I had a really busy weekend so I am grateful that today is a public holiday. Waking up naturally without having to get ready to rush out the door is a most under-rated and rare pleasure.
It was so great to have time to yawn and stretch, then pick up the phone to chat with two good friends who live in different time zones - what a treat!
The Sabbath is a weekly day of rest or time of worship which we can make a beautiful act of faith by saying to the Lord, this day I give to you.
Father David called the Sabbath a duty and I completely agree with him, for a day of rest is vital for wellbeing and growth. We all need to take time to slow down, to "cease and desist" from pursuing material goals and remember that it is in the Creator that we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28).
As it was proclaimed so powerfully yesterday at mass in Proverbs 9:6, "Leave your folly, and walk in the ways of perception." We can only do so if we take time to reflect on our actions and the circumstances of the past week, to see where we met Jesus and where we walked past Him blindly. And how we can perhaps catch those missed opportunities in the week to come.
If we do not pause to ruminate, then we will miss the opportunity to nurture our seeds of faith and watch them unfurl tentative pale green fingers toward the sun. We may end up walking in circles, exhausted yet unable to stop walking, compelled as we are by our restless hearts.
Mindfulness and introspection, this is what a day of rest affords. It allows me to assimilate all the wonderful nuggets of wisdom I have received and see how I can apply them to my life so that I can really walk with perception.
One such nugget was a talk I attended last night by Azriel Cohen who gave the group a flavour of what Doctor Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing was about. We were challenged to not just live in the world of intellect and emotion, but of sensation as well.
According to Doctor Stephen Porges who developed the Polyvagal Theory, our physiological state dictates our psychological experience and our range of behaviour. Thus sensation, has its own wisdom.
If we track the sensations in our body, that wisdom may even help us make decisions that save our lives as shared by Azriel Cohen in a personal experience of how he narrowly escaped death.
I know I tend to ignore the sensations in my body to its detriment so last night is a reminder that it is time to listen to my body more acutely and make wiser choices.
As dusk falls, I'm thankful for this day of simply being, of Sabbath.
It was so great to have time to yawn and stretch, then pick up the phone to chat with two good friends who live in different time zones - what a treat!
The Sabbath is a weekly day of rest or time of worship which we can make a beautiful act of faith by saying to the Lord, this day I give to you.
Father David called the Sabbath a duty and I completely agree with him, for a day of rest is vital for wellbeing and growth. We all need to take time to slow down, to "cease and desist" from pursuing material goals and remember that it is in the Creator that we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28).
As it was proclaimed so powerfully yesterday at mass in Proverbs 9:6, "Leave your folly, and walk in the ways of perception." We can only do so if we take time to reflect on our actions and the circumstances of the past week, to see where we met Jesus and where we walked past Him blindly. And how we can perhaps catch those missed opportunities in the week to come.
If we do not pause to ruminate, then we will miss the opportunity to nurture our seeds of faith and watch them unfurl tentative pale green fingers toward the sun. We may end up walking in circles, exhausted yet unable to stop walking, compelled as we are by our restless hearts.
Mindfulness and introspection, this is what a day of rest affords. It allows me to assimilate all the wonderful nuggets of wisdom I have received and see how I can apply them to my life so that I can really walk with perception.
One such nugget was a talk I attended last night by Azriel Cohen who gave the group a flavour of what Doctor Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing was about. We were challenged to not just live in the world of intellect and emotion, but of sensation as well.
According to Doctor Stephen Porges who developed the Polyvagal Theory, our physiological state dictates our psychological experience and our range of behaviour. Thus sensation, has its own wisdom.
If we track the sensations in our body, that wisdom may even help us make decisions that save our lives as shared by Azriel Cohen in a personal experience of how he narrowly escaped death.
I know I tend to ignore the sensations in my body to its detriment so last night is a reminder that it is time to listen to my body more acutely and make wiser choices.
As dusk falls, I'm thankful for this day of simply being, of Sabbath.
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