How Are We Practicing Ramadan? Islam is not the religious background which has shaped me. I have not experienced practicing Ramadan in an intentional way. My interest in Ramadan is fueled more by my curiosity than by obligation. Ramadan is the name of the ninth month of the Islamic calendar which comes from Arabic for scorching heat or dryness. It is the month during which the Quran was revealed to Muhammad. The dates of Ramadan are based each year on... Read more
Beyond Thoughts, Words, and Feelings We live our lives surrounded and inundated by thoughts, words, and feelings. Whenever we find a moment of peace we immediately fill it with thinking and feeling. There is something deep within us which believes in the power of words. We live in a culture of articulation. Our way of understanding and controlling the world around us is by using words. We put thoughts and feelings into words the same way we put animals into... Read more
The Power of Remembering and Forgetting We spend our lives remembering and forgetting. Some of the things we most want to remember we forget anyway. We forget how someone looked or the sound of their voice no matter how hard we try to remember. What we remember is some of what they told us or what they taught us and how they made us feel. There are places we remember even if we do not get everything in exactly the... Read more
The Warm, Welcoming Embrace of Stillness I know people who fear the welcoming embrace of stillness. Even if they are not actually afraid stillness makes them nervous and uncomfortable. They prefer not being still and are frustrated when asked to be still for even a little while. When I suggest they begin a practice of even a few minutes of stillness each day they are too busy. Their schedules are already overflowing with important things to do. I tell them... Read more
The Power of Spiritual Discipline Our culture is based in the power of discipline. Deep inside ourselves we believe, with a little more discipline, we will weigh less and be richer. We convince ourselves we can discipline our way into becoming better people. Discipline is central to our physical, emotional, economic, and social lives. It is easy for us to assume spiritual life works like all the other aspects of our lives. We believe in the power of spiritual discipline.... Read more
Balancing Contemplation and Action One of the challenges of contemplative leadership is balancing contemplation and action. We often tend to think of contemplation and action as opposite ends of the spectrum. Either we see ourselves sitting in reflection and meditation or as people of decisive action. It is difficult for us to see balancing contemplation and action as even possible. Most of us have been practicing action for a long time, but are just learning contemplation. We often experience contemplation... Read more
The Stillness of the Present Moment Each moment of the present explodes into our lives bursting with potential. It may be my experience alone, but I find the noise is all in the past and the future. Memories and regrets shout at us from the past, calling for our attention. Fears and fantasies about the future try to drag us forward into whatever is waiting for us. It is the present moment, filled with all it can become, which opens... Read more
Practicing the Power of Reflection I have practiced the power of reflection the longest by watching clouds in the sky. Other methods have developed over time. There are times when listening to certain music, in certain ways, can help. Watching a fire in a fireplace or an outdoor campfire often works. Sometimes the waves of the ocean or a nice rain inspire my practice. There have been times when meaningful conversations sparked my reflection. Rocking chairs can be powerful tools... Read more
Where Do We Go to Find Stillness? We live in a world where stillness is a dwindling resource. Where do we go to find stillness? More and more of our personal, private space is filled with sound, much less our public space. Our lives are filled with increasing numbers of people, each of whom is entitled to express their own opinions. We live lives immersed in all these expressions. We read about people who were prompted by spiritual life to seek... Read more
What Sparks Our Spiritual Curiosity? I believe in the power of practicing spiritual curiosity. Quite a few of us accept whatever spiritual life we have picked up along the way. We may have learned something about spiritual life as children. Some of us just accept what “everyone knows” about spiritual life. We often treat spiritual life the ways we treat other aspects of our lives. Some of us analyze as much information as we can, taking a rational approach. We work... Read more
Strategic Monk
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