The Well

Monday was so nice because I got an extra day with George. YAY! I was sad that he was sick, but it was so nice, and it makes us both realize that he needs to come back home. I cannot believe it has been seven years in May. He has loved his job until this recent change. So we are praying for a miracle job close by.

He rested all day, and we went up to Portland for our Type One Enneagram panel. It was amazing how the energy went down after the energy of the Type Three panel two weeks ago! He still wasn't feeling very well. So that also was another reason why it was possibly more subdued. 

I really have loved sitting next to Amy these last two weeks. She is quieter, but she is a Type One, and it has been helpful to get her healthier insights. Her husband will be on the panel for the Type Seven. That will be so nice to hear.  Overall, I think this class has been so helpful for me.

Tuesday in class was a quick class with bands and the other one was an advanced class where we did the high …

I am going to just keep reposting this for a running list of the books I have read this year.

1. Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
2. A Gentleman in Moscow
3.. Slaughterhouse-Five
4. Dombey and Son
5. Chronically Hurtful People: How to Identify and Deal with the Difficult, Destructive and Disconnected
6. Cat's Eye

In process: The Guns of August and The Guermantes Way (Yes, I am back to reading the tome of Proust - I broke down and got the unabridged audiobook, and I love it! I got two free books through the Audible Prime Free Trial.)

I had to check this out two times. I could not get into it the first time, but that might have been because my "fiction space" was so occupied with Dombey and Son by Dickens that I had no room for a modern author. When I finished Dicken, I realized I only had five more days to finish this 17-hour audiobook, but it was a fairly free weekend (with hubby sick and two things canceled), and I am prepared for the Instinctual Variant teaching I am doing. So, I decided to blitz it and take lots of walks and do things around the house. (Thus combining my blindspot of the self-preservation instinct [Zones for managing my home and take care of my body] with something I love to do and more in the Sexual instinct [anything that arouses or excites or takes you on an adventure - BOOKS!].)

Once I could fully focus, I really see the beauty of this book and why it would be on the 1000 Books to Read Before You Die List. It is a first-person narrative about a Canadian woman who comes of age in t…

The message on my Examen app for this week is about being grateful for ordinary things. :) 

Ordinary things I am grateful for from yesterday:
1) A warm and comfortable bed to sleep in
2) Moment by Moment book. I am so glad I am doing this in the interim between "ordinary time" and Lent.
3) Warm and delicious chai tea freshly brewed in the morning. An Indian grocery store three minutes from my house to buy fresh cardamon pods and Red Label Orange Pekoe tea
4) An iPhone to listen to books, podcasts on Examen prayer, Pray as You Go morning prayer
5) A fantastic library system that lets me check out almost any audiobook I want for FREE
6) Books - many people in the world do not have libraries and cannot afford to buy books
7) Bibles galore in many different translations
8) A candle burning and giving me light in the morning
9) Electricity to see what I am studying
10) A stove and oven that works properly
11) A car 
12) A grocery store 10 minutes away that has everything we would ever want or…

Yesterday was really nice. I had a totally free day and woke up at 3:15am! I had a long and luxuriant time with God. It was lovely. I spent time in 

MOMENT 3: To recognize and claim my longing for God. 

"Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I give them will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." (Jn 4)

After this, I went for a walk in the 28-degree sunshine. BURR! But so nice. I walked in the schoolyard and listened to Dombey and Son. 

After this, I had a phone call with one of my directees. Yes, it was a free day, but she had asked me to pray for a situation, and I had asked for more specifics. She has had a wonderful time of discerning in a decision, and she has decided to leave a ministry she has been in for many years. She would be telling the leaders in a couple of hours. We prayed, and she texted later to say it went really well. I cannot wait to see where God has her next!

After this, I did some hou…

My spiritual director, Joan, recommended I read this years ago. I bought it but never read it. She reminded me about it recently. It is helpful, and I was able to talk on the phone with the author, and that was great. She said, "We empaths can get sucked into toxic people's webs." This was helpful on many levels. I can see I have grown in dealing with difficult people, but I can always grow more. This was hard to read, but it was good.

After reading many contemporary novels lately, it was nice to go back to Dickens with a story I knew nothing about. It is a story about family and forgiveness, and it has all the familiar charm that we all know and love about Dickens. He has such a great way of combining tragedy and humor. I love his use of alliteration through the book: "Bunsby's Boys Bearing umBrellas" is just one of numerous examples. 

There are evil characters and perfect characters and all the delightful minor characters that make one laugh. 

It is a 37-hour audiobook. The award-winning narrator, Frederick Davidson, does such a good job. He makes the characters come alive. 

Now I am off to watch the mini-series I found on Amazon Prime!

I ask for your light to be shed on my day. Let me be aware of your presence with me as I reflect on the past day. 

Two to Three Things that I am grateful (not necessarily big things, anything that blessed my day):
1) Moment by Moment 18th Annotation - I am a bit ahead in my 19th and thought I should do it to see if I can recommend it or not.
2) Dombey and Son - I love the writing of Charles Dickens!
3) My students - love love love my students this term. Full of life and laughter. So life-giving!

Review of Day from Start to Finish: Where did you accept God's invitation to be loving, grateful, to be yourself? Where did you turn away from it?

Getting Up - It was calm and I ate breakfast. I had time in Moment 1: To become more attentive to God's presence and action in my daily routine. I loved praying and journaling and having some aha moments as I looked at a quote above the desk I don't usually use: "Love forgives and disregards the offenses of others" (1 Peter 4:8 in th…

Oh, what a difference a day makes. I am much better today than I was yesterday. I will leave at 10:15 to go and do Dial-A-Book deliveries. I think having Valentina and Peter here for the morning was very life-giving for me. I like people interaction. I don't have to have a lot of it, but I like it. Yesterday morning was just harder, but once I went to teach my two classes, I was fine. I was almost not going to go to my Cardio Weight Training, but it was good for me. My back was a little hurt from a vigorous ride into work. I should have warmed up my body a bit before I hopped on my bike and went full-out. I wanted to beat my record, and I made it in 15 minutes. My past record was 16 minutes. It was great to get there earlier so I could warm up the room for my students. They didn't seem to mind the silent class, and I know I really like it. Thursday will be weights for the Pilates II and a quick class for the Pilates I with a nice rollout on the rollers.

Today, it is Dial-A-Book…

Yesterday was a great day. I woke up this morning so different from how I went to bed. I miss George this morning. It is his birthday, and I was hoping to go up to see him but I realized that 1) Paul will not have a car to get to work, and 2) I have Valentina and Peter coming in the morning. So, it won't work out. 

I am also going to do a silent class this morning for both classes, and I am always tentative to do this. It doesn't always please people, and you know how I love to please "all the people all the time." :) HAHAHAHAHAHA.

It really is fine. I will figure it out. A part of me just wants to go back to bed. So maybe I am not feeling well. I cannot tell. 

I had such a productive day yesterday getting my handouts and exercises ready for the little workshop I am going to do on March 7. I don't know what my problem is right now. So I will just go with the feeling. 

A part of it is that little monsters of doubt came back about all the junk spewed at me in December.…