Tag: Good Living

Lately I’ve been doing a little shadow boxing and gaining awareness of some of the parts of who I am that I’ve tucked in the shadows of my personality.  I’m realizing that sometimes I care too much about others and about doing a good job. This is a good thing until it is not.

At the end of the baby boomer generation, I loved listening to Elton John and I especially liked his song “Candle in the Wind.”  It was such a beautiful tribute to Marilyn Monroe whose life was cut too short because of her pain and suffering.  The darkness overshadowed the light within. 

How good are you in being present, fully present to the moment in front of you, not living in the past or planning for the future?  Dwelling on the past takes us away from living our current best life.  It can keep us stuck in depression and regret.  Or we can focus on the uncertain future and its vague forebodings. 

As we walk through life, there are many things and people we may lose, or lose out on, if we are unwilling to commit. We need to make a commitment for relationships to grow beyond the dating stage, to have the home we want, the job we want, or the car we desire.

Some people in our lives only seem to see the good in us. They trust and respect us, even when we ourselves may not feel we deserve it.

Although the world is full of suffering, we also see many examples of those who overcome it. When we look at our own life and the lives of others, it is clear that pain is part of life. 

It is tempting to want our noble purpose and relationships to involve power, status, or high regard. But in marriage and friendships, this purpose is often more personal. It involves vulnerability, compromise, and embracing the ordinary and oftentimes the chaos that life brings. It is noble to sit down our egos, and our fantasies of who our partner or friend before us might be, and really see them as God sees them. This is, after all, the noble purpose, for each of us, and all our relationships.

One of the most beautiful things about being Catholic is the tradition and mystery of the Mass. This is where I encounter God’s love for me, nourishing me for the journey.

Time always seems to pass too slowly or too quickly, it seems. We want the fun times to last longer. We want the boring or painful times to go faster. 

Recently, I’ve been setting the intention to stretch and push my body more to help with flexibility and strength. I’m noticing how shallow I breathe throughout most of the day. I was curious to see how many deep breaths I could take in a minute and use that as a guide to hold different stretches and yoga poses for flexibility rather than set a timer. I was shocked that eight long, slow, inhales and exhales brought me to the minute mark. This exercise of breathing intentionally left me a little lightheaded and changed my perspective. I don’t need to pick up the pace and do more, I need to lean in and slow down.