Remember to put intentionality into where I spend my time. Minutes, hours, and days slip by so quickly if I don’t pause and consider whether I’m intentionally using the them the right way. Stay focused on my goals – both long and short term – and act accordingly with urgency. Don’t let it slip away.
One day, my father, he told me, “Son, don’t let it slip away” He took me in his arms, I heard him say “When you get older, your wild heart will live for younger days Think of me if ever you’re afraid”
Avicii, The Nights
Appreciation:
Along the lines of remembering what is important – I am especially grateful for taking action to do just that today! Between scheduling a weekend for camping with a lifelong friend, choosing to be present and moving early in the morning, taking time to shut down everything except playing a game with Gavin, being focused and present in a conversation with Dominic on Facetime, being there for others as needed, and planning ahead for an adventure (maybe two) I spent a lot of time on working towards where I want to be going, on my purpose, and towards my dreams. Here’s to a day that was largely focused on moving forward with intentionality with a whole lot of fun in the now throughout!
Presence:
Taking the time to go for a five mile walk to start off the morning is always the right answer (unless I’m either running or hiking or yoga is an option). Getting up and getting moving, spending time without a phone or a screen, alternating between interacting with Becky and letting my thoughts drift. It’s almost a walking meditation, letting go of everything else and living exclusively in the now.
Regardless of the decisions I’ll make throughout the rest of the day I know I started the right way, I chose action, and I chose moving stillness.
No matter how deeply we disagree with someone’s ideas, murder is never the answer.
No matter how much we disagree with someone’s ideas murder is never the answer. There are so many other ways to deal with disagreement, taking a life cannot be the resolution.
Tonight a family has lost their dad due to hate and fear.
There is always a better way of overcoming. As people face fear and hate with more fear and hate there is no positive end to the story, only a sickening spiral of more and more hate and fear. Is it so difficult to face fear with love instead?
Appreciation:
I don’t know about you, but when I think of “gratitude” and “appreciation” I usually think of happiness. That’s not always the case. Sometimes life hands us challenges so inconceivable that appreciation feels impossible. That said, those are so often the moments in which we have so much to be grateful for. We don’t have to be grateful for the tragedy itself—let’s be real, it sucked. But we can choose how to move forward. But we can’t change it once it has happened, we can only choose how to move forward, how to use that as an opportunity for growth.
Today was rough for me, much more than I ever would have expected, but I think it was largely because it caused a very necessary moment of awareness. While I wish Charlie Kirk would not have been killed, I cannot change it. I can remember this moment, remember the lessons learned about the true vile ugliness of hate and fear – regardless of whether you feel the other person is right or wrong – is never the right answer. Love is. Rather than lashing out in anger or in fear, reach out in love.
Presence:
Oof, this one hit hard today. I’m still not one hundred percent sure why this one after so many others, so many that one seems to almost become numb to all of the ongoing gun violence and loss of life. I wasn’t a fan of his—I disagreed with him on so many levels—but the sudden, instant loss of a life was still jarring. I really don’t have a better way of stating it, the clarity of that moment, the awareness of the wrongness… maybe it had more to do with the frustration and anger I’ve felt over so many things related to politics, seeing where it can go if completely unchecked and unhinged to such an insane extreme, made me instantly aware of how wrong my low level anger and fear are, how wrong I am to fight fear with fear rather than love.
In an instant, I saw where unchecked fear leads—and it was horrifying. Violence, hate, and fear are never the answer. Sometimes there will be pushback, disagreement, but it should always be with love rather than hate.
A wise man tried to teach us that 2,000 years ago—and we killed Him for it. His response was forgiveness. His response was love. That’s the path we should choose too: love over fear.
Father Dodge had a wonderful sermon that I really didn’t want to hear today, usually the sign of one which I really needed to hear. Where there is discomfort there is usually room for growth.
In his sermon he reminded us that we are to love everyone, to want everyone to enter into heaven, for everyone to feel love. This is currently very difficult for me as I strongly disagree with several issues we are having as a society at large. It would (and has been) so much easier to be angry, to return hate with hate, and to be about as far from love as we should be.
As he spoke I couldn’t help but realize that this pushing back with anger and frustration is what is fueling the downward spiral we seem to be in. We should be remembering to love each other throughout, to pray for others, to help them understand that even if we disagree they are still humans, we should treat them all as we would be treated.
For sure – I am nowhere near ready to for this complete shift, I know what I should do and will work towards closing the gap between who I am and who I am called to be. As I reflect on the day I will be remembering to give a little extra prayer for those who need it, those who are acting from a place of hate, greed, ego, for them to find their way back to love for all humans and all life. I will say an extra prayer for all those who are directly impacted by the hateful and bitter action for them to have the courage to continue, the strength to keep fighting, and the ability to find a way to return love for hate. I will say a prayer for myself, to help me stay level minded, to help me know when and how it is appropriate to fight back, but in a way from the heart, with love. All in all, I’m praying for us to all remember to love each other and to treat each other well – especially when we don’t agree.
This evening I acted out in peaceful ways, a donation to an organization that could really use the extra help right now, sending messages to our congress on my thoughts on specific actions. Please consider doing the same. An organization which we’ve supported in the past that could use your help is the National Parks Conservation Association.
Appreciation:
I’ve been known to have some crazy idea, some might even say bad ideas form time to time. Nothing crazy or nefarious, rather ideas which many normal people would likely think a little out there. Case in point hiking a 50k last summer in the middle of a heat wave. Some have been so crazy they never happened, others I’ve seen through and maybe even questioned after the fact.
After Gavin finished reading The Long Walk by Stephen King this week he had an incredible idea – possibly a crazy one. We are going to do a 24 hour nonstop hike this summer just because we can. We’re going to start approximately 65-70 miles from home and follow the trail all the way back. Nothing short of ridiculous, no question, but it should be an incredible adventure, one we’ll remember for the long haul for sure!
Here’s to the crazy ideas, may they continue to invade our brain and lead us to many incredible shared moments together!
Presence:
Appreciate each moment, we don’t know how many more we have. In church today we received some deeply sad news of a parishioner who passed away from a very fast acting cancer. While we did’t know her well, we knew she and her husband well enough to enjoy a smile and a joke from time to time. Her death was a shock and that moment really hit hard. Her husband is the one I blogged about years ago as “the guy at church who reminds me of Dad.” My heart goes out to him and their family. Enjoy the moments we have, we are not promised tomorrow.
What a beautiful quote by Neil Gaiman which takes just a moment to sink in.
If you, as a parent, raise your children well, they won’t need you anymore. If you did it properly, they go away.
Neil Gaiman
Appreciation:
I’m not quite sure how to put this one so I’m going to just type it and see how it comes out. Fingers crossed that it portrays the sense of profound appreciation I have for so many today.
For a variety of reasons I am deeply grateful for all of the people who have helped me step outside of myself and my very limited vision to see the larger scope of how we all fit together as people. I’ve been a slow learner and I haven’t always seen things as quickly or clearly as I would have hope. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time, shown the patience, and provided me the grace to slowly become aware of the different challenges all types of people face. Your patience, love, and faith in my heart have helped to grant me one of the most priceless gifts in the world, the seeds of awareness. Thank you for helping me step outside of myself, to see the world from different perspectives, and to slowly work towards closing the gap between who I am and who I am meant to be.
I have such a large distance to go to keep growing past my own filters of the world, please continue to help guide me, inform me, question me, support me, and love me throughout the successes and stumbles I have along the way. You have had a significant impact on my life, please know I am doing my best to pass it on others – especially my sons. Thank you for your patience and faith in my ability to become more aware!
Presence:
Making dinner with Becky, both joking around in the kitchen, enjoying each other’s company, now relaxing on the couch reading/writing. What beautifully ordinary ways to spend part of our evening together! We’re in the midst of a three plus week stretch in which we’re each rarely in the same state, this dose of normalcy is incredible!
Before getting into my Uber from the airport I was hoping for a driver who wouldn’t want to talk much. It had been a long day and I just wanted a little bit of quiet to chill and unwind. As luck would have it I got the exact opposite and that was exactly what I needed.
Within a minute Alex and I were laughing and trading vacation stories. He shared that he and his wife had just been on a trip to Miami and shared all fun they had by the beach relaxing.
About 10 minutes in Alex shared the story of how he had moved his family away from a rough part of Chicago only to lose his only son in a tragic act of violence. We talked about family and faith.
Another few minutes in and Alex shared the story of how they just had a surprise baby girl not too long ago – even though their other daughter was 21 and they had been told that they couldn’t have any more kids. We talked about the joy of being dads. We talked about having trust in the plan of The Big Dude Upstairs – especially when we don’t quite understand his reasoning.
As our ride was wrapping up we talked about his son and my dad sitting up above and laughing at the two of us in the car joking, laughing, and loving life. We shared our belief that life is best lived with kindness and love for all people. Alex reminded me of the impermanence of life and to appreciate each and every moment we are blessed to have.
Alex brought so much joy to my heart that I can’t even begin to explain it fairly in words. In his willingness to engage in conversation with a stranger, his openness to sharing all aspects of life – good and bad, and his courage to stay positive and optimistic in the most difficult of times reminded me of what is truly important. Love and kindness for each other.
Alex dude, thank you for an incredible ride, amazing conversation, and a truly inspirational time together. Before I got in the car my heart was closed and my skies were cloudy. Big hugs to you and your family Alex, you made my world a better, brighter, and more beautiful place today. I cannot thank you enough!
Thankful for Forty 