life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “community”
the importance of relationships
Why Epiphanies Don’t Work | by Jacob Sokol
With no shortage of wisdom, biz-strategies, and life-advice, why aren’t we all already living the lives of our dreams?
Does the problem lie in our inability to find the right balance between *knowledge* acquisition and actual *implementation*?
Epiphanies can be life-altering, but in reality, most are short-lived and fade away within days or weeks.
So, how can we effectively translate epiphanies into lasting change?
In one of my all-time favorite interviews, that’s the exact question I asked moral psychologist Jonathan Haidt for our upcoming WTF Should I Do w/ My Life?! virtual conference.
What Jonathan shared was shocking…
Epiphanies are thrilling but they’re cheap. They fade away. And then months later, nothing ever happens.
Here’s a HUGE insight: Unless you change your *environment* or your *relationships*, change will not last.
This is why community is SO important. In order to utilize the information you’re learning, you need to make changes in your life that will allow you to sustain whatever insights you have. If you want to change yourself, change your peer group.
So, how can you stop hanging out with the knuckleheads and start hanging out with people you admire?
http://www.entheos.com/?c=3673
the world needs kindness
After yesterday’s Boston Marathon bombings, people around the world are praying for this city, and the people affected by the violence. But don’t stop there: pray for the whole world. After all, it’s really the world’s marathon. I’ve been there near the finish line, surrounded by people of every nation. As the winner runs by, a crowd breaks out in the national anthem—of Kenya. I’m sure you noticed all the international flags in the news videos. It’s the whole world’s race. And today we’re a part of the whole world’s pain. We share the trauma and grief that much of the world lives in every day. This is not Boston’s unique pain. It is everyone’s. Pray for the the healing of the world.
People say, “Be strong.” We will, yes, we will. But the world does not need strength. What the world needs is kindness. The world needs people who have the courage to be gentle, even when those around them are full of rage and despair and violence, who refuse to join the world’s bitterness. The world needs people who choose love over fear. That’s the only thing that will actually change the world.
It’s not easy. Love is not quick, and does not produce immediate results. It’s a marathon. It takes dedication and training and a lot of commitment. It’s not for the faint-hearted. As Gandhi said, if you are too cowardly to be nonviolent, by all means take up arms to fight for justice. Love takes guts. It takes faith, confidence that a greater love is at work even when we cannot see it. And it takes patience, like a marathon — the willingness to go the distance, to keep at it when your body cries, “Quit!,” when your mind thinks of better things to do, when pain and weariness make you want to give up —it takes guts to keep going anyway. The Via Dolorsa is the toughest race. To share in the world’s pain and sadness, and still keep up hope and love — that is the world’s oldest marathon. The good news that we do not run alone. Nor do we run on our own energy: we are moved by the desire of God for the healing of the world.
Pray for those who are in pain today. Pray for the world, and for each of us, for the spirit of peace, for the courage to love in the face of fear and be gentle in the face of violence, for the guts to be part of the mending of the world. Pray for those who are hurting, for those who are afraid, for those who are in sorrow. Pray for all of us, that we may make gentle this wounded world. Even now the Lamb of God is moving among us, never giving up, keeping on with unflagging love and tenderness. Take heart, breathe deeply, and keep going.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net
thinking
Thinking
of friends
of enemies
of family
of lovers
of loss
of grief
of joy
of people I don’t know yet
of people I wish I didn’t know
of love
of life
of purpose
of work
of success
of home
of light
of you and me
of friends
of circles and squares
of death and rebirth
of full knowing and newness
of hugs of biblical proportions
of kisses that burn down the house
of babies
of spring
of rain
of flowers
of allergies
of water
of family
of connection
of flow and letting go
of courage
of healing
of love
of food
of community
of friends
of you
of thinking
of you
AL 4/12/13
we are all wounded people
Some of us tend to do away with things that are slightly damaged. Instead of repairing them we say: “Well, I don’t have time to fix it, I might as well throw it in the garbage can and buy a new one.” Often we also treat people this way. We say: “Well, he has a problem with drinking; well, she is quite depressed; well, they have mismanaged their business…we’d better not take the risk of working with them.” When we dismiss people out of hand because of their apparent woundedness, we stunt their lives by ignoring their gifts, which are often buried in their wounds.
We all are bruised reeds, whether our bruises are visible or not. The compassionate life is the life in which we believe that strength is hidden in weakness and that true community is a fellowship of the weak.
– Henri Nouwen
when one suffers we all suffer – Gandhi
Somehow, even without our knowing, when one suffers we all suffer. When one rejoices we all rejoice. Our sadness and gladness mingle together into one joy. In prayer we enter a deeper consciousness, even if it’s beyond our knowing: the reality that we belong, that we are all one living being. We enter into the suffering, and the joy, of the world. We become one with all our body. Our joy is there for others, and our pain is not ours alone. We receive the gift of their happiness, and help them bear the weight of their sorrows. Our souls are woven with theirs. In this way, even sitting in our room in silence, by the mystery of God’s grace in us, we become part of the mending of the world.
______________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net
The Ascent
Grab hold,
and take this hand that
reaches out to you.
Look up
into my eye;
my spirit
cries out to you:
Friendship is my thought.
Let us climb the jagged cliff of life
and fight the ascent of Opposition together,
if I can lift you today,
you will look back
and grab the hands of a thousand more.
– Howard Rainer,
life: acoustic & amplified 