Did you know Dr. Marten makes vegan boots?

And, they work great for riding a scooter.  Just sayin.

On making changes...

With the "year of intention" has come many changes.  (I wrote down for my business coach all the changes I've made and have been living out since the first of the year and it was staggering even to me and I'm the one making them.)

I've found it interesting how making changes--even small ones--creates flow and makes change in other areas easier.

Plus by focusing on intention--the purpose and why--my choices have become better aligned with where I want to go and who I want to be.

Of all the "themes of the year" I've picked over the years.  This might just be one of the most powerful ones. 

In depth yoga studies....weekend 8

So, at this point I'm a couple of weeks into my personal practice.  I'm not going to morning classes anymore at a local yoga studio.  Instead, I am doing a practice developed by my teacher especially for me--which is very cool, and requires a different level of discipline when there isn't a class waiting for you.

This weekend of training was about mantra, meditation and Sanskrit.

One of the reasons that Sanskrit is considered so important in yoga is what is believed about the sounds of it--that the sounds resonate in different parts of the body.  So, for people chanting Vedic mantras, the purpose is as much about using them a sort of internal tuning fork as it is for the meaning of it.

For me, the chanting is the one part of yoga practice I can't follow spiritually, but I'm finding that learning the Sanskrit words is really interesting--for one thing, the names of the poses (asana) start to make sense. Now that I know that "eka" is one and "pada" is leg, I have a better mental picture of all the poses that start with "eka pada".

We also talked a lot about using meditation to physically change the brain. Because our brains create synapses to cover new forms of thought and deletes those that are rarely used, there is a physical component to what you do with your brain. So, if you spend all your time worried, depressed or simply in negative forms of thought, you continually reinforce the physical infrastructure to support that.  But if you spend time visualizing what is beautiful, spending time in gratitude or simply being still and feeling compassion, you build the internal framework for that.  I couldn't help but think about the Apostle Paul's words..."...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." - Philippians 4:8

I continue to be very grateful that Shanon Buffington has taken the time to develop such a comprehensive and interesting course. And much more selfishly...that I get to take it.

You can be factually right, but spiritually wrong

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:21-24

It occurs to me that we can be factually right, but spiritually wrong.  Because it doesn't matter how on-point your discourse, if there isn't overwhelming evidence of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in our context, then we've missed it. 

I think there are very human reasons that we miss it.  In a capitalist society we want to own and brand things. (I suspect this is the chief reason we have doctrinal statements that go way beyond the apostles creed.) I'm also fairly certain it is the reason that we promote "being right" over spiritual evidence of the Holy Spirit's participation.

Do we think our "rightness" ensures God's backing? In Romans 3:10, the Apostle Paul references that the scriptures state there are none of us who are "right." 

I think it is time we embrace the humility of that.     

Serendipity in limitation

This week I had jury duty for Denton County...in Denton, a town about 30 min away via highway.  Not a trip I could make on the scooter. This was my first real test of being car-less.

I was investigating taking the train, when Nancy-the-Insightful--who happens to work in Denton, mentioned she could take me.

So, Nancy-the-Chauffeur picked me up at 7am sharp. We ran through Starbucks together and had a lovely conversation during the drive.  Then she dropped me at the door step.

After the initial jury selection, I was released and given instructions to report back in the afternoon, since I couldn't go home, I walked to a coffee house about a mile away.  I passed this mural and actually had time to read it. It brought tears to my eyes. A memorial to someone who was loved and died too young.

I landed at Zera's (said coffee house) which was a great place to write a couple of cards, then work through some of the exercises I've been working on through Rod Stryker's Four Desires book. (Something I've been trying to carve out time to do for several weeks.  Two hours parked in a beautiful coffee shop, gave me that space.)

I walked back to the courthouse in time to report.  A mistrial was declared by 4pm (seriously, they could not get an unbiased jury out of that pool...especially not me.) Anyway, I spent the last hour back at Zera while Nancy finished work, which allowed me to go through two more of the exercises in Rod's book.

I find it interesting that the limitations placed on me....ie) jury duty, lack of a car, etc. allowed me space to do what was potentially the most important thing for me to do this week.

There can be serendipity in limitation. And sometimes, it is so obvious, you don't even need to be mindful to see it.

Sometimes you get surprised...

Friday morning, I was checking my feed reader and saw this.  Samax Amen had drawn me.

Samax is part of the talented Ghostwerks crew who produce comics designed to inspire children. Not only are these guys incredibly talented artists, they are incredible people.

And their project is one worth supporting.

The Ghostwerks crew has always been about creating positive messages in the lives of kids to help drown out far too many negative ones.

Check out the Return of the Champ Kickstarter page and plan to contribute.  Your donation doesn't have to be huge...a crowdsourced effort to bring this book to life and get it into the hands of kids.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/815577875/return-of-the-champ-champion-of-children-vol-1?ref=card

P.S.  And Samax, if you see this...you surprised me...and it was a well-timed reminder that good things can still come out of the blue.  I'm not sure I can quite explain how amazing it is that you captured joy on my face.  It touches me more than you know.  Many thanks.

A year of intention...

Each year, I pick a theme.  For me, 2012 is a year of intention. In the strictest definition, intention is a determination to act in a certain way (resolve) or what one intends to do or bring about.

Typically, when I choose a theme it is a bit intuitive. I never really know exactly what it means until I am in the middle of it. This year of intention has brought about changes I didn't expect--changes I've chosen.

If I were asked to summarize, I'd have to say that it has brought about greater alignment between what is important to me--the things I truly believe in and value--and the way I live my life. 

I'm currently in the middle of a book by yoga guru, Rod Stryker.  He relates the story of how in yoga classes, people walk into a class for the first time and look for the best spot to place their mat.  But every time after that, they simply default to the same spot.  We see that behavior duplicated everywhere.  In churches. At conferences. In what we watch on television. We make a choice once...then we never think about it again. 

Until this year, I was unaware of how many choices I was living by default. Things that had been the same for so long that it didn't occur to me I had options. How I get to work. The things I own. How I do my quiet time. My role at work, home and church. My relationships. The activities I'm involved in.

Focusing on intention on both macro and micro scales has been transformative. And I suppose that by giving myself a year to focus on it...that was intentional too.

The Scooter Experiment

I've been reading a lot about minimalist living lately. The idea is that we have excess--more than what we really need.  And rather than enhancing our life, those possessions become burdens. They take our time. They take our money.  They subtract from our life when they should be adding to it.

For the past year--ever since I saw the movie, Larry Crowne, I've been thinking about how much my car costs me.  The payment, insurance, gasoline and tolls...and I've wondered what it would be like to trade that in for a scooter.

First of all, it would be a lifestyle change--I couldn't just pick up and go across town whenever. But for the 80% usage, I live my life within a ten mile radius. When thinking in those terms, the car becomes excess.

And so begins the scooter experiment. I purchased a used Genuine Scooter Co. Buddy model on Craigslist and put some money into it to fix it. That along with protective gear was about a $1600 investment compared to the $16,000 I spent on my car. (Not to mention to go 80mpg vs. 24mpg).

Of course, everyone always asks, "but what if it rains" to which I remind them that John still has a car and can take me to work. (Though I really should start saying..."OMG! I never thought of that!!!)

In many ways this is a big experiment.  I don't know if it will work long-term.  But I do know that my commute--which used to be a chore--is now pretty fun.

On having your building destroyed...

Last Wednesday, storms went through north Texas and lighting struck Theatre166.

The church I'm part of, Crosspointe, built Theatre 166 as a community theatre.  The name comes from the idea that there are 168 hours in a week and the church only used the building for two of them leaving  the remaining 166 hours for the community to use the space.

During the storm, lighting struck the building and there was total structural collapse over the theatre space.  This happened on the date of our second anniversary.  As David-the-Artist-Pastor said aptly, "On 06-06-2010 God moved us in and on 06-06-2012, God moved us out."

I didn't cry until I saw the pictures of the inside--unsure how to process an "act of God" that wipes out a core part of what you do as a church.

Sunday morning we met together on the lawn outside--a beautiful reminder that the church has nothing to do with bricks and mortar.  Even though the building lay in shambles behind us, the cool breeze was comforting.  As a group, we've been nomadic before, so it didn't seem sad--or particularly unusual--to do so again.

I told John in many ways for me, Crosspointe is like the Island of Misfit Toys (from the Rankin-Bass Rudolph story)--I'm not sure that we fit anywhere else. There are many places in North Dallas to go to church, but until I met David-the-Artist-Pastor, I never had permission to explore and grow in all of the ways that make me different and unique.  It isn't surprising to me that our church was in a strip mall next to a liquor store.  We didn't need the community to become something so that we would be comfortable.  We wanted to go out into the community and let them know that we loved them--not as some big missions project--but because they are us.

We will continue to stay together as the church, but we have no idea what the next chapter looks like. 

The video clip from local news coverage is below.  And yes, that does happen to be me singing in worship...

View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

BFF Weekend

Each year I spend a weekend with four of my best friends from high school and each year I almost always do an immediate blog post about the fun we had.

This year, I found I couldn't blog about it so quickly.

It seems there aren't easy words to describe what I felt about the power of connection. I have so much love for these women and am so proud of who they are and the way their lives are connected to mine.  In deep and simple ways they create beauty--each with their own 'flavor'--that makes the world a better place to live in.

These words aren't very articulate about the emotion. But then they don't have to be. The feeling is enough.

On living change

I've been interviewing people recently for a writing project on navigating change.  Loss, moves, job transitions, lifestyle changes....anything that touches the core of the human experience....both change that is chosen and change that is unexpected.

In interviewing these people, I am blown away at the deep emotional places that change takes us. In what we discover not about the change--or even how to change--but about ourselves.

All of the people I've interviewed have allowed change to take their souls somewhere new. They didn't let themselves "get stuck" in bitterness, denial or self pity.

What kind of change are you facing today?  Can you let it transform you?

In depth yoga studies....week 7

This weekend was spent in Advanced Yoga Studies with Shanon Buffington. I continue to be amazed at the depth and breadth of the class.

We spent some time in Ayurveda--the Indian science of heath and life. Then we moved to bandhas (internal locks), mudras (subtle postures) and pranayama (breath control). The idea is that asana (the yoga poses--what we normally see on the cover of Yoga Journal) can only take you so far.

If asana can release obstructions in prana (life energy--the reason yoga makes you feel so good), then bandhas, mudras and pranayama allow you to focus that energy to create healing.

Shanon even led us in a bit of an experiment.  The first day's practice made me feel terrible.  Agitated. Annoyed. Hot.  But the next day's practice made me feel amazing.  The interesting part is that the poses were exactly the same in the same order, but she changed the breathing, bandhas and context. The difference in how I felt was profound. 

It was a very personal illustration of the power of yoga--one I'm not likely to forget. The way you structure a practice matters if you want to create benefit for students. 

Inspiration

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”

--Helen Keller