How to respect other (sport) religions

I received this image on one of my social media feeds.

I like what the Salt Project has to say about religious respect. After the hockey events of the past week here in Canada’s capital, I thought that the same principles could apply to our sports religions.

I wrote earlier about the stewpot of hockey rivalry in our area. That was my way of trying to come to peace with residents of my town who support opposing teams. Playoff action creates even more tension. Above all else, people, we need to get along and respect each other. I invite you to adopt the Salt Project’s suggestions:

1. Educate yourself: Find out the history of your own organization and others. If you disagree with an action of someone on an opposing sports team, chances are your research will expose a similar transgression by someone on the team you support.

2. Be amazed or even converted into a better version of yourself: Allow room for awe, no matter the source, or the team. Try appreciating quality plays by either team. I think you will find you feel calmer and happier.

3. Be patient – Don’t form opinions too soon: Let time, or replays, mellow those knee-jerk reactions.

4. Build relationships: Nothing  breaks down barriers like getting to know someone who holds an opposing viewpoint and discovering that they really aren’t so bad. Get to know someone who supports another team and look for something to admire.

5. Keep your sense of humour handy: This is good advice every day, but especially when it comes to sports. Sports are supposed to be fun, for the players and the fans. If animosity ruins the fun, there’s something wrong.

6. Ask questions – Listen: This is part two of Educate Yourself. As you build relationships with other people, suss out the roots of their dedication to their team. Ask them about their past experiences as a fan. Find out what fires their passion. Listen without injecting your own opinions into the mix.

7. Say “I don’t understand – yet”: If you feel strongly about your team, you likely won’t change your allegiances after a few conversations. That’s OK. Some day you might. Leave room for that possibility.

8. Experience how others worship: Step into the milieu of the fans of the opposition. Try on one of their jerseys. Maybe a little of the mojo will seep into you.

9. Honour Convictions – Don’t try to remake people into your own image: The people with whom you build relationships aren’t likely to change your mind after a few conversations, right? You’re not going to change theirs either. Honour their convictions and accept.

10. Eat together, play together, and hold each other’s babies: A game of pick-up road hockey followed by a pizza feast, perhaps? Let your kids play together. Build relationships through food and fun.

11. Embrace mystery: Anything can happen in sports. Open yourself to the mysterious possibilities and embrace whatever comes.

12. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you: Ah, the Golden Rule. Always good to keep in mind.

Above all else, we need to get along and respect each other.

Dandelions, snails and milkweed are wonder-full

I just came in from digging dandelions out of my front lawn. You might think this would be a curse-word inducing experience, but not so. I dug those dandelions out of my front lawn reverently.

Some kids helped to give me a new perspective on these determined plants.

One morning last year I took my Sunday school class outside for a “Wonder Walk.” As we explored our grassy areas and the NCC property nearby, I encouraged the children to consider the two sides of wonder. I asked them to celebrate the things in the world that they thought were wonder-full, and I encouraged them to wonder about things they didn’t know.

The children found wonder in some big, easily noticeable things like motorcycles, our Ottawa city bike paths, and trees. But their search for wonder also prompted them to stop and examine their surroundings closely. They celebrated many things that would normally have passed unnoticed, like a bee in the wildflower garden and a snail still in the shell. We peeled open a milkweed pod and touch the silky white seeds. We invited the monarch butterflies to find the milkweed cluster.

The children also wondered about many things we take for granted. The hydro tower, for example. How exactly does hydro work? I celebrate the light that comes on in my house when I flick a switch, but I can only describe in broad terms how the power gets there. Water is involved, I know that much.

Dandelions peppered the grass beneath our feet that day. We bent close and marvelled at the intricate yellow flowers. We respected the dandelions ability to persist. We appreciated dandelions as food.

Yes, the kids and I agreed, dandelions are wonder-full.

They don’t bother me, and I dig them out of my lawn out of respect for my neighbours, who don’t enjoy them quite as much. But my new perspective makes the job a little easier. Each one I dig up gets a little nod of respect, because I know I’ll never win the battle. No matter how thorough I might be, there will always be one dandelion more.

And that is pretty darned wonder-full.

How the universe answer my request for perseverance: Fun.

Photo courtesy of RozSheffield from Flickr

Have you ever had an unusual and timely answer to a plea or question?

I spent the weekend at a Healing Pathway workshop. During one session, I had to ponder an intention. It didn’t take me long for mine to bubble up.

I needed a push to persevere.

Being a writer isn’t easy. Every day I receive feedback from someone about something I’ve done wrong. It could be as simple as a misplaced comma, or as a grand as a challenge to my central theme, but no matter how large or how small, every negative comment dents my armour. Most days I’m strong. I accept it as part of the job and use it to better my work. But every once in a while, all those dents blast a hole. When feedback tells me, over and over again, I have failed in some way, or my writing is off target, or “not what we’re looking for,” or just plain “not good enough,” I wonder why I do it.

In my daily life I get paid to write in a corporate environment. I’m not passionate about the subject for which I get well paid. I am passionate about my creative writing, though. My short stories and my blog stir my blood—and garner very little financial compensation for me. Lately, that frustrates me. I’m supposed to follow my bliss, right? All the self-help gurus say when you’re doing what you’re supposed to do, money flows to you. So why the disconnect in my case? What gives?

What. Is. Up. With. That?

I carried my frustration and discouragement into the weekend. Why bother with all this creative writing? Life would be so much easier without it, really. So, I said to the universe, (or God, or whatever you choose to call that mystery we’re all trying to figure out): “What do you have to say to me about perseverance?”

At the end of the day, I climbed into my car, turned the key and the song “Carry On” by Fun. blasted out of my radio.

Let it never be said that the universe doesn’t have a sense of humour.

My favourite line from the song: “May your past be the sound of your feet upon the ground.” What a profound, inspirational blessing. The line fires me up and rekindles my spirit. In ten years, or 20 years, no matter what happens, I hope to look over my shoulder at the past and listen for the sound of my feet upon the ground, step by step, going somewhere, taking action, doing something, trying. Persevering.

Not losing 3 children in one week? OK then. Life is good.

In 1866, my ancestors lost three children in one week to a diphtheria epidemic.

Children aged 13, 11 and 9 just . . . gone. (How are immunizations looking to you now?)

I read this fact on the weekend while visiting my mother for Easter. My genealogically inclined relatives dug up an impressive amount of information on my poor English farmer ancestors. They found a sketch of the remote log cabin—rustic at best—in which the family lived. No plumbing or running water, of course. No furnace that clicked on when a chill set in. No Mac’s Milk on the corner or butchery down the street. And then they lost three children in one week.

Yeah, really. I have nothing to complain about.

A few years ago a friend and I chatted about how, no matter how grim things get in our lives, there is always someone in a worse state. The day after our conversation she sent me this message: “Remember when we were discussing the subject: There’s always somebody worse off  than me, so I wonder what the worst person has to deal with? I guess it isn’t Nick.” Her message included a link to a video about Nick Vujicic, a man with no arms or legs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo_24_qTNac

Please watch Nick and be inspired. He has so many challenges, but he’s happy. He’s so busy telling everyone how lucky he is, he has no time to complain.

So, who is the person in the world who is the worst off? Is it even possible to know? It’s all a matter of perspective, isn’t it? And we all choose our own perspectives. We all choose whether to be happy or unhappy about the long line-up at Starbucks, or the guy in traffic who takes too long at the red light, or missing arms and legs.

Who is the person in the world with the worst lot in life?

It’s not me. I’ll bet it’s not you. No matter what’s happening for you today, try your best to smile. At least you’re not losing three children in one week.

Photo from facebook Nick Vujicic

Easter Saturday: overlooked but, oh, so important

One of the most memorable Easter sermons I ever heard preached had nothing with Good Friday and the complexities of who killed Jesus and why. It didn’t mention the empty tomb or celebrate the renewed presence of Jesus on Easter morning. It didn’t really have much to do with Jesus at all. It was about Easter Saturday and what the people did in the time in between.

Really, it was about us, and what we do with the overlooked but, oh, so important time in between tragedy and triumph.

Easter Saturday: the metaphorical day after loss. The day when the pain is raw and fresh, and we don’t know yet about the joy to come. During the time in between we can’t see joy. We can’t see how it will take form in our lives. We look to the future and see more of the same.

The preacher of this sermon urged us to remember the Easter story during difficult times. When we survive the initial shock and turmoil and find ourselves in the desert of grief that follows, we can keep the flicker of hope alive.

Be watchful. Look for it. Joy will come with the dawn some Easter morning.

Intutition and rationality at Easter

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
—Albert Einstein

Is there a time of year when our rational mind battles more with our intuition than at Easter? The Easter stories often make people turn away from faith. Their rational minds can’t accept something they see as supernatural mumbo-jumbo, so they toss out the whole enterprise. They don’t even give sacred intuition a chance.

So many things to puzzle through. An empty grave. Jesus appearing to people after he died. How, on earth, can we rationally deal with it all? We can’t, so I guess we have to float above the earth a little and open the sacred gift of our intuition.

The moderator of the United Church of Canada, Rev. Gary Paterson, addresses this in his Easter message. He refers to people in the Easter story who meet Jesus in some way after he has died, but they don’t recognize him. Mary thinks he’s a gardener, and other men spend an entire afternoon in conversation with him, but they see him as an ordinary Joe.

It’s a recurring theme, this unrecognized Jesus. Only later, when these people share sacred moments with him, do they see things differently.

Rev. Paterson suggests that perhaps we can choose to use “resurrection glasses” to see the ordinary events, and all those ordinary people, in our lives through the lens of sacred intuition gifts. Without them, we see gardeners and ordinary Joes; with them, we see the sacred in everyone.

The resurrection glasses are readily available to us, we just have to choose to put them on.  Just for fun, try putting on those resurrection glasses this Easter, and see what gifts your sacred intuition brings to you.