Focusing On The Present Moment
I feel like I’m in a much calmer place than I had been for the past few weeks. I decided to move forward with self-publishing. I feel that it is where God is leading me. Part of the reason I wanted to be “traditionally” published was to have a third-party stamp of approval validating the information to potential readers. But the truth is, lacking approval doesn’t make me doubt what I’ve shared in the book. I know the lessons are solid and that they have the potential to help others, which has always been the goal of the project. Now there’s just more of an onus on me to be the foot soldier for sharing the information. That was a little scary at first, but when I really think about it that’s what I’ve been put here to do—to share what I’m learning and applying in my life with others. It’s not my luxury to simply sit in the solitude of my room and write—I’ve got to get out there (wherever that is) and share it. That’s a part of the plan that I believe has been set for me. …
KEEP READINGHow May I Be of Service?
I was fortunate to have spent the last five weeks in Panama visiting and helping my friend, Lindsey Parry, with her non-profit, Sowing Seeds of Love. As I reflect on the trip, I cannot help but think about the role service plays in our spiritual journey. The degree to which I have grown in my spiritual journey directly coincides with my attitude towards service. For me, much has changed in this regard. In college, I was motivated to volunteer as a reading mentor at a local school because I wanted to show community involvement on future job applications. My motivations were selfish. It was about what the experience could do for me, not what I could do for the child I was mentoring. I was operating from a checklist instead of my heart. The same can be said for motivations of guilt. If we are doing our part as a duty, we are still being moved by ego as opposed to spirit. To be truly drawn to service, selfishness must be tempered.
It has been well over ten years since I was in college, and in the time that has …
A Lesson from The Dark Knight Rises
Ever since my first experience of volunteering as a teacher in an indigenous community in Guatemala in 2007, I have thought about the attitudes of those who face poverty in the developing world as compared to the attitudes of those who face poverty here. Domestically, I was put off by people’s attitudes of entitlement and a general indifference towards wanting to change their circumstances. In the developing world, I was moved by the children’s bright, beautiful smiles, their willingness to express love, and the happy demeanor that they carried themselves with despite their hard life. When landslides wiped out many of the local families’ crops, I was moved by the community’s resilience to put one foot in front of another in order to carry on, as they looked to the future instead of the past. Their eyes were not hollow with hopelessness, nor did they have an apathetic attitude toward their circumstances.
Domestically, I could not understand or accept the apathetic attitude that so many choose to have towards their situation. Compared to the developing world, I felt that there were many more programs available to lift themselves out of …
