Tag: soapbox

Why I’m not thankful this November

Posted on upliftingterfaPosted in 12:30 Project, Blog

Each month, over the past year, I’ve taken on a project, like drinking more water, or getting outside every day, or limiting my online presence.
For November, the most logical project would be to spend days being thankful.  And if those who have been following this project would have to take a guess, I think most would assume that I’d go with some kind of thankfulness experiment… but they’d be wrong.

I have a confession: the daily thankful stuff during November drives me bananas.

I know. I’m a horrible person.

It’s not that I don’t have things to be thankful for – I actually have SO MUCH to be thankful for.  But I’ve started to wonder what the point is of all my blessings if I’m just saying I’m thankful and that’s it.
What does that really do?
Does it change anything? Does it change me? More importantly, does it change the world?
My gratitude month (in May) taught me that it’s not being thankful for the big things, (like family, friends, a job, health, etc) that bring gratitude and joy. No, surprisingly, it’s the little things – tiny, otherwise unnoticed moments in the day – that change our perspective and us.
So why spend a month being thankful for those big things when I’m not really sure it does anything?

After some thought – I’ve decided to make this month’s project “service.”
Simply put – I’m going to do daily acts of service for the month of November.
They don’t have to be big all-day events, but small moments where I intentionally give back.
Give back out of the blessings I have been given.
Give back out of gratitude for the people that I love and who love me.

Being thankful is a start, but we can go further.
This month, I challenge you to be more than thankful.
I challenge you take the things you are thankful for, and give out of those things.
Thankful for your kid? What can you do to serve out of that place?
Thankful for your amazing parents? What can you do for them, or people who don’t have amazing parents?

It’s not quick and easy like posting what you are thankful for today to facebook.
This practice means taking time and being thoughtful and intentional around your blessings.
But we can do it.
And I think we’ll be better off for trying.

Who’s with me?

Two Words I Needed Today; Or – My Friday Uplift After Another Shooting.

Posted on upliftingterfaPosted in Friday Uplift
But I will sing of your might; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been a fortress for me and a refuge in the day of my distress.
O my strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.
(Psalm 59: 16-17)I’ve been on a kick lately of finding verses about morning meaningful, and this one came to me today.
It’s probably because I’ve never been a morning person, and yet lately I find myself up early, before the sun, day after day.
This part of psalm 59 reminds me to sing of God’s love in the morning.
Even when I’ve gotten bad sleep or wake up sick, I sing.
Because how I start my day matters.
And starting with a song of praise to the one who is with me each and every day is the hardest and, dare I say, best way to begin each day.
Yes, even better than coffee.

There are two words that appear twice each in these two verses. The first is “chesed” (heh-said) which we see translated as steadfast, and the other is “misgab” (mis-gahv) which we see translated as fortress.

Man, on mornings like this morning, where we are faced again with someone walking into a school and killing innocent teachers and students, I need these words… both of them.

I need the reminder that God’s love is “chesed” – steadfast.
That God’s love cannot be conquered.
I need to be reminded that God’s love is like the morning, always there, and new every day.
God loves constantly. Without fail.
Even in the midst of what feel like attacks.

The other word, Misgab, means “high place” and although it is a generic word for us, it’s an actual place. It’s in Moab, a large flat desert place, and Misgab is a high point, a mountain in the middle of the plains. From the top you can see for miles, so an attack against someone would be difficult. It’d be like us picking the highest place we can think of, or our most secure building, a place very difficult to be attacked by enemies, and say that God is that place.
God is our Air Force One
God is our Pope-mobile
God is our Mount Everest

I need this word today too.
I need to be reminded that God is strong.
God is a safe place.
And I can come to God when I am in need of those things.
When I’m feeling weak or under attack, when I question whether or not hate is gaining a foothold, I need these words.

Even in the midst of anger or sadness or fear, we can still come to our loving, fortress God.  So if you’re like me, and need these words, especially today, for whatever reasons – let them be a balm on your heart:

God’s love is steadfast: never-ending, never quitting, always present.
God is a fortress: a place we can go when we need to feel safe and secure.

And then, safe in the fortress and surrounded by God’s love, we can still sing.

Amen.

Why You Should Have (or begin) a Yoga Practice

Posted on upliftingterfaPosted in Blog, Yoga

For my entire life I’ve struggled with exercise.
Going to the gym, swimming, running, ultimate frisbee, even completing a half marathon.
I did it all.
But I never loved it.
I exercised to be healthy, or to eat ice cream, but never because I couldn’t NOT exercise.

So it comes as quiet a shock to me that lately, I’ve been getting up before the sun, at 5:30am, to continue my daily yoga practice.
And it’s amazing.
20150914_060924
Look at that.  Sheesh.
I never thought I’d appreciate the slow lighting of the sky but man, it’s amazing.

Almost exactly two years ago, I began a daily practice.
I can honestly say I have never been in better shape and never have I felt better, and I know it is all a result of my daily practice.
It hasn’t been easy, and obviously I’ve missed some days due to illness or travel, but in these two years I have learned a few things.  So here are the reasons why you too should have (or start!) a yoga practice.

1.  It’s not just a fad
I know, I know.  Yoga pants are everywhere.  And it really can SEEM like everyone            is doing yoga lately.  But yoga has been a physical and spiritual practice for                        centuries.  It’s not new, and for those who legitimately practice, it’s not going                      anywhere.  Know that it’s been around this long for a reason, and it’s not the                      clothes (though they are a bonus).

2. It’s so much more than exercise.
Yes, yoga will increase your strength, flexibility and balance.  I’ve literally never                    been as strong as I am now, even more than the times in my life I weight trained at            the gym. I can bend and twist my body and do poses I always assumed were                      beyond my reach.  Yes, yoga is amazing exercise. But yoga isn’t just about that                  stuff.  It’s also about awareness.  This one thing has changed me more than the                  strength and flexibility and balance that yoga brings.  Those other things are                        awesome don’t get me wrong – but learning to listen to my body, to become aware              of how I feel and why I feel that way has been astounding.  I eat better, not                          because I HAVE TO or because I’m on some crazy new diet, but because I know                what things make me feel good and what things don’t when I eat them.  I am aware            of how I feel before I get on the mat and how I feel afterwards.  It is this awareness            that keeps me coming back to my mat. Morning after morning.  Day after day.                   Yoga just makes me feel good.  Really good.  Why wouldn’t I want that all the time?

3. Breath
In yoga we learn that if you can control your breath, you can control anything.  You            can do anything with breath.  I love this.  Not only is it empowering but the breathing          steadily with movement of yoga has all sorts of positive impacts on your health –                physical and mental.  Stress goes down, happiness goes up.  I always feel so                    awesome after a long or especially focused practice.  And that feeling leaves the                mat when I do.  My connection to the breath and feeling like I can do anything as                long as I keep breathing – that stays with me into all the areas of my life.
On top of that, for me, breath is equated with spirit.  The Greek word we use to talk            about the Holy Spirit, “pneuma”, literally means breath.  Yoga is holy for me because          it physically connects me to the Spirit in a way I don’t often experience elsewhere.

So that’s it.
Those are (a few of) my reasons why I think yoga is great.  And why I think more people should do it.
I mean really – What if everyone were a little stronger, a little more flexible, and a little more peaceful as they went throughout their day?
What if everyone felt good more often?
What if people had a daily reminder of the presence of the Holy Spirit?
Maybe we’d feel more like this…
IMG_7351
Want to try and don’t know how?
Start here.  She’s my fave.
Not annoying. Not complicated or fancy.
Try her “Yoga for Complete Beginners”, “30 Days of Yoga” (if you want to jump into daily for a month), or go through any of her Foundations of Yoga vids to get details on poses.
You can do it.