SAVOR - check in

In January, along with thousands(?) of other bloggers, I selected a word and wrote about its meaning to me as my "word of the year."  I did a journaling exercise yesterday to check in and and see how I'm doing living into that word and maybe, I think, it's working for me. 

SAVOR is turning out to be a perfect word for the this year as I am blessed with existing and near future opportunities in which I can relax, relish, and wallow in the word.  Opportunities of love, travel, mind expansion, improving my well body image for my age (there's a lot of rhetoric about age/activity/what's normal, what's acceptable - wrapped up on that last phrase, but I won't digress into that subject right now!) I want to savor the goodness which I am steeped in every day.  Life is too good to forget!

Embracing and living the word savor on a daily basis means, for me, that my inner self is capable of shining and expanding.  That growth and shine undoubtedly reflects, even if only a little, on those I meet on a daily basis, with their pleasure in receiving often being reflected back to me and maybe even to others.  It seems a small effort with a big return result.

I attempt to live and embody this word by sharing it verbally with those I encounter in and through my blogsite.  By savoring the goodness of one's life, I believe I/we/you can expand and heal ourselves both inwardly and outwardly - literally strengthening our personal brain's capacity and power.

In reflecting upon savoring, I wonder why I would ever shrink from such a word, a concept; perhaps these reasons?

Carelessness, ennui, selfishness, lack of awareness for all the goodness in which I am surrounded; shrinking from the word and idea, for me, is to be unappreciative, ungrateful.  Perhaps I can take steps to raise my awareness  by slowing down, stopping, assessing where I am; by taking those deep bellows breaths that my yoga instructor is always touting; by smiling, my favorite of all exercises.  Smiling, meaning it and offering up a thanksgiving prayer for the ability of recall

I've been given a golden opportunity this year and am living it now; a wonderful time away from home and the cold to being here on the island of Maui.  What more delightful savoring can be done than just being here, sharing physical intimacy with my beloved spouse, feeling the soft breeze, hearing and seeing the ocean, snorkeling with fishes and the huge turtle of the day this a.m., then sharing those delights with you and with each other.

I hope that even if you are still seeing snow come down, or maybe you even have a cold, or as so many are right now - out of work - that somewhere in your day you can find a moment to savor that which is good in your life.  Savor for yourself, share with others, offer up thanksgiving.  

If you have any personal savoring experiences of today or this week or this year, I'd love to hear about them.  In the meantime - enjoy and SAVOR.

Shameless Theft

Image via Wikipedia

This morning perusing my favorite bloggers, I came upon this beautiful quote at an equally beautiful site - Contemplative Photography. With shameless abandon but with a note that Contemplative Photography daily has thoughts and photos worth reading, I give you the same words here from Richard Rohr's Naked Now :

"Prayer is actually setting out a tuning fork. All you can really do in the spiritual life is get tuned to receive the always present message. Once you are tuned, you will receive, and it has nothing to do with worthiness or the group you belong to, but only inner resonance and a capacity for mutuality. The Sender is absolutely and always present and broadcasting; the only change is with the receiver station...

Most simply put, prayer is something that happens to you, much more than anything you privately do...God stops being an object of attention... and becomes at some level your own "I am."

...You are already a child of God, equipped with everything you need to begin resonating with the divine. That does not mean you are morally or psychologically perfect. Not at all. But you will now have the freedom to see such failings in yourself, to grow and to love better because of them."

How appropriate that the "tuning fork" would be brought to my mind, such a wonderful tool analogy for prayer and for the soul. There has been a lot of "soul talk" the last couple of days over at Country Parson and at Diamonds in the Sky with Lucy. Not only are the posts worth reading but the comments also - happy tuning in today from the MindSieve!

Image of a beautiful tuning fork from wikipedia

Ordinary details in an ordinary day?

Image via Wikipedia

Ordinary Grooming - or not?

The bristles lie still, prickly, inanimate
The handle cool to the touch
Only an effort will bring it alive

The mane standing silly
So creative on its own
Who will notice the work of the brush

The attention of the mind

The determination of the spirit

The task of mere grooming tempting the coif to fullness

The same with the soul, I say
Still, bristly at times
Comfortable to just be

But how silly the soul at waste is
Yes, creatively picking at random its path
How does one nourish the starving soul

Feeling the call to mind and emotion
The scripture, the devout silence, the longing
Gently coax the soul to attention

The curious, the called, hesitantly responding to the breath of holiness
Attention, action, hunger, fullness
Like the coif, what a joy the fed and groomed soul

Photo - Medieval Coif - Wikipedia

Ordinary Life - is it?

From Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul I read the following this a.m..........

In ordinary life, creativity means making something for the soul out of every experience. Sometimes we can shape experience into meaningfulness playfully and inventively. At other times, simply holding experience in memory and in reflection allows it to incubate and reveal some of its imagination.

Reflecting on these words, I find that making "something for the soul out of every experience" would seem a daunting task for me. However, the second part of the statement that "holding experience in memory, etc." puts a wonderful, roomy gloss on the possibility of expanding precious moments (and even the not so precious) into a space of infinite exploration and restoration. My painting, writing, prayers, study, home work, exercise, time for family and friends - these things do all bring joy into my life, thereby I think, enriching my soul through what I would normally see as common everyday happenings.

So the question for me is, and maybe for you, do the ordinary things I choose to make happen in my life enrich my soul in the doing or does my soul enrich the quality of my day to day choices? What do you think?