October 31--Do I Have To? YES!

True love is not so much a matter of romance as it is a matter of anxious concern for the well-being of one's companion.  --Gordon B. Hinckley

    In his October 30 Daily Meditation, Richard Rohr offers these thoughts on Jesus' commandment to "love our enemies:"

Is there anything happening in America today that would make you think we believe we should “love our enemies”? If Christians do not decide to finally be like Jesus, then let’s just give up on this whole Christian thing. It doesn’t mean anything! If it’s just going to church on Sunday, then we have to stop pretending we’re following Jesus, because we’re just like everybody else—we are into power and money and deceit and war. If we do not preach the gospel, if we do not begin to live the gospel now, then let’s stop pretending that we care about Jesus or about following Jesus.

We are in a very scary position in the United States, and the whole world sees it. We are called to engage in a great mobilization, recognition, conversion, and transformation, because now the issues are too big, too real, and too right in front of us every day.

We cannot be silent any longer. Do not expect me to be silent, and I won’t expect you to be silent, either. It’s going to take courage. It’s going take each of us making little decisions in our little worlds to love, not just our neighbors, but even to pray for our enemies, to pray for our president, to pray for our country. If we can’t do these little things, what does it all mean?

    Loving is a daily choice and practice!

        Leta

October 30--Being a Decent Human

When we embark on intimate relationships, we make a basic human promise to be decent, to hold a flattering mirror up to each other, to be respectful as we explore each other.  --Lena Dunham 

    That certainly describes the ideal intimacy. Alas, we humans don't always measure up to the ideal. Otherwise there would be no domestic violence or the various forms of partner abuse. 

    On Monday I waited in a LONG line for one hour to vote. I am not complaining. The early voting lines have been consistently long, and folks keep coming. This is awesome! I saw a cartoon where one guy says to another, "I can hardly wait for election day so that we can stop arguing about the election and start arguing about the results!" I also overheard one man say to another: "I think it's going to be a shitshow no matter who wins." We are in for a wild ride, me thinks. 

        Leta

October 29--Reliability

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.  --Marcus Aurelius

    I grew up in a mostly unpredictable environment, so I quickly adopted reliability as my No. 1 valuable characteristic in a human. I don't care if you have three heads, walk with a limp and smell bad, as long as you can be counted on to do what you say you will do. The opposites, the unreliables, I refer to as "flakes." I have friends in both categories, and I love them equally. I just know that the "flakes" are likely to change their minds, for instance, if they get a better offer. 

    What about me and my personal reliability? Because I want to forever avoid the "flake" designation, I am quite cautious about what I agree to, and I have no problem with the one-word sentence, "No." A wise spiritual mentor once stated that if you are doing something you do not want to be doing, you are doing someone else's job. 

    I guess that's why I keep posting every day--I'm reliable!!

        Leta

The sun and tides--RELIABLE!!

October 28--Blossoms!

You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more.  --Oprah Winfrey

    I look at my 2-year-old and 6-week-old grandsons and ponder how their lives will blossom. Our whole purpose in earthly life is joy, expansion and freedom. With that as our guide, we cannot help but blossom into more.

    We are living on a gigantic playground! Don't be afraid to explore it. I have been to Europe, Asia, Africa, Central America, Canada, and most states in the U.S. Soon I will be adventuring in the South Pacific. I live by two mottoes: 1) I lead a charmed life, especially when traveling; and 2) it's bad business to kill tourists, so countries generally don't do that. So far, so good!

    Closer to home, all one needs to do to keep blossoming is to continue learning. Ten years ago I would have proclaimed, "I can't paint." Now it is one of my favorite hobbies. The internet tells me that pickleball was invented way back in 1965--look how that has flourished and enhanced lives, including mine. 

    Can we please do our blossoming with much greater respect and care for our precious Mother Earth!?!?

        Leta

Zinnias know how to blossom!

October 27--Belonging is Beautiful

Two or three things I know for sure, and one of them is that if we are not beautiful to each other, we cannot know beauty in any form.  --Dorothy Allison

We have to be willing to meet each other on the porch in peace, to make room for each other, to listen to each other. Even if, at first, we might be inclined to presume the other person or group doesn’t belong…. Welcome your neighbor. Have a conversation. Listen not with a need to agree or disagree but with an open heart and a desire to try to understand their perspective…. You never know what you might learn about this other human being. Or what you might learn about yourself. Our ability to sit with each other in that space, through our differences, is the gateway to radical belonging. It is how we learn. It is how we grow. It is how we become. --Rev. Ben McBride

    Rev. McBride is describing beauty among us.

        Leta

Leta's latest "straight line" artwork

October 26--Our Body Intelligence

You attract the right things when you have a sense of who you are. 
--Amy Poehler

    I often write about the wondrous mystery that is the human body. Lately in my readings there has been considerable information about the intelligence of the body to recognize situations even before we are consciously aware. The feeling of safety is a primary one. When we are in danger, our bodies signal us even before any threat is evident. One example is how my body gets into a nervous panic near a great height even before I get near the edge. 

    Being able to recognize and use the body's signals is part of "having a sense of who you are." We would do well to nurture that intuitive sense within us. It can both keep us out of trouble and "attract the right things." 

        Leta

Our backyard "Red Sunset" maple

October 25--Considering Empathy

Few people, very few, have a treasure, and if you do you must hang onto it. You must not let yourself be waylaid, and have it taken from you.  --Alice Munro

    This dives into the realm of "what is your treasure?" Is it family? Wealth? Power? A hot car? The big house? Your looks?

    Let us consider empathy as a treasure, with these words by Debbie Mirza, from the book I wrote about yesterday:

One of the most concerning things I have observed about our society as a whole is that there is a growing number of people who lack empathy. This seems to be increasing, especially over the past couple of decades. As this planet has become more advanced in many ways, we are also losing what is most important. 

Many of the political leaders running the world's countries are devoid of empathy, and this affects everything. ... I have observed overt and covert narcissistic behavior in both the Republican party as well as the Democratic party. Decisions made by political leaders as well as heads of large corporations affect all of us. If these are made from a place where empathy does not reside, it will not end well. When empathy isn't in leadership, decisions are made that hold money and power as the greatest priority instead of the people who reside here and the planet that feeds and shelters us. 

People with no empathy have no remorse and act out of their own selfishness, hurting others and not feeling bad about it. They excuse their destructive behavior and blame others. Covert narcissism is all around us, affecting our self-image and self-worth. 

    What are our treasures? What future are we creating?

        Leta