God – Page 2 – Spiritual Response

Lent – Day 9

Have you noticed? When your awareness of something improves, you begin to see, before you act or speak, the opportunity for change. I found several yesterday. That’s the key part of the awareness phase – anticipating the situation before it happens – where you now are fully in the present moment.

I remember times when I would say something and then think, “Why did I just do that?” I wasn’t aware before I spoke of the opportunity (to either keep my mouth shut or say something different). If you’re reading the book, it might seem confusing for me to say “Don’t look back,” and then just mention, “When I looked at yesterday.” The key is the purpose. I’m not looking back to judge where I was and compare to where I am. I’m only looking to evaluate the day for you.

And as you remain in the present moment, this looking back becomes only nostalgic (when it’s beyond the ‘just passed’ moment), because when you are aware ‘before it happens’, then you are evaluating in real time. You are examining the situation, your response, right then. To review at night, well, that’s nice, but it no longer becomes necessary.

That’s the beauty of the awareness phase. It helps bring you into the present moment. After all, that’s all we each have.

Lent – Day 7

Awareness, mindfulness. When we become aware of the present moment, so many things open up to us. How often they are missed when we focus on the future, on what we plan on doing, rather than what we are doing. I became aware yesterday of several moments where I could respond differently. Did I? Not necessarily. But I am beginning to understand them, and think to myself, “I am responding this way because…”, which I think will help me discover (phase 3) what I can replace my response with, such that the replacement fits my soul.

Yes. Too often we try to become someone we aren’t, rather than becoming who we are. Yet when we understand and embrace our true self, then the second greatest commandment becomes a habit. Wouldn’t that be incredible? I think we strive to follow the two greatest commandments, failing often and beating ourselves up for that failure, when if we understood how our desire to follow is part of our innate inner being, it would bring a new understanding and open up ways that we might change.

May God shine a light upon your path, chasing away the darkness.

Lent – Day 6 – Awareness

We begin phase two of the RADAR process with Awareness. We now realize what it is we want to change, to shed, to replace, in order to reveal who we really are, and chose yesterday (if you started prior to that). If you’re just starting, do not fear, you can shorten the times in the previous phase and catch up easily.

In this phase we watch and observe how and when we use our targeted behavior. It’s natural to think, ‘If I can recognize when I’m doing it, why not just change immediately?’ I think the danger in this is that it’s too easy to slide back into previous patterns, and thus one quick victory is lost as time drags on and more opportunities are missed. I also think if you don’t become aware of the how and when, you won’t see the best why, and the why is what we are after. Why do we do this? Because then our strategy to replace or drop the behavior (though I think all behaviors, or at least most, must be replaced with something else – almost like a scientific equation: Behavior can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only be replaced by another behavior) will become clear.

In other words, you are always doing something with your time, even if you’re doing nothing. (You’ll find upon deeper examination that you’re not really doing nothing. In this case, nothing, breathing, thinking, meditating, sleeping – is still something.)

May God guide you to become aware of each moment, and fill it with joy,

Lent – Sunday 1 – Day 5

In sports they call it Selection Sunday. We are at that same juncture in this season if we are following along with the RADAR process. We have come up with a list of things we would like to address, and want to choose one to focus on. Just one. There’s no need to overdo it or attempt to do too much.

I think it’s common to have this image of ourselves where we think we are infinitely malleable, able to change how we act in an instant and it will be permanent. Kind of like waking up at 50 and hearing your body tell you it’s not 25 anymore. It’s a rude awakening, for sure!

I’m going to listen today, just be quiet and listen, to understand what I should focus on, and make the choice tonight. (If I’m not rushing it, I’m not rushing it!) Or is that procrastination? Am I putting it off, delaying the inevitable? For what?

It amazes me when I wait before doing something and learn something valuable. Usually when I don’t wait, I also learn something valuable, but the lesson is painful, and sometimes expensive. The reason? Had I waited, new information would have changed my decision, of course.

Free day? No. But I will be resting. Resting and listening.

May God guide your choice, and fill you with peace.

Lent – Day 4

I know the titles to these posts are unoriginal, probably seo-unfriendly, but that’s just the point. In an anti- attitude, I’m not interested in drawing attention to this with some flashy headline. This is a time for reflection, a time for quiet. So if you wonder why the post times are always different, it’s because I’m walking though the time as it happens, not ahead of time and scheduled. That would defeat the purpose.

We’ve reached the last day of the opening half week, before a traditional free day, before our reflecting on the first phase of the process. If you don’t count Sundays, then this is 10% of the way in. It’s normal to think, ‘What have I done so far?’ But that’s a question for tomorrow. For today, we continue to rest in God, considering those things that have been revealed to us that we need to become more aware of in our daily lives.

Is something already clear to you? If so, let it simmer, as the longer you think about it, the more ideas will come to you as to how to address it; or the deeper you’ll go into uncovering just what it is that’s at the root of the behavior. I have several things I’m considering, and will let them weigh against each other until tomorrow, when it will be time to make a choice and move forward into phase two.

May God’s love bring you joy,