Stop Drinking The Stuff

To the inevitable backdrop of John Philip Souza marches and Presidential photo-ops, Big Soda has announced that it will do some vague kind of something about the excesses they contribute to our intake of calories and sugars over something like ten years.  Big Soda might have said: “we know you are getting fat and sick, and feel we are implicated; but frankly, we don’t give a damn as long as you are foolish enough to keep buying what we sell.” Actually, that would have been refreshingly honest. But I guess we can be grateful just the same that they didn’t say that. I don’t think it would have earned a hug from Bill Clinton.

Do we really need soda companies to cut calories for us? The aphorism is: the best way to predict the future is to create it. It is NOT: the best way to predict the future is to hope that those currently profiting at the expense of your health will come around and create it for you.  After all, they not only concoct these potentially addictive formulas, but spend lavishly on highly influential marketing.

Why do we need Big Soda to reduce calories for us? It’s a bit brutal folks, I admit, but here goes: the fault is not in our sodas, but in ourselves -- that we allow ourselves to be underlings to the bullying of marketing aiming for profits at the expense of our health.  Continue here....

Stop drinking the stuff.

-- David L. Katz

The Fattest Country On Earth

A recent report cited that the single biggest reason families go bankrupt in the United States is because they get wiped out by medical bills. What a nightmare. God bless those families that have to spend all of their household savings, and more, to help a loved one.

But here’s something that few American citizens know: Just like those families, the U.S. could also go broke, because the country is being wiped out by medical costs. The nation’s healthcare costs have grown to $2.8 trillion, or nearly $9,000 per person, which is more than double what comparable countries pay per person. The U.S. ranks 25 globally in physical well-being, with 57% of our citizens struggling, 11% suffering, and only 32% thriving in this element. But here’s a truly alarming -- and revealing -- fact: The U.S. is the most obese country in the world.

Bluntly, our citizens are too fat, and the country’s economy and future are being smothered by our obesity.

We have to change what and how much we put in our mouths. We have to commit our entire country -- government, businesses, nonprofits, media, families, everyone -- to getting each and every one of our citizens to eat better.

-- Jim Clifton

Why You Should Listen, Even If Others Don't

The odds are very good that the last person to whom you spoke barely heard anything you said. Don't take it personally -- most people just don't listen.

Most of us know it's bad to be so stuck in our own biases and beliefs that we block out half of what other people say... because we label their thoughts as "wrong" even before they stop talking.

When you actually listen to another, you quiet that voice in your head that almost never shuts up. Plus, you actually stop talking... and most of us would do well to talk a bit less, especially when we are trying to learn.  More here....

-- Bruce Kasanoff

Cedarwood Road

A HEART THAT IS BROKEN
IS A HEART THAT IS OPEN

-- U2, "Cedarwood Road", from Songs of Innocence

Fatal Flaw

We all seem to have a fatal flaw.  Or, perhaps better said, we all are fatally flawed.  One way or another, we are all in the same place; incapable of sustaining our lives, much less our success.

This is actually good news, if not only for the relief of it, then for the truth of it.  It should free us.  We can stop trying to overcome it by fixing it or compensating for it in ourselves, not to mention the way we often so easily settle for trying to keep track of the 'flaw' in others in order to simply make ourselves feel better.

Acknowledging this (continually) is pretty critical to what we are left with.  We are either done, dead, gone or we can give way to something miraculous that can rise from the ashes of this truth.  What preempts the futility of such eminent death?  Is it not...mercy?

Because we know the depth of our flawedness, we recognize the power of mercy to redeem the scene.  Because of our personal experience with this mercy, we have unique and powerful opportunity to extend it to others.  This is the beauty of the notion - we can offer mercy, because we have experienced mercy.  Our flaw has revealed in very personal terms the nature of this mercy.

We can actually rejoice in our flaw...because of the opportunity it creates for others, the opportunity it creates to help other people stop wasting their efforts to fix or compensate for their flaw.

Mercy triumphs...!

Teenagers -- Move From Telling to Asking

What I want for my teenagers is for them to have respect, take responsibility and be resilient.

The difficulty is how to teach teenagers resilience in the age of instant gratification. The answer is to let them fail; they need to learn to pick themselves up. Life is not perfect and too often as parents we try to keep our kids in a perfect world, like driving them to school just because it is raining. This can be so hard as a parent: we want everything to be just perfect for our precious progeny, but for them to be happy they need to know what it is to struggle and achieve.

We no longer would tell them what to do. We would ask them what they were doing. 

The shift to asking also helped us listen, and respect the choices they made. This was a massive step in how we parented, and we did not get it right all the time. 


The other thing we do is help our kids have downtime. Dinner time is about sharing food and sharing conversation...continue here.

-- Naomi Simson

God is Better

I like the thoughts here, as they describe the fickleness of our relationship with God much of the time and, even more, what God  is offering us.

I'm not as excited about the notion of 'God is Better'. Perhaps it is because it feels too...market-based. Like, I like this product better than that one. That doesn't seem to work too well with something like God. Just follow Him, because He's your better option...for now (until another option emerges).

I do think God is better, but not in a marketing sense per se.

So how could one describe the spirit of what Chan is trying to say?

The Time Has Come to Give Them...To Life

I wish I knew more about what is going on.  I just do...it's probably a parental instinct.

But life has organized it that, without a volunteering from them, I am not to know as much right now.  It is new.  It is difficult.  But, something also seems right about it.

When your kids are off to college and you wish you knew more details about their lives, but can't, it leaves you off at a door in a new neighborhood of something....  You have to walk through the door of a deeper kind of trust.  When you can't find the normal ways to know or control something, you have to give up trying the old ways and wait for something new.  And, you have to acknowledge that there is something purposeful about the not-knowing.

In this case, I have to give my kids...to life.  To give them in a new way to God...to take care of them...to lead them...to wait for them to learn to trust Him in deeper ways.  I can't know or nudge the way I want to any more; I can only entrust.  I have to entrust myself to Him, as much as I entrust them.

As I recently prayed for them early one morning about this, I believe God answered me this way, "The time has come...to believe in a new way that they are in my good hands.  It's now more about me and them, than you and them.  Trust me."

I felt kind of sad for the comfort of the familiarity of the old doors.  But, also relieved by the fresh paint on the doors of the new neighborhood -- they are even more deeply in the hands of a good God...less of me, more of Him.  They need to grow now in another yard, than my own.  It is good for them to see and grow in the sun out from under the shade of my branches.  They need to learn what they need to learn...and with some distance now, away from me.

I wonder what they will do without my presence, without my promptings.  I wonder how they will feel their way, how they will recognize that they are feeling for God.  I wonder how God will continue His saving work in them.

I want to know.  I will know, but probably more through the lens of the future than right now.  The time has come to give my kids...to life, both to what they pursue in it and to what it does to them.  And, though unsettling without direct knowledge of their well-being, it seems right.  Trusting God always is.

Resilience

Resilience is the ability of people, communities, and systems to maintain their core purpose and integrity among unforeseen shocks and surprises.

-- Andrew Zolli

Courage Muscle

Courage is like a muscle; it has to be exercised daily. If you do, it will grow; ignored, it will atrophy.  Courage helps fuel grit; the two are symbiotic, feeding into and off of each other...read more.

-- Margaret Perlis

Scares You Everyday

Do something that scares you everyday.

-- Eleanor Roosevelt

Your Own Biases

If you want to bring out the talent in other people, you have to look past your own biases, otherwise you will only be helpful to people who are clones of yourself.

-- Bruce Kasanoff

Sure. Sure, no problem. I can do that.

But, wait, it isn't that easy...or, it wouldn't be that necessary to note something like the above.  We are biased, often deeply so.  We believe in the way we go about things or in the reactions out of which we often live.  We don't think others are right (or, as right), rather we believe that we are (largely) right.

To some extent, this is not all that surprising.  We have come to know, what we know, through the grid of our experiences; the grid that has taught us and shaped us...the grid that we, somewhat helplessly, have become invested in.

The problem is when we enforce (something that biases can easily do) what we have come to know upon others -- when we don't have interest in or respect for the grid that others have or are using.  Biases, to some degree, are amoral.  They just are what they are.  But, too often, we use our biases against others and, sadly, too often without knowing it.

We have to learn to see, to train ourselves to see, how others are made, how they have been shaped.  If we don't, we neglect something significant in them, if not worse.

Master Users

The best leaders...almost without exception and at every level, are master users of stories.

-- Tom Peters

Incurably Agnostic

We should all be incurably agnostic if God had not revealed himself.

-- David Watson

This is not as tidy as it might sound, at first glance.  It is, in fact, both brutal and undoingly a basis for all gratitude.

Elephant Hula

Relieves Responsibility

A little known saying goes: “The worst thing you can do for someone carrying a burden is to take that burden away.” That is a management sin: it makes things easier for the one carrying the burden for a short while, but it also relieves him of his responsibility for the burden. And that’s not a good thing in the long run.

-- Klaus Schuster

Context is important, isn't it?  Things like 'statements' aren't universally true.  Words are simply limited in their application.

For example, the above statement strikes me as quite untrue, in certain contexts (like this one).  But, in others, I would say the above has a lot of truth in it.

Nothing Converts

Nothing converts cynics like success.

-- Stephen Covey

Caffeine: The Silent Killer of Success

90% of top performers are high in emotional intelligence. These individuals are skilled at managing their emotions (even in times of high stress) in order to remain calm and in control.

Caffeine disrupts the quality of your sleep by reducing rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the deep sleep when your body recuperates and processes emotions. When caffeine disrupts your sleep, you wake up the next day with an emotional handicap. You’re naturally going to be inclined to grab a cup of coffee or an energy drink to try to make yourself feel better.

When you sleep, your brain literally recharges, shuffling through the day’s memories and storing or discarding them (which causes dreams), so that you wake up alert and clear-headed. Your self-control, focus, memory, and information processing speed are all reduced when you don’t get enough—or the right kind—of sleep.

Irritability and anxiety are the most commonly seen emotional effects of caffeine, but caffeine enables all of your emotions to take charge. Coming off caffeine reduces your cognitive performance and has a negative impact on your mood.  Continue reading here....

-- Travis Bradberry

Problems So Interesting

Management is the art of making problems so interesting that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.

-- Paul Hawken

Exposure to Challenge

Becoming a capable leader is an evolution — a co-mingling of training, coaching, and exposure to the types of challenge that bring both insight and growth.

-- Marla Gottschalk

Any one of these alone, is not enough. My sense is that exposure to challenge is critical, especially at the right time and in the right context.  Nothing else provides the opportunity to solidify and grow quite like challenge.

Wake People Up

Many do not recognize the fact as they ought, that Satan has got men fast asleep in sin and that it is his great device to keep them so. He does not care what we do if he can do that. We may sing songs about the sweet by and by, preach sermons and say prayers until doomsday, and he will never concern himself about us, if we don't wake anybody up. But if we awake the sleeping sinner he will gnash on us with his teeth. This is our work - to wake people up.

-- Catherine Booth

And, perhaps, we should start by asking where we, ourselves, are fast asleep...for it is where we have been awakened that we are likely most sensitive and, therefore, most able to extend the mercy needed to awaken others.

Why Wait Until Marriage? -- What No One Tells You & What I Wish Someone Had Told Me

Your skin is the outer layer of your soul.

The union of two bodies is nothing less than the union of two souls.  Physical oneness is a holy God-created ceremony to express nothing less than a soul oneness.

When someone isn’t willing or ready for spiritual oneness, emotional oneness, legal oneness, financial oneness — why let them steal physical and soul oneness from you?

Your naked body deserves the honor of being shared only with someone who is covenanted to never stop loving your naked soul.

-- Ann Voskamp

A very good read...continue here.

The Questions We Ask

I like this line, near the end:

"Adventure is curiosity, the willingness to embrace uncertainty."

Is Conspiring

Nearly everything around you is conspiring to make you go faster; our culture is shifting towards always-on, always-connected. This is okay if you remain accurate, calm and focused. But if you go faster simply for the sake of going faster, you won't end up as successful as my friend. Instead, you'll someday regret that you never learned to slow down.  

-- Bruce Kasanoff

Continue reading here....

Come To Me

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

-- Matthew 11:28

Emotionally Exhausted

A day off work yesterday hardly seemed like rest.  I had been wrestling internally most of the day trying to identify the root of something growing on and into me over the last few months.  The word I would use to describe what I am feeling is...exhaustion.  Exhaustion of an emotional kind.

Over the last few years, physical exhaustion has been a way of re-energizing me emotionally.  But a sequence of things recently has left me unable to recover in either way.

New challenges at work, stretching in relationships, dealing with more adult matters of the heart with my kids; all have climbed up over me in a way that has ended feeling...suffocating.  And, I am seeing something of a related pattern in my thinking -- that it feels like a lot is riding on me, what I do, how I respond, how I lead.  Yesterday helped me realize again that I am not responsible for all of these outcomes.  I have a growing sense that I need to rediscover what it means to cast my cares upon the Lord and to shun my tendency to end up with too much dependence on myself.

Job Satisfaction

Not Built

We are not built for ourselves, but for God. Not for service for God, but for God.

-- Oswald Chambers

LETS GO BLUE!!!

Last day before dropping my son off to college...he and I enjoyed a day together.

Demise of Listening

The revolution in communication technology has caused the tragic demise of listening. Communication today is becoming increasingly a narcissistic obsession about being seen and heard.

The need to be heard is a basic human need. Listening is about acknowledging this need – it doesn’t mean agreeing to or endorsing the speaker’s views.

Listening is the foundation on which trust is built. People who listen without interrupting, dismissing or multitasking, are being respectful and showing they care about what the other person thinks. When practiced consistently, ‘being’ and ‘showing’ builds trust faster than ‘saying’.

A genuine listener asks questions before making up her mind whether to agree or disagree. Engaging a person in dialogue shows the other that you are curious to know more and are sincere in your efforts at understanding a different point of view before agreeing to or rejecting it. People can tell whether their viewpoint has been carefully considered before being rejected or just summarily dismissed. 

-- Aparna Muralidhar

That's Absurd

If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.

-- Albert Einstein

Defer hard-and-fast conclusions and pursue ideas...don't kill them off too quickly.

Why would we do such a thing anyway?  Perhaps more directly, why do we do this?  It strikes me that we often operate out of what feels like is at stake for us, out of what we need to defend or preserve in which we've got a lot invested (whether we realize what it is or not).  In other words, if 'this' isn't true or 'that' is true, then what does that say about me and what I've been saying or doing?  ...it is the operating version of our identity that is often 'on the line'...that stiffens us and tempts us to kill off ideas too quickly.

It's a survival strategy deeply engrained within us. ...not to mention that we tend to like things the way we've got things arranged in our minds.

The Measure

The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.

-- Corrie ten Boom

Enemy: Perfect

Perfect is the enemy of good.

-- Voltaire

Failing

Failure is, truly, inevitable. It’s what we do when it happens that matters. If there is a recipe for success, resolve figures in it. So does relentlessness, and at least a pinch of raw ability. But resilience, I think, is the main ingredient.

I had a poster on my dorm room wall in college of a man in a tuxedo, inexplicably wedged into an inner tube, floating in a pool. The caption read: “good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from poor judgment.” This is certainly true to some extent. No matter how good the advice, we may have to live it to own it. My parents’ advice was among the best I’ve ever gotten, but to get it from head to heart where its cadence could help orchestrate the long, hard march to fulfillment required living it.

Failing is inevitable. Failing at failing is tempting. Succeeding is occasional, and generally hard-earned. Succeeding at succeeding is fun, and easy, if elusive. When it happens, ignore Kipling’s excessively curmudgeonly counsel, and take mine instead: enjoy every minute of it. But know that it will be fleeting, and it will not reflect the measure of you.

Succeeding at failing is the truest measure of us all.

-- David L. Katz

Off to College - #3

You will only see what you are prepared to see.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

We took our 3rd to college yesterday.  This is getting to be a habit!  We are glad for the opportunity for Makenzie to grow in this next stage of her life.  IWU is a good place and is committed to some very good ideals...including their vision, captured in part by Emerson above.

More pics here....

Ferguson: The Untold Story

...the media need to expand their understanding of their role in times of crisis. The media's job is to report not just all that's dreadful, corrupt, dysfunctional and violent in our world but what's working, and the powerful and humane ways people in communities respond to that violence and corruption and dysfunction.

The spirit on display in Ferguson -- as it was during Katrina -- is a glimpse not just of who we may become but of who we are right now. It's there, it's on display, and it's manifesting itself. And perhaps we would glimpse this side of ourselves more often if the media acknowledged it more often. It's not entirely absent, but too often it's relegated to the "hero" segment closing the local news, or to the Thanksgiving piece down at the local food bank.  Continue Reading....

-- Arianna Huffington

Seems important to note alternative points-of-view to the perspective of mainstream media...on both sides of the aisle, which appears to increasingly make money off of controversy.

Instinctive Responses

Though they have been trained upon us, we are betrayed by our most instinctive responses to our efforts to survive.

It seems we often end up choosing one of two things, increased or more creative effort or simple resignation...quitting.  Both leave us in an unsatisfied stupor, insensitive to another option sitting right beside us...almost as if it were simply waiting for us to see it.

What we have opportunity to discover is that our real source of survival is not rooted in the management of our own resources to begin with.  We do not give ourselves life.  Something else does....

So, what does make us come alive again...from our oft-exhausted state?  I am asking a group of guys I meet with this question.  I am asking it of myself.  I suspect it may be a most important question....

Comfort Zone

So it's searchable:

You can't be a world changer until you serve.  And you can't serve until you break free of your comfort zone.

-- Ann Voskamp

Faithless

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.

-- J.R.R. Tolkien

Pushing Boulders

A lot of life feels like pushing boulders...either uphill or to keep them from rolling downhill over you.  Either way, a whole lot of effort, rooted in a sense of survival.  I feel this physically now most mornings, at least initially.  But this weight spans others dimensions, into the societal, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

Too Small

Most of us have jobs that are too small for our spirits.

-- Studs Terkel

Actually Become

I know that the more I humble myself to others, the broader my understanding of God has actually become.

-- Francis Frangipane

This seems true, at a number of levels, for me today.

For example, this morning's ritual in the woods was truncated with an ankle sprain I am still wincing at.  After a few unexpected expletives, a huge 'WHY?!' also came tumbling out (note-to-self:  my deepest 'why's are usually connected to pain).  I was being so careful in my running, too, because I had done this very same thing just a couple of weeks ago.  After the recurring frustration, WHY presented itself in full view.  I limped home slowly...with more time than I had originally planned for, to consider things.

Pain invited another thought into my view.  Perhaps I tend to move too quickly these days...and this circumstance has afforded me an opportunity to slow me down.  What is faster getting me anyway?  How does faster affect those around me?  Is there something anti-humble going on, in the speed of my life?  I can think of a few examples of where my speed may not be experienced as humility by others.  God is not speedy, per se, with me -- though He certainly could be.  Why isn't He?  ...what is better about His slowness towards me?

And, what of that do I need to offer to others...humbly?

Lighthouse

Some really amazing lighthouse photos here....  And, another one from the same place of the picture above, by my friend, Dawn.

Reconnect

Disconnecting from technology so we can reconnect to ourselves is absolutely essential for wisdom.

-- Arianna Huffington

More and more support for this sense of things seems to be coming out every day, yet we appear to be as glued to our devices and what they represent to us as ever.  We must be afraid of missing something.  The irony is in what we may be missing in our desperate attempts to not miss out.

Perhaps we can start to war against this conventional wisdom, for the wisdom above, by practicing some of this each day.  The smallest of attempts (like #5) can go a long way towards new habits, which can ultimately lead us to a surprising level of freedom...and, perhaps, real wisdom.

Don't Ask

Don't ask yourself what the world needs.  Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

-- Howard Thurman

The Arts

The arts aren't just important because they improve math scores.  They're important because they speak to parts of children's being which are otherwise untouched.

-- Sir Ken Robinson

Teaching Emotional Literacy in Schools

The children coming into their second grade classroom that morning arranged their chairs in a circle for a daily ritual: Their teacher asked every child to tell the class how they felt (unless they didn’t want to share this), and why they felt that way.

Naming emotions accurately helps children be clearer about what is going on inside – essential both to making clearheaded decisions and to managing emotions throughout life.

For instance, when children tune in to what engages them, they connect with the intrinsic motivation that drives them. If a child is just following the teacher’s goals for what she should learn and not thinking much about her own goals, she can develop an attitude that school is all about other people’s agendas – and fail to tap her inner reservoir of motivation and engagement. On the other hand, attuned teachers can use students’ interests to excite them.

In the school years, the equivalent is “good learning” – being engaged with what enthuses us and what feels important.  Continue reading here....

-- Daniel Goleman

Rather Be Ruined

We would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the present and let our illusions die.

-- W.H. Auden

Mighty Little

Man knows mighty little, and may someday learn enough of his own ignorance to fall down and pray.

-- Henry Adams


We had a remarkable expression of God's work in the lives of our youth during church today.  I am thrilled to know, to watch, to participate in it.  Falling down in prayer seems like one of the most natural responses I can think of.

Beach Art

Click here for more amazing 'beach' art....

Lead From Behind

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.

-- Nelson Mandela

Others

Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.

-- John Maxwell

The Difference

So it's searchable:

The difference between
    who you are and
  who you want to be
is what you do.

Code

Your code is the greatest weapon in your leadership arsenal. Having a clear code will help you keep perspective when you are doing well and will help you take the high ground in times of adversity. It will keep you honest. It will deter you from taking shortcuts or engaging in actions that don’t feel right.

-- Doug Conant

Unreasonable Assumption

The mythical image of a “leader” embodies many of the characteristics commonly found in personality disorders, such as narcissism and psychopathy as well as histrionic or Machiavellian personalities.

Today there are scorecards for virtually everything, including leadership development. However, the MIT study concludes, the use of metrics for the effectiveness of leadership development is leading them astray. Most metrics don’t measure the soft skills, or strategic thinking or collaborative behavior, all of which are essential for leadership success. Organizations tend to measure the things that are easy to measure. “The philosophy that dominates so many company cultures today is that initiatives that cannot be measured have no value. In most instances, that is a reasonable assumption. But it does not apply to leadership development.  Continue here....

-- Ray Williams

He Bends Down

I love the Lord because he hears my voice
    and my prayer for mercy.
  Because he bends down to listen,
    I will pray as long as I have breath!
 
-- Psalm 116:1-2

A group of youth from our church spent some time considering this verse while camping together this weekend. God is listening; are we talking to him? Why not?

7 Reasons Why Spending Time in Nature Does Wonders for the Soul

As we camp this week with a group of youth, here are few things worthy of notice:

1. There is no societal influence
2. It is a reminder that you are not infinite
3. It has a calming effect
4. There's always more to learn about our planet
5. It teaches us about living in harmony
6. It is a reminder that everything looks perfect from far away
7. It is a reminder that chaos is a part of life

These are the highlights.  The details on each are good too...click here.

Look Up

What You Don't Do

Focus is what you don’t do.

-- Jim Collins

Primary

Your primary weakness comes from overusing your primary strength.

-- David Baker

Presence of Strength

Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths.

-- John Zenger

Earn Respect

How do leaders earn respect…by admitting their mistakes.

-- John Maxwell

But...My Times Are In Your Hands

Strengthened

Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

-- Helen Keller

Suffering is powerful in at least 2 ways; it gives quick and deep opportunity to recognize our need for God and it makes us accessible to others. Outside of suffering, there is often one kind of separation or another going on between humans -- hierarchies and comparison seems ever-present.  Suffering over and over seems to level the playing field and draws our spirits together...perhaps because it reveals to us, like nothing else, how we are the same.  When we acknowledge how we are alike, we are converted to compassion.

And, compassion ennobles everyone.

Smile Because It Happened

Don't cry because it is over, smile because it happened.

-- Dr. Seuss

What You Miss When You’re Afraid Of Messing Up

It’s better to fly a kite and it get stuck in a tree, than to not fly the kite at all.  Every opportunity has an expiration date and the cost of missing out can be greater than the cost of messing up.

-- Pete Wilson

More here....

Comeback

Climb the Mountain

A number of my young friends are headed to the annual Momentum youth conference today, including my daughter.

I have a sense of anticipation and excitement for them.  I believe they will have an opportunity to see things they don't normally see.  And, that can be both exhilarating and broadening.  Exhilarating in the sense that they can feel their breath being caught by a glimpse of the magnitude of God's work.  Broadening in the sense that they can imagine new things, hear different things, see things differently.

One might describe such an experience as a mountain-top experience.  A high.  I hope that it is.  Who wouldn't want a wider view of life?  Not unlike the view from an airplane window, high places tend to provide that and often the perspective they give can inform us about our lives in low places.  If we can see more of what things really look like from above, we are more free, less weighed down by the seemingly terminal details of the daily grind.  Is this what it means, at least in part, when Jesus said that his burden is 'light'?  Perspective on reality can really shape it.

Sure, there are risks (even dangers) in climbing any mountain.  People can get hurt, in a number of ways.  But, the climb, in some ways is necessary...to expand our view, to see things beyond just the way we see them most days. 

It is noteworthy that no one lives on the mountain top; we all live in the valley somewhere.  But, the mountains inspire us to see more than what we tend to see day-to-day and to know more about where the help we need comes from. 

There are plenty of 'low' days to keep us...grounded.  So, look up...and climb!  And, be awestruck by the view!

I hope my young friends get a glimpse this week of something they haven't seen before and that they will be able to see some of why the climb is worth it.

Free Will

Why did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.

-- C.S. Lewis

Milwaukee Sunday

For Sunday morning worship today, our church is visiting another church.  The leadership in both churches have begun to know each other and we felt it to be a good thing for the people in both congregations to do the same.  So we rented a bus and are driving 4 hours to church today, in Milwaukee, WI.

Why?  Why would would we do such a thing?  Here are some of my initial thoughts, answering this question:

We believe in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  And, we believe that a personal understanding of this relationship is significantly enhanced by our experience with His community of believers.  In other words, my relationship with Him is not in isolation from His relationship with others like me (and not like me).  It is rare to experience my relationship with God in a deep way without the involvement of others in my life, without my involvement in others lives.

So, it is important to see some of the extent of the community God has established and continues to create.  This is true because my own version of community is limited by my own experience with it.  I grow in my understanding of the nature of God's relationship to me and my relationship with Him when I encounter how and where His work is on-going outside of my set of experiences (in my community).  We want to foster this understanding of the God we follow and serve.  We want to see more of what He is up to.  And, we want to participate more broadly in His work than in the ways we normally imagine.

We need both our time-and-space and a sense of things beyond it.

Visiting our believing friends in Milwaukee helps us imagine God more profoundly, it helps us see to a greater extent the work He is doing, and it helps us participate more fully in the time-and-space we do live in most days.

We are going to Milwaukee to embolden our hope in the great Hope-Giver and to consider how locking our arms across things like state-lines can deepen our mutual love - affection, sacrifice, and worship - for those around us...in Warsaw, in Milwaukee, and around the world.

Running Out of Water

Humankind is running out of water at an alarming pace. We’re going to run out of water long before we run out of oil.

-- Peter Brabeck, chairman of Nestlé

Continue reading....

Connected, But Alone?

We use conversations with each other to learn how to have conversations with ourselves. So a flight from conversation can really matter because it can compromise our capacity for self-reflection. For kids growing up, that skill is the bedrock of development.

And what I'm seeing is that people get so used to being short-changed out of real conversation, so used to getting by with less, that they've become almost willing to dispense with people altogether.

Technology appeals to us most where we feel the most vulnerable.

Being alone feels like a problem that needs to be solved.

You end up isolated if you don't cultivate the capacity for solitude, the ability to be separate, to gather yourself. Solitude is where you find yourself so that you can reach out to other people and form real attachments. When we don't have the capacity for solitude, we turn to other people in order to feel less anxious or in order to feel alive. 

If we're not able to be alone, we're going to be more lonely. And if we don't teach our children to be alone, they're only going to know how to be lonely.

We're so busy communicating that we don't have time to think.

-- Sherry Turkle

Above are some of the comments that struck me -- worth the time to watch and reflect.

Technological Obsession

Research has connected our technological obsession to increased rates of stress, attention problems, depression, cognitive function, and anxiety, not to mention the negative impacts it can have on our relationships. It also impacts our comfort level with solitude and silence as we feel we are missing out or that something is wrong.

-- Jared Kligerman

Change is Reversible, Transformation IS NOT

How often have you changed your mind, say a change in eating style or to claim that you will go to the gym religiously, or some such change? You started out well and little by little, even imperceptibly, you were right back into the old behaviors.

Did you change? Yes. For a while, but only a while, and clearly not deeply enough. So here’s one of the elements of change versus transformation:

Change is reversible, transformation IS NOT.

Once you are transformed you are not and can never be what you once were. You have changed to the depth of your identity. It’s not a change regarding this or that about you. YOU have changed. You are a different person and the change is through and through.  Continue here....

-- Jim Sniechowski

People Don't Know What They Want

It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them.

-- Steve Jobs

Know Your Stress Type

Stress hits each of us differently. Some of us feel it in our bodies. Others just can't stop worrying. Knowing how you experience stress can help you find the most effective methods to relax.

Finding a technique to help you relax is worth the effort. When we calm down from stress, we are shifting our nervous system from physiological arousal to the relaxation and recovery state known as parasympathetic activity. In this state, our minds are more open and clear, our heart rate slows, blood pressure lowers, and our muscles release tension.

And here's the part that particularly resonates with my personal experience:

Practice every day. Find a time in your daily routine that you can set aside just for this – whether during your drive to work or during personal quiet time first thing in the morning. If you develop a strong daily practice, you'll be able to call on it to help you calm down when you need to the most – right after those hassles that get you so tense in the first place.

The results may be subtle at first. You might find, for instance, you're no longer waking up at 4 a.m. obsessing about that rude person, or that you aren't...continue reading.

-- Daniel Goleman

Mindset

Over the last few months, I've been collecting and reflecting on the role of our mindset in who we are as people and how we live, including the things that impact our mindset.

It is interesting that even in Scripture, a key to the 'way' God wants us to be is rooted in 'the way we think' (one of Webster's definitions of mindset).

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

-- Phil 2:5

Paul stages his plea for the mind (as well as for our actions and spirit) this way:

...make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

-- Phil 2:2

Are Just Dumb

It’s true that humans have a need to categorize their thoughts in order to make sense of the world. And yet few of us would realize our categories are largely utilitarian, based loosely in fact and largely in fantasy. Austin Cline suggests that when we fall victim to black-and-white thinking, we reduce an endless spectrum of possibilities to the two most extreme positions, saying, in short, that home is either north or south, when home may indeed be southeast or northwest, or in some cases, both, depending on the necessary route.

Black-and-white thinking is attractive because it’s reductionistic; it simplifies everything so we don’t really have to comprehend. It allows us to feel intelligent without understanding, and once we are intelligent, we feel superior. People who don’t agree with us are just dumb.

-- Donald Miller

Continue reading here....

Can't Change Anything

Those who can’t change their minds can’t change anything.

-- George Bernard Shaw

Your View

Research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life.

-- Carol Dweck

In other words, our mindset is critical; how you see yourself affects your behavior. More here....

And, if this is correct -- how you behave affects how you think...we have a bit of a circle here.

Getting Bewildered

No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.

-- Nathaniel Hawthorne

About As Big

A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.

-- Winston Churchill

Unfortunately, this seems to be more true than it should be.

Health Care and Waiting

The last line in the article referenced below sticks out to me (at the very least, I applaud the theory):

ONE small consolation of our high-priced health care system — our $2.7 trillion collective medical bill — has been the notion that at least we get medical attention quickly.

Yet there is emerging evidence that lengthy waits to get a doctor’s appointment have become the norm in many parts of American medicine, particularly for general doctors but also for specialists. And that includes patients with private insurance as well as those with Medicaid or Medicare.  Continue reading....

-- Elisabeth Rosenthal

Here it is:

Sometimes, it would seem, a little more waiting would do us some good.

His Purpose: Too Wonderful

You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.

-- Psalm 139:16

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me...

...Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

-- Psalm 138:8, 139:6

God still has purpose in developing me. Only the world can leave me with the impression that I have lived past this point, because its sense of time if so limited. I am not something He has moved on from or discarded. I can live and move as if I were about to discover where and how this is true.

Commencement Address Extraordinaire

It's 'commencement' time again:

...if all we have learned here are Four Ps, and Five Forces and Six Sigma, we will prove William Faulkner right, that we labor under a curse, that we live not for love but for lust, for defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, for victories without hope, and worst of all without pity or compassion, that our griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars, that we live not from the heart but from the glands.

No, my friends, we have more work to do, hard work, frightening work, uncertain work and unending work, work that may test us, work that may defeat us, work for which we may not get the credit but work for which the whole world depends. The time is short and the odds are long but I believe that we are ready nonetheless, with the love of those who raised us, with the lessons of those who taught us, with the strength of those who stand beside us as we face what lies ahead. I say let us begin.

-- Casey Gerald

Read the rest here....

Multi-tasking Is Making You Stupid

Talk about things (like sleep and sugar) that are affecting our learning:

A study done at the University of London found that constant emailing and text-messaging reduces mental capability by an average of 10 points on an IQ test. It was five points for women, and fifteen points for men. This effect is similar to missing a night's sleep. For men, it’s around three times more than the effect of smoking cannabis. While this fact might make an interesting dinner party topic, it's really not that amusing that one of the most common "productivity tools" can make one as dumb as a stoner.

-- David Rock

Continue Reading...

Interest

I think the big mistake in schools is trying to teach children anything by using fear as the basic motivation. Fear of getting failing grades, fear of not staying with your class, etc. Interest can produce learning on a scale compared to fear as a nuclear explosion to a firecracker.

-- Stanley Kubrick

Involve Me

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.

-- Benjamin Franklin

To Discover

I write to discover what I know.

-- Flannery O'Connor

Re-Learning How To Live

Two recent posts make it painfully obvious that we badly need to re-learn how to live, so that we can get back to learning (makes me wonder whether living really is primarily learning, rather than simply entertaining ourselves...perhaps a topic for another day):

The way you think about your body leads to the way you treat it. Thinking in terms of what can go wrong induces fear, and fear is a very poor motivator over the long run.

The biggest flaw in the machine model, as I see it, is its rejection of the mind-body connection. When I was in medical school, no such thing existed. At most we learned about psychosomatic disorders, with the clear implication that they weren't real, being the result of the patient's imagination. This situation hasn't changed much in medical school, sad to say, but the surge in alternative and integrated medicine has brought the mind-body connection to the fore.

In reality your body is a process, not a thing.  Well-being depends on finding your flow, in terms of a relaxed but alert mental state, a steady positive mood about your life, following the natural rhythm of rest and activity, taking realistic, practical steps to reduce stress, respecting the need for a good night's sleep, avoiding toxins, and relying on your body's intelligence.  Continue reading....

-- Deepak Chopra

I am drawn to Chopra's observations, in general, and here as well. He comes from traditions of truth and faith that are different from the ones I am familiar with. But, his notions of a wholistic perspective of life are in line with what seems true to me. Our western predilections toward compartmentalization seem, well, unwholistic. And, while some of the attempt to isolate thing in order to understand them may be helpful, I think in large part the approach leaves some very significant things out. We are one being, not just a series of parts. And, treating ourselves (and life) as a bunch of parts, even if related, seems to create as many problems as it resolves.

Light & Flowers

As has become my early Sunday ritual, my time in the woods again this morning was particularly...lovely.  A cardinal seemed to use his red only to flash over and over that he knew a secret he want to invite me to see farther down the path.  There is something almost electromagnetic about running next to a flowing stream...I felt like I could follow it forever.  And then the smells.  I smelled the damp today.  And cool.  I ran by a jasmine plant that would out-rank most perfumes.  Another smell was so sweet, its stink almost curled my nose.

And, then, there were flowers, which seemed to just patiently wait to be noticed, carelessly even whether I did or didn't.  In the woods, where there is light...there are often flowers.  It strikes me that this is also true in a much larger sense -- true of goodness, of work, in children, in relationships.  In love.  Something seems to bloom, when there is light.

Impact Is Occuring

We tend to live in sweeps of time and circumstance.  There are times when we live quite aware of the impact we are having ...good and bad.  And, there are times when we can barely trace any impact.  We can chafe against this rather simple reality.  Or, we can relax in it...knowing that it's truth is not primarily predicated on our recognition of it.

Impact is occurring....

I was at a funeral yesterday, where impact from my life was revealed far more than I ever realized.  I was reminded, too, of impact on me...much of which I had forgotten.  Earlier today, I had a impacting conversation with a friend.  A few weeks ago, I was lost in a swirl of (perceived) nothingness.  At the moment, I sense how nearly every movement I am making right now has impact.  I don't expect that sense to last....

Impact is occurring.

We can live a lot of the time out of a dread (or just simple worry) of the future or out of a prevailing sense of regret over the past.  Our opportunity, though, is to live 'alive' to the present, with a deep wonder about both the bursts of wonder and the tediums...of the moment.

Impact is occurring....

The Impact of Sleep on Learning

More fascinating scientific support for what the wise probably have always known regarding the value of sleep:

Research teams from the U.S. and China have discovered some of the ways in which sleep consolidates memory and learning. In the study, the scientists were able to actually see new connections being formed while we (or in this case, mice) sleep. The study also found that getting more sleep led to higher performance than training more and sleeping less.

Then there is the growing awareness of the importance of sleep for workplace performance.

Sleep affects virtually every aspect of cognitive performance, physical performance and creativity.  Continue reading....

-- Arianna Huffington

Wasted Moment?

I prayed this morning for sensitivity and wisdom in my interactions with people today - at work, at home, with people I expected to see and with people I wouldn't have anticipated seeing, etc.

I got in an argument with my daughter at lunch today...  So, what happened...to my prayer?  Was it just not answered?  Was it something I just forgot about too quickly?  Am I that fickle...?

Or, is it yet to be answered...is what I do now, my real opportunity...to be sensitive to her, and to myself...and to seek wisdom?  Perhaps the moment has not been wasted at all, perhaps it has just begun....