Cobwebs of the human mind

I just got back to my office after being gone for eleven days. What a spider-web mess I found on the outside of my windows! Geez… The place looked like I hadn’t been here for three months.

As I swept cobwebs away from the brick and glass, I thought about how frequently I had to clean in order to keep my premises looking nice and spiffy. A few days off duty, and the build-up of dust, dirt and neglect get totally out of hand. It’s almost a daily effort in the summer to keep the windows clear.

While picking up litter too, I found parallels between how often physical premises have to be cleaned for proper maintenance to the diligence required to keep our mental premises clean. There can be no vacations from the pursuit of spiritual growth if we want to keep our mental home maintained to a high standard and free of pain, suffering and disease. As soon as we retreat from proper moral and spiritual care of our thinking, the spiders and dirt of the carnal mind move in and take over making a mess to clean up until we decide to pay attention once again.

It’s easier to keep unwanted intruders out before they invade the sanctity of our consciousness in the first place. That's what daily prayer is all about--keeping our standard for living high and staying there. It's worth the effort.

A trip to Banff

My family has planned a road trip to Banff National Park in Canada for several months. We left last Sunday after church for Sandpoint, and made our way up to the Lake Louise area on Monday.

Before we left, a friend said to me, “Oh, it must be nice to have a vacation.” I replied, “I’m not sure exactly what a vacation is, but it will be nice to spend long periods of devoted time with my wife and teenagers!”

My family is incredibly understanding of the work I do in praying for others and helping them spiritually. They give me time in the early morning and periodically throughout the day to step aside and answer calls from people in need and keep up with my practice. I know some practitioners will turn off their phone and stop answering emails for several days, or even weeks, in order to get away from their daily routine. And I can see why they do. We all need our “wilderness” time, like Jesus spent in solitude, quietly communing with God and recharging the spiritual batteries, one might say.

I find that I can recharge my spiritual batteries very fast though, generally, in a few hours if necessary. So, for me, getting away from the office is for the purpose of spending more time with my family, which is what we’re doing right now. And I seek a balance on these trips that blesses all.

I find great strength in helping others, which for me, is done most effectively through my healing practice. If I stay on top of things metaphysically, I’m much more fun to be around! And that makes for a happier vacation. So, my wife and I have worked out a mutual kind of understanding that allows me to keep my practice going, but also allows me consecrated time with her and the kids.

I like to think of my whole life as a vacation from mortal mind.

I know from experience that when I pray for someone, I stay strong and well myself. If I get self-absorbed in an activity that is only for me, I can quickly go downhill in spirit, energy, and joy. This is one reason I write these blogs. A tremendous amount of spiritual energy and strength comes to me when I share inspiration with others. It’s an amazing thing to experience. I’m sure many of you can attest to the same.

A self-absorbed life is like a death-spiral into a dark pit. A spiritually outward and expressive life is a path upward that brings heavenly and lasting joy.

So, we’re having a grand time up here in Banff this week. My practice goes on, but the family is growing stronger than ever as we travel together, hike together, talk together, pray together, plan together and stay together. God is good, and there’s plenty of that goodness to go around for everyone.

Here's a couple of pictures...

Looking down on Banff and nearby scenery

Evan and Kathy at Lake Louise

Days on vs. days off

Do you look forward to a day off? A lot of workers do.

A couple of weeks ago, after listening to a professional talk about his heavy work schedule and how he looked forward to days off when he could lounge about and do nothing, a new view of time off from work struck my point of view.

I thought, “Instead of looking forward to days off, why not look forward to days on!”

I mean really! The concept of “days off,” is not very inspiring. It works out from a negative premise, implying that a large part of one’s life is spent doing things one would rather not do and needs to get away from.

If that is the case, then some major change in priorities needs to take place. Life is designed to be a joy to live. Yes, difficult and challenging periods occur, but overall, we should be enjoying our entire life, at work, at home, and everywhere else.

But, aside from that…why not look forward to “days on” instead of “days off?”

And by “days on” I’m talking about days that are filled with progressive spiritual exploration, adventure and inspiration.

A “day on” is not one of emptiness, idleness and frivolity, but space where worldly worries and fears are put aside and time and effort is dedicated to growing spiritually and living that spirituality. It’s a day with God.

Everyday should be a day with God. Everyday should be a “day on!”

If you can’t see that far yet, though, and still look forward to Friday evening, I’d encourage you to at least see the weekend in terms of days on with God rather than days off from work.

The rest of the week might become more enjoyable too!

Smiles…

Keeping out the dust and cobwebs

I’ve been out of my office for two weeks while teaching a class on Christian Science elsewhere in town. During this time, I stopped by to pick up my mail and check on the premises, but otherwise, had no time for regular housekeeping.

Yesterday was my first full day back, and man-o, did I have cleaning to do! It’s amazing how dusty and dirty a place can get in two weeks. Especially in the desert climate I live in.

Do you know what I’m talking about??

I had to pick up fallen leaves from my Fichus plant, vacuum the floor, sweep cobwebs off the outside of my windows, pick up strewn litter on the lawn, dust furniture, and more. I’ll spare telling you about the “more…”

As I cleaned, I thought about how persistent we must be to keep our physical homes clean from gathering dust and cobwebs. We cannot leave a place for an extended period of time and come back expecting to find the premises as sparkling clean as we left them if no attention was given to the place in the meantime. Dust accumulates. Bugs move in and make a home. Plants need to be watered.

And then I thought about how equally persistent we must be to keep our mental home free of gathering dust and cobwebs! It’s a different kind of dust that moves into thought, but equally as offensive. Dusty thinking like apathy, indifference, forgetfulness, lack of spiritual growth, energy and vigor, contribute to an environment of thought that is unpleasant to occupy. A few days of spiritual neglect, and bam-o, we have a mess to clean up!

This summer, with countless people taking vacations, I considered how important it is to not take a mental vacation from proper mental housekeeping while traveling. If we’re tempted to leave prayer behind and stop growing spiritually while sunning on the beach or walking through shops, we might have a mess to clean up when we return home. Mental dust gathers, subtle fears mount, latent worries increase, unless checked by truth.

It might be a whole lot easier to keep the broom of truth sweeping through consciousness moment by moment, even if it requires some spiritual time-outs between tanning sessions, than have to deal with an accumulated mess later on. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” an old proverb states.

That’s what I’m thinking anyway…

Life is not a check off list

When my wife and I talked about what we’d do while in NYC for two days over Memorial Day weekend, it was tempting to lay out an itinerary of places we wanted to see, and then hoof it around from one place to the other until we worked our way down the desired list.

But we also wanted to enjoy our time together and not be hurried by a jammed schedule of things to do. So we decided that our goal was not to “do things,” but to enjoy each other’s company and let the spirit move us as it willed.

So we made a list of sights we’d like to see, but set no schedule as to when or how.

You must understand that letting go of a schedule is a major accomplishment for me. I’ve always been strong on order and planning out things ahead of time to avoid mishaps. But I’m also learning that there is a higher order already in place that I can trust to appear in a timely way. I don’t have to know ahead of time what the Big Plan is except to know there is one and it’s very good--a scheme much better than I could ever figure out myself.

So, I put Evan’s planning aside, and trusted God’s planning.

Kathy was happy to agree!

Saturday morning, we decided to walk through Central Park and eventually end up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

As we strolled through the park at a leisurely pace watching the young children play, the ducks swimming in the ponds, the musicians playing their instruments, boats floating in the boat pond, and hard working citizens taking a well-earned moment to relax and soak in some sun, I rejoiced in seeing more clearly that life is not a check-off list of jobs and tasks that need to be done.

Pond in Central Park where part of Stuart Little was filmed

Lists can help keep order, but they are not the end-all and be-all of existence. Life is so much more than human tasks accomplished.

Life is a spiritual experience, not a check-off list.

Life is about feeling close to God and practicing love.

Life is not things we have to do. Life is what we ARE doing!

Life is love lived.

I felt a lot of love while meandering down the paths and around the bends of Central Park last Saturday. And I believe it was easier to feel because I had put a preconceived agenda of what to do that day totally aside. We were letting the Spirit move us, and the effect was one of no strain or stress, no hurry or rush, but peace, calm, quiet, restfulness—love felt.

Jesus let the Spirit move him, but he also had a strong sense of order in his life. He knew he had a mission to accomplish. He knew what his Father-Mother expected of him, and he worked hard to be a faithful son. But he also mentally dwelt at that happy median of trusting the Spirit to lead him each day and move him in a progressive direction. He didn’t humanly schedule his life, but spiritually lived it.

Some people have no problem forsaking lists, but then they struggle with finding order. I am looking for the happy median--order--but freedom too.

It is comforting to understand that God’s plan is better than mine.

It certainly was comforting last weekend!

We still visited a large number of places in two days, but at Spirit’s restful pace, and not in a mortal mind hurried race. The weekend was truly a delightful time.

Christmas week

My family and I got back Saturday from a 9 day trip to our cabin in the Blue Mountains in Oregon State, and as usual, the venture was packed full of spiritual lessons.

We had a great time—peaceful, fun, and spiritually progressive.

We always pray together for health, safety and wise decision-making before going on a trip. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” as the old proverb goes. We can always find a cure when we need one, but preventing a problem in the first place is most desirable!

Except for one evening when Tyler came back severely limping in great pain and distress from bending his leg backward in a hole while running down a snow covered hill in the dark, all went well!

While sitting with him on the couch I reminded him that he was spiritual. He nodded his head in agreement between sobs and listened while I continued to talk to him about his indestructible and unhurtable spiritual self. He calmed down quickly and agreed that God was taking care of him and he would be fine. He favored the leg for a day, but was still able to drive a snowmobile and play with his friends. We are grateful for his rapid recovery. He has always been a very spiritually responsive kid.

Here's Tyler on Balloon Tree Ridge:

Many of you asked how my Christmas day went after I blogged my entry on Christmas eve telling how busy my practice was with emergency cases Christmas 2005.

This year was different! Much calmer than the previous year.

I prayed ahead of time for a day of balance so I could spend a healthy amount of time with my family. I had a dozen or so calls and emails for help, mostly early in the morning, so the holiday was very quiet practice-wise. I was able to cook Christmas dinner with my wife, play Skip-Bo in the afternoon and enjoy a movie with the gang in the evening. It was a bonding progressive day all the way around.

I cannot take a true vacation from my work. My wife knows this.

Whenever we go on a vacation, I take my practice with me. I have such a strong commitment to my patients that I can’t imagine not being available for longer than a half day if a patient expecting to get me calls for help and they really need help. So I’ve learned to set blocks of time aside that I devote wholeheartedly to a family activity, like in the evenings, on the weekends, or on our trips away from home, and then check in with my practice to be sure everyone’s needs are met.

To understand the logic of my work-style you have to understand that the work I do is not work in the traditional understanding of the word. Done rightly, it’s pure bliss and joy. It’s health inducing, happifying and strengthening. My work is to know Truth and Love. No one, in my estimation, can name a single activity in this world that is better for your health, happiness and well being than actively knowing the omnipresence of Truth and Love--which IS practicing Christian Science.

When I stop my work, I start to feel like I’m falling apart. I’m not kidding. That’s when things go downhill. When I keep my thought inspired with spiritual reality, I feel on top of the world, on top of error, and I’m ready to respond to whatever calamity is thrown in my direction. I’m strong. I’m well in a spiritual state of mind. So, to go on a true vacation, for me, is to vacate thought of materialism, disease, and sinful distraction. That’s when I feel my best.

We were particularly adventuresome this week with a pair of Polaris 550 RMK snowmobiles we recently bought. If you want to get a 13 year old boy excited, give him a snowmobile to drive…man, oh man… Thing is, Jenna, our 16 year daughter, had just as much fun as Tyler did riding those power machines.

Here's Jenna all bundled up on a trail:

One evening, we decided to have pizza at the Tollgate Country Store, and part of the fun would be driving our sleds five miles through the forest, at night, to get there. We paired up on each rig. I sat behind Tyler as he navigated his way through the woods. I enjoyed soaking in the scenery, with the stately evergreen trees drenched in the moonlit night, the feather-light layers of white from recent snowfall, and the tranquility of the quiet forest that had not a worry on its still mind.

When we arrived, I spewed out, “Wow! That was such a quiet, peaceful, beautiful trip through the woods.”

My wife retorted, “What quiet? How can you say it was peaceful while riding those loud noisemakers?” Humbled, I realized that I was so caught up in the beauty of our surroundings, I hadn’t noticed the noise of the machines.

Later, I realized there was a lesson there for shutting out the noise of the world to hear the voice of God. Material sense cannot overwhelm our spiritual senses. We must tune-in, like tuning our radio to the station we want to hear. When tuned into one station, we don’t pick up signals going to another.

Friday afternoon, Tyler and I sped the snowmobiles up to Balloon Tree Ridge, a crested hill at the 6000 foot elevation that was an out-of-the-way paradise for sled riders. It was glorious!

Wide open expanse, bumps and hills, dips and turns that would keep any snowmobiler in their element for hours. Whizzing across the open fields at 50 mph gliding over humps catching air over dips and plowing through down-soft snowdrifts is a thrill one doesn’t forget shortly.

Sunny but cold, one had to be dressed warmly to survive. I took off my gloves for a few seconds to maneuver a camera, and my fingers went numb before I could snap one picture. I could not feel the straps on my helmet to buckle it back on so left them dangling until we returned to warmer territory and I was thawed out.

Myself on Balloon Tree Ridge ready to put my helmet back on before I froze:

My sensationless fingers reminded me of the wisdom of not exposing oneself to elements one is not prepared to deal with. This happens frequently in mental environments. People too often naively enter situations they are not equipped to handle metaphysically, and get blind-sided by harmful surprises. We were dressed appropriately for the environment we were in, but were not able to endure without that protection!

“Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

On our last day in the hills, I said to my family while eating lunch around the cabin table, “This was one of the best Christmas vacations I can remember!” They nodded in agreement. It was a long stretch of time in one place removed from the busy-busy of the world, but with friends, children and neighbors in nearby cabins to enjoy the outdoors with. We came home rested, improved, and ready to begin a new year.

Wishing you all a Happy and progressive New Year!

What to do with downtime

Americans have more leisure time then ever, but don’t know how to use it to their advantage, the Washington Post reports in the article, “Leisure overload?”

Over the decades, workers have become more productive, wages have risen, hours worked per week have decreased and discretionary time has increased. But many feel more stressed out and anxious than ever. Why the contradiction? One might ask.

Could it be we need more spirituality-based activity in our leisure time?

Have you ever gone on a long vacation and come back home more tired than before you left? I have, and I learned from the experience that a true vacation is not getting away from a job sight or home front. It’s getting away from burdensome thoughts and perspectives.

Enduring rest doesn’t come from tanning on the beach or walking through the woods. Genuine rest comes from soaking in spiritual inspiration and gaining new spiritual insights. One can do these things while lying on the beach or walking through the forest, but without some type of spiritual improvement and regeneration, these activities have little positive effect.

Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “God rests in action….The highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint, is in holy work.”

It’s easy to fill leisure time with endless ways of entertaining the material senses. But the effect of sensual over-indulgence typically leaves one feeling empty and wanting. I've found that the more fulfilling way is to fill those hours with activity that brings me closer to God and feeling more spiritually minded. The fresh inspiration we gain stays with us long after the hours seeking it have passed!

So, when you're looking for something to do with your next day off, seek out your spiritual options, and plan accordingly. The good effect from being spiritually productive will take you up a few notches in the scale of true happiness and leave you feeling genuinely rested for the effort.