many negative things which can be like anchors to our spirits. Violence, injustice, racism, sexism, bigotry, and all sorts of evil that threaten to permeate our souls. We must be careful, watchful, mindful to not allow this corruption of creation to become a part of us, absorb us, soak up our existence and make us apart of what we should be fighting against.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #absorb us, #anchors, #appointments, #before, #bigotry, #bin, #blessings, #careful, #center, #closed, #Corruption, #creation, #dawned, #disbelieving, #dry, #dump, #easy, #enough, #evil, #eyes, #fathers, #fighting, #Finally, #finishing, #full, #gates, #happening, #hard, #headed, #injustice, #inside, #loaded, #meeting, #mindful, #notallow, #outside, #permeate, #piled, #presidents, #presidentsDay, #racism, #rainy, #Recycle, #refuse, #remembered, #ridof, #rough, #SanfordandSon, #sentence, #sexism, #soakup, #souls, #spirits, #stay, #surrounded, #thankful, #threaten, #today, #trash, #unfortunately, #violence, #watchful, #weigh, #windy, #wise. #Cold, #working, existence, Holiday, junk, Negative, Weather, Write

Hurry!

Nov 14

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Hurry! –

Today, I was driving down my driveway getting ready to pull out on to the main road. As I approached I noticed there was a truck coming and so I slowed down to wait. However, the truck was going at a snail’s pace so I pulled out, rather, quickly, in front of it. I hit the gas harder once my tires were on the asphalt and put a lot of space between me and the truck. I kept checking in my rearview mirror to make sure the truck was out of sight. This one decision impacted the rest of my day because I spent it behind every slow-moving vehicle and driver. Work trucks, buses, elderly drivers talking to their passengers, young drivers talking on the phone. Even on the way home, I spent the last 5 miles behind a big pick-up truck which was hauling another truck on a trailer.

I was forced to wonder if I hadn’t jumped in front of the slow-moving truck and instead have taken a breath and simply waited, would this have reset my day? Perhaps I’d been a few minutes slower but missed all the other obstacles?

Hurrying, rushing, pressing, not being mindful, has its consequences. Sometimes we miss life, which is happening all around us. Other times life has a way of forcing us to slow down whether we like it or not.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #behind, #blessings, #buses, #consequences, #decision, #forced, #forcing, #happening, #hauling, #Hurrying, #impacted, #instead, #jumped, #life, #mindful, #minutes, #miss, #missed, #obstacles, #pressing, #reset, #rest, #rushing, #simply, #slow-moving, #slowdown, #slower, #spent, #taken, #times, #trucks, #waited, #way, #wonder, breath

Safe to Land

Nov 4

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for safe landing parachute

Safe to Land –

Today, I was mowing grass and doing yard work for a friend. Most of the grass has already turned brown for the winter except for a few green patches. As I mowed over a patch a large grasshopper jumped up and from the ground and landed on my shirt. I didn’t have time to figure out what to do because he got his bearings and jumped again to a safe space. This happened more than once as I kept infringing on his territory.

Each time the grasshopper hitched a ride I thought about our lives and the times we need temporary safe places to land. Not spaces we will occupy permanently but where we can get our bearings, catch our breath, take stock of what’s happening, see the challenge and the difficulty and perhaps a way to avoid it or, if needed, endure it.

I also reflected on the need to be a place that is safe to land for others who are in trouble. A place where they can feel accepted and be safe. A space that has a listening ear, no advice unless asked for, a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold, patience and empathy to endure and understand.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #accepted, #avoid, #bearings, #catch, #challenge, #cry, #difficulty, #ear, #empathy, #endure, #feel, #grasshopper, #hand, #happening, #hitched, #hold, #land, #listening, #lives, #need, #needed, #occupy, #patience, #perhaps, #permanently, #places, #reflected, #ride, #safe, #safetoland, #shoulder, #space, #spaces, #stock, #temporary, #times, #trouble, #understand, advice, breath

Essentialist and Wannabesaint

Essentialist, contemplative, author, advocate, old soul

Blog Archives

Unexpected Places

Protests

Beneath

Full of Junk

Hurry!

Safe to Land

Essentialist and Wannabesaint

Essentialist, contemplative, author, advocate, old soul

Blog Archives

Unexpected Places

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Protests

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Beneath

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Full of Junk

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Hurry!

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Safe to Land

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