Smile!

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.  ~Mother Teresa

What makes you smile? In my New Year’s blog, “Read, Eat Fruit and Smile,” I vowed to try to smile more.  It seemed like a simple act at the time but three week later I found out that I was one of 90 people who would be losing their job in April. With that hanging over my head, I found less and less to smile about. Of course we all laughed and made sarcastic jokes about our situations but the occasions for truly smiling were scarce. After April, my smiles were nervous or affected ones. While it was necessary to maintain a positive outlook, the future was very uncertain.  I realized that, after 23 years at the same company, my world had been turned upside down. I needed a purpose to get going every morning. I started going to daily Mass. After a few days my smile returned. It’s impossible to sit in the presence of the Lord and not smile. Combine that with a good homily and I’m ready to face the day with purpose.

One of my friends from church mentioned that she goes to a pay as you go exercise class that’s held Tuesday through Friday. When I was working I was a regular at our on-site gym so this was definitely something that I missed. I decided to try out the classes. One day while facing the mirror during a dance type class I remembered a previous aerobics instructor who used to tell everyone to look in the mirror to make sure you were smiling.  If not then the class would get harder! I smiled just remembering that instructor’s wisdom. Exercise doesn't seem so grueling if you smiled.

Since my husband and I were both home (him working at home and me trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up) soon realized that we were chatting more than working. Fun? Yes. Productive? No.  Unfortunately, the bills still needed to be paid. We decided to reserve all of our daily talking to the evening. Then, while enjoying a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, we sat down and discussed our days. I noticed that during this relaxing time we weren’t only smiling but we were doing a lot of laughing together.

Four months later, I still don’t have a job but I am smiling more these days. I’ve found a renewed balance. My spirituality is stronger because of my ability to attend Mass daily, I’m healthier because of the daily exercise class and the nightly chats with my husband has reduced stress and refreshed our 30+ years of marriage. It seems true that every cloud has a silver lining and that’s something to smile about!

SMILE!

My Holistic Approach to Blogging

Welcome to my brand new blog, Spiritual Wanderings.  I have always believed that as beings composed of mind, body and spirit we need to keep a nurturing balance between the three. It occurred to me that my Nuts and Bolts blog feeds your mind, either by making you laugh or making you think, depending on the content. My Back to the Garden blog discusses ways to feed your body using nutritious foods from the garden. But what about your spirit, how do we nurture that component?

What is spirituality? Spirituality means different things to everyone. Some tie it to religious beliefs, others to philosophical theories and others to their mere existence and views on life.  Wikipedia (whatever happened to Webster’s?) describes it as “an  inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of their being.”   

For me spirituality encompasses all of these components. My religious beliefs play a major part but so do the philosophies I’ve encountered as well as my life experiences. My objective for this blog is expressed in the title Spiritual Wanderings. The topics will vary, they will be whatever happens to “wander” into my mind (sounds a little scary, doesn’t it). Basically, I will pose a question and give you my musings on it.  Your part will be to reply with your thoughts, comments and questions. Together we can spark some lively discussions. However, we must all keep a positive perspective and respect each other’s beliefs and opinions.

In this initial posting I’ll provide a little pertinent background on myself. My religious background is Roman Catholic, born & raised, 12 years Catholic school, graduated from St. Joseph’s University (after a 15 year hiatus from the church) and completed graduate studies at St. Charles Seminary. My hiatus was from the church not from God.  I tend to think of it as my desert wandering period, searching but not sure for what. While at St. Joe’s, I took a class called Church in Crisis. One of the assignments was to write our   spiritual journey. As I wrote, a lot of things started to seem clearer to me and I eventually realized, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, that there’s no place like home. What I needed was in my own backyard. So with great joy I returned to the Church where I have served as lector, Eucharistic minister, religious education instructor (high school students, adults seeking initiation to the faith & Baptism preparation classes for parents of infants).

As for philosophy, I can take it in small doses.  Too much gives me a headache! It interests me but I need small chunks at a time to digest. In college I took a Philosophy of Art class.  I figured that since my husband is an artist it would be fun discussing the different pieces explored in the curriculum.  By the end of the course I didn’t want to look at another work of art.  Velvet Elvis’ and poker playing dogs were good enough for me!

How do you define spirituality and where has your spiritual path led you? I look forward to hearing from you as we journey together in this blog.