It’s the holiday season. And whether you’re a Christian or not, it’s a special time of year with a little magic in the air. I was raised a Catholic, so the connection to Jesus, and the celebration of his birth, is in my chemical makeup. Yet, I believe the warmth and cheer of Christmas extends to non-Christians and agnostics as well, for there are elements of the holiday season all of us can enjoy, including: Family and togetherness. It’s a time... Read more
There’s been a lot of buzz recently about AI, otherwise known as artificial intelligence. While AI has been getting some bad press with some concerned it’s going to take over the world, I’m here to look at the positive side of AI—specifically Bard, an AI-powered chatbot tool designed by Google. Bard is positioned by Google as a “conversational AI service” and it works just like a search engine. You type in a phrase or topic you want information on in... Read more
In The Universal Christ, Franciscan friar Richard Rohr makes an astounding claim: You and I share the same superpower as Jesus—the ability to establish a direct and intimate relationship with God, or what’s known as “Christ Consciousness.” Sound implausible? Not if you take into account our perception of Jesus. Rohr points out that many of us believe that God came into the world through Jesus—and Jesus alone. To our detriment, we “limit the Creator’s presence to just one human manifestation,... Read more
Every year around the holidays, on bumper stickers and lawn signs, we’re reminded to “Keep Christ in Christmas.” I’m okay with that. But it struck me that seldom, if ever, do we hear any mention of keeping the “Thanks” in Thanksgiving. I think it’s time to change that. In years past, I’ve written about the importance of having an “attitude of gratitude” and how giving thanks should be part of your Thanksgiving Day ritual. And recently, it was again brought... Read more
If you’re the kind of person who says they don’t have time to meditate, this meditation may be for you—because it doesn’t take time out of your day, it’s something you do during your day. It’s called the “waiting meditation” and I learned about if from Zen teacher Jan Chozen Bays in the Everyday Mindfulness section of the Waking Up app. Personally, I find the best time to meditate is in the morning, ideally at sunrise. But some mornings, when... Read more
What have you learned during your time here on earth? And who will you pass these lessons on to? The wisdom you’ve obtained becomes even more valuable when you pass it on to a young adult in your life, be it a son or daughter, niece or nephew, granddaughter or grandson. Scholar and author Arthur C. Brooks recommends you: Devote the back half of your life to serving others with your wisdom. Get old sharing the things you believe are... Read more
Awe is the emotion you feel when you encounter vast mysteries you don’t understand. It is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world. Your individual self gives way to the sense of being part of something much larger. I cobbled together the definition above from the new book Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. The author is Dacher Keltner, the faculty... Read more
She’s an American icon. A beloved singer and actress, just the thought of Dolly Parton has the power bring a smile to your face. And if you’ve ever seen her interviewed, you can almost sense there’s a deeply spiritual side to Dolly. While Dolly goes to church, it’s not part of any organized religion, and she doesn’t consider herself religious. There’s a story behind that. As reported by Stephanie Harper on the website Distractify, Dolly “once thought of God as... Read more
She lived in the fourteenth century and spent most of her life cloistered in a small stone cell attached to a church. Her sole companion was a cat. So, what could Julian of Norwich have to teach us today? If you’re interested in mysticism, quite a bit. At the age of 30, while recovering from a serious illness that almost killed her, Julian had a series of visions. She called them “showings” and she believed they were direct communications from... Read more
Was humanity once more connected to God? As time has passed, has God become a lesser part of our collective lives? In the book Christian Meditation, James Finley tells a parable about how we first found God, and how, over time, we became disconnected from God. I’m going to paraphrase it here. A long time ago, a woman felt called to leave her village, the only place she had ever known. She walked along the village’s main road, until she... Read more
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