Mindfulness

My nephew, Jonathan, recently posted an article on his Facebook page that we will use in our new trauma healing materials.  It is about mindfulness, about being attentive to the here and now.  I think that when I am in contact with nature is when I am the most mindful.  My thoughts don´t wander to the past; worries about the future dissipate.  With the mountains, rivers and trees I am here, now.  I am more aware of my cold fingertips and warm toes, the crisp winter breeze lifting my hair, the bird call far away - faint but I hear it even above the roar of the water fall.  Even food tastes different here.  I am aware of flavors: cheese, olives, alfalfa sprouts, almonds, carrots, lettuce.  I don´t need any salt or dressing on the salad I eat outside.  I am more aware of what I am thinking - and take time to sit with my thoughts.  I remember when Jonathan was a child, his mother asked him why he was laying on the grass doing nothing.  He answered, "I am doing something.  I am thinking!"  How do we teach kids today to contemplate, to be mindful?  By introducing them to the mindfulness required of nature when we venture out to explore.

My Dad

My father has given me a hope chest full of treasures.  Today, I open that chest to share with you these gifts.

*Faith - My father believes and practices Hebrew 11:1: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
*Relationship with God - Having an open, respectful, fun and full of surprises relationship with my earthly father opened the door for me to want to have a relationship with my Heavenly Father.
*The capacity to dream -  One of my father's favorite questions when we were kids was "What would you do if you had a million dollars?"  Until now, I have never had a million dollars, but I have never stopped dreaming!
*Believe in me and believe in others - My dad has always believed in me and my dreams.  He always expects the best of me and encouraged me to give my best.  He has taught me to seek the best in others, even when it isn't apparent.  My dad is the same wherever he is.  He can enter a humble adobe home and be respectful, kind, attentive as well as a palace.  He doesn't chance to impress others; he honors all.
*Love of nature - by my father's hand I learned to pick up trash even though I wasn't the one who dropped it, to breath in deep while walking in the forest, to paddle a canoe, to stop and watch the sunsets.
*Balance between play and work - My dad, over 80 years old, still knows how to play.  He feeds his imagination with toys and books, caring for his spirit, to be able to be creative and energetic when it is time to work.
*Self discipline - my dad gets up early even when he doesn't need to.  He schedules himself.  He makes lists.
*The importance of exercise - I learned to ride a bike and play baseball with my dad.  I remember him doing his exercises in the morning.  I love to go walking with him at sunset.
*Ministry - I will never forget when he said to me: "my ministry to the needs of these people is more important than any theological discussion we could have."  I hope to minister to each person according to their needs and not to theological arguments. My father knows how to walk alongside others at their pace.
*He recognizes his errors and he is not afraid to ask forgiveness.
*Shalom - My father is a person of peace, seeking peace for himself and others.

It all started with Sunday School and Vacation Bible School

Seventeen years ago, Rebeca and I began working with a group of young people creating the Sunday School program for the Pentecostal Church of Chile.  The Shalom Center is the natural outcome of the work with these children, many of whom now cooperate with the Shalom Center!

Fall at the Shalom Center

I had a wonderful time this afternoon at the Shalom Center enjoying a beautiful sunset with the fall colors.

            Journal

A bee jumped in my journal today, searching

            frantically on a blank page.

I tried to explain that day hadn’t arrived, yet.

            That tomorrow was hours in the future

            empty lines waiting to be filled.

Bee, buzz a lifetime from bud to bud

            pollinating tirelessly as you search of the contents

of your work’s fruit.  Your job is sweetness

but do you ever stop to let the blank

lines stand witness to your day?

In my journey I wish to work filling

            others with honey, giving life to flowers

as I travel.  But at times along the way,

            I will stop to take a sniff,

            to drink in, to savor, to touch, to listen,

            for no  one else but my own self.

July 16, 1993

Pantanal, Brazil

Elena Huegel

Reach peace

Peace cannot be reached

A parable from the Shalom Center in Chile

“There is no path to peace. Peace is the path.” Ghandi

A young learner asked her teacher how to arrive at the destiny that all humans dream of reaching: to live in peace.  The teacher answered, “you must walk.”

The first path the learner chose was a main road with much traffic, noise and pollution.  People ran crazily hither and thither, some blabbing on cellphones, others staring straight ahead, and none paying attention to anyone else.  In the midst of the tumult, between the honking and the bodies in constant movement, two small girls where jumping and twirling gaily around their young mother.  They greeted each passerby and smiled to those who responded as well as to those who didn’t.  When they reached the young learner, they shouted “hello!” with giggle of pure happiness and went on to play tag around a light post.  The road continued as busy as before with its noisy congestion and smoky haze.

The second path taken by the young learner was an alley between high walls.  No one else walked the narrow street.  People in this part of town kept their fears at bay inside their fortified homes. A solitary cat meowed and jumped from a rooftop to the tapered crest of a wall.  The young learner and the cat walked on together:  the girl along the alley whispering her thoughts out loud and the cat bounding from ridge to ridge with perfect balance and occasional purrs. They enjoyed each other’s company until the end of the narrow way.  The cat said good-bye with one last meow. 

The third path lead the learner into green fields decorated here and there with flowers and stands of bushy trees.  She was alone, but she didn’t feel lonely.  The sun warmed her, the wind unsettled her hair and the birds sang and swooped.  She wandered along, stopping to breathe deep, look and listen.

When she finally returned from her walking, her teacher asked, “Which is the path that leads to the destiny called peace?” And the young learner, now the wiser for her walking, answered, “one cannot get to peace; one can only choose to carry peace on which ever path one walks.”

Elena Huegel

June 2009

Centro Shalom in May