“I recently read Tools Matter: Beginning the Spiritual Journey. [1] I walk away with two actions that I can immediately implement. I hope you find them helpful too.
Watching Our Thoughts
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“This watching of our thoughts is probably the most effective way of managing our thoughts.” I am not my thoughts. I can step away from my thoughts and observe them. I can acknowledge their presence. What do they tell me? They might inform me that I feel worried, anxious, angry, lonely, sad or unconfident. This is not who I am. This is how I feel and I will be best served if I let them go. “We are not our thoughts. If we do not think about them and go into the commentary and the emotional valences attached to these thoughts, they simply dissolve like a vapor in the air.”
Manual Labor
“The practice of manual labor is when each touch of the hand to the device of labor is single-minded; God springs up and there’s Presence.” God is in all of my work. When I clean the dishes, vacuum the family room, and help my child with his homework, God is present. At work, when I read my multiple emails, perform the same task over and over and over again, or respond to an angry client, God springs up and is present. God is in both the smallest and the largest tasks. God is in both the exciting and mundane functions I perform. Why wouldn’t He be. This forces me to think differently about all of my daily tasks. If God is present then I need to be present, focused and do all work to the best of my ability!
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Go Further
Tools Matter: Beginning the Spiritual Journey by Mary Margaret Funk
Thoughts Matter: Discovering the Spiritual Journey (The Matters Series) by Mary Margaret Funk
Discernment Matters: Listening with the Ear of the Heart (The Matters Series) by Mary Margaret Funk
Humility Matters: Toward Purity of Heart (The Matters Series) by Mary Margaret Funk
Lectio Matters: Before the Burning Bush (The Matters Series) by Mary Margaret Funk
A Journey of Discernment with the teachings of Mary Margaret Funk and other contemplative voices by Contemplative Outreach, Mary Margaret Funk: This e-course explores the contemplative approach to discerning the small and large decisions in life, which comes from cultivating a life practice of unceasing prayer (whatever types of prayer that may encompass for you). Discernment means sorting our thoughts and following the impulse of grace given by the Holy Spirit. As Sr. Meg writes, “Since we are not our thoughts, we can observe them rising and follow the ones that are from God.” This is a way of coming more awake and discovering the spark of divinity burning in our hearts.
[1] Mary Margaret Funk, Tools Matter: Beginning the Spiritual Journey, (Liturgial Press): 2013
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