Category: Examen
Devotion
Centering . . .
Ponder . . .
Don’t tug on capes, share them
Shannon Weber decided that there wasn’t enough love, recognition or connection in her world, so she did something about it. When she finds an unsung (don’t say ‘ordinary’ hero) she makes them a cape.
Caping people, catching them doing something right, shining a light on a familiar hero.
It turns out that this is way more difficult than being cynical, or ironic, or bitter. Being closed is a lot easier than being connected. It takes guts.
What kind of impact does one act of kindness make? It can last for years.
Go, cape someone.
[Seth Godin, “Don’t tug on capes, share them.” June 27, 2016]
Remember . . .
A Sending Blessing
It is a strange thing
to be so bound
and so released
all in the same moment,
to feel the heart
open wide
and wider still
even as it turns
to take its leave.
On this day,
let us say
this is simply the way
love moves
in its ceaseless spiraling,
turning us toward
one another,
then sending us
into what waits for us
with arms open wide to us
in welcome
and in hope.
On this day,
in this place
where you have
poured yourself out,
where you have been
emptied
and filled
and emptied again,
may you be aware
more than ever
of what your heart
has opened to
here,
what it has tended
and welcomed
here,
where it has broken
in love and in grief,
where it has given
and received blessing
in the unfathomable mystery
that moves us,
undoes us,
and remakes us
finally
for joy.
This day
may you know
this joy
in full measure.
This day
may you know
this blessing
that gathers you in
and sends you forth
but will not
forget you.
O hear us
as this day
we say
grace;
this day
we say
grateful;
this day
we say
blessing;
this day
we release you
in God’s keeping
and hold you
in gladness
and love.
[Jan Richardson. “This Day We Say Grateful.” June 24, 2016. © Jan Richardson. janrichardson.com.]
Devotion
Centering . . .
And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.
(Raymond Carver, “Late Fragment.” A New Path to the Waterfall,. Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989.)
Ponder . . .
At first, it seems as though the things you declare, espouse and promise matter a lot. And they do.
For a while.
But in the end, we will judge you on what you do. When the gap between what you say and what you do gets big enough, people stop listening.
The compromises we make, the clients we take on, the things we do when we think no one is watching… this is how people measure us.
It seems as though the amount of time it takes for the gap to catch up with marketers/leaders/humans is getting shorter and shorter.
(Seth Godin, “The Saying/Doing Gap,” June 19, 2016)
Remember . . .
So these are the five essential questions.
“Wait, what” is at the root of all understanding.
“I wonder” is at the heart of all curiosity.
“Couldn’t we at least” is the beginning of all progress.
“How can I help” is at the base of all good relationships.
And “what really matters” gets you to the heart of life.
If you ask these questions regularly, especially the last one, you will be in a great position to answer the bonus question, which is, at the end of the day, the most important question you’ll ever face.
“And did you get what you wanted out of life, even so?”