Scripps Sundays

  Since your word you chose for the year is "breathe," here is another passage to remind you of from this beautiful book:  "These are important big-picture ideas, but there are also moment to moment practices that can take this from out there to right here. One of my favorite therapeutic practices is to remember the immediacy of the breath. We can make time to breathe together, to synchronize our breaths, teaching others how to breathe to manage stress and anxiety. Breath is the source of so much healing and connectedness, to ourselves and to others. Remember the staircase of stress response from chapter 3? The neurophysiology of trauma has revealed that breath can be a powerful tool to shift us from going down the staircase to moving back up the staircase toward connection and rest. When we breathe in a specific way, it signals to our nervous system that we are okay. To do this, we breathe in through our nose, down into our belly until our bottom ribs in the front, back...

  Here's the quote that was so beautiful that I read this weekend from the chapter on "Holy Flesh":  ‘I AM” is the English translation of the Hebrew letters YWHW (or YHVH), which is called the Tetragrammaton, the sacred name of God. In Hebrew, the original language in which this passage was written, the four letters YHWH are pronounced Yod, Hay, Vav, Hay. Growing up, I’d learned that this holy word was written as such because it was unspeakable. But the writings of some rabbis, in particular, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, provided clarity. Rabbi Waskow suggests that while it is true that YHWH is unpronounceable, it is not because we are forbidden to pronounce it, but rather that in order to pronounce these letters, part vowel, part consonant, labeled by linguists as aspirate consonants- without any vowels between them, one has to do so simply by breathing. Try it for yourself: say each letter and its corresponding sound, without adding any vowels, and you find yourself making som...

As I mentioned to you on the phone yesterday, Dad and  I went to see a very sweet movie on Friday night ( The Wild Robot ), and this song made me tear up thinking of you. So here's my little love song to you today...  https://youtu.be/9Bd9M0F3-Ss?si=zAvph2RtTqqKTFrX [Chorus] I'm gonna live forever in you Long as the sky and oceans are blue I'll always love you and I'll never stop I'll always be there, even when I'm not [Verse 1] I know the world can turn into a lonely place Can break your heart and paint the teardrops on your face I might not be beside you, but I'm not that far I'll be lookin' over you like Northern Stars On nights your mind is spiralin' like desert winds The way you wanna go is not the way you've been Darlin', don't be scared of what's around the bend But when you feel alone, I hope you never forget, oh [Chorus] I'm gonna live forever in you Long as the sky and oceans are blue I'll always love you and I...

How To  Belong  Be Alone Written and read by   Pádraig Ó Tuama Listen here :  It all begins with knowing nothing lasts forever, so you might as well start packing now. In the meantime, practice being alive. There will be a party where you’ll feel like nobody’s paying you attention. And there will be a party where attention’s all you’ll get. What you need to do is to remember to talk to yourself between these parties. And, again, there will be a day, — a decade — where you won’t fit in with your body even though you’re in the only body you’re in. You need to control your habit of forgetting to breathe. Remember when you were younger and you practiced kissing on your arm? You were on to something then. Sometimes harm knows its own healing Comfort knows its own intelligence. Kindness too. It needs no reason. There is a you telling you another story of you. Listen to her. Where do you feel anxiety in your body? The chest? The fist? The dream before waking? The head that ...

 

  Just want this to sink in....  Your strength is your tenderness and sensitivity....  and check out  this  image below that I found.....  so with that, know that I am praying for you to be able to pay attention this week to the things you need to focus your energy on, for you to set intentions that are life-giving, and that you will be tender with yourself holding tenderly those you encounter.... 

  

A question posed by Ignatius is seemingly simple, but at the heart of it is among the most difficult of questions to answer. "What do you want?" is the question. What do we want with our lives? What do we want with our work? What do we want with our failures, with our reputations, with our friendships and achievements? What do we want in our faith and in the truth of our body?  What do you want?  It is a question that requires simple engagement with the truth- brave, guileless, honest truth.  - Pádraig Ó Tuama, In the Shelter