This is the list of books I read in 2008, from most recent. So, I finished The Wide Open Door in late December, and I read Infidel in January 2008.
I'm going to track the 2009 books too, but I didn't want to lose "the list" from 2008 so I'm putting it here on a blog page.
This was fun. I often wished, as I was reading, that I would stop and do a little book review at the end of each. Or, at least pull out one quote I loved from each one. I didn't do that (mostly because the ...<< MORE >>
I went to work early and I stayed late. Too late. Last one in line for the last-bus-of-the-day late. That means that on a bus designed to hold 56 commuters, I was number 58, and I would have to stand.
Okay. “It’s a’right. It’s all good.” After all, I felt okay. I had a happy song stuck in my head (These are a few of my fa-vo-rite things…) courtesy of the salt-n-pepper dred-locked geezer saxophone player on the street corner. I thanked God that I caught a bus. I was grateful I had my bad-ass, orthopedic-insert, open mesh weave super sneakers on. ...
<< MORE >>Guilty as charged. My kids have said I obsess about my garden. Well, I’ve been worse. But here is the latest example. This past week it finally occurred to me that the pain I was feeling all last week was not, in fact, back strain from digging in the garden. It was, uh… kidney problems. Yeah, the throbbing pain was in an internal organ, not a back muscle. Well, dang. That means the inconvenience of doctors and tests and meds….
What’s kidney pain when you can be out in the garden getting it ready for Spring? “I’m saving lives here!” ...
<< MORE >>But, it's not just the beauty that tells me I love my garden. It's the devotion, the excitement, the thrill I get when I work in it. ... << MORE >>
The epiphany of finally "knowing what you have to do" - I think it comes to each of us, if we are lucky, and if we pay attention. ...
<< MORE >>The family encouraged me to record the events of our Georgia Vacation 2007, so we collaborated on this diary. I typed it on a laptop over two days’ drive from Helen, Georgia to Purcellville, Virginia.
Thursday, Aug 9
Weather: HOT, 98 degrees – “sweat your jeans off hot”
Mary drove 7 hours from Purcellville, VA to Statesville, NC.
On ...
Last night when it was my turn playing the Ungame, I got the question, "What is prayer to you?"
I thought for a moment and said, "Breathing out and breathing in the presence and the mind of God."
...<< MORE >>
"Super-size Me" meals; Hummers and Monster SUVs; Porno-spam ads for "Huge Hammers" - Americans seem to have a romance with BIGGER. And that includes our egos, which seem to put our convictions at the center of Righteousness and our selves at the center of the Universe. This is descriptive more than judgmental. It's just how we are.
However. Bigger does not equal more powerful.
Consider the deer tick or the mosquito, and their power to fell a human many times their size. Or cancer cells. Or the last snowflake that falls, or melts, to cause ...<< MORE >>
But, I'm beginning to think that may be part of the problem.
There's this phenomenon I'm going to call "trance eating." This is when I eat stuff I'm not supposed to eat (because it is either ridiculously non-nutritious or it is adding to an already very full stomach). I can even hear every good piece of advice in my head and ignore it, like Ray Barone, when he pretends to be asleep when his mom walks in the room, so he doesn't ...<< MORE >>
I can learn from birds' nest-making. They gather the lightest wisps of grasses and twigs and pull the strands around them, weaving and engineering a ...<< MORE >>
"The ego, despite its dazzling dance routines and ever-persuasive patter, is really a sort of trance state from which it is possible to awaken. And beneath its incessant inner commentary, behind the story lines and the beliefs that spawn them, there is a wellspring of pure compassion."
— Marc Ian Barasch, Field Notes on the Compassionate Life
This is the place from which I want to live.
Daily, I have to close my eyes in order to awaken from the trance of illusory inner gossip and worries.
I hope and pray that when we see each other, we are able to look into one another's eyes. I hope you find me fully awake, and so see the compassion that lets you know you are loved.
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'Finished A Course in Miracles. I got it. THIS:
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October 28, 2006Level of Commitment
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October 26, 2006Obstacles and Gratitude
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September 29, 2006 What that Little Line is Worth
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September 7, 2006
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July 12, 2006Inside the Commuter, the Bus Ride Home
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July 11, 2006Don't Do It
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July 8, 2006Thanks to Some Batchelors
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July 1, 2006To See What's Really There
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June 29, 2006'Tastes Like Nanticoke Porches
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June 21, 2006Lover, Beloved, Love
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June 20, 2006Why the Hell Do We Need Hell?
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June 14, 2006Nothing Real Can Be Threatened
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Forgiveness is a Ladder Out
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A few years ago, my silent prayer as I prepared myself for my workday was a call for "Clarity, insight, and above all, effectiveness, in all my work endeavors." Effectiveness, especially, is the hallmark of a personality like mine. Don't bother to do something unless you commit to doing it right. Commit to excellence. I wanted anything I was associated with to bear the mark of excellence and to be successful. In the end, that often meant that I worked alone, or did most of the work, to meet my own high standards. I achieved. It's "what I do." About two years ago, it became apparent to me, through crisis and courageous mentors, that my style could alienate people who wondered why I had to go it alone - was I that hungry for glory? People wondered why I got the high-visibility projects (because I stepped up to the challenge, but that's beside the point) and people got jealous of the praise and success I got over and over. Through lots of self examination and coaching, I changed, and my prayer changed. It reflected my change of heart. Now, when I am on my way to work, and I pray to start the day, I ask that I may be a source of Comfort, that I would inspire Confidence, and Joy among my co-workers. Comfort and Joy. Just like Christmas. Things are better. Not focusing on Effectiveness means I am not personally "on the hook" for delivering all the results. It means I'm not always judging a situation or a result or a person's performance, as good enough or not. Focusing on Comfort and Confidence means I am personally on the hook for helping my co-workers feel safe, and valued and listened to. Focusing on Confidence means I am still being true to my need to do good work, and that the good work at the service of others will help them know they can rely on me and trust me. I also add Joy to my list. I do so want to impart or facilitate Joy. I am not a witty or funny person, so I don't generally make people laugh as do the gifted "clowns" of the organization. But, I hope that somehow, my own deep Joy in God's presence will come through to others and make them joyful for having interacted with me. Maybe it is more a Peace I want to leave them with - Peace is Joy at rest, so my understated Joy may come across as Peace, and that would be lovely. I have recently added that I hope for Respect. I don't need accolades and I don't need Power, but I would like Respect from the people I work with. I think I have it. I hope I continually earn it. |
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April 29, 2006Not Different
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April 2, 2006Swath after swath
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I feel so rich
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March 1, 2006Solidarity with a Priest I Love
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States I've visited (I think)
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February 22, 2006May as well celebrate the little victories
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February 21, 2006It's Tough Getting Old
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February 7, 2006The Best Title Yet
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