Mindfulness and Lent

I am teaching a class this semester entitled, Mindfulness and Pastoral Care. As we have delved into the subject, students and teacher alike, began to discover some great benefits. Last week we sat with a mindfulness instructor to learn even more. What a great experience.

I have learned that my biggest block to mindfulness meditation is the inability to be gracious to myself. I realized that I spend too much time chastising myself about my improper techniques instead of just being aware.

Lent is a great time to practice mindfulness, the ability to be aware of one's surroundings, to be present to now. With the practice of prayer, almsgiving, and fasting, we're called to be present in ways that typically slip by us. Mindfulness and Lent have opened me to NOW in a new way; in a way that says it's okay to BE. Being helps center me for doing.

As I continue my mindfulness practices and walk with my students through theirs, I pray that we move away from our critical nature of finding fault and sit in the peacefulness of being.

Well It's About Time

It's about time I wrote something. But what do I write? I've been working diligently on my courses that I haven't had a creative thought. That's when I decided I might as well write anyway. If I don't write here, I won't get started on that book. And many of you know, the book is long overdue. Well, I haven't started on it yet, but I will by the end of the semester.

I'm really excited to finally start the book project. It's been a long time coming. So if in the next few posts you find yourself reading material that just seems to be me mindlessly writing, that is what it will be. I'll be working to write for writings sake, so I can get the words flowing and move past this writer's block.


As I prepare for Lent, perhaps the time I'll be spending in prayer and reflection will assist me in my writing. Above all, I hope that Lent will find me offering forgiveness and extending Mercy.

Peacefulness