This quote has an appealing ring of truth to me. Maybe I’m getting to the “finally” part of life.
“I think of Anthony deMello saying that early in his life he wanted to be a holy man.
Then in mid-journey he wanted to be a loving man.
Finally, he said he wanted to be a free man."
- Gerald May...What I Think I Know about Love
This week a courageous friend called out my tendency to desecrate my work, and urged me to get to the source of disrespect of self. She did it with gentle honesty, prefacing her comments with "I mean this in a most loving way." I heard it in a most loving way and laughed at myself, and will attempt to really listen to the good counsel and dig deeper into my stuff.
Oh my, life is such a process.
He is on the path of life who heeds instruction, but he who forsakes reproof goes astray. –Proverbs 10:17
Thank everyone who calls out your faults, your anger, your impatience, your egotism; do this consciously, voluntarily. -Jean Toomer, poet and novelist (1894-1967)
The way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel. –Proverbs 12:15
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.
– John 3: 16-17 The Message paraphrase
“To love is to approach each other center to center.”
-Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
“Atrazine is an herbicide (week-killer) primarily used on corn. Atrazine is the most common chemical contaminant of ground and surface water in the United States. It is a potent endocrine disruptor with ill effects in wildlife, laboratory animals and humans. Atrazine chemically castrates and feminizes wildlife and reduces immune function in both wildlife and laboratory rodents. Atrazine ind
uces breast and prostate cancer, retards mammary development, and induces abortion in laboratory rodents. Studies in human populations and cell and tissue studies suggest that atrazine poses similar threats to humans.” [Peer-reviewed scientific studies to support these statements are summarized and can be viewed at http://www.atrazinelovers.com].
I was surprised to learn that enough atrazine returns to the earth in rainwater (.5 million pounds per year) at high enough concentrations to chemically castrate and feminize amphibians.
Some research gives current estimates that suggest atrazine increases crop yield by less than 2% (
if at all). Dr. Hayes concludes:”This marginal benefit of this pesticide does not outweigh environmental and public health safety concerns.”
I agree. There’s lots more at Hayes’ web site (with sardonic name of atrazinelovers); it has everything you’d ever want to know (or rather-not-have-to-but-need-to know) about atrazine.
Exposure to this information has compelled me to write my legislators. The web site makes that easy – I just did it, as can you – simply follow the “ACT NOW!” link.
Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
-Isaiah 49:15-16
"The artist brings something into the world that didn't exist before, and he does it without destroying something else."
-John Updike, writer (1932-2009)
There is neither spirit nor matter in the world; the stuff of the universe is spirit-matter. [The Heart of Matter (1950)]
–Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (French Jesuit priest trained as a paleontologist)
He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created…
I recently returned from a private retreat where I did some writing: about my dreams, about my fears, about my calling. I was telling my story, to myself; though occasionally there are a few others who read parts of my story, I'm finding value in the telling, even when there’s no one else to listen.
In Writing the Sacred Journey: the Art and Practice of Spiritual Memoir, author Elizabeth J. Andrew asserts, “The spiritual writer uncovers, probes, and honors what is sacred in his or her life story; the writing process itself is a means to spiritual growth; and the end product makes the experience of the sacred available to the reader.”
I appreciate too her observation: “The activities that most nourish the spirit (play, affection, generosity, contemplation, quiet, beauty, creativity, truth-telling, time in nature) are least valued in a consumer society. Spending a morning with a pen and notepad, traversing the landscape of memory and searching for the sacred, is a profoundly countercultural activity.”
How about it? Want to be a little countercultural and put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard? To add to the spiritual benefits of telling your story, there’s physical and psyche benefits (which is not surprising – as we are all interconnected body-soul-spiritual beings, a good practice in one area will spill over into the others).
James W. Pennebaker, a professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin and author of several books including Writing to Heal: A Guided Journal for Recovering from Trauma and Emotional Upheaval, has spent 20 years encouraging people to spend 15 to 20 minutes a day for a few consecutive days writing down their deepest feelings. Pennebaker says, “People who engage in expressive writing report feeling happier and less negative than before writing. Similarly, reports of depressive symptoms, rumination, and general anxiety tend to drop in the weeks and months after writing about emotional upheavals.” http://www.4therapy.com/consumer/life_topics/article/9552/112/The+Therapeutic+Benefits+of+Journaling
Writing and/or talking about emotional topics has also been found to influence immune function in beneficial ways, including t-helper cell growth, antibody response to Epstein-Barr virus, and antibody response to hepatitis B vaccinations. Additionally, decreases in blood pressure, improvements in grades, finding new jobs more quickly for laid-off professionals, less absenteeism, and more, have been suggested in the research.
For a recent summary of expressive writing research: go to*Pennebaker, J.W. & Chung, C.K. (2007). Expressive writing, emotional upheavals, and health. In H. Friedman and R. Silver (Eds.), Handbook of health psychology (pp 263-284). New York: Oxford University Press. Find that and more on Pennebaker’s home page: http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Faculty/Pennebaker/Home2000/JWPhome.htm
Telling by writing becomes a way of attending to life’s submerged currents. Our stories have a tremendous capacity to surprise and teach us.
Understanding is a fountain, a wellspring of life to him who has it... – Proverbs 16:22
Oh boy, there is fuel to my fire. I think exposure to dirt is good and now I see more research to back it up. The New York Times online has an article about eating dirt. Well, not exactly – but they do talk about the health benefits of ingesting the stuff of dirt!
“In studies of what is called the hygiene hypothesis, researchers are concluding that organisms like the millions of bacteria, viruses and especially worms that enter the body along with “dirt” spur the development of a healthy immune system. Several continuing studies suggest that worms may help to redirect an immune system that has gone awry and resulted in autoimmune disorders, allergies and asthma. These studies, along with epidemiological observations, seem to explain why immune system disorders like multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma and allergies have risen significantly in the United States and other developed countries.”
One guy, leading researcher Dr. Joel V. Weinstock, the director of gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, says this, “Children should be allowed to go barefoot in the dirt, play in the dirt, and not have to wash their hands when they come in to eat,” he said. He and Dr. Elliott pointed out that children who grow up on farms and are frequently exposed to worms and other organisms from farm animals are much less likely to develop allergies and autoimmune diseases. 
Also helpful, he said, is to “let kids have two dogs and a cat,” which will expose them to intestinal worms that can promote a healthy immune system.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html?_r=1&em&emc=eta1
[Picture to right is of Seth -toddling cutie- holding one of our first brittany spaniel's puppies]
Turns out my practice of letting the kids eat off the floor and forego handwashing - even when they had petted the dog/cat/hamster/mouse/rat - paid off!
Here’s yet another plug for consuming highly-colored foods –gotta love those vegetables and fruits!
In a report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, USDA scientists say that a compound found in berries and grapes can improve working memory and actually reverse the negative effects of aging on the human brain. Pterostilbene apparently produces these beneficial effects through action as an antioxidant in the hippocampus region of the brain. (If this info motivates you to go out and buy blueberries, look for organic ones -- research sponsored by The Organic Center at Washington State University found that organic berries contained higher levels of pterostilbene than conventional fruits.)
