We breathe in, we breathe out.
It’s a daily process, but for most of it, we’re unconscious of it.
Sometimes we need to breathe deeply of our own lives in order to slow down and recover. When we breathe, we allow ourselves to stop and restore a healthy pace of life.
How often do you actually stop to breathe?
Have you ever attempted to breathe consciously? How did it affect you?
What kinds of things do you unconsciously suck into your system?
Samhaim: winter’s approach
Today is November 2, one day after Samhaim. Samhaim is a festival celebrated by the Celts that signifies the end of summer and the beginning of winter. It signals the storing up of a rich harvest and the preparation for a long journey into the encroaching darkness. We’ve dressed it up all funny with Halloween. It’s lost so much of its significance. I’m not a Celt, although my heritage is wrapped up in the Emerald Isle. I’m not a pagan, and so, the celebration of the holiday is a bit different for me. Did I mention...
read moreLearning How Life Works… Again
It’s been almost a year since my last post. Not for lack of thoughts or things to say. But it’s been almost a year since I’ve had a moment to myself, to sit and reflect consciously on my life – and the things I care about. In May of 2014, I welcomed a little girl into my world who has challenged, stretched, delighted, and changed me. And she’s also been teaching me – all over again – how life works. The way I used to do things doesn’t work anymore…
read moreSB1062 Mini Soapbox
<begin soapbox and mild theological reflection – please feel free to ignore> I normally try to remain silent on most political issues, but having now read SB1062 from AZ, I’m actually more concerned about the bill and its ramifications. The wording of it is far too vague, leaving numerous openings for the state to *have* to come in to define religious practice. I really don’t want the state to define those practices. Knowing, also, that the concern had to do with bakers in CO & OR (and a photographer in NM) being...
read moreOn grief…and how it doesn’t go away lightly
Waking up at 6am isn’t all bad. After all, most mornings, it’s because this little life in me is hungry or squirmy. This morning, though, it was raw and a bit rough. You see, last night I had a really beautiful dream that leaves me with this dull, empty ache inside my heart. In the dream, I had finished a huge accomplishment – whether it was a degree, or the launch of my project, I just don’t know. But at the end of this project, there was a house. Filled with light and love, and food and warmth. It’s the house...
read moreWhy today is actually a Good Day
The last post I wrote had to do with dust and ashes. Death. Sadness. Grief. I sat with friends and family who had to say goodbye. And in that saying goodbye, there were so many different kinds of grief. There was the grief of death – that someone had died. But the lingering grief is the one that most people don’t talk about. It’s the grief that comes in a million little deaths. The death of dreams. I’ve had to watch people I love desperately have to figure out a whole new way to live. The death of the “first...
read moreDust and Ashes
I’ve spent most of my life trying to make sense of things. Thinking about things, pondering, and getting everything together in my head. But sometimes things don’t make sense. Sometimes… Things crash into you like a comet from the sky and all you can feel is pulverized. Helpless. Hopeless. What does life look like now? When the fire and the smoke and the dust and ashes clear, what does life look like now? And just because they’re clearing for me on the outskirts, what about the people at ground zero? Covered in dust and ashes, groaning under...
read more10 Steps to a Better Political Season
Dear friends, This letter is primarily addressed to those of my friends who consider themselves biblical Jesus-followers. So if that’s not you, feel free to read or pass this along, but I’m pretty aware that the laws of proper societal etiquette don’t hold you to these statements. That being said, I think that there are some principles in here that apply across the board – “don’t be a jerk” being one of them. But, however, if you do consider yourselves in that category, can I ask you to get to the end before commenting or ranting or otherwise...
read moreWhy I Left Facebook…for a little while
Many of you probably didn’t even notice, or if you did, didn’t think much of it. But I’ve been slowly distancing myself from Facebook. I like to keep up with everyone, but at a certain point, it began to bring a lot of pain and frustration. There were two main reasons: 1) Shiny, Perfectly Happy Lives 2) Nasty Incendiary Dehumanizing Comments 1) Shiny, Perfectly Happy Lives I’m incredibly happy for the dozen or so women in my circle of friends who are pregnant right now. I’m excited about their futures, their children, all of...
read moreHiding Your Heart
I have dreams about packing. Unpacking. Repacking. Suitcases, boxes, again and again and again. I take things out, I repack them. I make things fit better. I simplify, I clean, I pack, I sort. Over and over and over again. And I’ve been having these dreams for the past two years. For one of those years, I was settled in a place that I thought would be home for years. I never thought I’d have to leave. And then things began to change. We began to get a sense that God was calling us away from the ‘home’ that we knew....
read moreLong Day’s Journey Into Night
When I was just out of high school, this play was one of my favorites. It’s dark and dreary and a horrific tale of life and family in the modern age. There’s addiction and suffering and insanity. All the things I thought I understood – I was convinced that I was living them, after all. I had friends who smoked! And DRANK! And some who even did unmentionable things in unmentionable places with unmentionable people. I was such a pretentious 18 year old. I can laugh at myself now, recognizing that I was even worse than the guys...
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The Whispered Life by Katherine Sturm is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.