It's really amazing, if you think about it.
There are so many things humans do in a given day.
Work, play, eat, travel, be with others, understand, learn, accomplish, read, listen, watch, create — heck even breathe.
We do so many things,
but do we take time to reflect on them, to realize the beauty and complexity around and within us?
All this only takes a few minutes.
I think we can all spare a mere 120 seconds of the 84,600 we have in one day.
make of the Alive Project what you'd like - whatever is the most meaningful to you.
Back in college, I participated in a thing called the Jesus Experiment, a small group thing exploring different spiritual practices. One of the things we usually did was the "examen," a practice developed by St. Ignatius. (I'll share more about the examen in a later post.) Among other things, whenever we got together, we always reflected on four questions, one of which still sticks with me:
What made you feel most alive today?
I've been thinking about this question more, as of late, in addition to what I'd like to do for Lent and the fact that I want an excuse to write and blog more. Inspired by the examen of St. Ignatius and my personal appreciation and follow through with the #100happydays project last year, I came up with a little something of my own:
The Alive Project.
So here's the challenge,
for myself and anyone who wants to join me:
Every day in the season of Lent (including Sundays),
1) Take just a couple minutes to reflect when you felt the most alive that day.
It can be something as simple as taking a shower, receiving or giving a hug, or enjoying a particularly delicious meal. It can be something big, too, like getting a promotion, finishing a major project, or making an important discovery about oneself. If you're not sure what I mean, then keep reading my subsequent blog posts. I'll try to give a variety of examples as I do the project myself.
It can be something as simple as taking a shower, receiving or giving a hug, or enjoying a particularly delicious meal. It can be something big, too, like getting a promotion, finishing a major project, or making an important discovery about oneself. If you're not sure what I mean, then keep reading my subsequent blog posts. I'll try to give a variety of examples as I do the project myself.
2) Then share this "alive moment" with someone - here as a comment on my posts, on your own blog, on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #aliveproj, via text message, over the phone, by email, or even face to face. Find a buddy and do the project together. Find someone to keep you accountable, if you like. (If nothing else, I'm here!) It is my personal goal to share via blog posts here, as close to daily as possible.
One more thing: there's no commitment requirement.
Join in as frequently or infrequently as you are willing or able. If you miss a day, that's okay. I'm not trying to guilt-trip anyone; I'm giving myself the grace to miss a day or two (or more...), as invariably it may happen. Perhaps you just want to do the reflecting part without the sharing part: go for it!
One more thing: there's no commitment requirement.
Join in as frequently or infrequently as you are willing or able. If you miss a day, that's okay. I'm not trying to guilt-trip anyone; I'm giving myself the grace to miss a day or two (or more...), as invariably it may happen. Perhaps you just want to do the reflecting part without the sharing part: go for it!
All this only takes a few minutes.
I think we can all spare a mere 120 seconds of the 84,600 we have in one day.
make of the Alive Project what you'd like - whatever is the most meaningful to you.
May this project help us to pause for a moment to recognize and relish the blessing of being alive,
the life that God breathes into us,
the connections we have to our Creator and to the world around us,
the connections we have to our Creator and to the world around us,
the fact that the lives each of us inhabit hold more beauty and meaning than we imagine.
Here's to the next 46 days of recognizing the times when we feel
most awake,
most present,
most connected,
most Spirit-filled,
most alive.
No comments:
Post a Comment