I could hear water pounding the surface of the sea and glimpsed out of the hatch to see a waterfall on the shore. The next minute the skipper, Alex, was calling to me. “Do you want to come and wash your hair in the waterfall?”
If you’re in a rut, consider stretching your wings to try a course you may not normally learn toward. It doesn’t have to be a university course, but something that will enrich your soul.
It’s a simple thing. It’s something I’ve basically been doing for years. But I’ve never been intentional about it or removed distractions from my morning like this. It has been a fantastic experience. I highly recommend it to others.
But as I have developed my career as a writer and editor myself, I’ve learned to embrace and celebrate being edited. (And I do use this phrase intentionally; when our words are edited, it feels like we are being edited.)
A few years ago, a hurricane demolished the storage shed and several other things on my mother’s property. In so doing, the hurricane destroyed an item precious to my mother - and to me - a marbled, dark brown accordion which she found at a thrift store years ago when she was in college.
Each week, I make a to-do list full of things I need to accomplish on any given day. It could be fun things for the MockingOwl Roost, or maybe a tedious task for work. Whatever it is, it goes on the list. And the list is color-coordinated, with “categories” of life in different colors. For example, my grad school work is in green text, while work tasks are in red.
You see, writing theology papers isn’t just a school task for me. It’s an exploration of what I’m learning, how I’m growing, how I’m changing, how I’m developing as an adult human. So much of youth was spent regurgitating rote memorization and trying to make a grade. But now, in seminary I’m synthesizing and expanding the knowledge I’m gaining. And it is an utter delight!
Walking several times throughout the day helps to de-junk my brain. I can work through the stuff that’s in my head, rattling around. And working through it clears out my thoughts and frees up space for life apart from work.
This past couple of years, I’ve stumbled into a lovely way to reflect, calm, and breathe. It’s something the leadership team at my church has encouraged […]
The heating pad, a simple thing that costs $20 turned into a source of comfort, an almost emotional therapy tool as when I couldn’t sleep because of a troubled heart.
The rest of the staff were laughing by the time we got to the windows, and I did have to repeat it several more times. Especially with the manager standing nearby.