How to make life better

Don't we all want a happier life? Perhaps the following story holds the answer:
http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/22638/the-rich-young-man-and-the-look-of-love

Countdown to Pope Francis' visit

What will this holy man have to say to our nation's leaders, and the leaders of the world!
Tune in!
Here's my very personal take on it:
http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/22516/the-golden-ticket-to-a-papal-mass

Are you Star Certified?

I hope you will read this post because it speaks to how to use every moment, even freeway moments, to stay centered in your life:
http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/22323/star-certified

Whatever happened to. . .

I hope you will check out my first post on an AWEsome website.

http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/21795/after-the-wedding-at-cana

I love imagining about the lives of people who appear briefly in a sentence or two in the Gospels.  You will find great resources at IgnatianSpirituality.com.
Let me know what you think!
(Sorry this post is short, but I am rather busy!)

Join the Club!

My friends and I once facetiously formed the “Too Busy Club,” where to qualify for membership you had to miss at least three meetings in a row, or you weren’t busy enough to be a member. 

Young people have full agendas with classes, careers, causes and relationships as they start out to build independent lives. Our culture offers many pursuits that keep young professionals and students running at full throttle.

Retirees complain that they are busier now than they ever were while working.  As people age, their pace slows down a bit, so time actually does shrink for people. The 20 seconds it used to take to tie one’s shoes now takes 40 seconds. Such subtle changes occur without people really realizing when their days got shorter.

I have more than 100 unread email messages at the end of every workday if I don't keep up with the constant flood of messages. And that is separate from my home email box, where another copious quantity of messages awaits me at the end of each day. When we first embraced email, it was supposed to make life easier or more efficient. It started out as fun, exciting, and unique. Now it's overwhelming. 

So every morning (I am a morning person), I start with my biggest priorities: prayer, exercise, and checking in with family. And a healthy breakfast. It's a great way to start! Then if the day overwhelms me and the clock cries, "It's bedtime!" I know that I got the important things included in the day. And no one knows how many days we get! So we better make the best of them.

Enjoy today!

Time to get back into things!

I recently had reason to reread Stephen Covey’s chapter describing the urgent vs. the important. If you haven’t read Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, I really recommend it!

Sometimes I put too much on my plate because I get stuck in the tyranny of the urgent. Someone else needs something immediately. I jump to meet their needs.  

I have discovered that when I say I am “too busy” for something, it means that I have not prioritized time for it. Rather than say, “I’m too busy!” it’s more honest for me to say, “You know, I just have not prioritized that particular thing high enough on my list right now to allow me to complete it.”

I think this blog fell into that category. I was just not prioritizing it over the last many months. It is okay. I was engaged in other things like quilting and visiting friends and family.  We don’t have to engage in every hobby, career-building activity or social engagement all the time.  We are allowed seasons. We don’t have to try to do everything at once. 

As I struggle to re-prioritize, it helps me when I  measure the current event against the long-term goal. I find myself backsliding, too, into the urgent demands that tempt me to displace what is important. It’s an ongoing journey.