Walk with

I'd rather see a sermon

than hear one any day,
I'd rather one should walk with me
than merely tell the way.

-Edgar Guest (poet, 1881-1959)

Photo from our last 'family' gathering 2/18/08

(missing Seth and Lea as it's too far to trek from Madison
for a birthday supper on a weeknight!)

That's what I aim for: to BE, not talk a 'sermon'; to WALK WITH, not just tell the way. I think of family and all the opportunities to walk with and be example for, and I am hugely grateful: for them and that, and for their grace and love for me. What a gift it is, along the way, to be loved and to love.

Protein satiates

So, you want to know some protein sources for breakfast? You got it. My favorite is eggs, but there's also peanut butter (on toast, pancakes, sweet rolls; from a spoon, fork, or finger...), nuts, yogurt, beans, cheese, milk, meat/poultry/fish.

"Based on several new studies, eggs may be back on the breakfast menu too! Healthy adults (with no history of diabetes) can enjoy one to two eggs per day without increasing their blood cholesterol or triglyceride levels. People who eat protein, like eggs, for breakfast tend to eat fewer calories during the day and to maintain a healthier weight. They also report feeling more energetic than those who just eat carbohydrates, like a pastry, some toast, or bagel."
[http://www.dphhs.mt.gov/newsevents/newsreleases2008/february/Breakfast.shtml]

Protein is more satiating than carbohydrate, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (83, 2:211-20, 2006). [http://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/hotnews/62h2291829.html]

Here's some yummy breakfast suggestions that include most major food groups: microwave a quesadilla on a whole wheat tortilla with black beans or enjoy a tofu (I'd substitute egg!) scrambler with chopped veggies and grated cheese.

(Photo 'borrowed' from ashtangiscook.blogspot.com/; with thanks!)

Most Americans - 80 to 90 percent in national surveys - believe that eating breakfast is a healthy habit. “However, only 40 to 50 percent of adults are actually eating breakfast on a regular basis,” says Jessica Grennan (state health alliances director for the American Heart Association in Montana). [http://www.dphhs.mt.govnewsevents/newsreleases2008/february/Breakfast.shtml]

Wanna join the minority of adults that actually do eat breakfast? Call me, maybe we can break a fast together.

Break a fast

I love breakfast. Most mornings I have an egg, a few bites of whole grain cereal with milk, and some juice. Oh yah, some dirt too (the AZOMITE dirt I mentioned early on in this blog). I like telling people, especially my kids, about how good it is to have protein at start of day, and about the importance of eating breakfast. So here goes - for at least a couple of blog entries --

At the 2003 American Heart Association conference it was reported that people who eat breakfast are significantly less likely to be obese and diabetic than those who usually don’t.

In their study, researchers found that obesity and insulin resistance syndrome rates were 35 percent to 50 percent lower among people who ate breakfast every day compared to those who frequently skipped it.

“Our results suggest that breakfast may really be the most important meal of the day,” says Mark A. Pereira, Ph.D., a research associate at Children’s Hospital in Boston and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. “It appears that breakfast may play an important role in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.” [http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3009715]

All light

My life is too much about me. I find it helpful to occasionally do some focusing on self so as to understand my thoughts and ways and be better able to move beyond self-centeredness. Regrettably though, I often carry self-focus too far. So, I am appreciative of these words from desert fathers: they remind that my best focus is on God, and my ultimate hope is to be all light.

"Blessed Anthony, the man acknowledged to be the first monk, used to say:

“That is not a perfect prayer wherein the monk is conscious either of himself or the content of his prayer” (Cassian, Conference 9:31:1).

And then there is the delightful story from the desert tradition:

“Abba Lot came to Abba Joseph and said: 'Father, according as I am able, I keep my little rule, and my little fast, my prayer, meditation and contemplative silence; and according as I am able I strive to cleanse my heart of thoughts; now what more should I do?' The elder rose up in reply and stretched out his hands to heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire. He said: 'Why not become all light, all fire?' (Desert Fathers: LXXII)"
[http://www.mepkinabbey.org/ChapterVerse3/chapter_technique.htm]

How might you and I be fire in our moments this day?

Eclipsed

Wednesday night there was a complete lunar eclipse. I watched in dark and silence and warmth (mostly viewing from inside the house but for a few forays outside to attempt a photo) and got to thinking about my name. Diane comes from Diana, goddess of the moon, and a Christianized version of the meaning of the name is “in God’s glory”; to me it has to do with reflecting the light of God, like the moon reflects the sun's light. I desire to reflect God. What I really want even more than to reflect is to radiate His light, having the presence of God so bright within that it shines out.

But like the moon in the Earth’s shadow, I tend to not only - not radiate- but also to barely even reflect; I am oft in shadow, behind an ‘earth’ that gets between me and the sun/Son. That ‘earth’ most often is me.

Coincidentally, more accurately might I say providentially, also last night I read these words in Blue Like Jazz,

“The most difficult lie I have ever contended with is this: Life is a story about me… No rut in the mind is so deep as the one that says I am the world, the world belongs to me, all people are characters in my play. There is no addiction so powerful as self-addiction.”
- donald miller

Ouff, it is too true of me. I lose the white brilliance of Light’s rays: self-focus is my world that causes shadow. Thankfully, even when I get in the way, God still does a beautiful thing. Like the red coloring of the moon caused by the sunlight passing through the Earth’s atmosphere, so God curves around the obstacle of me. Instead of leaving me in total darkness, He colors me.

...even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. - Psalm 139:12 (NIV)

[The beautiful photo above is kindly shared by Thomas Knoblauch]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Thomas_Knoblauch_-_Lunar_Eclipse_small-43img_%28pd%29.gif#file]

Divine joy

"From God's perspective, one hidden act of repentance, one little gesture of selfless love, one moment of true forgiveness is all that is needed to bring God from his throne to run to his returning son and to fill the heavens with sounds of divine joy."
-- Henri Nouwen
The Return of the Prodigal Son - A Story of Homecoming

I still have much to learn of the love of God. What I've experienced thus far is barely a glimpse of the enormous sea of tender affection from God's heart. Today I was reminded again of the value of telling myself the truth, and doing so regularly. To move toward ever-increasing wellness, I hope to daily repeat a couple of affirmative statements declaring the truth of God's love.

...you are precious and honored in my sight, and I love you...
Isaiah 43:4a (NIV)

The Lord your God is with you... He will take great delight in you... he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)

Same kind of life

As I mentioned before, authenticity is a core value of mine, so a story that Donald Miller tells in Blue Like Jazz deeply resonates with me.

At Reed College there was barely a handful of individuals who identified themselves as followers of Jesus. During the annual all-about-partying Ren Fayre festival, these few decided to set up a confessional booth. But rather than accept confessions from their 'partying' peers, Tony the Beat Poet suggests an idea with a twist:

"We are not actually going to accept confessions…We are going to confess to them. We are going to confess that, as followers of Jesus, we have not been very loving; we have been bitter, and for that we are sorry. We will apologize for the Crusades, we will apologize for televangelists, we will apologize for neglecting the poor and the lonely, we will ask them to forgive us, and we will tell them that in our selfishness, we have misrepresented Jesus on this campus. We will tell people who come into the booth that Jesus loves them." P 118

So Donald is the one in the booth to accept the first customer. He confesses --

"Jesus said to feed the poor and to heal the sick. I have never done very much about that. Jesus said to love those who persecute me. I tend to lash out, especially if I feel threatened, you know, if my ego gets threatened. Jesus did not mix His spirituality with politics. I grew up doing that. It got in the way of the central message of Christ. I know that was wrong, and I know that a lot of people will not listen to the words of Christ because people like me, who know Him, carry our own agendas into the conversation rather than just relaying the message Christ wanted to get across. There's a lot more, you know." p 123
There is good reason these words resonate; they are true of me. What I really want, and what I believe will bring me into wholeness and abundant life, is to walk and live and love like Jesus. For anyone reading, of whom I've not loved like Jesus loves, may you know I am sorry.

"Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived." I John 2:6 TM

Differing perspectives

I am reading a book called Blue Like Jazz. I love being exposed to differing perspectives, and the perspectives of author Donald Miller are "fresh and original." He says authenticity is important to him and he writes in such a way. I too love authenticity and am enjoying his honesty and kinda quirky take on a variety of subjects.

Here's a fun thought (especially since I love both chocolate and reading Bible); these words were said by one of his friends--

“…the Bible is so good with chocolate. I always thought the Bible was more of a salad thing, you know, but it isn’t. It is a chocolate thing…" p 47

And a couple of the author's thoughts on love:

"Love, for example, is a true emotion, but it is not rational. What I mean is, people actually feel it. I have been in love, plenty of people have been in love, yet love cannot be proved scientifically. Neither can beauty. Light cannot be proved scientifically, and yet we all believe in light and by light see all things. There are plenty of things that are true that don’t make any sense." P 54
"There is something beautiful about a billion stars held steady by a God who knows what He is doing. (They hang there, the stars, like notes on a page of music, free-form verse, silent mysteries swirling in the blue like jazz.) And as I lay there, it occurred to me that God is up there somewhere. Of course, I had always known He was, but this time I felt it, I realized it, the way a person realizes they are hungry or thirsty. The knowledge of God seeped out of my brain and into my heart. I imagined Him looking down on this earth, half angry because His beloved mankind had cheated on Him, had committed adultery, and yet hopelessly in love with her, drunk with love for her." P 100

Chocolate

A couple of nuggets about chocolate on this Valentine's Day:

* Chocolate contains small amounts of a chemical called phenylethylamine (PEA), a.k.a. the "love drug," and it's been linked to the regulation of physical energy, mood, and attention. A tiny amount of PEA is released at moments of emotional euphoria, elevating blood pressure and heart rate. There is no evidence that PEA found in foods increases PEA in the brain – although many chocolate lovers may beg to differ!

* Dark chocolate (as opposed to milk or white chocolate) contains healthful flavonoids similar to those found in tea, red wine, fruits, and vegetables. Studies have shown that small portions of dark chocolate can improve blood vessel flow and may improve blood sugar and insulin sensitivity to help reduce the risk of diabetes.
[From http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/modern-love-8/chocolate-history]

A downside, that we all know but MUST remind self of: chocolate candy has plenty of saturated fat and sugar, which can lead to weight gain. Still, we can enjoy small portions (and small is relative...) and still call our diet healthy. Whoohoo!

Happy day of love, friendship, and chocolate.

25 calories a bite

I love chocolate. Especially minty chocolate. Like Junior Mints – they’re refreshing.

Keeping a food journal makes me come face to face with how many bites of chocolate I consume, so I don’t much like to do a food journal. But if I want to be serious about eating well…

Here's an interesting tidbit (from www.webmd.com/diet/features/single-best-way-lose-weight).
“It's easy to overlook bites, licks, and tastes (known as "BLTs" to professionals). But that's a huge mistake — there are 25 calories, on average, in each mouthful. Translation: Six little bites a day add up to around 15 extra pounds a year…"

If you think you might want to give this food journal idea a try:
For us pen and paper archaics (that’d be me), simply record in a spiral notebook all food eaten. Or record in a pre-organized book like the DietMinder. Computer lovers can check out online journals, such as myfooddiary.com ($9 per month) and nutrihand.com (free for a basic plan; $10 per month for extras). PDA users, visit weightbydate.com and download the software (starting at $19).
The crucial info to write down: the time you ate, what you ate, and how much you ate. Make a habit of jotting notes right after you eat. Tracking your diet online? Jot down what you eat on slips of paper when away from the computer and calculate nutritional content afterward.

One last thing – a need-to-know detail –
one refreshing Junior Mint piece – just 10.625 calories.

Journal your bites

Want to know the single best way to lose weight? Journal your bites.

From www.webmd.com/diet/features/single-best-way-lose-weight:
"When researchers from Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research followed more than 2,000 dieters who were encouraged to record meals and snacks, they found that the single best predictor of whether a participant would drop weight was whether the person kept a food diary. It trumped exercise habits, age, and body mass index. The number of pounds people lost was directly related to the number of days they wrote in their log. (It's no coincidence that Weight Watchers, one of the most successful diet programs, asks participants to track what they eat.)"

It seems that we all tend to guess low on how much food we stuff into our mouths. I find these stats to be interesting and too-true of myself...
"Americans typically underestimate their daily intake by about 25 percent, reports nutritionist Carrie Latt Wiatt, author of Portion Savvy. The situation gets even more complicated when you eat out. In a 2006 study led by Cornell University, 105 diners in fast-food restaurants were asked how many calories were in their orders. For the small items, almost everyone guessed correctly; for the larger orders, the diners underestimated the calories by a whopping 38 percent... Even the professionals didn't predict accurately. Researchers at Louisiana State University asked dietitians to estimate their daily caloric intake — and they lowballed the number by 10 percent."

So we might consider an end to guessing, and a start to calculating, at least once in awhile. I just checked out nutritiondata.com, which lists the stats for many foods and has some other nifty tools.

Happy food journaling...

Gratitude journals

I’m a believer in the benefit of journaling. I know, it’s not for everyone. Still, I find the following interesting:
-
*Researchers Emmons and McCullough found those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events.
-
Additionally --
*A daily gratitude intervention (self-guided exercises) with young adults resulted in higher reported levels of the positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness, and energy compared to a focus on hassles or a downward social comparison (ways in which participants thought they were better off than others).
[Emmons, R.A., & McCullough, M.E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: Experimental studies of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 377-389.]

“Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot.”
– Nigerian Hausa

Grateful to give

“To be grateful is to recognize the love of God”
– Thomas Merton

During an October 2004 interview with Robert Emmons, Ph.D. and author of The Psychology of Gratitude (Oxford University Press, 2004), Emmons recounts his ideas about people like Mother Teresa and others who ‘gave themselves away’ as those having the quality of gratitude.

“They don’t seem to fit the usual conception of gratitude where you see a benefit and then you’re grateful. They felt grateful for the opportunity to help, as opposed to receiving help. They knew there was some benefit for them in developing compassion… the ability to be helpful…created in them a sense of gratitude, a sense of purpose, that they wouldn’t otherwise have had.”

I need that example. Lately I’ve been feeling like I don’t so much want to give away my time anymore; I’ve forgotten momentarily what good comes out of giving in love.

Lord, help me remember.

Better life

Gratitude is… more than a feeling, a virtue, or an experience; gratitude emerges as an attitude we can freely choose in order to create a better life for ourselves and for others.”

– Brother David Steindl-Rast

I have noticed that gratitude is the best barometer of how I’m doing spiritually and emotionally. Additionally, there is evidence of physical benefit. Physician and author Christiane Northrup explains that when you hold feelings of thankfulness for at least 15 seconds, beneficial physiological changes take place in your body:

* Stress hormone levels of cortisol and norepinephrine decrease, creating a cascade of beneficial metabolic changes such as an enhanced immune system.
* Coronary arteries relax, thus increasing the blood supply to your heart.
* Heart rhythm becomes more harmonious, which positively affects your mood and all other bodily organs.
* Breathing becomes deeper, thus increasing the oxygen level of your tissues.
[http://www.drnorthrup.com/womenshealth/healthcenter/topic_details.php?topic_id=114]

15 seconds, huh?
Think we might be able to do that for a payoff of "better life"? I'm going to give it many more tries.

Again tomorrow

The Linn’s tell a great story that inspired their Sleeping with Bread book title.

“During the bombing raids of World War II, thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve. The fortunate ones were rescued and placed in refugee camps where they received food and good care. But many of these children who had lost so much could not sleep at night. They feared waking up to find themselves once again homeless and without food. Nothing seemed to reassure them. Finally, someone hit upon the idea of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime. Holding their bread, these children could finally sleep in peace. All through the night the bread reminded them, ‘Today I ate and I will eat again tomorrow.’”

I know I constantly need reminders of the good, and to redirect my thoughts toward thankfulness. An important directive for me has been

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.”

Philippians 4:8 The Message paraphrase

A quiet joy

There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.”

– Ralph Blum

Today begins another Lenten season. This year, as part of my ‘Tending the Holy’ spiritual direction training, I’ve been assigned a discipline for these weeks leading up to Easter: to daily do the prayer of examen.

It is addressing two questions at the end of the day --

For what moment today am I most grateful?
For what moment today am I least grateful?

My strong tendency is to pay attention to all that needs correcting, in my environment and in my self. The examen helps me notice not only what goes wrong but especially what goes right. And thus it brings me back to gratitude, and wellness.

Researcher Michael McCullough, a University of Miami psychology professor, asserts, “Grateful people are happier, more optimistic, more satisfied with their lives. They are more empathetic toward others. We even have a bit of evidence that grateful people are viewed as kinder, more helpful, and more supportive than less-grateful people.”
(McCullough & Robert A. Emmons, University of California, Davis; Dimensions and Perspectives of Gratitude, from http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/labs/emmons).

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks…
I Thessalonians 5:16-18

--
Some other questions to get at gratitude and thinking about your day:
these are variations of the examen questions --
[From Sleeping with Bread by Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn, and Matthew Linn]

When did I give and receive the most / least love today?
When did I feel most alive / life draining out of me today?
When today did I have the greatest / least sense of belonging with myself, other, God, and the universe?
When was I happiest / saddest today?
What was today’s high / low point?

A little

I love it when I read that even "a little" can go a long way, or at least bring some benefit. Every effort doesn't have to be heroic. If I pause for a few minutes and relish the moment - with just that little effort - there will be fewer stress hormones circulating in my body and thus better physical well-being.

Additionally, even a little exercise - as little as ten minutes - can go a long way. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2007 found that even 10 minutes of moderate workouts per day (including walking briskly or riding an exercise bike) led to a marked improvement in fitness and decrease in waist size, and, thus, reduced risks of early death. [Research was done by Timothy Church, PhD, and colleagues, of Louisiana State University.]

Subjects were average, unhealthy women in their 50's - a little too-close-for-comfort to my own state. Still, it reminds me that even that little bit of physical exertion does a body good (so I say to self - appreciate already the walk from the parking lot into work, stairs to climb, painting or shoveling to do, yoga-lates class to attend, and much more).

I get to "do" and "be"
to move and pause.
-
Enjoying lots in little and large.