Blog at reneemiller.org: Principles for daily living

Advent is Coming

11/27/2018

Advent is Coming!

The word advent is part of the word 'adventure.' From the Latin adventura, it means something that is about to happen. We think of Advent as the season that tells us that what is about to happen is Christmas! The problem is, we're focusing more on Christmas than Advent. The number of demands and expectations that surround the coming of Christmas have made many 'opt out' of all the festivities in order to avoid the stress that goes along with all that Christmas has come to mean in contemporary culture. Others try to keep up with it all and are exhausted by the end of the season. One way to strike a balance is to prepare for Christmas (decorating, shopping, cooking, wrapping presents, and such) but with your soul steeped in Advent noiselessness. Advent occurs in the winter; it is a time of 'hunkering down,' and waiting. It is a time of darkness and silence. Yet, the Christmas frivolity and associated chaos can strip those powerful times of interior quiet from us. Here are four tips for staying in the Advent/Christmas balance:

Take 2 minutes at the beginning of the day, and at the close of the day to go outside (no matter how cold it is) and breathe in the chilly air, and feel the silence of the sky.
Carry Psalm 131:3-4 in your heart: "I still my soul and make it quiet. Like a child upon its mother's breast; my soul is quieted within me. Wait for God, from this time forth for evermore." Several times a day, take a deep breath in and relax; repeat the verses; take another deep breath in and relax; notice the quiet in your soul.
Look for the places of silence around you -- the interior of your car when you're driving alone, the bathroom, your office cubicle, your kitchen in the middle of the night. It's not easy to find places of silence these days, but giving special attention to looking for them during Advent will yield a powerful reward.
Make as little noise as possible when you do things like eating, doing the dishes, walking through the house. Notice what it is like to leave a quieter 'footprint' in your world. When you live more noiselessly, you’ll find your inner noise is quieted as well.

The days of Advent can help cultivate inner stillness that makes preparing for Christmas festivities less agitating and stressful. Advent is not only about saying institutional prayers, opening Advent calendar windows, singing strange and unfamiliar hymns, and lighting candles; it's about preparing silently for a very great adventure that could last way past Christmas!

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There is No Good Stress

11/17/2018

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So here's an heretical thought: All stress is bad and makes life less than it could be. There is no good stress.

Oh, I know. There's 'eustress' - a word and concept coined by endocrinologist Hans Seyle that's supposed to be 'good stress.' Eustress is meant to describe how a stressor is perceived and whether it's seen as negative or positive. Unfortunately, eustress seems to have become a rallying cry that certain stressors are good for us. That without 'good stress' we will become lazy, complacent, slugs on the couch with no motivation to move forward in life. Yet daily life is so full of stress for most of us that there's little chance we will ever become slugs on couches. We are, however, very much in danger of physical, psychological, relational and spiritual imbalance due to unchecked, chronic stress.

If I could pass along any message to the modern world it would be that we are not created to live in a state of stress and that our lives are most full of potential -- spiritual, and otherwise, -- when we do everything we can to reduce or eliminate stress in our lives. Surprisingly, even the medical community that gave us the word 'eustress' seems to agree now that even common, everyday, relatively benign stress can have a negative impact on our health and well-being.

We say we're stressed when we have too much work, too little time, too many demands and expectations, too much multi-tasking, too many family responsibilities, and no 'me' time. Yet, these don't hold a candle to the big stressors like loneliness, illness, trauma and death. Yet, stress is actually more stealthy than we think. Consider the subtle stresses that go by unnoticed or unacknowledged; the constant whir of engines or computers, blinking lights from digital devices (especially in the bedroom), loud music playing in stores, restaurants and even at the gas pumps; the lines we wait in just to do ordinary errands, the bings, pings, and rings of electronic devices, the interruption of 'Robo' calls from unknown telephone numbers, the clamor of social media.

There's no 'single' stressor that tips the scales leaving us distorted and unfulfilled. Rather, it's the widespread, constant attack on our peace that has the cumulative effect of leaving us with a low level of anxiety and dis-ease. This dis-ease distances us from ourselves and from God. We end up getting through our days hardly aware of getting through our days! And full, abundant life that is our birthright gets lost in the shuffle as we try to adapt and accommodate to all that modern life throws our way.

Most insidious of all is that we don't even question why we 're less than satisfied or fulfilled, why anger feels so close to the surface of our lives, why we need to escape through alcohol, drugs, retail therapy, video games, or even taking a bubble bath with candles to have 'alone' time. And, while we simply adapt to it all by telling ourselves, "That's just how life is these days," every cell in our body and every layer of our soul is crying for peace and a reduction of the pressure and stress that have become so normal to us.

I believe it's time for us to start trying to break free from all stress in our lives so we can begin to live the abundant life God intends. It doesn't come easily and it may require significant change in behavior and thinking. The reward, however, may be the recovery of a peace that has been long forgotten.

If you would like more content offering strategies for reducing and eliminating stress, leave a comment so I know if this is something that would be helpful to you!

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Eating and Drinking

11/1/2018

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As we prepare for the holiday season, we are probably already aware that we are likely to eat and drink more than usual! This month's "Daily Muse" meditations are focused on 'Eating,' and discovering what satisfies the soul as well as the body You'll find days where there are eating exercises to try and days when you'll be encouraged to reflect on your spiritual hunger. May this month that reminds us of all our blessings in life, also be a time for us to think about how we meaningfully fill the hunger of our bodies and souls. To get started now, click here.

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Advent is Coming

There is No Good Stress

Eating and Drinking

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Blog updates from your favorite Author and Poet, Renee Miller, featuring posts such as "How to Overcome Fear" and "10 Best Ways to get the Most Out of a Retreat."

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Advent is Coming

There is No Good Stress

Eating and Drinking

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Blog updates from your favorite Author and Poet, Renee Miller, featuring posts such as "How to Overcome Fear" and "10 Best Ways to get the Most Out of a Retreat."

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