How to Stay Healthy and Active During the Summer Months

April 21, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

A Spiritual Practice of You Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2018, second edition A healthy and active you starts with how you move and what you eat. In 2018, the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans was released as a second edition. Previously, it was discovered that “Approximately 80% of US adults and adolescents are insufficiently active. Physical activity fosters normal growth and development and can make people feel, function, and sleep better and reduce risk of many chronic diseases.”(Piercy,... Read more

Is Socrates Allegory of the Cave Relevant Today?

April 21, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

0 Comments

Is Socrates Allegory of the Cave still relevant in today’s spiritual exploration? In Book VII of the Republic, Socrates tells us the story of the “Parable of the Cave.” See: https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/seyer/files/plato_republic_514b-518d_allegory-of-the-cave.pdf In this story, Socrates recommends that political rulers be philosophers. In this treatise, Socrates is describe a just city where rulers must rule by wisdom and not from opinion or self-interest. The Allegory of the Cave: from Kleinman (2013): People mistake the appearance of what is in front... Read more

5 Ways to Cultivate Your Inner Beauty

April 13, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

0 Comments

You As a Spiritual Practice You are a spiritual practice. We are all works in progress. The spiritual practice of you challenges us to become all we were meant to be in God’s eyes – beloved children who are wonderfully loved. In addressing the word beauty, we need to consider what it is. Beauty is from God and is a result of God’s creative hand. Beauty is good when it is not corrupted by sinful nature. Humanity, however, is... Read more

A Creedal Faith After Deconstruction

April 8, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

0 Comments

I am currently teaching an Intro to Philosophy Course at our local community college, as I have done a lot of intellectual work preparing for this class, it has inspired a lot of creativity. I will be writing a series of essays around some philosophical concepts each week. Here is a link to my first of these essays: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/loveopensdoors/2024/04/who-we-can-love/ What is a Creedal Faith A creedal faith is one that declares a certain set of beliefs based on a statement of... Read more

Who We Can Love

April 7, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

0 Comments

You Can’t Say That When I was attempting to be a pastor in several Protestant denominations, I found that I always hit a brick wall when it came to what I preached on. To further compound the problem, I was also often told that I needed to conform to a certain standard while I was in the various formation processes. I was to that only after I made it to ordination, then I could have a bit more liberty in... Read more

Becoming

April 6, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

0 Comments

The quintessential philosophical argument for me boils down to the notion around whether we are becoming or we are being. I was recently listening to a lecture about the Pre Socratic philosophers Heraclitus and Parmenides who argued these very points. Nietzsche later would take up Hereclitus’ argument and make his case for becoming. This week, I am going to consider becoming as a spiritual practice. The Pre Socratics During the 6th century BCE, the Milesians, Pythagoras and Xenophanes were... Read more

The Spiritual Practice of You: Finding Your Center

March 30, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

0 Comments

I was talking to a consultant I have been working with recently and she brought up the idea of grounding with my clients. In this essay, I aim to discuss the therapeutic usefulness of grounding and specifically, the contemplative practice of centering prayer. Therapy I have been practicing as a therapist or minister for about twenty-seven years. In my ministerial work, I have studied contemplative prayer and lifestyle when I was considering Catholic priesthood and monasticism. As a therapist,... Read more

The Trickle Down Effect of Authoritarian Parenting

March 28, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

0 Comments

I have been a therapist, pastor, and social worker for 22 years. I have observed a lot of people from the other side of the chair. Parenting and theologies of God are most frequent conversations that I have these days. In a series of essays that I will put out over the course of the next year, it is my aim to show how we as an aging church have isolated our youth both in the way we parent... Read more

Aging and the Older Athlete: A Spiritual Practice of You

March 24, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

0 Comments

It is curious when you realize that you are the same age as the people you thought were old in high school. In an article from a website entitled “Do You Remember” (https://doyouremember.com/169911/retrospective-aging-influences-perspective which references this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjqt8T3tJIE&t=104s ), the author considers the idea of “retrospective aging”. Here, the author discusses why people of the past looked older even though they may be same age as the person looking at the picture in the present. Essentially, the author and the... Read more

The Spiritual Practice of Intention

March 21, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

0 Comments

“Giannamore! Move with a sense of purpose!” my Drill Instructors used to say when I was in the Army. At almost 47, I still consider my 18th summer spent in Army Basic Training (USAR) the most transformative summer of my life. At that point in my life, I had already spent four years in high school in a Junior Reserves Officer Training (JROTC) program that set me up for discipline and purpose that carries on today. I would go on... Read more