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Life and a Tuna Fish Sandwich

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Mayonnaise is a tricky condiment. When using too much food gets messy, too little and food becomes dry. I made Tuna Fish today and ended up on the soupy side. It’s better than it being dry but it was hard keeping the Tuna on the tortilla shell.

While I was eating I thought about life and the last few weeks. They’ve been tough. I have felt dry emotionally and spiritually. Setting the clocks back an hour so that darkness comes much earlier doesn’t help either. I desire life to be easy. Not too easy or everything would be taken for granted but easier so that everything doesn’t seem like a chore.

Life is tricky, messy, sometimes easy, a lot of times hard. Like a Tuna Fish sandwich, the current mood and state of mind, doesn’t last forever.

blessings,
@BrianLoging
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #dry, #easy, #emotionally, #forgranted, #hard, #help, #life, #messy, #mood, #spiritually, #stateofmind, #tooeasy

Be Still and Wait

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

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Be Still and Wait –

This morning our Siberian Husky Trooper was ready to go outside. Getting to the door to open it he was dancing in circles! I opened the door to the house and the screened in porch and he darted out. Almost immediately I noticed a big rabbit in the field adjacent to our home. My eyes grew big wondering if Trooper was going to see it. The rabbit was still. I thought to myself; “Can you stay that still with danger lurking that close to you?” I watched intently as Trooper began sniffing the area and the bunny watched and didn’t move. After what seemed like a lifetime for me and the rabbit Trooper lumbered back to the porch and the rabbit was safe.

Many times in life we face trials and temptations, difficulties and decisions, choices and complications. Our instinct might be to take immediate action, react in the ways which seem best, hurry up and solve the problem. However, wisdom teaches us that when the way is clouded and we can’t see or crowded with chaos and hard to move the best we can do mentally, emotionally and spiritually is to be still and wait. To breathe, close our eyes and find our center. With a hectic mindset, we can focus on the immediate and “fix it” at the expense of the future. We can also become reckless running around trying everything at once and creating more hardships for ourselves and those we love.

A great master was asked one time by his student to help him solve a problem for which he could not find the solution. “I’ve gone over it a million times, looked at every angle, and can’t seem to see the way. The master told him; “When you step into a stream your feet muddy the waters. Only when you are still will the waters clear.”

Stillness, the quietude of the mind, is underrated. Pause, rest, be still, and the way will reveal itself.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Tags: #action, #bestill, #blessings, #chaos, #choices, #clear, #closeoureyes, #clouded, #complications, #couldnotfind, #creating, #crowded, #dancing, #danger, #darted, #decisions, #didntmove, #difficulties, #emotionally, #expense, #eyesgrewbig, #findourcenter, #fixit, #focus, #Future, #greatmaster, #hard, #hardships, #hectic, #help, #hurryup, #immediate, #immediately, #instinct, #lurking, #mentally, #mindset, #move, #muddythewaters, #pause, #problem, #quietude, #react, #reckless, #rest, #runningaround, #safe, #solution, #solve, #solvetheproblem, #spiritually, #stay, #step, #still, #student, #teaches, #temptations, #thewannabesaint.com, #theway, #thosewelove, #trials, #underrated, #wait, #watchedintently, #waters, #willshowitself, #wisdom, @BrianLoging, breathe, Mind, Stillness

Cling

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Cling –

I spent the day helping a friend go through the belongings of a dear loved one who has passed. It’s tough going. One might think it’s the expensive toys, gadgets, and gizmos which you’d want to hold on to but instead, it’s the little things; sheets of paper, old license plates, CDs, notepads. Items which wouldn’t sell at a yard sale or purchased at Goodwill are of immense value, a treasure to the ones who remain.

Death is often an open wound. Scabs may form, some healing might occur, but grasping at past memories and experiences, strains and pulls apart the wound and the pain, heartbreak of loss returns. Its hard letting go. It’s difficult to say; “goodbye.” but death demands we do it again and again in many ways, on many occasions and you wonder if it will ever be the last time.

Moving on requires that one live open-handed, no clinging to earthly, temporal things, allowing the shared life of the one who is gone to be enough.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

Tags: ##lasttime, #allowing, #blessings, #cling, #clinging, #dearlovedone, #death, #demands, #difficult, #earthly, #expensive, #experiences, #form, #friend, #gizmos, #going, #gone, #goodbye, #gothrough, #grasping, #hard, #healing, #helping, #holdon, #immense, #instead, #items, #leftbehind, #lettinggo, #life, #littlethings, #live, #loss, #manyoccasions, #manyways, #memories, #moving, #occur, #open-handed, #openwound, #pain, #passed, #pastmemories, #pullsapart, #remain, #requires, #scabs, #strains, #temporal, #thewannabesaint.com, #think, #tough, #toys, #treasure, #value, #wonder, #wound, @BrianLoging, belongings

Torture

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

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Torture –

Earlier this afternoon I tortured my Siberian Husky. I am sure that’s his point of view. Mine? I gave him a bath. He hates baths. From the time he was a puppy to now that he’s over thirteen years old when the water hits him and the soap is scrubbed into his thick fur he begins to howl and wail like someone is beating him! He tries running away, shaking the soapy water off, and is uncooperative from beginning to end. If it wasn’t so frustrating it would be funny.

I think many of us are like Trooper. There are hard, difficult, challenging things we go through that we’d rather not experience. However, it could be these very things that help us grow, get rid of old hurts, habits, and hangups. It may seem like torture when we go through it but afterward, we may even be thankful.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: #afterward, #beating, #beginning, #blessings, #challenging, #difficult, #end, #experience, #frustrating, #funny, #getridof, #gothrough, #grow, #habits, #hangups, #hard, #hates, #help, #howl, #hurts, #pointofview, #rather, #runningaway, #Shaking, #SiberianHusky, #thankful, #thewannabesaint.com, #think, #through, #Torture, #tortured, #uncooperative, #wail, @BrianLoging

Gently

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Gently –

I saw him as soon as I pulled up to the stoplight. He was a man in late 50’s, early 60’s slowly, carefully, walking down a hill away from the traffic signal. He was slow, taking painful steps. I didn’t want to stare so I looked out the corner of my eye; watching every step, shuffle and pause. His face showed his age, his wincing revealed a hard, difficult, life. Many of his steps were unsteady causing worry that he might fall but he progressed on his way in spite of the awkwardness of his gait.

As I watched him I thought about family, friends, clients who struggle to make their way on this path called life. I’m one who struggles. I think at times we all have seasons where we’re just trying not to fall or fall back. It is in these times especially we should treat ourselves gently, remembering the words of the philosopher #Plato:

“Never judge a person’s progress, no matter how slow.”

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Tags: #awkwardness, #blessings, #causing, #clients, #difficult, #especially, #face, #fall, #fallback, #friends, #gait, #gently, #hard, #judge, #life, #literal, #matter, #metaphorical, #often, #ourselves, #painful, #path, #pause, #persons, #philosopher, #plato, #progress, #progressed, #Remembering, #revealed, #seasons, #shuffle, #slow, #slowly, #spite, #steps. #everystep, #struggle, #struggles, #taking, #thewannabesaint.com, #treat, #tryingnottofall, #unsteady, #walking, #watched, #way, #wincing, #worry, @BrianLoging, Age, Family, Thought

Untangle

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

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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

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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

Curiosity

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

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Curiosity –

Last week I wrote about a family of rabbits living under our shed. Yesterday I discovered one of the parents has become braver. I had let the dog out to take care of his business and realized too late there was a bunny in his vicinity. The rabbit watched Trooper as I watched it. It was perfectly still, on high alert, but didn’t move. Finally, our husky moved on and the rabbit relaxed until Trooper came bounding toward the front door ready to come in. It was then the bunny decided to high-tail it back under the porch.

A couple of weeks ago a rabbit ran right in front of Trooper and he casually looked at it and went about his duties. When he was younger he would’ve chased, and probably caught, the four-legged hopper. However, now that he is almost thirteen years old he conserves his energy for playing with us or sniffing the entire yard.

I wondered if the rabbit doesn’t feel afraid because Trooper has never chased it. Does his natural curiosity override his life-saving senses? As someone who lives with high anxiety, I too am “ready to run, fight, freeze” at the slightest threat. However, after I realize certain people aren’t a threat to harm, insult, shun me I relax and become curious enough to discover connection and relationship.

In a fast-paced busy world, it’s hard to take time to establish connections and build friendships. Hopefully, those of us who are more hesitant won’t be left behind.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Tags: #blessings, #braver, #build, #busyworld, #casually, #caught, #certain, #chased, #connection, #connections, #conserves, #Curiosity, #curious, #decided, #discover, #discovered, #duties, #establish, #fast-paced, #feelafraid, #fight, #freeze, #friendships, #front, #hard, #harm, #hesitant, #high-tail, #highalert, #highanxiety, #hopefully, #insult, #leftbehind, #life-saving, #looked, #move, #natural, #neverchased, #override, #perfectly, #playing, #ready, #realized, #relax, #relaxed, #run, #senses, #shun, #slightest, #still, #taketime, #thewannabesaint.com, #threat, #toolate, #toward, #vicinity, #watched, #wondered, @BrianLoging, Energy, People, Relationship

Support

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Support –

I think the world stinks! Somedays. Other days its okay and on a rare occasion I see the best in humanity and what we’re capable of and it makes the day brighter.

Earlier this week a man was contemplating ending his life. It’s not an easy decision to make but he had decided at least to walk to the bridge and then choose his next step. People say that those who threaten don’t want to commit suicide they want attention. It’s only those who choose to do it secretly, commit the act in privacy who are serious. This is not true. When someone decides to take their own life they may choose to do it in any number of ways, telling or not telling any number of people. This is why all threats of suicide should be taken seriously.

Back to the man on the bridge, contemplating his existence, his purpose in life and whether both were at an end. As he wrestled with one of life’s ultimate decisions police and crisis personnel tried to persuade him not to do it. Then, semi-truckers began to pull under the bridge and stop! They were doing their best to fill up enough space under the bridge that the man couldn’t end his life. They had loads to deliver, jobs to do, families to feed and paychecks to earn but they put their livelihoods aside to try to convince this man that people cared. Read story: (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2018/04/24/a-man-nearly-jumped-off-an-overpass-13-truckers-made-a-safety-net/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.006906aecec9)

Life is hard, the world is a mess, our nation is falling apart. Each of us can do something to show someone who feels unloved how much we care, clean up our part of the planet, heal our community and be the difference between life and death.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannbesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

Tags: #aside, #attention, #best, #blessings, #bridge, #brighter, #capable, #Choose, #cleanup, #commit, #commitsuicide, #contemplating, #convince, #decided, #decides, #deliver, #easydecision, #endhislife, #endinghislife, #fallingapart, #familiestofeed, #fillup, #hard, #healourcommunity, #howmuchwecare, #humanity, #jobs, #least, #life, #lifeanddeath, #lifesultimatedecisions, #livelihoods, #makethedifference, #mess, #nation, #nextstep, #nottrue, #numberofpeople, #numberofways, #partoftheplanet, #peoplecared, #persuade, #privacy, #pullunder, #rareoccasion, #secretly, #serious, #Seriously, #showsomeone, #stinks, #stop, #support, #taketheirownlife, #thewannbesaint.com, #threaten, #threats, #unloved, #wrestled, @BrianLoging, existence, purpose, World

In the Heart

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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

Behind the Eyes

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Behind the Eyes –

I saw a picture of me from several years ago today. As most people, I don’t care for my photo to be taken but when it is I “grin and bear it.” Looking at the picture today the smile was there but it wasn’t genuine. There was also something missing in the eyes. There was no light behind them. They were hollow and sad. I was surrounded by friends in the photo, good friends. It should’ve been a time of stories, thankfulness, and memories but I can tell in my eyes it wasn’t any of those for me, only a blank stare and pasted smile. This was about a year before I was diagnosed with a Chronic Major Depressive Disorder.

The journey over these last years has been a hard one and there is still far to go but looking back I can see where I’ve come from and this does bring me relief. I’m not stuck in the same place even though sometimes it feels that way.

I’ve been watching a documentary titled; “The Kingdom of Us.” (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/08/the-kingdom-of-us-review-netflix-teenagers-lucy-cohen) It is the story of a family recovering from their father’s suicide. They listen to recordings of his voice, often in song, and watch videos of him and the family. They ask each other repeatedly, “Look at him! He’s so sad. Why didn’t we see it?” I know the answer; “because he didn’t want it to be seen.” We’ve all been there and done that; plastered on a smile when our hearts are breaking inside. We’ve pushed on even though everything feels broken inside.

Too often we take people’s word when we ask; “How are you?” and they reply; “Fine’ or ‘Good.” The key to discovering the truth is asking more than once and keep at it until they feel you might actually want to know.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Tags: #actually, #ago, #answer, #ask, #asking, #behind, #blank, #blessings, #breaking, #broken, #chronic, #comefrom, #depression, #depressive, #diagnosed, #disorder, #documentary, #eyes, #far, #fathers, #feel, #feels, #Fine, #friends, #genuine, #Good. #discovering, #goodfriends, #grinandbear, #hard, #hearts, #hollow, #inside, #journey, #keep, #light, #look, #looking, #lookingback, #major, #memories, #might, #missing, #most, #pasted, #pastedsmile, #picture, #plastered, #pushed, #recordings, #recovering, #relief, #repeatedly, #reply, #sad, #sameplace, #see, #seen, #several, #smile, #song, #stare, #story, #stuck, #surrounded, #taken, #thankfulness, #TheKingdomofUs, #time, #titled, #today, #Toooften, #voice, #watch, #watching, #Whydidntweseeit, #years, Family, Listen, People, Photo, Stories, suicide, Truth, Videos

Full of Junk

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

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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

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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

Hearing is Believing

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Hearing is Believing –

A driver slid off the road during a snowstorm. His cellphone was useless and so he walked until he found a house with an old mule munching on some hay near a barn in the backyard. He knocked on the door of the house and a farmer answered. The man explained his predicament and the farmer said he’d help. The farmer put on a coat, exited the house and walked over to the old mule, put a bridle on it and the three walked back to the car. As they were traveling the driver of the car wondered if the old mule could be of much help. They arrived back at the car and the farmer turned the mule around, attached the rope it carried to the car and to the mule and began yelling; “Go, Joe, go, Fred, go, Jim, go Barney!” The old mule pulled as hard as it could and the car slowly came out of the ditch and back on the road. The driver was amazed and thanked the farmer profusely! Before he drove off he had one question he had to ask the farmer. “Why,’ he inquired, ‘when the mule was pulling the car, did you yell; Go, Joe, go, Fred, go, Jim, go Barney?” “Well,’ replied the old farmer scratching his chin and then petting the mule. ‘Ol’ Barney here doesn’t see too good and I knew if he thought he was pulling by himself he’d never believe he could do it. So, I made him think he was on a team so he’d have the confidence he needed to get the job done.”

Wisdom teaches us that we are never alone. Whatever the situation, it is never so dire that whether we can see it or not, the help we need is there to do what needs to be done.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Tags: #alone, #amazed, #answered, #arrived, #attached, #backontheroad, #believe, #believing, #blessings, #carried, #confidence, #dire, #explained, #hard, #hearing, #help, #helpweneed, #himself, #inquired, #never, #predicament, #profusely, #pulled, #pulling, #question, #see, #situation, #slid, #slowly, #teaches, #thanked, #think, #traveling, #turned, #walked, #wisdom, #wondered, #yelling

Emptiness

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Emptiness –

Most of us have plenty. In truth, most of us have more than we need. I was speaking with a co-worker this week and he was saying how amazed he was at how people in our organization and fellow organizations step up when there is a need in our community. I told him I agreed.

We work with a lot of folks who are having a rough time. In certain situations it’s their own poor decisions, in others, the community, the state, and the federal resources have failed them. They feel and at times are the forgotten ones. There are residences you go into and cannot believe what you see. The basics of food, clothes, electricity, heat, medicine do not seem accessible and many are at the end of their ropes.

It’s hard when you know the suffering of others to come home. There may be cracks in the walls, leaks in the ceiling, toilet paper runs out and food spoils, but your house is a palace in comparison to these you see and spend time helping. These are the ones who empty and need to be filled. Much of what you have becomes superfluous, extra, easily given away because you know you won’t miss it.

It’s hard to imagine but can you, for a moment, think of living in a world where it wasn’t; “This is mine and you can’t have any!” to a place of sharing and; “What’s mine is yours.” Only when we begin to give away what we possess do we discover we have everything we need.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Grounded, Simple, Generous, Controlled, Joyful, Present

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Grounded, Simple, Generous, Controlled, Joyful, Present –

The contemplative life isn’t hard to understand. Most of the teachings can be learned in a day but they offer a lifetime of wisdom.

A few moments ago I was sitting on the porch basking in the sun. It was wonderful. I had brought my phone with me but not sure why. I laid it down beside me and closed my eyes. It’s warm for the month of January. Yesterday it was cloudy and cool but in that present moment of sitting on the porch, the skies were a brilliant blue. Our Siberian Husky was sprawled out on the driveway, not a care in the world. As I embraced the beauty and warmth my attention kept going to the phone. I knew there wasn’t anything on it I needed to read or respond to but the fact it was there distracted me.

This is why simplicity is important in the contemplative life. Everything we own, invest our ourselves in, give our passion, energy and time takes a piece of us. The more we have in our lives the less contemplative we are able to be. Letting go of all that is superfluous allows us to focus on what’s important while the fluff floats away.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Teaching Peace

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Teaching Peace –

Earlier this week I was talking with a man who has a confessed anger problem. He’s also been hurt by some people he trusted. The pain and rage of this betrayal occupy his thoughts and revenge is his stated goal. As we spoke with each other I explained to him that violence is not going to fix things. It will only make it worse for the man and his family. “Good mental health, the ability to process our emotions in a healthy, positive way will have a lasting impact on your family. Not choosing wisely will hurt you and those you love. I know the feelings are there and they’re eating you up inside but taking a path which doesn’t lead to peace punishes everyone.”

Peace is a hard concept and discipline to put into practice. We live in a world which claims the right to revenge and paying people back for the harm they’ve caused us. However, if we stubbornly stay on the path to; “right the wrongs” done to us we will not find contentment but an endless cycle of violence and retribution.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Tags: #ability, #anger, #betrayal, #blessings, #caused, #choosing, #claims, #concept, #confessed, #contentment, #cycle, #discipline, #eating, #emotions, #endless, #explained, #feelings, #find, #fix, #goal, #good, #hard, #harm, #healthy, #hurt, #impact, #inside, #lasting, #live, #man, #mental, #mentalhealth, #occupy, #pain, #path, #paying, #positive, #practice, #problem, #process, #punishes, #rage, #retribution, #revenge, #right, #spoke, #stated, #stay, #stubbornly, #talking, #teaching, #trusted, #violence, #way, #wisely, #worse, #wrongs, Family, Health, Lead, love, Peace, People, Thoughts, World

No Apologies

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

No Apologies –

I have a friend who is going through an incredibly difficult season of life. It’s not easy what she’s dealing with but we both know there are certain stages of this journey she must travel alone. It is hard watching a friend, a family member, a loved one going through a dark time and know we don’t have the power to stop it or even ease the pain. We long to wrap our arms around them and chase the doubts, confusion, fear, and pain away but in spite of our effort, it isn’t possible. My friend knows me and a host of others are there for her and doing what we can but the path she treks is long and oftentimes lonely.

One of the rules my friend and I have in place is that she doesn’t have to say she’s sorry. There are no apologies necessary when she doesn’t feel like talking or going somewhere, being social and choosing isolation. There is no; “I’m sorry.” There’s just now and getting through each day moment by moment.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Tags: #alone, #apologies, #arms, #blessings, #certain, #chase, #choosing, #confusion, #dark, #deal, #dealing, #difficult, #doubts, #ease, #easy, #efforts, #fear, #feel, #friend, #hard, #incredibly, #isolation, #life, #lonely, #long, #lovedone, #member, #necessary, #no, #now, #oftentimes, #pain, #path, #possible, #power, #rules, #season, #social, #sorry, #spite, #stages, #stop, #talking, #through, #treks, #watching, #wrap, Family, moment

Seeds

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Seeds –

It is COLD today. Thankfully the sun is out and the icicles and patches are melting. The yard looks so brown and bland. I went to check the mail last night and the ice on the grass crunched under my feet. It’s winter and though I try not to have favorites this particular season isn’t in my top three.

It’s hard to see the green for all the brown but knowledge, wisdom and experience tell me that it won’t stay that way. Even today, in spite of the cold, seeds are germinating and sometime, hopefully soon, they will make themselves known. I anticipate that day but need to be patient. Long, cold, seasons have their place in our lives. True, they help us appreciate other seasons when they come but finding peace and acceptance in the barren times is an important discipline.

Too often we project our lives to a period in front of or behind us when we can discover life, real life, exactly where we are now.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Tags: #acceptance, #anticipate, #appreciate, #barren, #behind, #bland, #blessings, #brown, #cold, #crunched, #discipline, #discover life, #exactly, #favorites, #finding, #front, #germinating, #green, #hard, #help, #hopefully, #ice, #icicles, #important, #knowledge, #lives, #long, #melting, #now, #particular, #patches, #patient, #period, #project, #real, #season, #seasons, #seeds, #soon, #stay, #sun, #Thankfully, #today, #true, #winter, #wisdom #experience, #yard, Grass, Peace

Idols and Illusions

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Idols and Illusions –

I would add to the quote attached to this post anything that’s fleeting, temporal, transitory, this that tell us lies about ourselves or others. Things like politics, money, jobs, reputations. Idols are all of these and more which fix our focus on the illusion that we are in control, we are powerful and by our wills, the world can be recreated in our image. It is this illusion that destroys our world and ourselves.

This morning part of my contemplation and meditation time included a portion of the Second Book of Kings, chapter seventeen, verse 15; “They worshipped false idols and became false.” I have read that several times today, talked about it with a friend and wrote it down in a journal. It says we become what we worship. Where our heart is, our mind, emotions, spirits, where our energies are applied is what we are and what we become.

Idols and illusions are hard to see sometimes. Breaking free from them isn’t easy. #AlbertEinstien said; “All of reality is an illusion, a persistent one, but still an illusion.”

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Silence

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

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Silence –

Today has been unusually quiet compared to the last several days since my father has passed. My wife and my mother spent some time together today which left me in her house alone. I reflected a bit on the week that has been but mostly I have slept. I am an introvert with diagnosed social anxiety so it takes little imagination to understand the state of mind I am in because deaths and memorial services, errands and condolence phone calls, emails and texts are anything but quiet and stress reducing.

My wife and my mom knew sleep and silence are what I needed today and am thankful they gave me some space. I am running on empty and my body, emotions, mind, and soul craves the quietude of muted phones, ignored texts, emails that can wait, errands which didn’t happen and the downtime which occurs the days and weeks after a loved one leaves this world.

They say the hardest part of a dear one passing isn’t the days immediately following. Days which are filled with planning, non-stop moving, endless words and memories are hard but can sweep you away in a flood of activity. It’s the days after which grow long. They are filled with loneliness, and questions, confusion, anger, and doubt. The flood of phone calls slow to a trickle, the flowers stop coming, the cards aren’t in the mail, and life goes on. The silence following the cacophony can be deafening.

So, what is a balm for me will become hurt, especially for my mother. It is in these times I must trust the memories will comfort, family and friends will step in for support and we will learn to live with the blessing of silence.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Tags: #activity, #after, #alone, #anger, #away, #balm, #become, #blessing, #body, #cacophony, #cards, #comfort, #compared, #condolence, #confusion, #craves, #days, #deafening, #dearone, #deaths, #diagnosed, #doubt, #downtime, #emotions, #empty, #endless, #errands, #especially, #filled, #flood, #flowers, #following, #friends, #hard, #hardest, #hurt, #I, #imagination, #immediately, #introvert, #learning, #leaves, #lifegoeson, #live, #long, #lovedone, #memorialservices, #memories, #mother, #moving, #muted, #needed, #non-stop, #part, #passed, #passing, #planning, #questions, #quiet, #quietude, #reducing, #reflected, #running, #several, #sleep, #slept, #slow, #socialanxiety, #space, #stateofmind, #stepin, #stopcoming, #stress, #support, #sweep, #thankful, #today, #trickle, #trust, #understand, #unusually, #wife, #words, Family, father, loneliness, Mind, Silence, Soul, World

Searching

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Searching –

This morning my family gathered together to write my father’s obituary and order of service for his memorial. After a while, we took a break and I walked outside with my niece and spotted a huge Sycamore leaf. It was the biggest one at first we could see and then it became a competition on who could find the largest one of all. We searched a long time and when we were convinced we had discovered the most sizeable one we began looking for the smallest one. This was harder because we had to look under, beside and move other leaves to find the smallest. Finally, we believed we had the tiniest Sycamore leaf in the yard.

It was another busy day with people visiting, numerous phone calls, memorial service being organized, visiting the florist, and other errands. In the hustle and bustle of things, a family must do when one they love has passed it’s hard to find the peace one desires. The big things, the things which must get done are easy to find, it’s the small things; the glimpses of hope, the good memories, times when the good of a life well-lived shines in the darkness of a loved one parting.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Saint John, chapter 1

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Openness

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

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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

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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

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