| ANNE WILLIAMSON |
In the last few weeks, I have started wearing a watch again. I had read somewhere it can help you check your smartphone less frequently - which I want to do - so I decided to give it a try. And... it helps. It really does. Of course, I still reach for my phone much more than is necessary - it's an easy avoidance and procrastination tool, and mostly it's habit - but even if the watch cuts five 2-minute tap-and-scroll-throughs from my day, it seems worth it. That's five more opportunities to stay present, to feel, to be.
The watch I'm wearing now was my maternal grandmothers. In thinking back, I don't have a single memory of her moving quickly or multi-tasking. Her movements always seemed to say, "We've got time and I'm right here," even if her words did not. Maybe it was the watch. LISTEN, LEARN, LOVE...
Read More| ANNE WILLIAMSON |
As a teenager, I loved Psalm 139. Because I struggled with depression, verses such as 11 and 12 - "If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,' even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day..." - were deeply comforting. I felt hopeful and connected to something bigger when reading it.
That is, until I got to verse 19. You can read the whole psalm here, but to give you an idea the next few verses include, "O that you would kill the wicked, O God... Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?... I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies." Such anger and violence. Ideas that did not sit well with my image of God. I wanted to take a giant red pen through them... and so I did. For many years, anytime I read or shared Psalm 139, I simply skipped over verses 19 - 22. I did this until it stopped working for me... LEARN, LISTEN, LOVE...
Read More| ANNE WILLIAMSON |
Maya Angelou has died. Let's remember and LEARN from her life, LISTEN to her words, and allow her death to remind us to live and LOVE fully.
Read More| ANNE WILLIAMSON |
Both my husband, Todd, and I love to sing our daughter to bed. Whereas I almost always sing "Edelweiss" from The Sound of Music, Todd's selections jump around. So, a few nights ago, I asked, "What did you sing to her?" Because he couldn't think of the title, he started singing to me, "... One song, a song about love. Glory, from the soul of a young man. A young man, find the one song...." He then added, "I'm pretty sure it's called 'One Song.'" Well, I was pretty sure it wasn't, "No, it's just called, 'Glory.' I'm fairly certain." (The unspoken here was we both knew it was from Rent, a love for which we've shared for 18 years and occasionally erupts into this kind of trivia sparring.) Todd, upping the pride ante: "No, it's definitely called 'One Song.'" Me: "No, it's 'Glory,' for sure." Todd: "Okay, let's look it up." Wait. Wait. Wait. A not-quite-gloating smile emerges on his face, "It's called, 'One Song... Glory." I smile ironically and say out loud, "Of course. Of course it is." LISTEN, LEARN, LOVE...
Read More|ANNE WILLIAMSON|
WAYfinding is both a growing online community, through this blog, and a "bricks and mortar" community in Indianapolis. For the last two weeks, the latter has been discussing the importance of story. Namely, in taking the time to detail and reflect on our life story(ies) thus far, its lessons, patterns and wisdom can arise.
The importance of such work was echoed beautifully in a NPR Here & Now story last week titled "Restarting Life Out From Under Polio's Shadow." In it, Gail Caldwell thoughtfully reflects on how a surgery in her 50s that greatly improved a limp she'd had from polio since 6 months of age challenged her story.
LEARN, then let's reflect and LOVE together and keep LISTENing...
Read More| ANNE WILLIAMSON |
I am increasingly convinced honesty sits at the heart of all good things. Want to uncover your passion? Get honest about answering the question, "What would I do if I weren't afraid?" Looking for deeper connections? Be honest about who you are - where you struggle and find joy. Want to laugh really hard? Just wait for the next honestly human and hilarious moment. Frustrated about your relationship with food? Find the courage (and support) to explore why and how you really use it. Wondering why your prayers feel flat? Ditch the pretense and try a little raw truth: "God, I don't trust you" or "I guess I really don't want to forgive. I'm afraid of what forgiving means: forgetting, me being 'okay'..." or "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" or...
Honesty isn't particularly easy, especially when we're unaccustomed to it. It can even be painful... but only at first. Then, it becomes the key to our freedom, joy, reconciliation, you name it. LISTEN, LEARN, LOVE. What do you hear, honestly?
Read More| ANNE WILLIAMSON |
My daughter is walking now. Yea! She's also falling now... A LOT. And not soft, little bottom plops. Big, face-plant falls into unkind objects. I hate when she gets hurts, but it's complicated because I'm also proud of why she gets hurt: she's willing to fall.
In the below reflection by Lily Percy, she writes, "Part of living curiously is being open to failure. And part of failure is being willing to be vulnerable."
The thing about kids is they're necessarily vulnerable. They don't have a choice. It's either step forward or forever remain seated. For parents, this can be scary, but more so, if we let it, it's inspiring. What would happen if we each chose, or perhaps accepted, vulnerability? Would it stop holding us back? Would we, like kids, become more willing to fall, to fail, to step forward curiously? In fact, would we begin to see vulnerability as a prerequisite for growth? LEARN, LISTEN, LOVE...
Read More| ANNE WILLIAMSON |
You may or may not be familiar with last week's World Vision news story. To summarize: World Vision works to end poverty and injustice around the world, most visibly through child sponsorship. On Monday, March 24, World Vision (US branch) announced it would begin employing gay Christians in legal same-sex marriages. After intense criticism and dropped sponsorships from conservative evangelical Christians, on March 26, WV reversed that decision.
Now, as a person unapologetically in favor of comprehensive equal rights for LGBTQ individuals, there are a myriad of reasons I'm anti WV's reversal; but, honestly, the biggest has to do with timing. Sources tell us WV spent 2 years in prayer and discernment around employing committed LGBTQ folks. They took just 2 days to reverse that decision! 2 years of listening amid normal daily life versus 2 days of mind-racing amid a media frenzy and disappearing contributions. If God "speaks," how does God "speak"? How do we decide to trust what it is we "hear"? LISTEN, LEARN, LOVE...
Read More| ANNE WILLIAMSON |
I've been thinking a lot about happiness lately... and not just because I love the Pharrell song. Namely, how does one "get" happy? Perhaps it is the consequence of circumstance. Or, one's natural disposition. Maybe it's more like an object, floating in and out of our life "willy nilly" at the whim of our subconscious. Or, maybe it's a choice. Perhaps a choice hindered or bolstered by other choices, daily, minute-to-minute even. LISTEN, LEARN, LOVE...
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