Journal of Sacred Work

Days 90-91 Within the Shelter of Great Belonging

 

Prayer

All-powerful God, 

You are present in the whole Universe 
and in the smallest of your creatures. 
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists. 
Pour out upon us the power of your love, 
that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, 
harming no one. O God of the poor, 
help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten 
of this Earth, so precious in your eyes. 
Bring healing to our lives, 
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain 
at the expense of the poor and the Earth. 
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, 
to be filled with awe and contemplation, 
to recognize that we are profoundly united with every 
creature as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, 
in our struggle for justice, love and peace.

Pope Francis

Days 85-89 - The World's Most Harmful Word

   And it is only two letters long. The word is "No."

   In Psychology Today, physician Andrew Newburg, M.D. & Mark Waldman offer scientific proof that negative thinking impacts our brain chemistry & thus harms mental & physical health.

   A high powered fMRI scanner tracked brain changes in response to the "No" word. The moment "No" was flashed before a subject there was "a sudden release of dozens of stress-producing hormones & neurotransmitters. These chemicals immediately interrupt the normal functioning of your brain, impairing logic, reason, language processing, and communication."

   Imagine the impact of this understanding on the way caregivers care & leaders lead! Since words affect a patient's health & a caregiver's energy then caregivers & the people who lead them must be trained in the right way to use them to promote both health & energy.

     The antidote for the toxins generated within us by "No" is "Yes." But, negativity is such a natural inclination that it takes a lot of positivity to overcome it. The scientific formula is five parts positive energy to offset one dose of negative energy.

   If you perceive the surreal image of a triple sun above three phantom sails as a calming image you have a start at counteracting negative thoughts.

   Yes & No are ways of thinking. "Yes" opens the door that "No" has closed. "Yes" creates the possibilities that "No" has cancelled.

   Could a dose of positivity be as helpful as 5mg of Valium for a patient or 100mg of caffeine for a caregiver? Perhaps skeptical caregivers & leaders should look at the new scientific evidence.

   "Yes" is love. "No" is fear. 

-Erie Chapman 

Surrealist image by erie

Days 83-84 Where God Dwells

 

"Prayer is the bridge between our conscious and unconscious lives. 

Often there is a large abyss between our thoughts, words, and actions, and the many images that emerge in our daydreams and night dreams.To pray is to connect these two sides of our lives by going to the place where God dwells.

Prayer is “soul work” because our souls are those sacred centers where all is one and where God is with us in the most intimate way.

Thus, we must pray without ceasing so that we can become truly whole and holy."

By Henri Nouwen

 

How does one pray without ceasing? Is it a request, a sigh of relief, a cry for help, an expression of thank you dear God, a petition for a friend; a loved one, an ask for what we want or think we need, a longing, an awareness...

Is prayer a growing into our skin moment by moment, a little spark of healing, twinkles of insight, shedding what's no longer helpful, giving up the struggles, endless strategies and trusting...

Is prayer opening to receive and give, listening with your heart, pausing to understand, is prayer a question or an answer?

Each morning, is it living the question, "Where will you have me go, to whom will you have me speak and what will you have me say?" (A Course In Miracles)

Is prayer a willingness to see differently... oh, but God please help me, a willingness to let go of judgement and control, forgiving the person who confronts and frustrates you/me and ultimately learning to forgive ourselves. 

Is prayer is sharing our unique gift with this world, the one that is only ours to give? Is  prayer is a sweet offering to Love?

Prayer is never ceasing.

 Liz Sorensen Wessel
Bridge photo, San Diego CA by ~liz

Days 78-82 - The Quilt of Success

   When ABC picked Barbara Walters to be the first woman anchor of the evening news years ago she was asked, "How do you explain your overnight success?" 

   "Overnight?" she answered. "I have been working my head off day & night for decades. There is nothing "overnight" about it."

   Many think that great victories come suddenly. The quilt of real success is sewn with thousands of threads. And the threads vanish when the quilt is hung on a wall or spread across a bed.

   Only the quilter understands the hard work it took. Only you know the number of failures you experienced to accomplish whatever has been meaningful in your life.

   Caregiving's quilt is the cloth of compassion, courage & competence. Failure comes to those who turn their backs to other's needs or give up when persistence could have brought healing.

   The "Congratulations" emblazoned in the sky are meant for you. You have sewn love's quilt & wrapped its warmth around another's need. Your quilt is beautiful because each thread represents an act of your kindness - a sacrifice you made by reaching to help instead of holding back.

   Thank you.

-Erie Chapman

photo-art by erie

Days 76-77 Purpose

Note: We are greatly appreciative to Guest Contributor Terry Chapman for offering this heartening reflection.

"Effort and courage are not enough without purpose." John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Life’s purpose is to live as fully as we are able: to love fully, work fully, and play with joy on our beautiful planet Earth. Love certainly comes first, and then work follows and I mean the particular work that each is given to do by God, whether we know it or not.  For one it may be accounting, for another healing, and yet another painting pastels.  And even the person who organizes her family’s yearly Thanksgiving dinners is sharing her gifts. Simply enjoying an activity that we are good at doing is a start and then using that activity to help others grow and develop can come from humble beginnings.         

Our shared grand adventure on Earth is to move toward the maximal usage of our God given gifts and intentionality is a starting point.  Work of this kind is a true blessing and is love in action.  I am most alive when helping another share their life journey, and I become the one most helped!  

And, truly of great importance, is to play!  To see the gorgeous palette of colors in Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.  To search, find and enjoy new activities all our life, as a young boy or girl plays with a new toy fashioned of a pine cone in their back yard, with natural zest, curiosity, and joy.  Developing our bodies, minds, and spirits, to the maximal degree possible in a holistic way—stretching, walking, running, swimming, climbing trees, fishing, reading, reflecting, helping others, and yes, even playing marbles! 

Terry Chapman
Artist Unknown

Days 71-75 - Noon in Eternity - Old Cures for New Pain

   Where attention goes, energy flows.

   Pain is a petulant child. It thrives on attention. The more we give it the louder it shrieks.

   This is the old premise behind a renewed wave in western thinking. That we can all ease our pain by engaging self-hypnosis: Shift your attention away from your pain & towards what is well & the pain will die of starvation.   

   The yogis proved this long ago but we are skeptical because we think we cannot do it ourselves. We can. 

   David C. Roberts described how he did it in a 2017 column in The New York Times. He references a Mayo Clinic program that treats pain as "a malfunction in perception." He writes that "The brain becomes addicted to dramatizing pain...and the more you feed it, the stronger the addiction."

   But we want relief fast. Why learn a new approach? Just pop pills.

   That is why the ancient stories ring  true. My photo-painting is grounded in the story of Jesus descending into hell to save the suffering. It is a complex image that includes a Todd Meador photograph of Yosemite, the sculpture "Musica" by Alan LeQuire, a piece of the 16th century painting of hell by Hieronymous Bosch & a vast range of my pictures - assembled to reward any viewer that stays with it long enough to absorb something meaningful. 

   The photograph's handless clocks appear in heaven as well as hell. On earth time is a trick. In heaven it is freed of counting.

   A century from now, westerners will yet seek relief. The many-snaked head of pain will still be with humans. So will Jesus, reaching down (here from a body I have rearranged as androgynous) to save humans from hell. 

-Erie Chapman

Photo-fracture: "Ascending to Joy" by erie, 2017

Days 69-70 We've been hoodwinked!

Our mothers (or your grandma ma) could not wait to try out modern inventions like a washing machine & dryer or dishwasher. Oh, the time it will save! You will be able to kick back, soak up the sun and blissfully read books or enjoy your leisure in countless ways.

Huh? What happened?

How about when computers became a household item. They will maximize our efficiencies… that may be true if you know how to use them correctly. Otherwise it can take a great deal of time with the hands-on trial and error and the accompanying frustration. Unless a young person will teach you as they are all savvy technology whizzes these days, including my 5-year-old granddaughter!

Save time or ratchet up the pace of doing more and more and even more; faster and faster?

Fantastic innovations offer us iPhone's, iPads and all sorts of gadgets. Equipment becomes outdated as new technology is introduced to entice our consumer mentality, seducing us with the latest "must have" version. Tape cassettes, VCR’s and now CD’s are obsolete. Books are now eBooks and the Cloud has unlimited storage and so it goes.

Is it a gift or burden?  a both and...or a double edged sword?

E-mail…aye ya aye. I used to be able to read and follow up on work e-mails daily but now the volume multiplies at an astonishing rate like cells in the body.

Do you ever dream about simpler times?

We can’t go back but I sure would like to simplify my life, declutter my home, my mind and create room for what I love. Yet, all the moving parts and juggling makes it seem impossible. Yikes, enough!!! STOP!

What do you love?

I love being in nature. Upon awakening it helps to take a few minutes to sit in quiet, to listen without agenda. Perhaps you will hear the birds singing while darkness gives way to crimson, marigold and incandescent blue. 

For a little lift in your mood copy this URL into your browser and enJOY this one minute interlude: 

https://www.facebook.com/cuteol/videos/531539553894557/?t=11

Set a loving intention… relax and lighten your load.

For the rest is history.

 

Liz Sorensen Wessel
Vintage photo, source- the Internet

Days 64-68 - Self Dreams

   In 1335 B.C.E. Bak, the chief sculptor to an Egyptian Pharaoh, took clay & sculpted himself & his wife. It is thought to be civilization's first "selfie."

   Over three millennia later, it seems everyone in the world has a self portrait. We are so fascinated with "others" we are bound to be interested in our own image & end up making countless pictures that are more self dreams than self reality. 

   Good portrait artists portray some essence of their subjects. Every depiction captures some of us. None reveals all. 

   The self portrait here shows at least thirty images of me spanning seventy years. Yet, art experts claim that every image we make of anyone or anything is a self portrait.

   Buddhists seek to lose the self, to transcend mortality in favor of eternity. Meanwhile, we are caught in a body with an ever-changing face, time-stretched skin & bones freighted with gravity.

   God's protection can feel tenuous when we are nailed to the cross of a hospital bed. And pray for those suffering torture in the prisons where love ends & evil begins.   

   Our swim through life's waterfall is driven by fire as well as light. The handless clock born by Eternity's angel assures us that our spirit is timeless. 

   So often I search the world for words that are not there. David Whyte has been more successful:

Self Portrait

It doesn't interest me if there is one God
or many gods.
I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned.
If you know despair or can see it in others.
I want to know
if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need
to change you. If you can look back
with firm eyes
saying this is where I stand. I want to know
if you know
how to melt into that fierce heat of living
falling toward
the center of your longing. I want to know
if you are willing
to live, day by day, with the consequence of love
and the bitter
unwanted passion of your sure defeat.

I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even
the gods speak of God.

 

-Erie Chapman

Self-portrait & "Eternity's Angel" by Erie

 

Days 62-63 Hope

To All Caregivers Far and Wide,

May you come to see your life as a quiet sacrament of service,

which awakens around you a rhythm where doubt gives way to the grace of wonder,

where what is awkward and strained can find elegance

and where crippled hope can find wings, and torment enter at last unto the grace of serenity.

 

May Divine Beauty bless you.

 

John O’ Donohue, excerpt from Beauty -The Invisible Embrace

 

With gratitude for your compassionate care and dedication and for the lessons you have taught me through your "sacraments of service" for the sake of others.

Fondly, 

Liz Sorensen Wessel

Mandala By ~liz