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Posted on January 4, 2013 by a moment with god — 2 Comments

More and more soda being drunk in America

Good Evening, God!

I was raised in a family that didn’t drink soda pop. I remember thinking that Coke tasted like fly spray. I’m lucky!

Just this morning, God, my wonderful husband Kit was angry about the amount of soda being drunk around the world arguing WE OUGHT TO TAX SODAS, just like cigarettes! No other single product is more responsible for the nation’s obesity epidemic, he argues. I think Kit is right, God.

Scientists say that sugar, and its horrible cheaper alternative high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), are both toxic and addictive. I do know they’re addictive! I can’t consume just one of anything sweet. So, I have to see myself as a sugarholic.

All of this assumes new importance as our Nation faces the swelling costs of Medicare. Personally, God, I’d say we haven’t seen anything yet on the matter of costs! Catchy, fun commercials for Coke, Pepsi et all, along with larger containers, are producing fatter and fatter Americans! Beyond that, diabetes has become epidemic. Health problems are cascading.

I’d been thinking of drinking soda as a matter of Personal Responsibility, God. But then I watched a great video calling it a Public Health problem. Oh? Like smoking? Like the campaign to pick a designated driver? Hmmm. Why not? These experts suggest taxing sodas, to pay for educating Americans on the health hazards of sweeteners. At stake is Medicare’s swelling cost burden — many other public health care costs — and, not least, people’s quality of life.

Sigh. Taking on Coca-Cola and Pepsi? Yikes! We are talking about miracles, God! But, we can pray. We can humbly seek your help. And we can begin to speak out!

Tagged with: obesity and medicare, personal responsibility and public health, rising soda consumption
Posted in a prayer for healing, accepting my authority to set limits, health, living within limits

A Full Day, and a Monk Seal, too!

Posted on January 3, 2013 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

A Monk Seal on San Souci Beach at the east end of Waikiki

Good Evening, God!

Such a FULL day . . . a day of rain showers and rainbows . . . of visits and outings . . . and my first sight of a Monk Seal! I was eating at the Hau Tree Lanai and there it was on the beach. It was alone because protective yellow tape had been put up to keep curious people away from him (or her). The species is officially endangered and there are laws about even getting too close.

These monk seals are solitary creatures, God. So unlike the cheerful and very social dolphins. Hmm. I just read yesterday that people with good social support networks have a longevity edge. I would think being gregariousness would give a species a survival edge as well.

So many good things in my day today . . . visits with friends, with Kit and with Mom . . . acupuncture treatment at Jujube’s . . . and some good work in the morning on getting my website rebuilt and ready to put up. I’m really thankful about that, God! And I do think that giving myself permission to make mistakes was a big part of that.

Before then, if anyone had asked me about “mistakes,” I would have gone on (and on) about how we learn by making mistakes. Indeed, that is how we are designed to learn. But, it seems that my gut didn’t get the message. That part of me wanted to know “how to do things” before doing them. But, Life seems to be a Learn As We Go, sort of deal.

One difficulty, God, is that big gap between what we know — and what we do. For example, I know that right now I should be getting ready for bed. I know it and I feel it. So, with a bit of help from You, I AM off to bed!

Tagged with: a survival edge, knowing and doing gaps, monk seal
Posted in learning, so much to learn, The difficulty of changing, Uncategorized

A New Year and a New Leaf

Posted on January 1, 2013 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Interacting with the exhibit, The Shape of Things, at the Spaulding House

Daughter Suzanne Interacts with the exhibit, The Shape of Things, at the Spaulding House

Good Evening, God!

Our daughter Suzanne told me recently that each year she comes up with a Word for The Year. She hasn’t discovered her word for 2013 yet, but I was inspired by her idea.

So, I have come up with a phrase for myself — but maybe just for January. It is: I have permission to make mistakes. It came to me as I read a quote in the morning newspaper. It was from a “handyman,” who said that each of us can do anything if we allow ourselves to make mistakes. That’s not exactly the quote. But it’s close.

Really, God, reading that simple quote made me aware of how much I hate (fear) to mess up. I guess that must be the part of me that loved to do well in school. And doing well in school meant — Doing it Right!

Actually, I never got straight A’s. And I didn’t realize just how big an imprint “school” had left on me. But, this morning, once I officially gave myself permission to make mistakes — to do it wrong the first several times — I felt ever so much better. In fact, I went to my computer and — after struggling — was able to insert a revised story into my website.

Of course, God, I haven’t got my website back up yet! That’s going to involve a whole bunch more Missteps and Mistakes. I can feel them looming.

Still, God, I feel as if I have crossed some sort of invisible hump. I sure hope so because I really do want to get back to sharing my stories. In fact, I want to get back to creating stories! Creating and sharing are both joys!

Tagged with: creating, fear of mistakes, learning via trial and error, messing around, Permission to make mistakes
Posted in courage, Creating, learning, Mistakes

Saying Goodbye to 2012 and Releasing My Past

Posted on December 31, 2012 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Sunset on my mom’s 98th birthday

Good Evening, God!

Aaaah, today I got a loving compliment from Suzanne, our Oldest Daughter! I’m an Oldest Daughter, myself, so I know how high our standards can be. The compliment was about how well I had done in maturing over the last 30 years. That isn’t exactly what she said, God. But, that’s the idea.

As I sat there with her at the airport, processing the compliment, I realized that I have a lot of guilt/grief/regret to let go of. (I think I am holding in my belly fat — and I really want to let go of that.)

So, instead of focusing on the New Year with resolutions to DO BETTER and to BE BETTER — I am sitting here and RELEASING all my failures and mistakes of the last several decades. RELEASING! Such a lovely word, God! Putting all my STUFF in Your Lap and then climbing up into Your Lap, myself.

I am still a Very Small Child in Your scheme of things. And it is good to sit Silently and Peacefully in that awareness. Gosh, God! I need to keep on opening myself to that awareness.

It’s funny, God. Releasing feels like a better word than forgiving. It is like I am pouring out a Lifetime of Totally Unrealistic Expectations. Gosh, God. It takes an awful lot of energy to push my past away and repress all the times I missed opportunities to change . . . to ask for help . . . to grow.

Releasing is very much an ongoing process, isn’t it, God? I can’t do it without Your Enveloping Love! You love me as I am — and as I was — and as I am becoming. And You love each one of us that very same way. Smile! Here is to a New Year FULL OF LOVE!

Tagged with: cleaning up my heart, letting go, Releasing my past, saying goodbye to 2012
Posted in a New Year, lap time, letting the Holy Spirit flow through us, LOVE

Touched by Music and Hope

Posted on December 30, 2012 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

a cello made from an oil can and landfill trash

Good Morning, God!

Music coming from instruments made from recycled landfill trash! I was touched by the very idea . . . and even more moved by the beautiful music pouring forth!

I friend sent me the link to the video — and I like many others feel called to share it. Hearing these children — living on a landfill in Paraguay — create marvelous music from their cobbled together instruments called me to account.

The sheer audacious creativity to even conceive of such an undertaking! Then to make it WORK! To bring forth real music from discarded trash — inspiring! But the real impact on me came from the children who were making the music — children of the Third World — so full of gifts and talents — so enlivened by the music.

We have an old flute in our home, God. I longed to be able to send it to these children! I wanted to help — or maybe it would be better to say that I wanted to give myself the gift of being part of all of this. So, I made a donation.

That’s pretty small — but it is something. It feels more and more as if being a part — even a very small part — of helping others is essential to my health and well-being. I’m pretty sure You designed us that way, God.

Maybe that’s why, all over the world people — ordinary people — are getting up and doing things! My dear friend, Heidi, has created Advocates for Africa’s Children. And half a world away in rural Swaziland orphans are being helped — via gardens and rabbits — toward food security. And just as importantly, they are receiving Hope and Love.

Hope and Love . . . and Music . . . what is life without them?

Tagged with: creative visions, helping, landfill harmonic, music
Posted in connecting, Help me to see, Music, Ongoing Transformation

New Things!

Posted on December 26, 2012 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Frost Flowers near the North Pole

Good Day, God!

My wonderful husband Kit sent me the link to an NPR story about Frost Flowers. Amazing! These crystalline ice structures pop up out of the central Arctic Ocean when conditions are just right. I am not at all clear what “right” means. The article makes it sound like the air needs to be extremely cold and extremely dry — thus to pull into the ice little bumps of moisture. Since it is too cold for the moisture to stay suspended in air, as it turns back into ice it takes a crystalline form, like snowflakes.

All of this was delightful enough, God. But, the article also tells that these frost flowers are three times as salty as regular ocean water and surprisingly full of bacteria.

A photo of frost flowers grown in a lab

I know we have found bacteria in all sorts of extreme habitats. Still, apparently, the scientists are curious about just what these bacteria are doing in their extremely cold and salty homes.

So, I am sitting here — happy. Happy to have discovered Krulwich’s Wonders — a science based blog that was the source of this story. Happy to have discovered Frost Flowers. Happy to have seen them up close. And happy for all the bacteria in those frost flowers. Bacteria that seem to be happily going about the business of living. Good on them!

Life is amazing, God. And maybe it isn’t so very different for bacteria than it is for us? Surely, regardless of size and complexity, life is to be relished and lived! Thank You!

Tagged with: arctic ice crystals, extreme conditions, frost flowers, life
Posted in appreciation, blooming, web of life

Christmas Gifts and Reframes

Posted on December 25, 2012 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Christmas Even dinner at Duc’s

Merry Christmas, God!

Christmas is a Wonderous Day . . . in which You break into our Time and Space . . . again and again. Year after year — moment after moment — You keep on offering us another way of seeing. Offering us another Vantage Point. Offering us a way of reversing our Background and Foregrounds.

Our daughter, Suzanne, did that for me this morning. Yesterday I had Back Pain. Oh my goodness, God, I never hurt and so the Shock of Hurting was an added source of Pain. As I write that I feel a wave of gratitude. I’m thankful! But, at the same time I am thinking: There is so MUCH pain in the world — perhaps I am not doing my share of dealing with it?

Next — tiptoeing in after that thought — came the question: How does one deal with pain? Hmm. How indeed? I tend to think of pain, and misfortune in general, as just part of living amidst a Random Universe. Sort of like the rain falling on the just and the unjust — both the icy rain of winter storms and the soft gentle rains of Hawaii.

Still, there is another (deeper?) part of me that wants to assign Reasons and Blame. It is the part that queries: What did I do to bring this on? Thus, it was that Suzy found me this morning, lying in bed playing solitaire and distracting myself from my Inner Inquisitor.

Suzy lovingly suggested that sometimes pain doesn’t come from bearing burdens but in releasing burdens.

What a lovely reframe! Now I can experience the pain as a temporary pain that comes as part of the release of putting down a load — of offloading responsibilities onto Other Shoulders. I felt better almost immediately! Such is the Power of Reframes!

Tagged with: Christmas, dealing with pain, reframes, releasing responsibility, the pain of letting go
Posted in reframing, relaxation, responsibility, self care as self compassion and humility

Joys for the Senses

Posted on December 21, 2012 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Lydian Chorus singing Handel’s Messiah

Good Day, God!

WOW! I just finished watching the Youtube video of the Lydian Chorus with steel drums, doing Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus. And I am going to play it again while I write. I’m pretty sure Handel himself is singing along.

I am used to the Messiah being performed by singers in black and white — so the COLORS were a delight! The dancers wore white dresses but such amazing dresses! The dresses swung and swirled and flew — I loved them. The whole presentation was such an example of cross-cultural pollination!

Sigh. I guess parts of our culture got stuck somewhere back in Victorian England. But if watching this performance doesn’t unstick folks — what will?

Hmm. Speaking of stuck . . . that reminds me of how easy it is to get stuck in our own culture — or our own denomination or faith or political party. One of the great gifts of living in Hawaii is that all of us are Between Cultures. There is a sense of being part of a “culture” constantly being assembled and reassembled depending on the constraints and opportunities of the moment.

Our Hawaiian Hula has faced a variety of fascinating cross pollinations and constraints — including attempts to outlaw it. But, let me go back to Stuck. I am right now extricating myself from Christmas BUSY-NESS to finish this blog on joy. This is only for a few minutes, then I shall go back to the daily and seasonal efforts and interactions.

Aaah, but how important to realize (does one learn or discover this?) that one CAN step out of the crush. Step out — momentarily — of dearly beloved relationships and rejoice. Rejoice in music, in dance, and in COLOR. You have given us a Beautiful World — filled with Beautiful People. Thank You!

Tagged with: colors, getting unstuck, Handel's Hallelujah Chorus, Lydian Chorus, Trinidad
Posted in A God given diversity, JOY, Music

Recovering: Re-Centering and Re-Committing

Posted on December 16, 2012 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Koko Crater at dawn while stopped at a red light

Good Morning, God!

It’s one week after my husband Kit ran the Honolulu Marathon — and I am so thankful he is alive and well. Life has pretty much returned to normal.

Saturday I spent almost 90 minutes in Centering Prayer — at the monthly gathering of the Contemplative Outreach of Hawaii.

Oh, my, Goodness, God! It was so wonderful to sink into the deep supportive silence of the group. At home I am antsy . . . thoughts of what I need to do next popping into my mind. Sometimes I even pop up to do a task. Sigh.

Aaah, but when centering in a group, social pressure keeps me sitting in my chair. Part of it is the social accountability factor. But, I think there is more. It feels different. It feels as if a Force Field has been created — a Welcoming Field — eager to be joined. So, thanks be to You, God.

After the prayer time I slept better that night than I had all week. I felt fully relaxed. I guess, God, it would have been best if I had done the intensive prayer time before I had the massage and acupuncture. Had I done the Spiritual Work first, I’m pretty sure I would have gotten even more benefit from the physical helps.

Meanwhile, I am recommitting to the Three Commands I heard from You at Life in the Spirit: 1) Soften my exterior. 2) Strengthen my core. 3) Awaken me to possibilities. More prayer, God. I need more prayer. To do those three things I will really need to spend more time in prayer.

Tagged with: centering prayer, Contemplative Outreach of Hawaii, letting go of stress, Relaxed, welcoming the Holy Spirit
Posted in Centering Prayer, healing, processing on deeper levels

Medicare and Massage — A Healthier America

Posted on December 14, 2012 by a moment with god — 1 Comment

A Hand — getting a massage

Good Day, God!

I’m just back from having a medicinal massage from Arturo. And did I NEED it! Having Kit run and complete the Honolulu Marathon while feeling bad totally wiped me out — even with our daughter, Sandy, here with me to share the stress.

So today as I was having my medicinal massage — having stress lumps kneaded and released — I totally changed the way I see massage. And Mayo Clinic agrees.

I used to think that massage was a delightful extra — a hedonistic treat, as it were. Now I see massage as one of the most important ways of eliminating the LUMPS left by stress.

Jogging, exercising and stretching are good stressors. They are positive outlets for energy. As our energy goes out — it makes even more room for energy to come in. Ah, but Anxiety Stress is different! That kind of Stress burns up our energy and leaves behind lumps like hunks of charcoal clogging our bodies and our hearts.

Literal lumps. God? I’m not sure, but that is the “image” I see in my Mind’s Eye. Stress that isn’t processed-out piles up and blocks all kinds of things. These lumps constrict blood flow — leaving cells with diminished nutrients and overflowing trash cans. These lumps block the flow of Your Spirit, too, God.

Getting rid of these Stress Deposits is really important, God! Prayer help on one level, and massage helps on another level. I have experienced how helpful massage can be. Not everyone can schedule a massage with Arturo, but almost any kind of massage would help.

So, that’s where Medicare comes in. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if massage were covered by Medicare! Wouldn’t everyone of Medicare age be healthier with regular massages? Massages are Good for us AND they feel good!

That’s my prescription, God, for a healthier America!