Blog Archives

Open Mouth

Open Mouth –

I heard someone say yesterday that; “only a fish with its mouth open gets caught!” I like the saying. It’s similar to the wisdom teaching; “No one regrets a harsh word unspoken.”

One of the key tenets of my job is to ensure each client’s privacy. I am not allowed to talk about conversations, other information, or even affirm a client is a client to anyone who does not and should not know. It’s difficult at times when someone calls from another organization to inquire about a client to say; “I’m sorry. I cannot talk about clients. Period.” but sometimes I have to do it.

Though a challenge I think it would be great if everyone followed the rule of not talking about another without the other’s permission. However, often times it’s the opposite. We hear a juicy piece of gossip, an embarrassing story, someone is facing a challenging situation, carrying the burden of a struggling relationship and we can’t keep it to ourselves! We’ve got to share it. Like fish we’ve chomped down on the bait and once we’re caught we dangle it in front of others to see if they will take a bite also. Gossip turns to rumors and they always come back around to the person being talked about. The hurt they already felt is multiplied. Their burden becomes that much more to bear.

Instead of an open ear and open mouth to hear and repeat innuendos and insults perhaps we can offer the person struggling, a listening spirit and words of comfort and kindness.

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

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)

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Standing Still or Like You’re Standing Still?

Jul 18

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Standing Still or Like You’re Standing Still?

Time is an amazing and confusing construct. The same amount of time, say a week, can feel like a moment or a season. The days, hours and minutes are the same but the experience of them can be vastly different. I do my best to work out regularly. It’s good for my body, my emotions, and my mind. There are days when the time on treadmill clock flies by and others when each second takes minutes to pass. The first is enjoyable the second unbearable.

Wisdom teaches us that time is always moving. Awareness of the passing of time allows us to never take any moment for granted. Once a moment is past it is never repeated. Stillness, experiencing each moment is a difficult and valuable lesson. Learning to stand still, to capture a moment with our whole being before it fades into the past is a discipline worth practicing. Allowing time to fly by as if you’re standing still is the opposite of being still in each moment. It is to be so busy, unaware, unconcerned, that life is fleeting and you’re stuck in the minutiae of keeping appointments, staying on schedule, consumed by attending events, and marking occasions.

Standing still or “like you’re standing still.” Which way do we choose to live our lives?

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: ##opposite, #allowing, #amazing, #amount, #attendingevents, #awareness, #blessings, #busy, #capture, #choosetolive, #clock, #confusing, #construct, #consumedby, #days, #different, #difficult, #discipline, #eachmoment, #eachsecond, #enjoyable, #experience, #experiencing, #fades, #feellikeamoment, #fliesby, #granted, #hours, #keepingappointments, #lifeisfleeting, #LikeYoureStandingStill, #markingoccasions, #minutes, #minutiae, #momentpasses, #neverrepeated, #nevertakeamoment, #pass, #passingoftime, #practicing, #season, #standingstill, #stayingonschedule, #stuck, #thewannabesaint.com, #time, #timeisalwaysmoving, #timetoflyby, #unaware, #unbearable, #unconcerned, #valuable, #vastly, #wholebeing, #wisdom, @BrianLoging, lesson. #Learning, Stillness, to #standstill

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

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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

Everything But

May 16

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Everything But –

This morning I was shopping at Wal-Mart looking for items to check off my list. However, I couldn’t find one so I began to look for an employee to help me. I spotted a man in a white shirt, blue and white ID holder attached to a lanyard. He was about to leave so I called from the opposite end of the aisle; “Excuse me, sir? Could you help me?” He stopped and I walked up to and asked him where the item I needed was located. “Sporting goods. Over there.” and though I thought his answer was vague I thanked him and began looking again. I was frustrated he didn’t narrow down my search. Then, it hit me. The man I spoke to wasn’t a Wal-Mart employee. He just happened to look like one because I was searching for one. I laughed at myself and wondered about the guy who would tell his family and friends today about the stranger who mistook him for someone who worked at Wal-Mart.

Later in the day, I was teaching a Dad’s Community Group and we were learning about listening. One of the ways to be a better listener is to leave your biases out of the conversation. When we’ve made up our mind about a person to or the topic *before* listening and understanding what the person is saying, and feeling, we are not listening. We are only waiting to speak.

Listening is not about criticizing, advice giving, making the conversation about us. Listening is, at its essence, letting a person know they are valued, respected. Too often we make it about everything but…

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: # understanding, ##opposite, #advice giving, #answer, #ask, #began, #biases, #blessings, #called, #conversation, #criticizing, #essence, #EverythingBut, #find, #frustrated, #happened, #help, #laughed, #learning, #leave, #listenbetter, #listening, #located, #looking, #madeupourmind, #mistook, #moreeffectively, #narrow, #needed, #respected, #saying, #search, #searching, #speak, #spotted, #stopped, #stranger, #talking, #teaching, #thanked, #thewannabesaint.com, #topic, #vague, #valued, #waiting, #wondered, @BrianLoging, Mind

Where You’re Going

Apr 30

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Where You’re Going –

This morning, at a community group for dads, I talked with the men about the importance of “Putting First Things First.” It’s a concept which deals with knowing what’s truly the most important things in our lives and using those as a framework for how we live. When you know what’s important then every decision is made according to your paradigm, your life’s mission statement. If a decision is made that does not fit the schematics of who you are and who you want to become you make it right. Otherwise, you are traveling in the opposite direction of where you need to go.

Everything we do, walking the road of life, involves passion, energy, and time. We have limited supplies of all three. We have to choose how we are going to use them. Our life is a list of the things we do and deem important. The more items on our list the less passion, energy, and time we have to give each item. The fewer items on the list the more we have to give.

This is why knowing what’s important, where you are going, is a must. It allows us to make sure some items remain on our list, what important, and eliminate the unimportant. Direction is easy once we decide where we want to go.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: ##opposite, #according, #allows, #blessings, #building, #Choose, #concept, #deals, #decision, #deem, #direction, #eliminate, #Everythingwedo, #fewer, #framework, #give, #importance, #involves, #item, #items, #knowing, #less, #lifes, #limited, #limitedsupplies, #list, #lives, #mission, #missionstatement, #mostimportant, #needtogo, #Otherwise, #paradigm, #passion, #PuttingFirstThingsFirst, #remain, #roadoflife, #schematics, #statement, #supplies, #thewannabesaint.com, #time, #traveling, #truly, #unimportant, #using, #walking, #wanttobecome, #whats, #WhereYou'reGoing, #wrong, @BrianLoging, Energy

A Little Help

Mar 29

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for tractor trailer cab

A Little Help –

This morning on my way to an appointment I approached a red traffic light. Preparing to stop I also noticed two sets of blue lights on a couple of police vehicles in the opposite lane. After coming to a full stop I observed they were helping out a driver of a tractor-trailer cab who had apparently run out of gas. I surmised this by a small, red, plastic five-gallon canister on the road near the side of the truck. It struck me as funny; this big rig and that small container of gas. Then I thought to myself; “this bit of help could be enough to get him across the street to a gas station. It might not be a lot but it may be enough to get him to place where he can, rest, fill-up, and then continue to his destination.”

Then I thought; “I hope I can be a little help to someone today.”

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Intimacy

Mar 19

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Intimacy –

This afternoon I stopped by a store to run in and grab a few items. When I parked there was a man sitting in his car and as I pulled into a spot he was staring at me. I gave him a head nod and didn’t think much of it As I gathered my things and exited the truck I looked again and he was no longer visible because his, I am assuming, girlfriend was bending sideways across the center console “appreciating him.” She was kissing him and whatever else because I averted my eyes not wanting to see anything that would burn an image in my brain! I went into the store came out a few minutes later and was hoping the car had gone but alas it was still there. Most of the windows were fogged up except the driver’s window and the driver was smoking a cigarette. I looked at my keys, hopped in the truck and drove away, quickly.

Intimacy is one of the greatest emotions and connections humans can share. Lust, on the other hand, is hormonal, selfish, addicting, and satisfied in ways which can hurt others. Our world is filled with lust. Lust for power, fame, money, reputation, knowledge can all be subjects of our lust if they are used only for our selfish purposes. True intimacy is also powerful but the opposite of lust. Lasting intimacy is giving ourselves to another. We have intimacy when we decide to put the other one first, serve the other. In a world where lust burns quickly, brightly, we need those who would rather do a slow burn which lasts a lifetime.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Tags: ##brain, ##opposite, #across, #appreciating, #assuming, #averted, #bending, #blessings, #brightly, #burn, #burns, #center, #connections, #decide, #easily, #emotions, #exited, #fame, #filled, #first, #fogged, #gathered, #girlfriend, #giving, #greatest, #hoping, #hormonal, #humans, #image, #intimacy, #kissing, #knowledge, #lasting, #lasts, #lifetime, #longer, #looked, #lust, #money, #need, #ourselves, #parked, #power, #powerful, #purposes, #quickly, #rather, #reputation, #satisfied, #selfish, #serve, #share, #sideways, #slowburn, #staring, #stopped, #subjects, #thewannabesaint.com, #think, #true, #visible, @BrianLoging, World

The River

Jan 13

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for the river

The River –

“Imagine yourself sitting on the bank of a river. The river is your stream of consciousness. Observe each of your thoughts coming along as if they’re saying, “Think me, think me.” Watch your feelings come by saying, “Feel me, feel me.” Acknowledge that you’re having the feeling or thought. Don’t hate it, judge it, critique it, or move against it. Simply name it: “resentment toward so and so,” “a thought about such and such.” Then place it on a boat and let it go down the river. When another thought arises—as no doubt it will—welcome it and let it go, returning to your inner watch place on the bank of the river.”
#ThomasKeating, “Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel”

One of the greatest and most difficult realizations is the truth that we are not our thoughts. We are not our actions. We are not our egos. True, each of these can reveal things about us and to the world but we are not these things.

The problem is we’ve been taught the opposite most of our lives. The famous quote; “Reap a thought, a word, an action, then a destiny,” seems right but our thoughts do not have to lead us to who we ultimately become. We can choose to go deeper, change paths, refuse to be captive to our thoughts by breaking free of them.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Tags: ##opposite, #Acknowledge, #action, #actions, #arises, #bank, #blessings, #breaking, #captive, #change, #Choose, #critique, #deeper, #destiny, #difficult, #Dimension, #doubt, #egos, #famous, #feel, #feelings, #gospel, #greatest, #hate, #heart, #Imagine, #inner, #judge, #lives, #move, #Observe, #open, #paths, #place, #problem, #quote, #realizations, #Reap, #refuse, #resentment, #returning, #reveal, #River, #simply, #Sitting, #stream, #taught, #theriver, #think, #ThomasKeating, #true, #truth, #ultimately, #watch, #welcome, #word, Boat, consciousness, Contemplative, Free, Lead, Mind, Thoughts, World

Continues

Nov 24

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for raking leaves Continues –

I spent most of the day raking leaves and mowing the grass in the front yard. Raking isn’t my most favorite thing but it did get me out of the house on this beautiful, cool, day. As I raked I thought about a couple of things. I thought about my friend, who’s in the hospital right now fighting a losing battle for his life. I reflect on the leaves, now brown and shriveled were green and beautiful not too long ago. Time passes so very quickly and it catches us by surprise no matter when it runs out.

The wind was also blowing as I raked today and it was frustrating at times when it would catch a group of leaves I was trying to make go one way and send them scattered the opposite way. I noticed if I could collect a large group of them together it made a difference in getting them to the spot I needed them to go. The larger the group the better it worked. As I used this strategy I was thankful for the help and support of others as my friend battles an ominous disease. He doesn’t fight alone.

A quiet day, a somber day, a beautiful day with a reminder that even as life ends, it also continues.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

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Tags: ##opposite, #ago, #battle, #battles, #beautiful, #better, #blowing, #brown, #catches, #collect, #continues, #couple, #day, #difference, #disease, #end, #ends, #favorite, #fightalone, #fighting, #friend, #frustrating, #green, #group, #help, #hospital, #larger, #life, #losing, #matter, #mowing, #needed, #noticed, #ominous, #passes, #quickly, #quietday, #raking, #Reflect, #reminder, #scattered, #send, #shriveled, #somber, #spot, #strategy, #support, #surprise, #thankful, #time, #together, #used, #way, #wind, #worked, Thought

Stop!

Nov 16

Posted by thewannabesaint.com

Image result for ambulance lights flashing no siren

Stop–

Yesterday on my way to a meeting I rounded a curve and noticed vehicles pulling over to the side of the road. I slowed down, wondering what was happening when I heard the unmistakable sound of an emergency vehicle siren. Then I saw the ambulance. He passed in the opposite lane before I could find a spot to pull over. After it was out of sight; “poof” everything went back to normal. Everyone went on with their lives.

Except. Except for the person or people, the ambulance was rushing to get to. Could be something small or life-changing. There’s no way of knowing. A person said to me one day; “When I see or hear an emergency vehicle I pray for whom it is intended.” I liked this practice. I’ve tried making it a regular discipline but often forget.

Today, a friend of mine was rushed to the hospital via an ambulance. I’ve been praying for him all day long. The difference between the two scenarios? One ambulance had a person I loved the one yesterday, no one I knew.

Perhaps, if I remembered how connected all of us on this small planet really is I’d care more, pray more and love more.

blessings,
@BrianLoging (Twitter)
thewannabesaint.com

Posted in Mindfulness

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Tags: ##opposite, #ambulance, #between, #blessings, #care, #connected, #difference, #discipline, #emergency, #Except, #forget, #friend, #hear, #hospital, #intended, #knowing, #life-changing, #lives, #loved, #more, #normal, #person, #planet, #practice, #pray, #praying, #regular, #remembered, #rushed, #rushing, #see, #siren, #small, #vehicle, #way, love, People

Essentialist and Wannabesaint

Essentialist, contemplative, author, advocate, old soul

Blog Archives

Open Mouth

Standing Still or Like You’re Standing Still?

Balancing Act

Everything But

A Little Help

The River

Stop!

Essentialist and Wannabesaint

Essentialist, contemplative, author, advocate, old soul

Blog Archives

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