Amy Hoppock's Blog, page 3

Haiku: On Trees, Enclaves & Vegatables.

Haiku has become a full expression of practice in my life. The practice is hard sometimes. I used to practice the piano, not because I really wanted to, but because I wanted to be able to play. Somedays my son loves to practice golf, and other days he practices out of sheer force of will because he knows from experience that the outcome is worth the effort. Some days Haikus flow and it’s easy, other days I can’t find any set of 5-7-5 syllables that work together and mean anything. Reflecting and responding to these Haikus is a practice as well. Some months I know exactly what to write, other months it’s a practice to dig, reflect, and find the meaning that arises from the words my fellow Haiku journeyers share. And yet it always comes together. This is your invitation to make a cup of tea and reflect on trees, enclaves, walls, wings, carrots, and children’s laughter, among the many ways this conversation flows. Make sure you subscribe and see Michael’s reflections on the Profound Living Blog. Michael posts each of the Haikus (and the pictures that go with them there.) A Practice: Read the Haiku slowly two or three times. What feelings or meaning do the words stir in you? Is there a Haiku you can write in response? (share it with me if you do!) If you like these questions, please consider SUBSCRIBING to The Art of Powering Down; Questions to Recharge Your Soul… Every week there is a question that will gently challenge you, encourage you, or help you live your life with more intention, grace, and purpose. (Sharing these reflections and questions with friends is the greatest compliment!)

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Does it Matter?

Questions are tools that we can add to our personal toolbox. Tools are used for specific activities at specific times. If you think of any given day there are many specific tools that we use. My day starts with a coffee grinder. A tool for a specific purpose. Does it matter is a question for a specific time. I hope you’ll join me in exploring the power of this question tool and perhaps add it to your question toolbox. (And understand why there is a picture of a spider (!!) at the beginning of this post!) We have Pema Chodron to thank for this question. Does it matter is a question she suggests we can use when we are about to do something that doesn’t quite feel right. We probably experience this more times in a day than we care to acknowledge. Does it matter is not a question she is suggesting for use in the big, glaring moments of choice (although it works then too) It’s a subtle question, for subtle moments.   Does it matter that tone of voice that I use with…(my child, spouse, friend, grocery store clerk, tire store attendant?)  Does it matter what words I write on…twitter, a nameless Facebook account, the review of a restaurant? Does it matter if I glare at that person who…just cut me off, is wearing a shirt with a logo I don’t appreciate? Does it matter if I don’t keep the promise I made to myself today to…go for a walk, eat less sugar, drink only one cup of coffee? “When we ask ourselves, “Does it matter?” we can first look at the outer, more obvious results of our actions. But then we can go deeper by examining how we are affecting our own mind: Am I making an old habit more habitual? Am I strengthening propensities I’d like to weaken? When I’m on the verge of lying to save face or manipulating a situation to go my way, where will that lead? Am I going in the direction of becoming a more deceitful person or a more guilty, self-denigrating person? How about when I experiment with practicing patience and generosity? How are my actions affecting my process of awakening? Where will they lead?” Pema Chodron, Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World Does it matter is a question that invites us to see that there is always more to see. Posting something a bit passive-aggressive on social media about a celebrity that just said something we don’t agree with can seem relatively harmless. The celebrity we are annoyed with isn’t going to read or care about our single comment. But, does it matter for our soul? Does that indulgence feed our soul? Does it help us create a kinder, better world? Sister Spider… Spiders are not my favorite. The morning after I read this question I was given an opportunity to try it out. In the book, she shared an example of letting a bug live. So, when I noticed a spider dangling down on a thin, silk thread, aiming to land on my treadmill I was confronted with the opportunity to use the question. Does it matter if I swat and aim to squash the spider? I found that, yes it might matter, for reasons I’m not quite sure I can fully articulate. Between Pema and an essay, I read from Mary Oliver about the lessons learned from a spider I felt at that moment it did matter. So against my better judgment and instincts, I made the decision to let the spider land on my treadmill. I watched her for 30 minutes walk with grace and curiosity in a short little area on the treadmill. I learned something from just watching. She stayed in a very small area the entire time I ran. She didn’t want to bite or otherwise harm me like I often think spiders do. The next day my daughter and I were sitting down to watch our favorite show (The Great British Bake-Off!!!!) and another, bigger spider crawled across my lap. It was harder this time, but having spent 30 minutes the day before watching a spider, I took a deep breath and let the spider crawl across my lap. “I bid you peace sister spider.”   Does it matter that I let those two spiders live? Maybe, maybe not. It matters in my heart and soul. I learned that I can co-exist with spiders. It expanded my heart for things different from me. I was reminded that sometimes large lessons are found in small (tiny) packages. That may be the world is more sacred and filled with meaning than I realize.  As Pema ends the teaching on does it matter, she points out this question reminds us that we have a choice in the way that we respond. Does it matter also reminds us of the interconnectedness of all things. I used the question to focus on the smallest of decisions, to squash a spider or not. I wouldn’t be writing about any lessons if I had killed the first spider. Yet, days later I’m still reflecting on the subtle shift that asking does it matter had.  Will you be adding the question does it matter to your personal question toolbox? If you like these questions, please consider SUBSCRIBING to The Art of Powering Down; Questions to Recharge Your Soul… Every week there is a question that will gently challenge you, encourage you, or help you live your life with more intention, grace, and purpose. (Sharing these reflections and questions with friends is the greatest compliment!)

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Reflective Reading: A Different Rhythm

A reflective reading today from a book I love, Anam Cara by John O’Donohue.  Read this passage slowly a few times, look for the phrase that stands out, notice the feeling this passage evokes, and find the invitation for your soul. Spirituality is the art of transfiguration.  We should not force ourselves to change by hammering our lives into any predetermined shape.  We do not need to operate according to the idea of a predetermined program or plan for our lives.  Rather, we need to practice a new art of attention to the inner rhythm of our days and lives…. If you work with a different rhythm, you will come easily and naturally home to yourself.  Your soul knows the geography of your own destiny.  Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself… If you attend to yourself and seek to come into your presences, you will find exactly the right rhythm for your life. -John O’Donohue Anam Cara May we find the right rhythm for our life. Trust our own path and Live with grace If you like these questions, please consider SUBSCRIBING to The Art of Powering Down; Questions to Recharge Your Soul… Every week there is a question that will gently challenge you, encourage you, or help you live your life with more intention, grace, and purpose. (Sharing these reflections and questions with friends is the greatest compliment!)

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What Is The Next Reasonable Task?

Questions have different weights. There are heavy questions that increase familiarity in relationships, powerful questions that drill into important territory, and light questions that teach us something quirky and new.  What is the next reasonable task? This is a question with a sense of ease and lightness about it. The invitation is only to the next thing, not five steps ahead, not a weighty purpose or calling type question. What is THE NEXT reasonable task? Usually, the next reasonable task is a simple step. Those small steps that we take with thoughtful engagement keep us moving forward.  Doing the next reasonable task relieves some pressure. Sometimes we are faced with large dilemmas, huge tangled messes that can stop us in our tracks. This simple question works there, too. Rarely is any problem solved with just one decision. It takes a lot of small decisions and steps to solve thorny issues. So even in the face of a conundrum, this question can show us the path forward. Sometimes the next reasonable task is sitting down with a cup of tea.  Reasonable is an important work to consider in this question. Reasonable means fair, sensible, moderate, or appropriate. When we are thinking about a reasonable decision or step we are thinking about what could be done, not what is perfect or the very best decision. It’s not about perfection, it is about what we can realistically do.  My dad always says, “sometimes right, sometimes wrong, never in doubt.” In other words, just make a decision, own the decision, and move forward. When you combine what is the next reasonable task, with sometimes right, sometimes wrong, never in doubt it WILL get you unstuck. This power couple reminds us just do the next thing. That step will lead you to the next step. Forward movement is better than being stuck. The next reasonable task is an antidote to over-analysis paralysis. It can serve as a reminder that we do not have to eat the elephant in one bite. We just have to keep taking small bites. All those small decisions made one at a time, will get us to where we need to be.  We can have lots of strategies and plans (and that is good) but, when it comes down to it, all we can really do is just keep doing the next task. The next reasonable task will always get us to where we need to be.  “We betray ourselves into smallness when we think the little choices of each day are trivial.”   -Helen Keller If you like these questions, please consider SUBSCRIBING to The Art of Powering Down; Questions to Recharge Your Soul… Every week there is a question that will gently challenge you, encourage you, or help you live your life with more intention, grace, and purpose. (Sharing these reflections and questions with friends is the greatest compliment!)

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A November Invitation: Wild Geese

I love to listen to podcasts when I run. Yesterday morning I was on a chilly morning run listening to a podcast and they started talking about the Mary Oliver poem, Wild Geese. Wild Geese is one of Mary Oliver’s best-known poems. I stopped to listen as the poem was read. In passing the podcast host said two things that caught my attention. The first was to find Mary Oliver reading the poem on youtube and the second was a musing of what would be learned by reading the poem every day for a month. Both ideas caught my attention as I finished out my run. And then my day happened and I forgot about Wild Geese. Fast forward to the end of the day, I was driving home with sushi for dinner trying to find something to listen to, I clicked on the next podcast in my queue and it was a two minutes special of Mary Oliver reading her poem Wild Geese. I try and pay attention when coincidences like that happen! The Invitation…. I’m committing to reading Wild Geese every day in November. Will you join me? I wonder what we will discover about the words and the message? It’s an intentional, prolonged Lectio Divina. I plan to make a clean copy each week and mark what word or phrase stands out each day. Somedays I think I’ll just read it, other days I’ll listen to Mary Oliver read it. That’s it. Will you join me? Share in the comments if you plan to join in. Let’s share what we learn! To Get Started… The podcast Mary Oliver reading Wild Geese Video of Mary Oliver Reading Wild Geese Interview with Mary Oliver On Being If you like these questions, please consider SUBSCRIBING to The Art of Powering Down; Questions to Recharge Your Soul… Every week there is a question that will gently challenge you, encourage you, or help you live your life with more intention, grace, and purpose. (Sharing these reflections and questions with friends is the greatest compliment!)

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Reflective Reading: Sweet Darkness

One of Emily Dickinson’s more famous lines of poetry is: “Tell the truth, but tell it slant.”  That is the job of poets, to write of truthful things, that our souls recognize, but on the slant. Our reflective reading (listening!) today is the poem, Sweet Darkness by David Whyte. As you read or listen (or both!) listen with ears to hear: The word or phrase that stands out to you. How this poem makes you feel (both reading it and listening to the poet speak the words. Is there any invitation for you in the words? Listen to Sweet Darkness here When your eyes are tiredthe world is tired also. When your vision has gone,no part of the world can find you. Time to go into the darkwhere the night has eyes to recognize its own. There you can be sureyou are not beyond love. The dark will be your home tonight. The night will give youa horizon further than you can see. You must learn one thing.The world was made to be free in. Give up all the other worldsexcept the one to which you belong. Sometimes it takes darknessand the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn anything or anyonethat does not bring you alive is too small for you. What about you? What word or phrase stood out in this poem? How does this poem make you feel? Is there an invitation to​ you in the poem? If you like these questions, please consider SUBSCRIBING to The Art of Powering Down; Questions to Recharge Your Soul… Every week there is a question that will gently challenge you, encourage you, or help you live your life with more intention, grace, and purpose. (Sharing these reflections and questions with friends is the greatest compliment!)

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How Do We Fill The Cracks?

There is a lot of anxiety in the air we breathe right now. Between the elections, an unprecedented pandemic, and so many of the things we used to count on being a little wobbly, (I’m looking at you, school, toilet paper, and cleaning supplies.) everyone is a little bit on edge. Over the past few weeks, I’ve tried to engage with social media more intentionally. Rather than being triggered by things that I see I am trying to be a curious observer. This week I engaged with a particularly contentious post. I tried to view the comments as a curious observer rather than someone who had a strong opinion about the topic. It was a fascinating and heartbreaking experience. I have been thinking about it all week. As a curious observer, I started to see a big crack. It was a true cacophony of voices. So many people were trying to be heard, I’m not sure anyone was heard. The question I’ve been asking is: how do we fill the crack? Thinking about cracks that need fixed brought me to the Japanese way of repairing pottery called Kintsugi. Kintsugi is the method of repairing pottery with a lacquer dusted with gold, silver, or platinum powder. What is even more interesting about Kintsugi is it’s not only a way to repair cracks, it’s a philosophy that treats the crack and the repair as part of the history of the cracked object. So the repair becomes part of the story that is highlighted and made beautiful, rather than hidden or just thrown away to start with something new. How do we fill the cracks? What can Kitsugi teach us? I don’t know what the answers are. I am confident that in the next few week’s a lot of people are going to be discouraged. No matter which person wins the election you will have neighbors and friends who voted for the other candidate who will be scared and disappointed. There will be people questioning what kind of place we live and who their neighbors are regardless of the outcome. Maybe we fill the crack by practicing kindness and giving the person on the other side (political side, theological side, sports team side) the benefit of the doubt. Lets’ start to fill the crack with what we agree on, rather than what our differences might be. Kintsugi is a method that is slow and gradual. It is done with respect for the crack. Kintsugi is done with eager anticipation of what new will emerge from what was broken. How can we start to fill the cracks? What will YOU be doing? Slow, Patient, Respectful, With an Eye for Beauty…. “the point of kintsugi is to treat broken pieces and their repair as part of the history of an object. A break is something to remember, something of value, a way to make the piece more beautiful, rather than something to disguise. They use gold, not invisible superglue, because mistakes shouldn’t be considered ugly. Broken pieces and their repair merely contribute to the story of an object, they don’t ruin it.” Penny Reid If you like these questions, please consider SUBSCRIBING to The Art of Powering Down; Questions to Recharge Your Soul… Every week there is a question that will gently challenge you, encourage you, or help you live your life with more intention, grace, and purpose. (Sharing these reflections and questions with friends is the greatest compliment!)

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Your Brain on Questions

 Questions have power. It’s more than just an idea, there is actual research on the brain that reinforces the power of questions. We intuitively know that questions shape us in powerful ways. This article from Fast Compay held so much great research on questions, especially for a question obsessed person like me! Consider the implications in your own life when it comes to using questions. Single-minded focus Something happens inside of our brains when we hear a question. A question launches a process called instinctive elaboration. Questions hijack our brains. When we hear a question it takes over everything else, our brains cannot think about anything else while considering a question.  “Research in neuroscience has found that the human brain can only think about one idea at a time. So when you ask somebody a question, you force their minds to consider only your question. As neuroscientist John Medina puts it in his book Brain Rules, “Research shows that we can’t multitask. We are biologically incapable of processing attention-rich inputs simultaneously.” Likewise, Nobel Prize-winning economist Herbert Simon has written that human beings consciously “operate largely in a serial fashion. The more demanding the task, the more we are single-minded.”  (Want to Know What Your Brain Does When It Hears a Question? Fast Company Magazine 2.21.17)  Where Attention Goes Questions have power because our brains can only think about one thing at a time. When the brain encounters a question that is where the attention goes.  What is even more exciting is that the act of contemplating or thinking about something increases our likelihood of acting or creating the change or conditions that the question caused us to consider!  “Behavioral scientists have also found that just asking people about their future decisions significantly influences those decisions, a phenomenon known as the “mere measurement effect.” Back in 1993, social scientists Vicki Morwitz, Eric Johnson, and David Schmittlein conducted a study with more than 40,000 participants that revealed that simply asking someone if people were going to purchase a new car within six months increased their purchase rates by 35%. According to an earlier study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, asking citizens whether they’re going to vote in an upcoming election increases the likelihood that they will by 25%. And in yet another study, this one from 2008, researchers found that asking about one’s intention to give blood raised donation rates by a modest but noteworthy 8.6%. The same effect has been found in studies involving computer sales, exercise frequency, and disease prevention—in each case, all these behaviors can be increased just by asking about them.”  (Want to Know What Your Brain Does When It Hears a Question? Fast Company Magazine 2.21.17)  New Connections Another powerful way that questions work in our brain is by increasing neuroplasticity. Our brains are always changing and looking for new paths and new connections. Questions help our brains make those new connections and pathways. Questions unlock our creative potential!   Asking insightful questions can cause the release of serotonin in the brain, which is a hormone that causes us to feel relaxed. The relaxed feeling allows our brain to pull information from many different places, creating new connections and empowerment that may result in forward momentum. “Our greatest failing is that we neglect the significance of a question and obsess over the accuracy of the answer. Therefore, we end up being satisfied with remarkably accurate answers to meaningless questions and dissatisfied with imprecise answers that attempt to respond to the important issues.”  ― D.A. Blankinship If you like these questions, please consider SUBSCRIBING to The Art of Powering Down; Questions to Recharge Your Soul… Every week there is a question that will gently challenge you, encourage you, or help you live your life with more intention, grace, and purpose. (Sharing these reflections and questions with friends is the greatest compliment!)

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Reflective Reading: A Tree Full of Angels

If there is one book that I return back to more than any other it may be, A Tree Full of Angels; Seeing the Holy in the Ordinary by Macrina Wiederkehr. It’s a book that reminds me to slow down.  To stop.  To see.  To look around me.  It reminds me that what is ordinary, is actually extraordinary when I take the time to see it.  It’s all there, but I have to be willing to see.  It reminds me that there is beauty in the margins. Is there a book in your life that you return to over and over again?  Why? An Invitation to Pause: Reflective Reading Look for the word or phrase that jumps out to you.  Notice how you feel Feel the invitation these words may be offering up to you. What does this passage speak to you? There is nothing-no thing, no person, no experience, no thought, no joy or pain-that cannot be harvested and used for nourishment on our journey to God. What I am suggesting here is that everything in your life is a stepping-stone to holiness if only you recognize that you do have within you the grace to be present to each moment. Your presence is an energy that you can choose to give or not give.  Every experience, every thought, every word, every person in your life is a part of a larger picture of your growth. That’s why I call them crumbs.  They are not the whole loaf, but they can be nourishing if you give them your real presence.  Let everything energize you.  Let everything bless you.  Even your limping can bless you. Marcina Wiederkehr in A Tree Full of Angels (Chapter 3-Gather Up the Crumbs) If you like these questions, please consider SUBSCRIBING to The Art of Powering Down; Questions to Recharge Your Soul… Every week there is a question that will gently challenge you, encourage you, or help you live your life with more intention, grace, and purpose. (Sharing these reflections and questions with friends is the greatest compliment!)

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What is your practice?

I like the term practice. A meditation practice, or yoga practice: activities or habits that we undertake often, but humbly recognize that we still have so far to go. A practice is something that helps us commit to being life-long learners. What is your practice? Is there something that you commit to trying more days than not, with the understanding that you have so much to learn, and all the time to learn as you go? Someone recently asked me, what is your practice? The context was spiritual direction, but my Haiku practice was the first thing that jumped into my head. I have the ideal of writing a haiku daily. The truth is I often forget or become distracted with the day before I write a haiku. But a practice is just that, some days we win and other days we get to start fresh. I tend to use lines or ideas as inspiration for my daily (dailyish) Haiku practice. When I read something that sparkles off the page or catches my interest because of the wording, or the transcendent idea behind the sentence I know it’s an inspiration I can explore using seventeen syllables. I’m so thankful for Michael and Davin to share this practice with. We had our monthly Haiku call this week. It’s such a joy to share what we learn. I love the synergy that happens as we spend a little bit of time reflecting on the words from our fellow Haiku practicers. Enjoy a peek into our conversations and learning. Make sure you check out Michael’s blog, Profound Living to see each of our Haiku postcards. If you like these questions, please consider SUBSCRIBING to The Art of Powering Down; Questions to Recharge Your Soul… Every week there is a question that will gently challenge you, encourage you, or help you live your life with more intention, grace, and purpose. (Sharing these reflections and questions with friends is the greatest compliment!)

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