MRLPJ

Greetings, friends... I first wrote this letter almost ten years ago. I wrote it to myself and to a few other people I was thinking of at the time. Have you ever written yourself a letter before? Maybe after reading this, you'll write something to your own heart that you need to hear. It is my fervent prayer that this letter speaks to you in some way. -- My dear friend… To discover who you are and what you’re about requires great humility and genuineness. It requires you to look at who you are without pretense or artificiality. Learning to live congruently (basically, in accordance with who you are and with what you’re about) also requires great humility and genuineness. Beyond that, it requires vulnerability, because it necessitates that you empty yourself of anything that’s not you or that doesn’t belong. In doing this, voids (of a sort) are created, or, rather, are revealed. And they must be filled. But they can’t be filled by you through an act of applied force of will

Solitude… While such a word can conjure images of mountainside cabins and far off, secluded places, far more often than not, solitude has little to do with whether we're around people or not. In fact, true solitude has nothing to do with the presence, or lack thereof, of others. Solitude is a heart-narrated quietness of mind, and it is a state of settled beingness that enables us to transcend our normal impulses to run from uncomfortableness and to, instead, stay with what we're feeling and experiencing in the moment. Practicing true solitude (which is really just the practice of choosing to be our own best friend) increases our ability to surrender to life and to feel, deem as “good,” and even enjoy whatever arises from within us—including (and as paradoxical as this might seem) our most painful, touch-me-not, and I-don’t-ever-want-to-go-there-again feelings and memories. Through such practices, we learn to rest in our loneliness, our joy, and our pain; to develop great cur

  Daily Log/Private Journal Date:  2023-07-24 Day of the Week:  Monday Rest Day:  N Carb Cycling:  High Carb Day (Mo and We): Y Carb Cycling:  Low Carb Day:  Time I Went to Bed Last Night:  2130 Time I Got Out of Bed this Morning:  0445 Sleep Time (last night and this morning):  7h, 45m Sleep Quality Factor (L/M/H):  M Nap Time (hrs, today): Sleep Quality Factor (L/M/H): Weight (lbs, clothed [bed clothes], after 1st elimination):  164.2 BP (syst [mm hg]/diast [mm hg]):  126/86, N Resting HR (bpm):  76  Blood Oxygenation (%):  98 Urine pH (after baking soda):  6.5 Eliminations:  1+1 Average Elimination Quality Factor (L/M/H): L 9a Happiness/Enthusiasm Factor (L/M/H):  M 2p Average Energy Factor (L/M/H): M 9a Muscle/Tendon/Ligament Pain/Tightness Factor (L/M/H):  M 745p Muscle/Tendon/Ligament Pain/Tightness Factor (L/M/H):  L Headache Factor (L/M/H/Na):  Na Tinnitus Factor (L/M/H/Na):  M Time (hrs) under Direct Sunlight before 930a: Time (hrs) under Direct Sunlight after 230p:  0.25 Time

  Daily Log/Private Journal Date: 2023-07-23 Day of the Week: Sunday Rest Day: Y Carb Cycling:  High Carb Day (Mo and We): Carb Cycling:  Low Carb Day: Y Time I Went to Bed Last Night: 2100 Time I Got Out of Bed this Morning: 0445 Sleep Time (last night and this morning): 7h, 45m Sleep Quality Factor (L/M/H): H Nap Time (hrs, today): Sleep Quality Factor (L/M/H): Weight (lbs, clothed [bed clothes], after 1st elimination): 165.0 BP (syst [mm hg]/diast [mm hg]): 121/86, N Resting HR (bpm): 75  Blood Oxygenation (%): 99 Urine pH (after baking soda): 6.5 Eliminations: 1+1 Average Elimination Quality Factor (L/M/H): 9a Happiness/Enthusiasm Factor (L/M/H): M 2p Average Energy Factor (L/M/H): 9a Muscle/Tendon/Ligament Pain/Tightness Factor (L/M/H): M 745p Muscle/Tendon/Ligament Pain/Tightness Factor (L/M/H): M Headache Factor (L/M/H/Na): L Tinnitus Factor (L/M/H): M Time (hrs) under Direct Sunlight before 930a: Time (hrs) under Direct Sunlight after 230p: Time (hrs) under Direct Sunlight b

[Insert a picture here of two friends talking]   For many of us, prayer can feel intimidating. Especially when we start talking about lofty prayer concepts like intercession, supplication, and prayer and fasting. I’d like to invite you to approach intercession in a way that may feel a little different from the ways in which you’ve approached it previously. I want to invite you to just listen to the people around you—especially to your family and friends. And… as you’re listening, to do your best to focus in intently on what the people around you are wanting and hoping for. And… as you’re able to “see and hear” what those around you are wanting and hoping for, to allow your heart to want and hope for them the exact same things they say they’re wanting and hoping for. And… as you’re doing this, to offer those wants and hopes to God. I call this “Intercessorial (or priestly) Listening.” Intercessory prayer doesn’t have to be formal, long, or spruced up with religious sounding words. It

[Insert picture of someone swimming in ice cold water] Greetings, friends... This is Part Two of--and the conclusion to--the small blog series I began last week. From Part One (last week)... Instead of trying to change the world to make it better for you (or to just give you a break), why not focus on trying to change you and your own life? And to create your own breaks? God has given each of us the freewill and agency--the instrumentality--to change. And He wants to partner with us in this. Writing from my own experience, my first task (in my life with God) is to partner with Him to set my own life in order. And now, Part Two... Today, I'd like to look at some concrete ways in which we can begin to partner with God to bring increasing order, integratedness-of-belief, and congruency-of-being to our own lives. (Note: Doing this will help us also stop meddling in the lives of those around us!) -- Concrete Way I: Speak to Your Heart Years ago, I wrote "You Are..." for a dear