- Got WAY more than the prescribed 20 minutes of light excercise today. This lack of a car is ensuring that I get the 20 minutes every week day traipsing to and from home and work via walking and various transit vehicles. Today however, I got home from work, changed clothes, settled in to make dinner, and discovered that the chicken I'd planned to cook was rancid. Since I'm not presently the owner of a car, that necessitated another 15 minute walk to the closest grocery store (a fairly expensive high-end, mostly organic shop that I love but never shop at because of price) and another 15 minute walk home after that.
- Sold my couch and loveseat tonight. That was it's own adventure! The girl I expected to sell them to showed up and realized she couldn't fit both in the truck she'd brought. She tried to bargain with me and convince me to sell her only 1 piece. Umm.... No. I phoned another person who had called me about them back, and within an hour, both pieces were gone. Now just waiting and dreaming, and figuring out just exactly what I want, and collecting the money to afford it. At the moment I think I'm leaning towards a double papasan chair/loveseat from Pier 1 Imports. I have a thing for comfy furniture that you just sort of sink into and recline in. I think it's because I'm so short that my feet have never reached the ground on any piece of furniture, so I'm always sitting curled up, or semi prone anyway.
- The dinner I cooked, despite some hitches in ingredients (not only the chicken, but the cupboards are getting a little bare as we attempt to minimize what I have to move) turned out quite well.
- Loved watching Virtue and Moir win the gold medal in the ice dance tonight. I'm not excessively patriotic, but there's something about hearing that anthem play and seeing the smiles on the athletes faces that gets me every time.
- Tomorrow will be exactly 4 months until the U2 concert I have tickets to!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Daily 5 - Day 194
Today's Daily 5:
Article on the Most Recent Haiti Quake
I mentioned this morning that I'd heard via email that there had been another earthquake in Haiti very early this morning. News article on the quake, magnitude 4.7, here.
Three from Henri on Relationships and Possessiveness
Three challenging thoughts from Henri Nouwen that were waiting for me today when I got back to the office.
The Nonpossessive Life
To be able to enjoy fully the many good things the world has to offer, we must be detached from them. To be detached does not mean to be indifferent or uninterested. It means to be nonpossessive. Life is a gift to be grateful for and not a property to cling to.
A nonpossessive life is a free life. But such freedom is only possible when we have a deep sense of belonging. To whom then do we belong? We belong to God, and the God to whom we belong has sent us into the world to proclaim in his Name that all of creation is created in and by love and calls us to gratitude and joy. That is what the "detached" life is all about. It is a life in which we are free to offer praise and thanksgiving.
True Intimacy
Human relationships easily become possessive. Our hearts so much desire to be loved that we are inclined to cling to the person who offers us love, affection, friendship, care, or support. Once we have seen or felt a hint of love, we want more of it. That explains why lovers so often bicker with each other. Lovers' quarrels are quarrels between people who want more of each other than they are able or willing to give.
It is very hard for love not to become possessive because our hearts look for perfect love and no human being is capable of that. Only God can offer perfect love. Therefore, the art of loving includes the art of giving one another space. When we invade one another's space and do not allow the other to be his or her own free person, we cause great suffering in our relationships. But when we give another space to move and share our gifts, true intimacy becomes possible.
The Balance Between Closeness and Distance
Intimacy between people requires closeness as well as distance. It is like dancing. Sometimes we are very close, touching each other or holding each other; sometimes we move away from each other and let the space between us become an area where we can freely move.
To keep the right balance between closeness and distance requires hard work, especially since the needs of the partners may be quite different at a given moment. One might desire closeness while the other wants distance. One might want to be held while the other looks for independence. A perfect balance seldom occurs, but the honest and open search for that balance can give birth to a beautiful dance, worthy to behold.
The Nonpossessive Life
To be able to enjoy fully the many good things the world has to offer, we must be detached from them. To be detached does not mean to be indifferent or uninterested. It means to be nonpossessive. Life is a gift to be grateful for and not a property to cling to.
A nonpossessive life is a free life. But such freedom is only possible when we have a deep sense of belonging. To whom then do we belong? We belong to God, and the God to whom we belong has sent us into the world to proclaim in his Name that all of creation is created in and by love and calls us to gratitude and joy. That is what the "detached" life is all about. It is a life in which we are free to offer praise and thanksgiving.
True Intimacy
Human relationships easily become possessive. Our hearts so much desire to be loved that we are inclined to cling to the person who offers us love, affection, friendship, care, or support. Once we have seen or felt a hint of love, we want more of it. That explains why lovers so often bicker with each other. Lovers' quarrels are quarrels between people who want more of each other than they are able or willing to give.
It is very hard for love not to become possessive because our hearts look for perfect love and no human being is capable of that. Only God can offer perfect love. Therefore, the art of loving includes the art of giving one another space. When we invade one another's space and do not allow the other to be his or her own free person, we cause great suffering in our relationships. But when we give another space to move and share our gifts, true intimacy becomes possible.
The Balance Between Closeness and Distance
Intimacy between people requires closeness as well as distance. It is like dancing. Sometimes we are very close, touching each other or holding each other; sometimes we move away from each other and let the space between us become an area where we can freely move.
To keep the right balance between closeness and distance requires hard work, especially since the needs of the partners may be quite different at a given moment. One might desire closeness while the other wants distance. One might want to be held while the other looks for independence. A perfect balance seldom occurs, but the honest and open search for that balance can give birth to a beautiful dance, worthy to behold.
Strange Days
I'm praying oddly and deeply this morning.
I woke from an intense dream. Amongst other things, in the dream I was in Haiti, walking up a hill, but something about the skies and the clouds was foreboding, and I turned back. There were other themes too, and as I woke in the dark I found myself praying quietly for each of things that the dream touched. And wondering, "what happened or will happen in Haiti today?"
Then I rolled over, roused myself and checked my email. The first email I read was from someone on the ground in Haiti. There was another earthquake this morning, of 4.7 magnitude. His brief email is all the information I had.
It was a sort of stunning way to begin the day, dreaming so specifically, wondering and praying, and then reading that news.
A few years ago I dreamt intensely of China, and woke to the news there of a devestating earthquake.
It's such an odd thing, to pray and listen that way, with my dreams. I don't understand it, and I'm not certain I'll ever grow used to it. And yet, I'm glad in a way to pray deeply.
A short time ago I got an email from another friend. She went into labor early this morning, and she and her husband will welcome their first child to the world sometime soon.
And so I find myself praying, for each of the themes and people and places that my dream this morning touched, many of which have now faded into that invisible space between sleep and waking. I'm praying for my friends as they welcome new life into the world. And I'm praying for each of the people and concerns with whom I will come in contact today.
Strange days indeed.
I woke from an intense dream. Amongst other things, in the dream I was in Haiti, walking up a hill, but something about the skies and the clouds was foreboding, and I turned back. There were other themes too, and as I woke in the dark I found myself praying quietly for each of things that the dream touched. And wondering, "what happened or will happen in Haiti today?"
Then I rolled over, roused myself and checked my email. The first email I read was from someone on the ground in Haiti. There was another earthquake this morning, of 4.7 magnitude. His brief email is all the information I had.
It was a sort of stunning way to begin the day, dreaming so specifically, wondering and praying, and then reading that news.
A few years ago I dreamt intensely of China, and woke to the news there of a devestating earthquake.
It's such an odd thing, to pray and listen that way, with my dreams. I don't understand it, and I'm not certain I'll ever grow used to it. And yet, I'm glad in a way to pray deeply.
A short time ago I got an email from another friend. She went into labor early this morning, and she and her husband will welcome their first child to the world sometime soon.
And so I find myself praying, for each of the themes and people and places that my dream this morning touched, many of which have now faded into that invisible space between sleep and waking. I'm praying for my friends as they welcome new life into the world. And I'm praying for each of the people and concerns with whom I will come in contact today.
Strange days indeed.
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