A BIG WORLD

So let us pick up the stones over which we stumble, friends, and build altars.  Let us listen to the sound of breath in our bodies.  Let us listen to the sounds of our own voices, of our own names, of our own fears.  Let’s claw ourselves out from the graves we’ve dug.  Let us lick the earth from our fingers.  Let us look up and out and around.  The world is big and wide and wild and wonderful and wicked, and our lives are murky, magnificent, malleable, and full of meaning …”

Prayer by Pádraig Ó Tuama from his book:   Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community 
 

REFLECTION:

  • What is the sound of your own voice saying? 
  • How can you take in this big and wide and wild and wonderful and wicked world in a fuller way?

COMPARING

How often do we compare our insides (our self talk.. what we say and think about ourselves) with other peoples outsides (the image they project to the public)?

Personal reflection…

REFLECTION:

  • Have you fallen into the trap of comparing? 
  • If yes, who are you attempting to measure up to? 
  • Can you let go of comparison and honor the gift you are to this planet?

SHARING PAIN VERSUS BEARING PAIN

Atlas wasn’t forced to hold up the world.  He was convinced that if he didn’t the world would fall.

There is a huge difference between sharing someone’s pain and bearing it.  Too many times, those in pain use the concern of loved ones as a way to ground what they don’t want to feel themselves.

From: THE BOOK OF AWAKENING by Mark Nepo

REFLECTION:

  • Examine your relationships… are you sharing someone’s pain or bearing it? 
  • Is there a pain you are avoiding? 
  • What pain do you need to feel?