Reading journal, August 24-28, 2015
Icon credit: Reading by Claire Jones from the Noun Project
The Shadow Side of the Sharing Internet
In her latest On Being blog post, Courtney E. Martin thoughtfully and honestly considers what we lose (and save) by moving from engaged participants to selective curators.
“[Using technology such as the iPhone and Instagram to capture, curate and share] can be a creative act, a celebratory act, an act of connection across distance and time. It can also be an act that pulls us out of the moment and out of the rare bliss that is unselfconscious and fully absorbed existence. Taken to the extreme, there aren’t enough “likes” in the universe for that kind of loss.”
Luminous rectangles
“One is left to wonder, not without wistfulness, how the glowing screens into which we stare day and night, and through which we both consume and communicate so much of our experience of life, might be dimming the inner light of that interior rectangle where the wholeness of thought takes shape.”
When the going gets tough ....
“When the going gets tough may I resist my first impulse to wade in, fix, explain, resolve, and restore. May I sit down instead.
When the going gets tough may I be quiet. May I steep for a while in stillness.
When the going gets tough may I have faith that things are unfolding as they are meant to. May I remember that my life is what it is, not what I ask for. May I find the strength to bear it, the grace to accept it, the faith to embrace it.
When the going gets tough may I practice with what I’m given, rather than wish for something else. When the going gets tough may I assume nothing. May I not take it personally. May I opt for trust over doubt, compassion over suspicion, vulnerability over vengeance.
When the going gets tough may I open my heart before I open my mouth.
When the going gets tough may I be the first to apologize. May I leave it at that. May I bend with all my being toward forgiveness.
When the going gets tough may I look for a door to step through rather than a wall to hide behind.
When the going gets tough may I turn my gaze up to the sky above my head, rather than down to the mess at my feet. May I count my blessings.
When the going gets tough may I pause, reach out a hand, and make the way easier for someone else. When the going gets tough may I remember that I’m not alone. May I be kind.
When the going gets tough may I choose love over fear. Every time.”
Source: When the going gets tough
“A book is a heart…”
“The object we call a book is not the real book, but its potential, like a musical score or seed. It exists fully only in the act of being read; and its real home is inside the head of the reader, where the symphony resounds, the seed germinates. A book is a heart that only beats in the chest of another.”
~Rebecca Solnit, The Faraway Nearby
Faithfulness versus Effectiveness
“As long as we are wedded to 'effectiveness' we will take on smaller and smaller tasks, for they are the only ones with which we can get results. If we want to witness to important but impossible values like love, truth and justice, there must be a standard that trumps effectiveness. The name of that standard is 'faithfulness.' At the end of the road, I will not be asking about outcomes. I’ll be asking if I was faithful to my gifts, to the needs I saw around me, to the ways in which my gifts might meet those needs, to 'the truth of the work itself.'”
~ Parker Palmer, A Friendship, A Love, A Rescue
The first question
Am I being/doing my best?
“The best is not proud; it is humble; the best is not what is pleasing; it is challenging; the best is not what is selfish; it is going beyond the self. And for those reasons, the best is not easy; it is perilous; the best is not definite; it is uncertain; it is not what is triumphant; it is what is worthy. The great question we must ask every day is this: what are the best things that we can do with our lives, our moments, and our dreams? And to answer it, we must remember: they are things that make the world a truly better place. For it is only in the struggle to do our best that our insignificant, improbable lives discover meaning.”
Source: Umair Haque, How to Have a Year that Counts