Virtual Pause Angie Winn

June 10, 2024

“All men seek peace first of all with themselves. That is necessary
because we do not naturally find rest even in our being. We have to learn to commune
with ourselves before we can communicate with other men and with God. A man who
is not at peace with himself necessarily projects his interior fighting into the
society of those he lives with, and spreads a contagion of conflict all around
him. Even when he tries to do good to others his efforts are hopeless, since he
does not know how to do good to himself. In moments of wildest idealism he may
take int into his head to make other people happy: and in doing so he will overwhelm
them with his own unhappiness. He seeks to find himself somehow in the work of
making others happy. Therefore, he throws himself into the work As a result he
gets out of the work all that he puts into it: his own confusion, his own disintegration,
his own unhappiness.” Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island

Sometimes we feel like we are floating comfortably on a raft
down a calm river, at peace and at home with ourselves. Other times we feel
like we are in class IV rapids, grasping at little inner tubes as they float
by, trying to survive, pulling in lifelines where we can.

Today we will get ourselves back on the raft through our
pause, and then discern the stake of the tent that we need to strengthen to be
able to come back to peace and rest.


Photo by Vicko Mozara on Unsplash


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June 10, 2024

There are times in our lives where we feel that we may not
where we are going. We may be in a space of waiting, or not fully immersed into
one thing. We may feel lost or purposelessness in the ordinary. Letting go of
needing to know where we are going, being seen a certain way, and feeling a
sense of security, allows us to be content in the place where God has us.

When I am among the trees,

Especially the willows and the honey locust,

Equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,

They give off such hints of gladness.

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,

In which I have goodness, and discernment,

And never hurry through the world

But walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves

And call out, “Stay awhile.”

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,

“and you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy,
to be filled

With light, and to shine.”

Mary Oliver, When I am Among the Trees

Photo credit: Alex Winn, Australian hike


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June 3, 2024

Today we are going to do a longer pause – taking more time to
settle our bodies, quiet our minds, open our hearts, and connect to our source.
So if you can spread out we will be on our feet doing some movements.

“Awaken us to the Oneness of all things, to the beauty and
truth of Unity. May we become aware of the interdependence of all living
things, and come to know You in everything, and all things in You. For as we attune
to your Presence within us, we know not separation, and joy becomes our dwelling
place.” Excerpted from Psalm 106, Nan Merrill, Psalms for Praying


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May 20, 2024

Sometimes when we are in flux – uncertainty – in one or more aspects
of our lives, we begin to try and control something to alleviate the discomfort
that flux brings. And that control brings chaos in our lives and the lives of
others. That is the flux factor – the unintended consequences of our behaviors
when we are feeling out of control. In today’s episode, we will identify where
we are “fluxing” and how we are responding to it, and then, through a Pause,
try to settle ourselves and let go of the need to feel “ok”.

In our spirit section I read from Rainer Maria Rilke,

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try
to love the questions themselves…Live the questions ow. Perhaps you will then
gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”


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April 28, 2024

Looking at an oak covered with moss this weekend, I realized that
my current situation is like the clump of moss in the tree. And I am trying to
solve the problem by staying inside the moss. As Albert Einstein said, “We
cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.”
Today we are going to shake off the moss and let ourselves be free from it,
reaching up to the sun-lit, silent sky for insight and solutions.

Here I am, trapped again

fixing the quandary by piling on more dirt in the trenches I’ve
carved out for myself.

Suffocating under the dirt I cling to, I fling

blinding myself with my own chaos.

It’s not in there,

the answer, the validation, the path you look for

It’s not in there,

the healing and insight you seek.

Shake it off,

Shake off the dirt

the moss that clints to you

and reach for the silent sun-lit sky

Be

  then Free

   then See

For my designs for your life are immeasurable, unspeakable.

Be

Free

See.

-Angie Winn

 


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April 15, 2024

Sometimes we need a little help loving others and loving ourselves!
Today I will guide us through an adaptation of a Loving-Kindness Meditation from
John Kabat-Zinn to help us experience a sense of love for ourselves and our
community. I will then follow it up with this encouragement from Ephesians 3:17-19

“And I pray that you, being rooted and
established in love,  may have power, together with
all God’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and
deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that
surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the
fullness of God.”

https://www.mindful.org/this-loving-kindness-meditation-is-a-radical-act-of-love/



photo credit: elena-mozhvilo on unsplash


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