Within/without

18/06/2025

Sometimes we can help by changing one life at a time.

31/03/2025

An expert in authoritarian regimes, Sarah Kendzior captures the danger like this:  
Authoritarianism is not merely a matter of state control, it is something that eats away at who you are. It makes you afraid, and fear can make you cruel. It compels you to conform and to comply and accept things that you would never accept, to do things you never thought you would do.   

Authoritarian regimes, she says,  
… can take everything from you in material terms—your house, your job, your ability to speak and move freely. They cannot take away who you truly are. They can never truly know you, and that is your power. But to protect and wield this power, you need to know yourself—right now, before their methods permeate, before you accept the obscene and unthinkable as normal.  

Kendzior addresses this very need for inner renewal and transformation. Authoritarian regimes, she says,  
… can take everything from you in material terms—your house, your job, your ability to speak and move freely. They cannot take away who you truly are. They can never truly know you, and that is your power. But to protect and wield this power, you need to know yourself—right now, before their methods permeate, before you accept the obscene and unthinkable as normal.   

She continues,  
We are heading into dark times, and you need to be your own light. Do not accept brutality and cruelty as normal even if it is sanctioned. Protect the vulnerable and encourage the afraid. If you are brave, stand up for others. If you cannot be brave—and it is often hard to be brave—be kind. But most of all, never lose sight of who you are and what you value. [1]  

https://cac.org/daily-meditations/protecting-our-own-light/

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23/03/2025

Why Contemplation?

Father Richard Rohr describes the importance of a practice of contemplation:

“Contemplation is about seeing, but a kind of seeing that is much more than mere looking because it also includes recognizing and thus appreciating. The contemplative mind does not tell us what to see but teaches us how to see what we behold.

Contemplation allows us to see the truth of things in their wholeness. It is a mental discipline and gift that detaches us, even neurologically, from our addiction to our habitual way of thinking and from our minds which like to think they are in control. We stop believing our little binary mind (which strips things down to two choices and then usually identifies with one of them) and begin to recognize the inadequacy of that limited way of knowing reality. In fact, a binary mind is a recipe for superficiality, if not silliness. Only the contemplative, or the deeply intuitive, can start venturing out into much broader and more open-ended horizons. This is probably why Einstein said that “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination  encircles the world.” [1]

A prayer practice - contemplation- is simply a way of maintaining the fruits of great love and great suffering over the long haul. To allow the moment to teach us, we must allow ourselves to be at least slightly stunned by it until it draws us inward and upward… we normally need a single moment of gratuitous awe to get us started - and such moments are the only solid foundation for the entire religious instinct and journey.”

Adapted from Richard Rohr, “Just This”, 2017, p 7-9.

09/02/2025

With so much to be anxious and fearful about, today I choose joy and gratitude. Can you come with me?

Share your joys and gratitudes in the comments 💕

1. a loving partner who is choosing healing and vulnerability
2. beautiful, colorful soul-friends who see me and accept me just as I am
3. Self-love and acceptance and becoming my own inner loving parent
4. A safe sanctuary to call home with my furry best friend
5. This dude making life-changing decisions and committing to the whole-heartedly
6. Creative joy in my community
7. Silliness and companionship
8. Games, exploring, and exercise
9. Art and life-long best friends
10. Bringing special friends joy
11. Fun and cute surprises
12. Hazel cuddles

27/12/2024

DESIDERATA
O PLACIDLY AMID THE NOISE & HASTE, & REMEMBER WHAT PEACE THERE MAY BE IN SILENCE. AS FAR AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly & clearly; and listen to others, even the dull & ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud & aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain & bitter; for always there will be greater & lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity & disenchantment it is perennial as che grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue & loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees & the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors & aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery & broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.

FOUND IN OLD SAINT PAUL’S CHURCH, BALTIMORE; DATED 1692

04/11/2024

I need your help.

I’ve wanted to have a baby for a long time. In the last year, I went through IVF, but it wasn’t successful. Some people believe that access to IVF and other reproductive freedoms should be barred.

Please use your rights and privilege to vote to choose leaders who will protect these rights for people like me and your loved ones who have a uterus. Keep our dreams alive.

I need your help.

I am a non-binary person who has pre-existing health conditions. I take medication daily. Some people would limit access to health care for people like me.

Please act today to choose people for representation in our local and national governments who support health care for all who need it and whenever they need it.

I need your help.

I am social service provider and a union member. I work hard to support the most vulnerable and marginalised people in our communities. Monies we worked hard for and entrusted to the government to keep our nation healthy are being sent abroad. We are funding war instead of housing and caring for our friends and neighbors. Voices are being silenced and opinions suppressed to keep that money flowing away from our local communities who are suffering.

Please be brave and vote locally and nationally for people who would protect free speech and fund services that make our communities healthier and stronger.

Be courageous. Use your choice. Remember your loved ones and how they are effected personally by decisions made today.

You can do this. We can change this trajectory together. Vote.

10/09/2024

If you identify as a Christian or a Christian leader in Aotearoa, take a moment to show your solidarity as tangata tiriti today!

I just signed a petition: We Will Not Be Silent. A Pledge From Tangata Tiriti.. Sign here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/we-will-not-be-silent-a-pledge-from-tangata-tiriti

29/08/2024

Love Jamie Lee. She’s got some insight!

11/07/2024

Cis-kids need gender-affirming surgeries too 💜
Data is important!

The study dispels a well-worn anti-trans talking point about how healthcare providers treat gender dysphoria in kids.

04/07/2024

We are all a vital part of community!
Happy Disability Pride month!