-As we turn the page to July, I’m re-sharing this newsletter from May 23, 2021. It’s one of my most popular pieces (according to a mysterious algorithm deep in the recess of the internet and Substack). My June included 11 days of junior competitive golf mom’ing, which translates into hours of time driving, preparing, waiting, processing, and recovery. All that to say, I’m worn out. As I revisited the archives (you can find them all right here), this one felt like the reminder I needed, and I hope it will be the same for you. I’ve added a new blessing to this re-post. The books I mentioned stand the test of time; they are both still favorites. And I loved every quote at the end. That Matthew Fox one is one that I will be thinking about all week. See you next week with fresh content.
"Inspiration is always a surprising visitor."
― John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom
As the days lengthen, I've been able to return to something I love, early morning runs. Over the winter, I didn't run on our treadmill and even wondered if I was still a runner. But the cool, early morning light was an invitation I couldn't refuse, and I've found myself pulling on my running shoes most mornings. I used to be a dedicated listener to podcasts. But this running season, I'm listening to fewer podcasts and listening to the birds, my breathing, and the rhythmic thump of each foot hitting the ground.
One morning this week, I was thinking about the well-worn path. The path is hard-pressed dirt. It's where we all walk, run and progress towards the goal of miles run or to a destination. The well-worn path offers one way to experience the mountain or the creek.
On either side of the narrow, well-worn path is dirt in substance no different from the well-worth path. Grass grows in that dirt. With minimal effort, I could dig into the soil and make a hole or use the toe of my shoe to kick a mound of earth. The effort required to break the surface would be much more significant on the well-worn path.
As I pondered the well-worn path, I started to think about how the path was like my heart. I have the well-worn paths of reacting and responding to the events and people in my life. In many cases, the pathways are well-worn and hard-pressed. It would be as unthinkable to change my reaction as it would be frowned upon to wander off the well-worn running and hiking paths I frequent.
The well-worn paths are as they are because they represent the best path, the path of least resistance. I wonder how often the well-worn paths of my heart are the path of least resistance. Would another reaction be more helpful?
I was explaining my morning run to a friend in the middle of a profound transformation. The well-worn paths stopped working. Through a courageous journey, something new is emerging. We talked about when the well-worn paths stop working and how hard it is to create new pathways. Well-worn paths don't happen overnight. They exist because they are used over and over and over again. The path is neutral. It's not good or bad. It's where the paths take us that can become a blessing or a source of pain.
I've thought a lot about pathways this week. I've been asking myself what ways in my heart (reactions, habits, beliefs, etc.) are serving me well and what pathways I find myself on without thought and reflecting on how they lead me to unhealthy or unhelpful places.
Somehow, thinking about habits as pathways shines a new light where I can see things differently. Just a small shift can make a big difference.
A blessing for well-worn paths….
Your feet will carry you on many paths this week. May each path, sidewalk, and familiar route be an invitation to reflection. May the breezes that will brush your face stir new insights. May the birds call you to see how your well-worn path helps you and how it may hinder you. May the familiar turn on your path bid you to ways your heart can turn to new places. May your path lead you to wide pauses for reflection and renewal.
This week I invite you to a Deeper practice: It was just a path and simple thoughts on a run. It became more profound when I stopped with the idea and shared the ponderings. Is there a simple idea or observation from walking, cooking, or reading that has been on your mind? Pause with it this week. Share it this week (the comments here would be a great place to start...)
Books I’m reading, have read, or can’t stop thinking about.
Currently Reading:
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
I know. Shockingly, I call myself a reader, and this is my first Jane Austen. I have no excuse. I loved this book. It was witty. It was smart. It was funny. (I wasn't expecting it to be funny, but I laughed out loud often!) It was written in the late 1700s, and the observations on human character and flaws are spot on today as they ever have been. I can see why people read it over and over. I know I'll reread it.
“Angry people are not always wise.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
A Book I Can't Stop Thinking About:
The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
My kids and I read this a few months ago. We still talk about Ada. It's the story of Ada and her brother Jamie, evacuated from London at the start of WWII because of the threats of bombing. Ada had a club foot that her mother (a very unkind woman) had left untreated. Ada had no memory of leaving the upstairs room where she lived with her brother and mother. She was left alone for hours each day, and despite her mother's meanness, she learned to walk. Her mother was content to let Ada languish and crawl around, locked in a small room. Ada and Jaimie end up in the home of Susan and her pony, Butter. Ada's life is saved and changed through the love and kindness of Susan. This is a children's book, so it's easy to read. It's fantastic. We loved this and the follow-up book, The War I Finally Won. Ada will grab your heart and not let go. (It also was the book that started an obsession with WWII books for me.)
“I don't know what to say," she said, after a pause. "I don't want to tell you a lie, and I don't know the truth." It was maybe the most honest thing anyone had ever said to me.”
― Kimberly Brubaker-Bradley, The War That Saved My Life
ideas.poems.quotes.songs that sparkled for me this week.
(I try and pay attention to words or phrases that stand out to me in my reading and listening. There is a spiritual practice called Florliledgium which collects short, interesting pieces {words that “sparkle” up} and puts them together. This is kind of like that. Watching for words that sparkle. Gathering them and seeing how they work together and what message, mantra, or new idea might arise.)
A Practice:
Read slowly.
Notice if a word or phrase stands out to you.
How do the words make you feel?
Is there an invitation?
I'm sharing in italics the lines that stand out to me in these passages. Maybe it's the same, or maybe it's different. There is much food for thought in each of these passages)
“We are not consumers. For most of humanity’s existence, we were makers, not consumers: we made our clothes, shelter, and education, we hunted and gathered our food. We are not addicts. “I propose that most addictions come from our surrendering our real powers, that is, our powers of creativity.” We are not passive couch potatoes either. “It is not the essence of humans to be passive. We are players. We are actors on many stages…. We are curious, we are yearning to wonder, we are longing to be amazed… to be excited, to be enthusiastic, to be expressive. In short to be alive.” We are also not cogs in a machine. To be so would be to give up our personal freedoms so as to not upset The Machine, whatever that machine is. Creativity keeps us creating the life we wish to live and advancing humanity’s purpose as well.”
― Matthew Fox, Creativity"Sometimes the simplest and best use of our will is to drop it all and just walk out from under everything that is covering us, even if only for an hour or so—just walk out from under the webs we've spun, the tasks we've assumed, the problems we have to solve. They'll be there when we get back, and maybe some of them will fall apart without our worry to hold them up."
― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have
“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice"The only way to become whole is to put our arms lovingly around -everything- we know ourselves to be: self-serving and generous, spiteful and compassionate, cowardly and courageous, treacherous and trustworthy. We must be able to say to ourselves and to the world at large, "I am -all of the above." If we can't embrace the whole of who we are--embrace it with transformative love--we'll imprison the creative energies hidden in our own shadows and be unable to engage creatively with the world's complex mix of shadow and light."
― Parker J. Palmer, On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old