aging

My Need for Spiritual Practices

/ nagneberg48 / 2 Comments

August 9, 2022

Some days shadow dominates.

Some days I feel the presence of shadow more and am not as aware of light.

Those days seem to happen more frequently now that I am in my mid70’s.

When I was in my 40s and 50s, people in my life faced difficult times, too. Loss is not limited to one decade of one’s life, that’s for sure, but what I realize now is that when I was younger, I experienced space around sadness. For example, when a friends was diagnosed with cancer and later died at a far too early age, the sudden news felt totally unexpected and out of the ordinary. A shock, yes, but I was able to hold each one of those out of the ordinary situations, mainly one at a time, with tender care. I now see how there was recuperation time between encounters with the suffering.

That is no longer the case. A reality of being in the Third Chapter of life is that every day I hear of someone in my own beloved circle or in the circle of someone I know who is facing challenges — health, loss, relationship issues, etc. An unwelcome change of some kind. Prayers are asked for and needed. And sometimes more practical or visible help is needed. A meal or drive to an appointment or a hug or a conversation. Or…

I ache with the news. Each announcement. Each cry. Each plea. Each shock wave.

How do we cope with the daily revelations of sorrow?

More and more I realize the importance of spiritual practices.

More and more I realize the importance of spiritual practices to keep me grounded, to find sustenance and equanimity.

More and more I realize how spiritual practices lead me to clarity and the next step.

More and more I realize how spiritual practices support me and sustain me as I attempt to support others in ways that are appropriate and needed.

More and more I realize how employing spiritual practices on an ongoing basis ground and steady me for the days when there is no time or energy to practice them.

I also realize the importance of having more than one spiritual practice in my back pocket.

In the non winter months, I tend to start my day walking in the neighborhood, instead of sitting in the garret for an hour or more of devotion time. I practice walking meditation. As I feel the ground beneath my feet and breathe in and out, filling with the sights and sounds and smells around me, I lift the names of those I hold in my heart, but I also refresh myself and return home better prepared for the day ahead.

Some days, however, the walk doesn’t feel like enough, and I return to the Girlfriend Chair for more quiet time. In recent months I have created my own tangible prayer list, using sweet small cards. I write a name or a situation on each card, along with the date and any important details. I hold each card, whispering the name, one at a time. It’s not much, but this is something I can do, and I know that as I lift each person’s heaviness, I am steadying myself, as well.

Over the years my spiritual practices have included walking labyrinths, practicing T’ai Chi, and the most constant, writing in my journal. Those practices are still part of my life, along with meeting with my spiritual director monthly, reading and studying scripture and other sacred texts, but more and more my spiritual practices are simple, in the moment, practices. Pausing between tasks. Sipping a glass of water slowly. Smiling. Gazing out the window. Sending a handwritten note or choosing an E Card to send.

Each practice is at once a practice of gratitude, but also a practice of being present and opening myself to being a presence.

I can’t end this without also noting the spiritual practice of being in community–attending Sunday worship services. We often arrive early, even as the musicians are practicing. I love settling in and feeling the space, readying myself for whatever message I need to receive. Moving through the worship service, I feel myself deepening and opening. And that is a good thing, for I know before returning home I am apt to learn about someone in pain or distress, and I want to be whatever is needed in that moment.

if your everyday practice is to open to all your emotions, to all the people you meet, to all the situations you encounter, without closing down, trusting that you can do that–then that will take you as far as you can go. And then you’ll understand all the teachings that anyone has ever taught.

Pema Chodron

Yes, there are more shadows in this elder age, but notice the light in the photograph at the beginning of this post. I am convinced spiritual practices not only help me notice the light, but even create the light.

An Invitation

What are your spiritual practices and how do they help you cope with difficult news? I would love to know.

NOTE:

I was the guest blogger on the Brevity Nonfiction Blog yesterday, August 8, and I invite you to read my post, “My Writing Garret.”https://brevity.wordpress.com/2022/08/08/my-writing-garret/

Window Blessings: The Spiritual Practice of Receiving and Sending

/ nagneberg48 / 13 Comments

August 2, 2022

Receiving

Every morning while making the bed, I pause and look out the window towards our backyard. This is what I see.

This is the view, thanks to the creative talents and physical efforts of the gardener in our house.

I stand at the window and receive a gift of color and the variety of shapes and textures. I see abundance and growth, reminding me to be grateful for the abundance and ongoing growth in my own life. I think about the season we are in and how each day may seem the same, but yesterday I did not see any roses on the tall rose bush, and today two are in view. Creamy with a blush of peach.

I wonder if the blueberry bushes are ready to be harvested again. A couple weeks ago I made muffins using our own blueberries, and I am eager to repeat the taste treat.

Standing at the window each morning, I receive energy for the day, even if I didn’t sleep well the night before. I wonder how I will be asked to bloom today or is it someone else’s turn?

I celebrate the miracle of creation, and I give thanks for the gardener in my life and his holy work.

This is sanctuary.

Love this Earth as if you won’t be here tomorrow; show reverence for your Garden as if you will be here forever.

Scottish Saying

Sending

Later in the morning I walk up the stairs to the garret and pause at the windows on the landing. I take a deep breath as my view expands over rooftops and into the backyards of neighbors.

In the stillness, I send blessings:

to the boys next door who seem to create their own universe, jumping on their trampoline. May your imaginations and energy enrich you and those who love you.

to the neighbor newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s. May you adjust to the new reality in your life.

to the neighbor across the alley who often forgets to shut her garage door and to the neighbors who do it for her. May you be safe.

to new neighbors on the block. May you find warmth and happiness here. May you find home here.

to each of the 22 children on the block. May you know fun and joy on this summer day.

to all those whom I don’t know, but who live within my view. May you feel support as you face whatever causes anxiety in your life. May you feel peace as you cross your own thresholds. May you know love.

The world is holy. We are holy. All life is holy. Daily prayers are delivered on the lips of breaking waves, the whisperings of grasses, the shimmering of leaves.

Terry Tempest Williams

And, I add, daily prayers are delivered, also, while looking out a window.

An Invitation

What do you receive as you stand at a window and what do you send beyond your window? I would love to know.

Book Report: Most Important Books

/ nagneberg48 / 4 Comments

July 28, 2022

Steve Laube is an agent in the Christian publishing marketplace and in a recent blog post (https://stevelaube.com/21-influential-books/) he listed books he called “punctuation marks” in his life. “Some books were a comma, some an exclamation point and some a period or full stop.” Books that have been influential in his life.

What a good idea, I thought, and besides I was struggling with an essay-in-progress. What a good distraction that would be. Limiting myself to my spirituality and theology books, all in the garret, I soon had a pile of over 50 books.

Could I limit myself to 21 books? And why did Steve Laube choose that number anyway, but I decided to discipline myself and see if I could choose the most important from the towering stacks. Here’s the list–in no particular order.

  • The Wisdom of the Enneagram, The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson (1999)
  • In Wisdom’s Path. Discovering the Sacred in Every Season by Jan L. Richardson (2000)
  • Walking A Sacred Path, Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool by Dr. Lauren Artress (19950
  • The Universal Christ, How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe by Richard Rohr (2019)
  • The Circle of Life, The Heart’s Journey Through the Seasons by Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr (2005)
  • Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain (2012)
  • Transitions, Making Sense of Life’s Changes by William Bridges (1980)
  • The Gospel According to Woman, Christianity’s Creation of the Sex War in the West by Karen Armstrong (1987)
  • The Seven Whispers, Listening to the Voice of Spirit by Christina Baldwin (2002)
  • Composing a Life, Life as a Work in Progress–The Improvisations of Five Extraordinary Women by Mary Catherine Bateson (1989)
  • The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris (1996)
  • The Gift of Years, Growing Older Gracefully by Joan Chittister (2008)
  • The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, A Woman’s Journey From Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine by Sue Monk Kidd (1996)
  • Anam Cara, A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O’Donohue (1997)
  • The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life by Thomas Moore (1996)
  • An Altar in the World, A Geography of Church by Barbara Brown Taylor (2009)
  • Seven Spiritual Gifts of Waiting by Holly W. Whitcomb (2005)
  • A Hidden Wholeness, The Journey Toward An Undivided Life by Parker J. Palmer (2004)
  • The Grace in Aging, Awaken As You Grow Older by Kathleen Dowling Singh (2014)
  • The Inner Work of Age, Shifting from Role to Soul by Connie Zweig (2021)
  • Holy Listening, The Art of Spiritual Direction by Margaret Guenther (1992)
  • Traveling Mercies, Some Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott (1999)
  • Awakening the Energies of Love, Discovering Fire for the Second Time by Anne Hillman (2008)
  • Holiness and the Feminine Spirit, The Art of Janet McKenzie, edited by Susan Perry (2009)

Why did I choose these titles?

I don’t know. A top of the head, top of the heart reaction. Some of the titles are ones that radically changed my way of thinking. Some are titles that offered me deep insight into who I am and who I was created to be. Many are books I keep returning to. Sometimes re-reading them, but sometimes it is enough to simply hold one of these books and feel the wise energy rising from the pages.

In many cases I was choosing an author more than a specific title. It was not easy to choose only one Joyce Rupp or Joan Chittister, and how could I not add Barbara Brown Taylor’s Leaving Church to the list or Dakota by Katherine Norris or any of the other titles by John O’Donohue or Thomas Moore.

And you might notice authors who are not there; other authors important in my spiritual growth–Thomas Merton, Marcus Borg or John Shelby Spong or more recent writers, such as Brian McLaren or J. Philip Newell or Diana Butler Bass. And what about the ancients–my beloved Julian of Norwich, for example?

Choosing just 21 books was a tough assignment, for sure. And you will notice I cheated, and there are 24 titles on my list. Would the list be the same in a week or if I had created it a few months ago, in the midst of winter? No doubt, but what would remain the same is the power of other people’s thinking and creativity and expertise to deepen my awareness of the movement of God in my life.

Laube decided to gather all the books from his list in one place as a “visual reminder of those moments when God reached out through the pages of creative people…and touched me.” I like that idea, but I decided to keep each one in its current spot on my shelves. Each shelf is like a neighborhood, and I like the idea of all of Karen Armstrong books keeping each other company and sharing space with their neighbors.

Oh, and one more thought. The day will come, I imagine, when I will need to drastically pare down the number of books in my library, thanks to a move to a smaller space, (A friend calls this process, giving oneself a haircut.) and this recent exercise shows me I will be able to do that.

An Invitation

What 21 books are on your “most important” list? I would love to know.

Notes

  • I made a list of the other 25 or so books that didn’t make the “A” list. Maybe I’ll share that someday, too. That list includes devotionals and writing books.
  • Next Thursday, August 4, I will post my end of the month book summary.