Category: happiness

revisiting and recapturing

Sha Towers on

I just ran into a post that I shared here many year ago and paused to reflect. In it, I mention a tool that i really loved, and which sadly is now gone, but I wonder what suggestions you might have for replacing it? Part of it is just a practice of reflecting and recording, and there are many ways to do that, but the part I treasured was how it returned previous reflections to you (“here’s what you wrote a week ago”, “a month ago”, ” a year ago”, etc.). I would love your thoughts on how to return to this practice and I hope this reflection, which brings up lots of emotions for me and a smile, can serve as a gentle push to you to stop and reflect on a memory of your own that brings you strength, or hope, or love, or even just a tiny smile.

on capturing life

ON CAPTURING LIFE
Sha Towers on July 12, 2013
while i really like the idea of a journal or diary, i’ve never been very successful at it. i’m still not, but i’ve been using an online tool that has certainly helped and has shown me a benefit of journaling: http://ohlife.com/. each evening, i receive an email saying “how’d your day go?” and by replying to the email, i’ve added an entry to my online journal at ohlife. i like the reminder and the ease. sometimes i write a sentence, sometimes more, sometimes i delete it feeling like i’m too busy or my inbox is stressing me out. most times i don’t reply until the next day (who knows what’ll happen latter that night you’d want to write about!) and sometimes (though i don’t recommend it), i catch up on replying to several days worth of emails all at once.

here’s what i really love about this tool though. the “how’d your day go?” email always includes this: “remember this? one month ago you wrote… [along whatever you submitted that day]. the time machine varies, sometimes it’s a month ago, a week ago, a year ago, etc. i’ve even seen things like “800 days ago you wrote…”. pretty cool. but the part i love the most is that i am reminded of really great moments of life, that quickly get lost in the busyness and tedium of life. i’ve realized that often, no matter how meaningful a life moment might be, that it is so easy for it to get buried under layers and layers of other life, and then in many ways, lost. here’s a an example that arrived in my inbox recently that resurfaced the kind of thing i want to remember. to me, this is the real beauty of recording life in a journal.

Remember this? One month ago you wrote…

easy start to the morning everyone in the kitchen eating at roughly the same time. running some errands before our trip. after we got home, carter and I stood in the garage with the door open watching the rain and talking. it was clear it was a moment that I want to remember and cherish. carter was carrying some stuff in from the car and said, “I’m going to take this inside and then I’ll come back and we can talk some more.” 🙂 he’s already not that talkative at age 10, so this was a really great moment.

Musical Friendships

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On my commute this morning, I was shuffling tunes and realized that many of the tunes I was hearing were recommended to me by friends through the years. Based on the songs that came my way this morning, here’s a tribute / thanks to the people who made the world a little brighter by introducing me these bands. I’m sure there are many more of you who’ve improved my life by music you’ve shared, but these are the tunes that showed up today.

Bill Hair -> First Aid Kit
Deanna Toten-Bear -> Dry the River
David Burns -> Alabama Shakes
Juli Royster -> Patty Griffin
Ellen Filgo -> Over the Rhine
Stephen Bolech -> Death Cab for Cutie
and my blast from the past tribute: to Dale Connally for introducing me to Cowboy Junkies (on cassette tape!) while on a roadtrip to the Grand Canyon some 25 years ago!

Thank you for enriching my experience, both with your friendship and your music.

Like a father…

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On father’s day, we sang a hymn at church entitled “Loving Spirit” written by New Zealand hymn writer Shirley Erena Murray (b.1931), set to one of my favorite tunes, RESTORATION*, from Walker’s Southern Harmony of 1835.

Full disclosure — I picked this hymn (as the music director of our church). I should also add that I’m not a fan of letting secular holidays or observances horn in on the worship of the church. In my view, Worship isn’t about Mother’s Day, Veteran’s Day, etc. But that’s not what this post is about. It just so happens that this hymn uses father imagery (as well as mother, friend, and lover imagery) to explore the nature of the Holy Spirit. But it did seem particularly poignant to me as I stood in the pew with Ann and our two boys on Father’s Day, that this hymn included this line:

“Like a father you protect me, teach me the discerning eye, hoist me up upon your shoulder, let me see the world from high.”

It caught my attention for a number of reasons– the joy and responsibility that comes with being a parent, that parents are called to protect and to teach. But what really moved me was this idea of helping our children (as well as God helping us as God’s children) to see the world in a different way, from a larger, higher-altitude perspective than a child could on his or her own. The image of hoisting up on our shoulders is beautiful. It also made me sad to think of all the times when Max (our now six year old) has asked me to put him on my shoulders and I’ve said, “you’re too heavy” or “it’ll hurt my back” or “we’re too busy for that right now.” I’m going home after work today and putting him on my shoulders just because I can and to think about what such an act means. I’m also thinking about what such an act looks like with our oldest, Carter (now eleven and almost as tall as me!)– perhaps more figuratively than literally! This act is not just about the mechanics of one person sitting on top of another person’s shoulders. It’s about connecting, doing for others, of partnership, of being a servant, of lifting up another, of sharing an experience and view of life.

*Here’s a link to an organ arrangement of the tune by Herbert Colvin, who was my music theory professor during my undergrad.

IMG_1188

what I had for lunch today (4.22.14)

Sha Towers on

a three-mile run along the Brazos River trail in Cameron Park, filled with dappled shade, great tunes, bird song, walkers, runners, mountain bikers, a skink, a family with a little person and one on the way that were going on a hike that i stopped and took their photo for them, thoughts about grace, beauty, calm, and gratefulness.

on capturing life

Sha Towers on

while i really like the idea of a journal or diary, i’ve never been very successful at it. i’m still not, but i’ve been using an online tool that has certainly helped and has shown me a benefit of journaling: http://ohlife.com/. each evening, i receive an email saying “how’d your day go?” and by replying to the email, i’ve added an entry to my online journal at ohlife. i like the reminder and the ease. sometimes i write a sentence, sometimes more, sometimes i delete it feeling like i’m too busy or my inbox is stressing me out. most times i don’t reply until the next day (who knows what’ll happen latter that night you’d want to write about!) and sometimes (though i don’t recommend it), i catch up on replying to several days worth of emails all at once.

here’s what i really love about this tool though. the “how’d your day go?” email always includes this: “remember this? one month ago you wrote… [along whatever you submitted that day]. the time machine varies, sometimes it’s a month ago, a week ago, a year ago, etc. i’ve even seen things like “800 days ago you wrote…”. pretty cool. but the part i love the most is that i am reminded of really great moments of life, that quickly get lost in the busyness and tedium of life. i’ve realized that often, no matter how meaningful a life moment might be, that it is so easy for it to get buried under layers and layers of other life, and then in many ways, lost. here’s a an example that arrived in my inbox recently that resurfaced the kind of thing i want to remember. to me, this is the real beauty of recording life in a journal.

Remember this? One month ago you wrote…

easy start to the morning everyone in the kitchen eating at roughly the same time. running some errands before our trip. after we got home, carter and I stood in the garage with the door open watching the rain and talking. it was clear it was a moment that I want to remember and cherish. carter was carrying some stuff in from the car and said, “I’m going to take this inside and then I’ll come back and we can talk some more.” 🙂 he’s already not that talkative at age 10, so this was a really great moment.

The Most Beautiful Place in the World

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Ann asked me to check a book out from the library to read to her class and she shared with me this beautiful ending to the book:

I started to wonder if San Pablo really was the most beautiful place in the world. I wasn’t sure my grandmother had ever been anyplace else, but I still thought she’d know.
“Grandma,” I said, is it?”
“Is what?” she said.
“Is San Pablo the most beautiful place in the world?”
My grandmother made a little face.
“The most beautiful place in the world,” she said, “is anyplace.”
“Anyplace?” I repeated.
“Anyplace you can hold your head up. Anyplace you can be proud of who you are.”
“Yes,” I said.
But I thought, where you love somebody a whole lot, and you know that person loves you, that’s the most beautiful place in the world.

The Most Beautiful Place in the World, by Ann Cameron

twenty years ago…

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Twenty years ago, I embarked on a journey with my best friend, Ann. Way back then, I knew I loved her, but like all twenty somethings, I had no idea what I knew or didn’t…no idea what depths and heights were even possible in anything. And while all these years later, I certainly don’t profess to be an expert at anything, this journey has taught me much about life, love, and relationship…about hardship, pain, immense joy, soul crushing heartache, selfishness, selflessness…about laughter and forgiveness, about companionship, and grace. Thank you, Ann, for being my partner on this wonderful journey. I love you.