Every Moment is Unique

Do you remember days or do you remember moments in those days?

There is a story from the book SPIRITUAL LITERACY (Touchstone Books)
by authors Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat. It is about a Brooklyn cigar
store manager named Oggie Rand. Oggie has an unusual habit...at
precisely eight o'clock each morning, he photographs the front of the
store. Always at exactly the same time and from exactly the same spot.
Every morning. Oggie collects his daily snapshots in photograph albums,
each labeled by date. He calls his project his "life's work."

One day Oggie showed his albums to a friend. He had not told his friend about his unusual hobby. Flipping the pages of the albums, the man noticed in amazement that the pictures were all the same.

Oggie watched him skim through the pictures and finally replied, "You'll never get it if you don't slow down, my friend. The pictures are all of the same spot, but each one is different from every other one. The differences are in the detail. In the way people's clothes change according to season and weather. In the way the light hits the street. Some days the corner is almost empty. Other times it is filled with people, bikes, cars and trucks. It's just one little part of the world, but things take place there, too, just like everywhere else."

This time Oggie's friend looked more carefully at each picture. No two were alike. Every picture was unique, just as every moment is unique. Through a series of photographs, he became conscious of one of life's great truths -- that each minute that passes is special, even sacred.

Author Henry Miller said, "The moment one gives close attention to
anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome,
indescribably magnificent world in itself."

And those are the moments we'll remember; the ones for which we stopped everything else long enough to pay close attention.

The lesson for me is this: to pay close attention to each moment. If I look closely enough, I know I'll see that each moment is unique and sacred. And I suspect it will be these moments...not whole days, weeks, months or years...that I will finally remember.

Perhaps much of the happiness and joy we find in life comes from taking
care of the moments.

I'm holding the high watch...in this moment!
Rev.Donna

Who? Me? Addicted?

I spent some time recently with a friend that I don't see or hear from very often any more. Addiction takes up most of my friend's life now. There are many reasons for my friend to hide in addiction, beginning with a horrific childhood. But all I know is...I just feel a loss and a sadness from what used to be to 'what is' today.

And as I contemplated my friend's habits, I started reviewing my own. Ouch! That didn't feel good. Yes, I have a few habits I'd like to change but, for heaven's sake, I wouldn't say I'm addicted. I mean, I would never consider stealing to pay for my habits. I don’t lock myself in the bathroom and shove a needle up my arm or snort things through my nose. My addictions don’t cause car accidents or impair my ability to make decisions. So my addictions aren't dangerous or serious...OR is it just that my addictions are socially acceptable?

I could be dangerous if you try to take my computer or my cell phone away from me! And talk about serious...what about shopping for stress relief? I especially enjoy shopping on QVC or HSN. They make it so easy. I see it, I love it, I order it. The very act of ordering relieves my stress, and I forget almost immediately that I've ordered something. Then there is the "surprise" when the items come to my home. I love getting "surprises" in the mail.

Exercise, internet blogging/gaming, eating, caffeine, shopping, cell phones...all socially acceptable addictions...and I've overdone most of them at one time, as most people have. So perhaps we don't bankrupt the family by shopping, or cripple ourself with exercise, or hide to use the internet...but maybe we are all more addicted than we know.

And maybe some of the sadness I feel for my friend, I'm also feeling for myself.

Matthew 7:3-5
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

I'm holding the high watch...even with a beam in my eye!
Rev. Donna

Watch your language...your body is listening!

Have you heard of Dr. Masaru Emoto and his research into water crystals? Dr. Emoto discovered and documented with photographic evidence that the crystals formed in frozen water vary in appearance depending on the thoughts directed toward them.

The first photo shows water exposed to the words "you make me sick." The second photo shows water exposed to the words "love & gratitude."

Dr. Emoto found that water which had been exposed to loving words show beautiful, complex, and colorful snowflake-like patterns when flash frozen. He also found that water exposed to negative thoughts formed erratic, disjointed shapes with murky colors when they were flash frozen, just like polluted water does.

Notice how the water that received thoughts of love and gratitude formed crystals that were symetrical and clean looking, while the water that received the thought you make me sick is discolored and severely deformed. Perhaps giving thanks for our food is more than an exercise in religious expression!

If you saw the movie, "What the Bleep Do We Know," there was a scene where the movie's principle character, Amanda, missed her train. This gave her time to view photos of Dr. Emoto's frozen water crystals that were on display at the train station.

As Amanda was contemplating the photos, a stranger walked up to her and said, "If our thoughts can do that to water, what can they do to us?" Since our bodies are about 70 percent water, that's an interesting question to ponder.

Our self-talk can affect many areas of our lives, such as our self-worth, attitude, energy level, performance, relationships with others, and . . . our health.

A lot of us have one or more negative, self-critical dialogues that repeat themselves day after day in our minds. We may be so used to it we don't even notice what we say to ourselves. If someone else said to us some of the things we tell ourselves we'd likely be highly offended.

By changing our self-talk from negative to positive we can greatly influence our health, relationships, performance, attitude, and outcomes for the better. When we notice these negative repetitions of the mind we need to replace them with positive affirmations.

When you catch yourself talking negatively to yourself, remember the water crystal experiment . . . your water-filled body might be listening!

I'm holding the high watch!
Rev. Donna

Enjoy life!

SPIRITUAL AEROBICS

Last Saturday I talked with a friend I hadn't seen in several weeks. We met at a funeral...a sad occasion. I said to her, "It's good to see you, too bad it is a sad occasion." Her response to me was, "I enjoy seeing you even on a sad day."

Her response made me think...if I waited only for the sunny days to enjoy life, I would miss out on some great rainy days. How often we put off enjoying life until life is going in the way we think will make us happier...
---- when we make more money
---- when we own our own home
---- when we start that new job
---- when the weekend comes, etc.

We need to live each day and enjoy it. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have dreams and goals. What I am saying, though, is that we need to remind ourselves that everyday is meant to be lived. We are exchanging a day of our life for whatever we are doing. Let's make it worth it!

I'm holding the high watch!
Rev. Donna