spiritual reflections – Spiritual Response

Moments to Treasure – a Prayer Book

New Book Moments to Treasure Released

I’ve just released Moments to Treasure: Prayers for Navigating Life’s Journey, a prayer book that covers the seasons of life. It’s available on Amazon and CreateSpace, and the Kindle version (without pictures) is a free download through Thanksgiving 2013 (11/28). This book actually includes one prayer from Spiritual Response, along with about 29 others plus several reflections. The paperback includes color photos and is dedicated to my granddaughter, who’s doing very well.

I’ve set up a website for it and there’s a special offer to download FREE a fillable PDF document – where you can create your own special book – collecting all the inspiring and comforting words in one place.

I hope you find it useful.

John

Lent – Day 15

If you had a choice between being well-known, respected, and highly followed (on Twitter or wherever your social universe resides, be it electronic or physical), or having made an impact in several people’s lives (of which you were directly aware), which would you choose?

It’s easy to pick the second choice, altruistically speaking, yet I wonder when we look at our daily lives, which choice our actions reveal to us. Is there much of a difference between the two? I think it boils down to the reasons behind our behavior. And that’s part of the discovery process, in terms of choosing a new behavior. After identifying the root of our existing behavior, (if we are successful in that, which is not a given), we consider how we might behave differently, what actions we might choose to perform instead, from the standpoint of that root cause – not to perpetuate it, but to change it.

And so I want to discover a new action that brings out the best in me, not to glorify myself, but to glorify God, quietly.

Lent – Day 14

In a discussion yesterday someone pointed out two extremes – altruism and psychological egoism – and we talked about them, about how easy it is to do something that looks good and bask in the glow of praise from others. And it is difficult, when the adulation comes, to deflect it, accepting the thought without letting it puff you up.

“You should be proud,” is often heard from others when you do something worthwhile; yet, how opposite this is to Jesus’s teaching, to Buddha’s teaching. (And probably to others, as well.) When you focus on God, and focus on shining God’s light, then the need for praise, for boosting yourself up, diminishes. If you’re capable, it might even vanish if your focus is complete.

As you discover what to do instead of what you were doing, don’t judge the action on how it would make you appear, but rather how it fits in with your personality. If you try to do something that is not you, like an extrovert trying to keep quiet, you’re bound to meet with disappointment. Here we are working to reveal who we are in a way that does not glorify ourselves, because when we reveal who we really are, what we are doing is glorifying God.

Lent – Day 13

Discovery, the third phase of the RADAR change process, is twofold in its purpose. It is about discovering what you might do differently from what you are doing now. And it is about discovering the deep-rooted cause of the unwanted behavior. In this way, we can see discovery through the first three phases, semantically speaking; but then, DDDAR would sound like someone with a stuttering issue.

One might consider that we are moving too slowly. Again, resist the urge to accelerate, but at the same time, if you discover something and want to use it, go ahead. What I find interesting is that if you take the time, you’ll find yourself making changes almost effortlessly as the momentum of the process takes over. You’ll find that instead of thinking about what you want to do, you’ll just start doing it.

This week is about discovery: What could I do differently, naturally, to replace my unwanted behavior? Take time to discover, because over time you might find that the first idea is not the one you end up using.

New Lenten Reflections ebook is out!

Irrational Joy: An Alternative Path Through Lent, is now available on Amazon here. Free borrow for Prime members, 99c otherwise. But, this coming Sunday through Ash Wednesday, the download is free, it’s my Lent promotion. (Since previous journals have been available on this site for free, I wanted to give readers a chance before Lent begins to grab it as well.)

Here’s the cover:

In it I use a technique that I’ve named RADAR for the process of change one might use to make a change in one of their habits. It’s an acronym for Realization – Awareness – Discovery – Action – Reflection.

The Realization is a discernment process whereby one comes to accept that they want to make a change.

The Awareness phase is one of becoming aware of when this behavior occurs, and what triggers it.

The Discovery process is when one looks at what alternate actions or responses might replace the habit in question. (Notice I’m not calling these bad habits. I’m merely saying they are an ingrained behavior which you’d like to change. It’s your response to some situation or environment, and you’ve come to realize it is not helpful to you.)

Action is when you actively replace one habit with another.

And the Reflection phase is one of looking back at how you’ve changed and assessing the process. Change in many is miniscule, and sometimes goes unnoticed until someone else remarks on the difference. The Reflection process attempts to review the differences and see if the change has had the effect that you intended.

If you choose to follow one of my Lenten journals this Lent, I’d be happy to hear of your experience.

John