Practices From the Inside Out: Finding the Words We Live By

Last updated on: March 1, 2018 at 4:54 am By Greg Richardson

Understanding the Words We Live By Our communication relies on a combination of words and stillness. Sometimes we write words, leaving blank spaces between them. Other times we say words out loud using stillness to mark their endings and beginnings. We may depend on a variety of alphabets, symbols, languages, and sounds. It is all words and stillness. We may feel overwhelmed by words and desperately hungry for stillness. At other times we might be overwhelmed by stillness and starving... Read more

Listening to Sacred Stillness: What Do We Hear When We Listen?

Last updated on: February 27, 2018 at 4:39 am By Greg Richardson

What Do We Hear When We Listen? There are times when all of us reach the limits of what we can do. We have worked as hard as we can for as long as we can and we simply cannot do anything more. It may be we just cannot see what someone, or everyone, else sees. There is a vision or a goal out there but we have done all we can to see it. Whatever is out there, no... Read more

Practices From the Inside Out: Coloring Outside the Lines

Last updated on: February 24, 2018 at 8:31 pm By Greg Richardson

Coloring Outside the Lines When I was a child one of the things I most enjoyed was coloring in coloring books. I was a good colorer and could spend hours coloring. One of the key turning points in my development as an artist was learning not to color outside the lines. My earliest work demonstrated a nearly complete disregard for the lines of the drawing. The focus appeared to have been on applying pleasing color across the face of the... Read more

Leading Like a Monk: Looking Into The Faces We See Every Day

Last updated on: February 22, 2018 at 3:15 pm By Greg Richardson

Looking Into The Faces We See Every Day We are surrounded by other people’s faces. Whether we see them in person, across a table or in line at Starbucks, or in photos, the faces are there. Some days it seems we see faces everywhere we look. What do we notice when we look into the faces we see every day? Some people believe we can tell a lot about someone when we see their face. There may be a... Read more

Listening to Sacred Stillness: Visiting The Stillness Within Us

Last updated on: February 20, 2018 at 4:54 am By Greg Richardson

Visiting the Stillness Within Us Many of us have lost the sacred stillness within us and cannot find our way back to it. Some of us probably remember when we could visit a quiet place deep inside ourselves. There was somewhere calm and safe within us where we could escape the stresses of life. It may have been our own private island or a penthouse high above the rest of the world. We may never have actually visited the stillness... Read more

Practices From the Inside Out: Our Thoughts and Prayers

Last updated on: February 18, 2018 at 8:16 pm By Greg Richardson

Our Thoughts and Prayers Are With You Our thoughts and prayers need to be a beginning, not a conclusion. We tell people who have had traumatic experiences they are in our thoughts and prayers. For many of us, it is our way of expressing our empathy and support for them. It may even be accurate when we actually think about them and pray for them. I do not believe thinking and praying are bad or wrong in and of themselves.... Read more

Listening to Sacred Stillness: The Stillness of Ash Wednesday

Last updated on: February 13, 2018 at 8:12 pm By Greg Richardson

The Stillness of Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is the first day of the liturgical season of Lent, a season for listening. I belong to a liturgical church which divides the year into liturgical seasons. Each season has its own flavor, its own personality. Some seasons, like Christmas and Easter and Pentecost, begin in noisy celebration. Other seasons are times for seekers, or for thinkers, or for preparation. There is even one season traditionally called Ordinary Time. Lent, the season which... Read more

Practices From the Inside Out: Practicing the Power of Love

Last updated on: February 11, 2018 at 11:30 am By Greg Richardson

The Power of Love We talk about the power of love. It can be a challenge for us, though, to appreciate the practical, everyday power of love in our lives. Sometimes it is easier for us to see how powerful hate can be. Hate often appears to be better equipped and better organized than love. Love can seem to be warm and gooey, accompanied by lush strings and soft harmonies. We think love is emotional and romantic, maybe familial, and... Read more

Reading Like a Monk: Lectio Divina & Harry Potter and the Sacred Text

Last updated on: February 8, 2018 at 1:04 pm By Greg Richardson

Sacred Texts One of the first contemplative practices I learned from monastic life is lectio divina, or sacred reading. Lectio divina is an approach to reading with different priorities than how we usually read. When we read a news story or a textbook, or even a blog post, we often read to find information. We generally read sacred texts more for formation. Our intention is for what we read to help form us as much as, or more than, it... Read more

Listening to Sacred Stillness: The Stillness When All is Said and Done

Last updated on: February 6, 2018 at 3:35 am By Greg Richardson

Recognizing When All is Said and Done Do we ever really experience life when all is said and done? Many of us appear to have something more to do, and more to say, no matter where we are. We live our lives saying and doing from the time our alarm wakes us until we fall back into bed exhausted. Only a tiny amount of our lives are lived when all is said and done. Some of us always seem to... Read more