Category Archives: reflective and awareness

Aids to faith and reflective living

This afternoon I find myself sitting beside a beautiful lake around 20 miles from my home,. although it is a sunny day it is windy to and the lake is turbulent with the water up to the top of the lake sides. The water is making beautiful patterns rolling in various directions.

The swans are bobbing up and down, feeding and sometimes cleaning their feathers, whilst the beautiful ducks are taking a nap in corners of the grassy area which fronts the lake.A few fishing boats rock about on the lake, and on the other side there are lovely green fields sprinkled by little cottages, which appear to meet the sky,. strangely enough no animals are at rest in the fields this afternoon.Just this moment some ducks rushed out of the water and began scolding and shaking themselves.I.wonder if the drake is scolding his wife?

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the increase in interest and activity of global warming,and the war in ukraine we as a result,are regressed,and in some cases not always rational This is because of the continuing inciduous nature of ongoing stress with little return to safety or normality Our struggles to do normal things also create stress and anxiety and so we may be remaining in hyperarousal our stress hormones always on the up.

Returning to faith and meaning in this challenged and changed world is not easy even for people and church communities who have a history of strong faith and practice. We have just celebrated Easter and I am reminded of Doubting Thomas the disciple who needed to see the risen Christ and place his hands on his wounds so he could believe Jesus was not a ghost.Jesus facilitated this and told him “be not faithless but believing”

With the aforementioned stresses we have mentioned it is not surprising our bodies and minds have gone into regressive and unbearable places and may,at times, feel barely human.Added to this are anxieties re health treatments and the ordinary anxieties of life.

How do we hold the juxtaposition between faith and belief?umh not so easy,is it?Even if one has just a little faith in God little is much when God is in it.Martin Lolyd Jones taught that the principle outlined in John,s vision in Revelation was to stop looking down and poking into things that we cannot understand or assimilate instead we need to look up to God John was called to” come up here” and he looked and observed the power of God ,and saw he was in control.

Lets look up and use the beauty all around us to remember God is in charge plant your feet firmly in his word and remember the many narratives you know where God intervened and resolved the situations.Hold unto the two words”But God”Wherever you are just now breathe!

Walking and observing

I have been thinking how there are two opposite and opposing behaviours prevalent at the moment.One is to get out and walk observing and enjoying nature and the other is to rush home as quickly as you can,back to the safety of the house.

Lets walk through these behaviours together and consider how we may make them more natural,or what we called normal once.We might also ask the question What is the cause of this ,or these behaviours.No I haven’t lost it,at least not yet.

It feels good,doesn’t it to motivate oneself to get out in the air especially on a good day? There are many wonderful things to see, hear ,smell ,taste and feel,but,. it would appear,that it is not what a walk is for anymore a walk is to commit to reasonable health practice but get away from others,as quickly as possible and back to ‘a safe place’ .

Lets imagine we don’t walk but saunder, or go for a stroll.taking it easy and observing around us with all our senses,such behaviour develops our awareness and connection to nature and to others and is a way of managing the horrible inciduous continuing traumatic stress posed by the ongoing sidelined pandemic.

To challenge these behaviours we need to focus on going out and coming in.Going out can be a labour because of the time we are living in,and coming home is not as safe as it was,as we are forever hooking up to lateral flow equipment.

I suggest that going for a saunter,as above has also a positive influence on how we come home as our awareness experience will enpower us to positive thinking and help control the stressful feelings we live with.

If we cut to the Quick, what we are dealing with is continual hyperarousal as the stress hormones are continually in use putting us into guard positions constantly.

Strolling or sauntering gives you and I the chance to be aware of breathing and be grateful for it.We are not in a rushing mode so it is not noticeable when we go that bit slower or stop to glance around we can feel our breathing and observe the wellness of it spreading around our bodies.its as though the body is talking to us,but we need to listen as its not speaking in English.

Gong out ,and being out in this way influences how we come in again to the safe place.If you like its a form of renewal which can enable our return to less stressful ways of living allowing the ebb and flow of our bodies to be more natural.Think about it practice it.

LOVE YOURSELF AND YOUR SURROUNDINGS!