In January, I shared about the practice of a weekly Examen.
The Examen is an Ignatian practice of reviewing the past week, looking for the moments of peace and the moments where peace wasn't as easy to find. The Examen teaches that we can learn and grow when we take the time to intentionally engage with the highs and lows of our lives.
I reviewed that post to help me sort through this past week. (Click on the graphic below and it will take you there if you want a refresher!) It’s been a week. And I realized that when I sat down to write, there were too many things competing for my attention.
It's hard to be a human in the world right now. Paying attention is hard, but turning away doesn't insulate us either.
My practice of the weekly examen from the past week included the following highs and lows.
Where peace was hard to find:
War in Ukraine. (So. Much. Anxiety. So. Many. Questions.)
The unexpected death of a friend just days after we had met for coffee.
Hard conversations about the macro and micro of life.
Where peace was easier to find:
I pulled out my running shoes that had been tucked away for many months.
The earliest of spring flowers surprised me. (yellow crocus!)
A Basketball game! My hometown team played the state championship game. Our team lost by 2, but it was such a good game! I can't explain how special it was to see so many old friends get so many hugs in the context of excitement! Energy! Joy! Too many times, I see those friends only at funerals.
A picture with five of the thirteen people I graduated from high school with. (I'm from a tiny town! We didn't just graduate together..we started kindergarten together and were in class every day from age 5 to 18. That history runs deep.
Catching up on reading with an ice tea sitting outside on the first warm day this year.
Meeting new friends in the context of my Spiritual Direction training-Kindred Spirits, as Anne of Green Gables would say.
When I started my practice of the Examen, I knew that the past week had been full. There had been highs and lows of greater extremes than usual over the past seven days. I knew that. But the practice of drawing it all together was so helpful.
It's so easy to focus on the hard things. Our brains latch quickly and easily onto the hard stuff. I've read before we have to savor the small good moments for twice as long for our brains to attach to the good. (Some research reveals we have to pause with the good memories, emotions, feelings for 90 seconds for them to imprint on our brain.)
To remember, we must repeat, savor and pause. It's kind of remarkable when you consider the design. Those good things that bring you joy stay with them; hold on to them just a little bit longer. Find the small moments, then go deeper. The reward is peace, joy, and a sense of your belovedness.
Maybe your week has been wild swings of highs and lows too? I wasn't too sure I wanted to practice the Examen. I thought I knew what the week had been, but then my list of peaceful moments grew longer and the hard things refocused and reshaped a bit when seen in the context of the whole. Sure the hard things were and are hard, but the small moments of joy held so much joy. They held so much peace. And I almost lost them.
The practice of the Examen helped me hold each moment up to the light and see all the angles and contours.
Blessings For Your Weekly Examen:
As you pause to review your week, may you find the moments of peace and joy that you forgot to savor, and relish those moments now. May they fill you with joy and remind you of all the blessings that are yours. As you hold the painful, sad, difficult moments to the light, may you find the unexpected facets where invitations to refocus and re-see are hiding in plain sight. May you harvest the blessings from the week past and may those blessings be the foundation for the week ahead.
An invitation:
I know this is a bit after the fact (Lent started last Wednesday!), but I would love to invite you to consider the form and function of the Collect during this Lenten season.
What is a Collect?
A collect is a written prayer form in prayer books and liturgies, including The Book of Common Prayer. A Collect has a specific structure and narrow focus.
Can you give me an example of a Collect?
My favorite Collect is the Collect for Purity used at the beginning of Anglican liturgical services.
"Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen."
Tell me more:
I took a workshop last month with the Irish Poet (and Collect writer) Pádraig Ó Tuama. I have been exploring the form of haiku for several years and find it helpful for focusing thoughts and ideas in the form of seventeen syllables. In a haiku, there is no room for extra. The focus brings clarity. Collect is very similar to haiku. It follows a five-fold form that includes naming one desire, request, or hope. Collect and haiku are cousins. I'm learning about both, but I think the lessons I've learned from haiku directly apply to Collect writing.
I started a separate newsletter for Collect Writing. Through Lent, we will unfold the folds (fold is the term that Pádraig Ó Tuama uses for the form, and I love it!). I will share ancient and modern collects and invite you to write your own collects through prompts, poems, and inspiration.
I'll share posts there on Monday and Thursday evening. Maybe we will even plan a few Zoom calls for anyone who wants to share their collects.
Collects are prayers, but they are poems and ways to unfold the folds in our lives. Don't let prayer scare you off. It's simply a form that guides discovery and hope.
The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green
I loved this book. It's precisely the kind of book that makes me happy. Short, witty, insightful essays on a far-reaching collection of topics. (From bands, space, pandemics, and the Notes Ap.) The premise is the absurdness of the 5-star rating system that we suddenly find ourselves living in. It's true, as a kid, I didn't think about reading reviews- my kids, I teach them to read reviews before they make a purchase; it's that much a part of our lives. Anyone anywhere can review anything- and the rest of us use those reviews to make decisions. It's absurd and also so much a part of the interconnected, Amazon-driven life we live. I give The Anthropocene Reviewed 5 stars.
“You can't see the future coming--not the terrors, for sure, but you also can't see the wonders that are coming, the moments of light-soaked joy that await each of us.”
― John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed
A book I’m loving:
Bread and Other Miracles by Lynn Ungar
This is a book of poetry by Lynn Ungar. Earlier this week, I listened to an interview with Parker Palmer, Carrie Newcomer, and Lynn Ungar. (You can find it here, I highly recommend it!) I’m savoring her words.
I wasn’t familiar with her poem Camas Lilies. (I’m from Camas County! Camas Lilies are a part of my DNA and the lore that I was raised with.)This poem is perfection.
We are leading a class on Haiku writing this week with the Garden City Library! It’s open to everyone (local or not!) Here is the information, it will be held on Zoom. I hope you’ll join us!
For more information and to sign up: Haiku Writing Workshop
Michael, Davin, and I had our monthly Haiku conversation this past week. We record our conversations to share because they cover such interesting topics and are so hope-filled. These conversations are rich and deep. This month we cover snowy mornings, Orion, and the image of God-from China to Skid Row.
You can see our Haiku cards at Profound Living and other haiku resources are there too. (Plus great writing and interesting musings!)
I try to pay attention to words or phrases that stand out in my reading and listening. There is a spiritual practice called Florliledgium that collects short, interesting pieces {words that “sparkle” up} and puts them together. This is kind of like that. Watching for things 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)
“To fall in love with the world isn’t to ignore or overlook suffering, both human or otherwise. For me anyway, to fall in love with the world is to look up at the night sky and feel your mind swim before the beauty and the distance of the stars. It is to hold your children while they cry and watch the sycamore trees leaf out in June. When my breastbone starts to hurt, and my throat tightens and tears well in my eyes, I want to look away from feeling. I want to deflect with irony or anything else that will keep me from feeling directly. We all know how loving ends. But I want to fall in love with the world anyway, to let it crack me open. I want to feel what there is to feel while I am here.”
― John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed
“It has taken years to continue to live into the truth that if I believe we are from God and for God, then we are from Goodness and for Goodness. To greet sorrow today does not mean that sorrow will be there tomorrow. Happiness comes too, and grief, and tiredness, disappointment, surprise and energy. Chaos and fulfilment will be named as well as delight and despair. This is the truth of being here, wherever here is today. It may not be permanent but it is here. I will probably leave here, and I will probably return. To deny here is to harrow the heart. Hello to here.”
― Pádraig Ó Tuama, In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World
“And this is it. This is the life we get here on earth. We get to give away what we receive. We get to believe in each other. We get to forgive and be forgiven. We get to love imperfectly. And we never know what effect it will have for years to come. And all of it…all of it is completely worth it.”
― Nadia Bolz-Weber, Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People
“For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
