Thank you Diana. On so many levels, this past year has been unnerving. We can all count our individual challenges. To me, it feels like I've been in "the dark hallway" and unable to find a door or window to escape through. As I ran up and down my narrow path, I found myself tripping over something. OUCH! Frustrated and exhausting, I collapsed. To my surprise, I fell into a "holy chair" that God had placed there for me to rest and refocus. What I discovered was that when I was willing to pause and sink into God's loving arms, both calm and peace and clarity returned. From there, new light beamed into my frightening space and doors opened that I never would have imagined for myself. Once again I am reminded of my guiding mantra, "above all, trust in the slow work of God."
I will be 87 this year! I found this time of isolation has been a gift I needed! Not only has it kept me safe, it has given to time to reflect on how to age fruitfully! I now have time to start my morning being inspired by people like you Donna instead of rushing off to do some volunteer activity that I now realize I don't have the energy anymore. I found organizations like CHQ, Washington National
Cathedral that offered programs
were I heard leaders that inspired me to learn more about such issues like Black Histor!
Finding new ways to connect with friends and family has been so meaniful.
I'm filling my fourth journey writing my reflection caused by what writers like yourself have inspired me to ponder!
Sunday's have been different. I often eat my breakfast or do my nails while listening to a serman!
Dianna I lay my head down at night filled with GRATITUDE!! Bette, GreenValley, AS thanks you for being part of this journey!
Yes, I also identify with temporal dislocation! What is helping me is keeping a daily routine--when I awake, I do chi gong, morning prayer, have a good breakfast with my husband and have my day's activities already planned out the night before I go to bed. I keep a gratitude journal--"Simple Abundance" in which I notate at least 3 highlights/blessings of the day and a "Monk's Journal" in which I write in my zoom meetings, and plans for the day. At day's end, I check in the Monk's Manual" to see if I stayed on track with my goals, etc. and also, what I can do to make the next day better if it didn't go so well. I am learning a lot from this process---like not watching hair raising TV before bedtime and doing what I love.
I am so sorry to hear of your many losses, Sandra. I grieve the most when it's the anniversary of a loss. My only comfort is that the one I lost was a gift, the happy memories and the sure confidence that I will be with them again when I pass over to the other side. And sometimes, I feel my Mum on the other side yet very close to me---I feel her love and concern as she companions me in spirit through this pandemic. I am sure that your Mum is very close to you right now sending you love and strength.
I have wondered for years what life was like before we structured it to fit into 24 hrs, days, weeks, months and years to measure “time“ instead of following natures time: Seasons, growing seasons, Light, dark, cold, and so on and on. This Absence of clock time is a gift in some ways I find. Confusing us, yes, but opening us to see/find other ways to live and survive besides being ruled by man made clocks.
I might offer a contrarian perspective. The keeping of human time has led to the ability to measure time in ever smaller increments... nano seconds. Modern humans are accustomed to accounting for each second and the value of life is measured in time as we know it. As a consequence, we don't know how to be still. Every moment must be filled with activity in ever smaller spans of attention. Thus, when left with only time, we do become disoriented. I think Sabbath is more about the moments you spend with the Creator and those close to you, than it is a marker of the passage of seven days. Sabbath is the sanctification of time and perhaps, even stillness. Quiet times are a blessing to slow down and listen. Rather then disorientation, one might think of it as slowing time down. A year of that is hard to deal with and developing routines to help know where we are is good. But when I have had the chance to be in the wilderness for an extended period, time ceased to matter and I was able to be in the moment, among the Creation, and the freedom of that is always healing to my soul. Perhaps we need help in finding ways to embrace this extended time of stillness and isolation to find the moments in time, the prayers, the meditations - which you talked about as "Deep Focus". With more time comes more opportunity to be in and part of the joy of Creation. And the memory of that may just be on the positive side of the pandemic experience...
Thank you! I have been feeling lost. I’ve also lost days, looking forward to something and then realizing that the event is tomorrow not today. Then wondering what happened to yesterday! Where was I? What happened? Temporal dislocation feels so much better than early onset dementia. Many blessings!
Time is so confusing. I was blessed with a treasure from God 11 years ago. In a blink of an eye this treasure was taken from me last week over a period of three interminable days and nights of suffering. It happened so fast and I was so powerless to fend off death. Now that she has left, the last 11 years just keep flashing through my mind from the first day we met to her passing last week and everything in between. You know how they say your life flashes in front of you as you approach death? That is what this is like but I’m not the one that died. It’s her that flashes by as if 11 years is condensed into a single second.
This is very helpful I have a routine and schedule...and Monday is a Sabbath day to just rest and take care of me...do what I want to do...nothing related to church work, even reading is fictional and for fun. It does help me keep my bearings. The other thing is I joined a NOOM group to keep track of physical health , and recording what I eat has helped me keep focus. It is amazing how days roll into each other and the weeks seem to fly by. Strange. I have a new sense of of an alternate reality and the power and healing effect of silence.
Yes, I can identify with temporal dislocation! The worst thing is the insomnia and a feeling of deja vu. One day pretty much rolls into the other. The months seem to fly yet time seems to stand still. 2020 was a year of family crises. Memories of hospital visits to see my ailing Mum (who sadly passed away on the 4th of January this year 😥) my faith has suffered a major setback but I still visit church and light candles as a source of comfort to my family. Although it is probably automatic these days.
Thanks. I needed this! At times tired of being retired, I wonder how days go by so unremarkably and what to do to mark expectations more meaningfully. There are stories to be told, poems to write, pictures to be drawn and I sit here simply marking time...stuck.
Here in Iceland we are now (knock on wood) Covid free. From time to time there’s a bit of a sense of dislocation, but because of studies, classes, tests....the days are more ordered. Every time I open the student website, my daily calendar is there with its list of all the things to remember. And sticky notes! On the wall, by the bed, in books.....and a flight home at the beginning of May.
There's a name for it! So much of this rang true to me and is helping me understand what I'm experiencing!
Thank you Diana. On so many levels, this past year has been unnerving. We can all count our individual challenges. To me, it feels like I've been in "the dark hallway" and unable to find a door or window to escape through. As I ran up and down my narrow path, I found myself tripping over something. OUCH! Frustrated and exhausting, I collapsed. To my surprise, I fell into a "holy chair" that God had placed there for me to rest and refocus. What I discovered was that when I was willing to pause and sink into God's loving arms, both calm and peace and clarity returned. From there, new light beamed into my frightening space and doors opened that I never would have imagined for myself. Once again I am reminded of my guiding mantra, "above all, trust in the slow work of God."
I will be 87 this year! I found this time of isolation has been a gift I needed! Not only has it kept me safe, it has given to time to reflect on how to age fruitfully! I now have time to start my morning being inspired by people like you Donna instead of rushing off to do some volunteer activity that I now realize I don't have the energy anymore. I found organizations like CHQ, Washington National
Cathedral that offered programs
were I heard leaders that inspired me to learn more about such issues like Black Histor!
Finding new ways to connect with friends and family has been so meaniful.
I'm filling my fourth journey writing my reflection caused by what writers like yourself have inspired me to ponder!
Sunday's have been different. I often eat my breakfast or do my nails while listening to a serman!
Dianna I lay my head down at night filled with GRATITUDE!! Bette, GreenValley, AS thanks you for being part of this journey!
Yes, I also identify with temporal dislocation! What is helping me is keeping a daily routine--when I awake, I do chi gong, morning prayer, have a good breakfast with my husband and have my day's activities already planned out the night before I go to bed. I keep a gratitude journal--"Simple Abundance" in which I notate at least 3 highlights/blessings of the day and a "Monk's Journal" in which I write in my zoom meetings, and plans for the day. At day's end, I check in the Monk's Manual" to see if I stayed on track with my goals, etc. and also, what I can do to make the next day better if it didn't go so well. I am learning a lot from this process---like not watching hair raising TV before bedtime and doing what I love.
I am so sorry to hear of your many losses, Sandra. I grieve the most when it's the anniversary of a loss. My only comfort is that the one I lost was a gift, the happy memories and the sure confidence that I will be with them again when I pass over to the other side. And sometimes, I feel my Mum on the other side yet very close to me---I feel her love and concern as she companions me in spirit through this pandemic. I am sure that your Mum is very close to you right now sending you love and strength.
I have wondered for years what life was like before we structured it to fit into 24 hrs, days, weeks, months and years to measure “time“ instead of following natures time: Seasons, growing seasons, Light, dark, cold, and so on and on. This Absence of clock time is a gift in some ways I find. Confusing us, yes, but opening us to see/find other ways to live and survive besides being ruled by man made clocks.
I might offer a contrarian perspective. The keeping of human time has led to the ability to measure time in ever smaller increments... nano seconds. Modern humans are accustomed to accounting for each second and the value of life is measured in time as we know it. As a consequence, we don't know how to be still. Every moment must be filled with activity in ever smaller spans of attention. Thus, when left with only time, we do become disoriented. I think Sabbath is more about the moments you spend with the Creator and those close to you, than it is a marker of the passage of seven days. Sabbath is the sanctification of time and perhaps, even stillness. Quiet times are a blessing to slow down and listen. Rather then disorientation, one might think of it as slowing time down. A year of that is hard to deal with and developing routines to help know where we are is good. But when I have had the chance to be in the wilderness for an extended period, time ceased to matter and I was able to be in the moment, among the Creation, and the freedom of that is always healing to my soul. Perhaps we need help in finding ways to embrace this extended time of stillness and isolation to find the moments in time, the prayers, the meditations - which you talked about as "Deep Focus". With more time comes more opportunity to be in and part of the joy of Creation. And the memory of that may just be on the positive side of the pandemic experience...
Great post. Thank you.
Thank you! I have been feeling lost. I’ve also lost days, looking forward to something and then realizing that the event is tomorrow not today. Then wondering what happened to yesterday! Where was I? What happened? Temporal dislocation feels so much better than early onset dementia. Many blessings!
Linda Clewell
Time is so confusing. I was blessed with a treasure from God 11 years ago. In a blink of an eye this treasure was taken from me last week over a period of three interminable days and nights of suffering. It happened so fast and I was so powerless to fend off death. Now that she has left, the last 11 years just keep flashing through my mind from the first day we met to her passing last week and everything in between. You know how they say your life flashes in front of you as you approach death? That is what this is like but I’m not the one that died. It’s her that flashes by as if 11 years is condensed into a single second.
This is very helpful I have a routine and schedule...and Monday is a Sabbath day to just rest and take care of me...do what I want to do...nothing related to church work, even reading is fictional and for fun. It does help me keep my bearings. The other thing is I joined a NOOM group to keep track of physical health , and recording what I eat has helped me keep focus. It is amazing how days roll into each other and the weeks seem to fly by. Strange. I have a new sense of of an alternate reality and the power and healing effect of silence.
Yes, I can identify with temporal dislocation! The worst thing is the insomnia and a feeling of deja vu. One day pretty much rolls into the other. The months seem to fly yet time seems to stand still. 2020 was a year of family crises. Memories of hospital visits to see my ailing Mum (who sadly passed away on the 4th of January this year 😥) my faith has suffered a major setback but I still visit church and light candles as a source of comfort to my family. Although it is probably automatic these days.
Thanks. I needed this! At times tired of being retired, I wonder how days go by so unremarkably and what to do to mark expectations more meaningfully. There are stories to be told, poems to write, pictures to be drawn and I sit here simply marking time...stuck.
Here in Iceland we are now (knock on wood) Covid free. From time to time there’s a bit of a sense of dislocation, but because of studies, classes, tests....the days are more ordered. Every time I open the student website, my daily calendar is there with its list of all the things to remember. And sticky notes! On the wall, by the bed, in books.....and a flight home at the beginning of May.
Pandemic prison. Yep. This reflection is so helpful! Thank you!