Intentional Living

Apr292018 by lana19671 Comment

Ikigai–A Reason to Get Up in the Morning

I can't believe I've never run across this word in all my reading on vocation/personal growth/spiritual living. It's Japanese (don't they have some of the best words?) for "a reason for being." Some days I don't remember that I have a reason for being--for getting out of bed in the morning. I have a quiet--almost too quiet--life, but I've found a kind of peace that I've never known before . Yes, I could use some help around the house. I could use some regular routine and companionship, but I'm learning to make meaning of my days, as they pass. I don't know exactly what ikigai is for me, but maybe figuring that out is the reason I need to keep on keeping on. Do you ever feel as if there's no reason to keep going? Look for ikigai.

Feb12018 by jrcowlesNo Comments

Gladly Grasping The Glories Of Greyness

"Life" Issues, Abrahamic Traditions, Atheism, autonomy, awareness, body, Change, Character of God, Cherry picking, Christianity, community, Compassion, contemplation, courage, critical judgment, culture, curiosity, Discernment, empathy, Epiphany, faith, God, Gratitude, Healing, healing hands, healing moment, Hope, Human Condition, image of God, Intentional Living, mindfulness, Pain and Suffering, Present Moment, Religion, T. S. Eliot, Theology, Uncategorized, Waiting

The latest (3 January) issue of Forbes references a Washington Post op-ed by Prof. Laura L. Carstensen, professor of psychology and the Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr. professor in public policy at Stanford University, on the semiotics of aging started me reflecting about what I want to be called, and what I do not want to be called, now that I am pushing 70. (I will be 69 in April of 2018.) Words matter. And – over time measured in multiple years – certain words / terms have become increasingly patronizing because I have, over that same interval of time, come to think of myself more and more, not as middle-aged, but simply as old. Prof. Carstensen is right: By failing to identify with “old,” the story about old people remains a dreary one about loss and decline. Language matters: We need a

Jan122017 by jrcowlesNo Comments

Shave Ice And The Numinous

awareness, Buddhism, contemplation, Creativity, Enlightenment, Food, Hawaii, Imagination, Intentional Living, meditation, Numinous, reflection, spiritual practices, Uncategorized, vipassana

You take your Sacraments wherever you can find them! Or perhaps more appropriately for what follows, you take your kensho moments – your bo-tree experiences, your timeless instants of Damascene insight – wherever you can find them. My latest such was my discovery of shave ice as a kind of Sacrament or moment of enlightenment – the terminology is not important – on Diane’s and my recent visit to my in-law family in her hometown of Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. Once again, as with my experience at my father-in-law’s memorial service back in 2008, I was reminded that the moment is all. In fact, not only is the moment all, the moment is all there is – all there could be. Not to be excessively prescriptive, but … my intent in the following is to “pay it forward” by drawing on my e