8:30 am:
Good Morning!
I woke up this morning not as tired as I usually am, which was surprising. I didn't expect to be; getting up at 8 am on the first day of my 'weekend' is not something I enjoy most of the time. I guess I am more excited about the events of today than I thought.
First things first: Yesterday. I spent the afternoon and onward with my best friend, who goes to college in NY. She wanted to get her nose pierced; it looked so cool! I couldn't watch the whole procedure, but the outcome was really cool! Her piercing is a little shiny green stud on one side of her nose. After that we goofed around at Sephora, where I may have developed an addiction to lipstick, and then ordered Chinese food, bought cookie dough, and watched a few Disney movies. It was quite fun, but I ate ALL of my Chinese food. They pack a TON in those little takeout boxes! It's really deceiving.
But today, as you may have guessed from the title, I am going to participate in some service work in honor of MLK. I am quite excited. I didn't realize just how much I miss doing service work. I won't even be doing much; I got assigned to do work at the Minnesota Literacy Council, where I will be sorting and labeling book donations that they have received. the books will be donating the book to schools, libraries, and community centers. I should probably head to the check-in place now. This blog post isn't quite finished; I will be back later to share what the service work was like (though it probably won't be much different from what I just described). Stay tuned!
6:30 pm:
So for the MLK day of service event, there was a long commemoration service. It was not my favorite part. I am not a fan of listening to a lot of people talk over a long period of time. But I loved the sections of the service in which the Gospel Choir performed! They are quite good, but I expected to hear the students do lead vocals, instead of the director. Some students did have solos, but I figured that all of the students would have equal parts. I guess I maybe just don't know gospel music so well.
Anyway, I liked the service work. we separated the books based on whether or not they were chapter books, books for K-3 grades, or small cardboard books, and stuck MN Literacy Council stickers on them and put them into boxes by type. We couldn't include religious or holiday themed books, and bilingual/non-English books were kept out to be included in the MN Literacy Council's personal library of those types of books. I rather liked it; it was fun to organize all of those books. When we came back, there was a lunch/wrap-up session, but I had to leave early.
After the event, I worked out with my roommate and a friend. We ran four laps around the track in the gym, then did weights, then ran a mile (11 laps) while being timed.
But we had to run that last mile without stopping. No walking breaks.
AND I DID IT. I REALLY DID IT!
It took me 10 minutes and 35 seconds. I ran a mile. With no breaks.
I am super proud of myself. My roommate and I went to Olive Garden for dinner just for fun. It was so good. And that is about it! Until next time!
Friday, January 16, 2015
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Realizations 2
A thought just hit me. I can't believe I didn't think of it/comprehend it before.
I was sitting here, reading a book for a book club called Saffron Cross (I'll explain it in a bit) and eating my triscuits, searching for the religion that best includes my beliefs & values and shares my idea of God/what God is (I am still trying to figure that last part out), when I thought, "But I don't need a religion! Believing in God (however you picture/define what that is) does NOT require you to choose a denomination! You can just be spiritual." It's what my roommate has been saying in regards to her relationship with the divine all along! WHY HAS THIS NOT SUNK IN UNTIL NOW?!?! Answer: Because I didn't see it as the answer that applied until now. I thought that it was important to define oneself, to pick a label or box that suited you. But that shouldn't matter. Now, instead of the question being, "How do I see God and what religion views God in the same way?", it's "How do I see God?"
I don't have to pick a single religion to define myself by. Elements of many different ones, Eastern and Western, are intriguing to me, such as the idea that I came across in learning about some Eastern religions: All living things are holy. You are probably saying, 'Yes, but I'm pretty sure all religions think that.' And I think that, to an extent, you are right. But there are differing levels. For example, Christians are different from Jains because Christians do not wear masks over their nose and mouth to avoid breathing in tiny living things in the air, nor do they sweep the ground before they walk to avoid stepping on those tiny living things. But I went on a bit of a tangent there. Whoops. My point is that I don't need just one; I can take concepts and elements from many and just have a modge-podge of different ideas that I value and accept. It doesn't need to have a name.
Anyway, I wanted to share a excerpt that I really like from the book that I was reading when I had my realization. It is an element of the Hindu religion and way of life, at the very least; it may be an element in others as well. It is the idea that a person is not their body; a person is their soul. The soul is just within the body; the body is like a vehicle for the soul. I learned this in my last religions class at Hamline, but it really hit home when I read it in this book, Saffron Cross.
The full title of the book is Saffron Cross: The Unlikely Story of How a Christian Minister Married a Hindu Monk. It is very interesting. The author of the book keeps stating how both her and her husband's religions were strengthened by the other person's. Nothing in particular in it caused me to have this realization; I was just thinking about how I was trying to find a religion that I could fit into when I thought, "That's not necessary, though..."
That's about it. I just wanted to share that.
I was sitting here, reading a book for a book club called Saffron Cross (I'll explain it in a bit) and eating my triscuits, searching for the religion that best includes my beliefs & values and shares my idea of God/what God is (I am still trying to figure that last part out), when I thought, "But I don't need a religion! Believing in God (however you picture/define what that is) does NOT require you to choose a denomination! You can just be spiritual." It's what my roommate has been saying in regards to her relationship with the divine all along! WHY HAS THIS NOT SUNK IN UNTIL NOW?!?! Answer: Because I didn't see it as the answer that applied until now. I thought that it was important to define oneself, to pick a label or box that suited you. But that shouldn't matter. Now, instead of the question being, "How do I see God and what religion views God in the same way?", it's "How do I see God?"
I don't have to pick a single religion to define myself by. Elements of many different ones, Eastern and Western, are intriguing to me, such as the idea that I came across in learning about some Eastern religions: All living things are holy. You are probably saying, 'Yes, but I'm pretty sure all religions think that.' And I think that, to an extent, you are right. But there are differing levels. For example, Christians are different from Jains because Christians do not wear masks over their nose and mouth to avoid breathing in tiny living things in the air, nor do they sweep the ground before they walk to avoid stepping on those tiny living things. But I went on a bit of a tangent there. Whoops. My point is that I don't need just one; I can take concepts and elements from many and just have a modge-podge of different ideas that I value and accept. It doesn't need to have a name.
Anyway, I wanted to share a excerpt that I really like from the book that I was reading when I had my realization. It is an element of the Hindu religion and way of life, at the very least; it may be an element in others as well. It is the idea that a person is not their body; a person is their soul. The soul is just within the body; the body is like a vehicle for the soul. I learned this in my last religions class at Hamline, but it really hit home when I read it in this book, Saffron Cross.
The full title of the book is Saffron Cross: The Unlikely Story of How a Christian Minister Married a Hindu Monk. It is very interesting. The author of the book keeps stating how both her and her husband's religions were strengthened by the other person's. Nothing in particular in it caused me to have this realization; I was just thinking about how I was trying to find a religion that I could fit into when I thought, "That's not necessary, though..."
That's about it. I just wanted to share that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)