Coffeehouse Contemplative

Our thoughts are often scattered by the number of different responsibilities that we have to keep track of, that any one of them is always in danger of not receiving our best effort. Before taking on any helpful tips or tricks regarding how to focus, we first need to explore the issues underlying our lack of focus, which often stem from our sense of self.

Be Water, My Friend by Shannon Lee

Zen in the Martial Arts by Joe Hyams

The First Principle and Foundation by Ignatius of Loyola

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

Anger is one of the most socially unacceptable emotions, in part because it makes others uncomfortable, but also in part because it is often expressed in destructive, harmful, and abusive ways. As a natural human emotion, anger is not wrong in itself, but what we do with it can be. Rather than avoid our anger, we should take time to understand it better, and to discern how best to express it.

The Angry Christian by Andrew Lester

Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Matthew 5:21-26

James 1:14-24

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

Some practices that help reduce anxiety may involve breathing exercises or talking things out with others. But just as effective might be actions that involve taking it out - not on people, but on inanimate objects such as hitting a bag, stomping balloons, or going for a walk or run. Sometimes we need something much more active as a form of release to bring us back to ourselves.

Episode 27: Just Vibes

Prayer in Motion: Connecting with God in Fidgety Times

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

One Word 2022: Flow

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

The past few years have been marked by anxiety, for both national and personal reasons. So where do we find peace in the midst of this? How may we be able to calm and center our minds, hearts, and spirits not just to survive, but to truly live a life? What sorts of tangible actions could we take to tap into a vibe that sustains us?

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Coffeehouse Contemplative: Spiritual Direction for the Everyday

Prayer in Motion: Connecting with God in Fidgety Times

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

We are now in the season of Advent, a time of 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas. It's a time of preparation for the celebration of birth, and to reflect on our need for God to do a new thing in the world. So in this final episode for 2021, I want to give a reflection meant to be a help you the listener in your own preparation leading up to this special time.

Luke 2:1-20

John 1:1-14

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Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

Most people associate coffee with the morning, but coffee can be for the late hours of the day as well. For many who drink it this time, it may be when coffee’s practical uses truly come to the forefront.  But again, there can be another dimension to enjoying coffee after hours. Its spiritual potential is just as strong as earlier in the day.

Episode 23: Coffee Meditation #1

Episode 24: Coffee Meditation #2

Genesis 32:24-29

Barbara Brown Taylor, Learning to Walk in the Dark

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

Coffee has a reputation of speeding things up, but I think it can also have an opposite effect.  It can help slow us down and take stock of our surroundings. Coffee may be able to alter and enhance our awareness at the chemical level, but it can also alter our awareness at the mental and spiritual level by helping us take stock of what’s around us and within us.

Episode 23: Coffee Meditation #1

Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

Rob Walker, The Art of Noticing

Coffeehouse Contemplative: Spiritual Direction for the Everyday

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

For some, coffee is essential to waking up. For others, it's a common cause and catalyst for socialization. It can aid in our ability to reflect and observe. This episode and the ones that will follow will be a series of meditations less about coffee itself and more about the larger experiences that it helps us enjoy.

How to Be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson

Broken Horses by Brandi Carlile

Coffeehouse Contemplative: Spiritual Direction for the Everyday

Prayer in Motion: Connecting with God in Fidgety Times

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

“Forgive and forget” is one of those terms that people sometimes trot out in times of trauma, especially when one person has inflicted it on another. But forgiveness isn’t that simple, in part because forgetting isn’t that simple. When we experience that level of injury, it lives in our bodies, minds, and spirits. How might forgetting play a role in our healing? Or can it?

Episode 21: It Never Truly Leaves

Matthew 18: 21-35

Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder

We may tend to frame our need for healing from trauma or loss in terms of "letting go" or even forgetting what happened, as if we won't truly experience wholeness again until this past event is erased from our heart and mind. But rather than erase it from our lives (which isn't really possible), we may instead acknowledge that it is part of us, and incorporate it into our new and emerging sense of self.

Music: "Reflections" by Wild Wonder