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RADIANT LIFE CHURCH ABILENE REPORTER NEWS FULL

Mindfulness is often associated with a lot of fancy definitions. What are the “glimmers” we can anchor into and claim for ourselves? What will help us be resilient during times of struggle? What can strengthen the depth of our mental health and vitality in everyday life? Glimmers are not unlike the “green statements” I wrote about in Stop, Breathe, Believe, and they will be unique for each of us. We’re not talking great, big, expansive experiences of joy or safety or connection, these are micro moments that begin to shape our system in very gentle ways.”Įxamples of glimmers are: seeing a rainbow, smelling lavender, feeling the warmth of the sun, humming, wrapping our body in a soft blanket, a meaningful conversation with a trusted friend, a cup of coffee, or sunlight sparkling on water. According to Deb Dana, LCSW, “Glimmers refer to small moments when our biology is in a place of connection or regulation, which cues our nervous system to feel safe or calm. In the counseling world, the word “glimmer” is used in Polyvagal Theory to refer to something that’s the opposite of a trigger. The way the morning light shone on the pumpkins made me wonder how I would appreciate and “see“ the fall differently after such a hot summer. As I took a pic of the pumpkins and the rich fall colors in the croton to send to a friend, I noticed the glimmer of light. We placed the pumpkins out and planted a croton earlier this year as the planter was bare from the brutal Texas summer heat. Taking refuge in nature allows me to begin looking at embracing my brokenness as an integral piece of my journey. We can, however, compose the ending of our stories, as the choice of our narrative is up to each of us.įor me, one way to shift my narrative and to look at life through a wider lens is to go to nature, reflect on the beauty there, AND pause and go deep within the wholeness nature offers. We may not have the opportunity to control the circumstances of our lives. We have many narratives, many stories that we tell ourselves. And let that shape the larger picture of the world that you’re working with.” Krista offers a generative narrative practice “to set out to become alert and somewhat reverent of what is good and lifegiving in the ordinary encounters of your days: what you read, what you focus on, what you look for and notice in people close to you, and also what you notice in strangers. Krista Tippett, creator and host of the podcast “On Being,” first introduced me to the idea of a “generative narrative,” the concept of desiring to amplify what is good and beautiful without denying what is not.

Never apologize for caring enough that it leaves you aching, yearning for a better world than this.” Sometimes brokenness can mean broken open, a painful but life-giving space that can eventually lead back to wholeness. Shine and sparkle my friends, you’ve got this!

RADIANT LIFE CHURCH ABILENE REPORTER NEWS FULL

In a month of full schedules and long to-do lists, we can choose meaningful encounters with others to offer a touch or word of care. Each day I will offer an idea with the Calendar of Care of who or how we could reach out to another. We are standing on a threshold and we can choose to enter with others with gentle care throughout the month. We have an opportunity to reach out with a heart of care…. We have an opportunity to learn someone’s name that we encounter often and begin calling them by name…. We have an opportunity to invite another to a conversation of care…. We have an opportunity to look in someone’s eyes and ask a caring question…. We have an opportunity to hug a little longer…. We have an opportunity to ask a caring question…and wait and listen for the answer. I picture us crossing through this portal with a sense of vulnerability as we care for others through the month of December – the uneasiness of trying something new, the exposure of not knowing how things will turn out, the risk, the emotional exposure of putting ourselves “out there”. The art in the image above reflects a beautiful opening. How might we open our hearts during this holiday season to one another with intentional and meaningful care and compassion?

Radiant life church abilene reporter news