Archive for July, 2007
-image-Wakizashi’s Epiphany
Wakizashi (that’s my husband if you are new to reading Flaming Renaissance) is an introvert; I am an extrovert (in case you had yet to figure that out about me). I have, and prefer to have, many friends and multiple social options; Wakizashi has one friend - and that’s all he wants. Don’t get me wrong, Wakizashi is liked by people - I’m sure many people think of him as their friend - but when it comes to people he would choose to spend time with in a social context, besides me, there’s really just John. Don’t feel bad for him, that’s the way Wakizashi likes it. He’s introverted like that.
John has an interest in labyrinths; apparently he walks them regularly. Sometime in the last year or so John took Wakizashi to a labyrinth near their work (did I mention they work together?), and Wakizashi has taken to dropping by at lunch time to relax or to think. If you’re like my son (and admittedly myself at first), then everytime you hear the word “labyrinth” it probably conjures up images of elaborate paths through hedges; some kind of super maze. (Or maybe that movie with Jennifer what’s-her-name and David Bowie - I loved that movie.)
If you are like the Kung Fu Master then you are thinking of the wrong thing; an elaborate maze is really just a maze. A labyrinth is something different; it’s a tool to help you focus, quiet your mind, and meditate. They are two-dimensional patterns on the ground. The idea being that when you are focusing on where to walk the part of your mind that’s always distracting you is already distracted and it frees the rest of you up to focus on something else - generally speaking.
As I mentioned yesterday, we’ve had some big things stirring around when it comes to business, and through that our lives. So today, John and Wakizashi went to walk the labyrinth at lunch and Wakizashi used the time to ponder: Are we doing the right thing? He told me this story tonight and I asked if I could blog it and share with all of you, I thought his epiphany might be as valuable to you as it was to me (and him too of course).
He pondered whether the risk we’ve been talking about taking was the right course for us right now. As risky as it is for me, the new thing that God dropped into our laps just this week is the first time that the risk has really been focused on Wakizashi instead of me for a change. It really isn’t a minor thing we are talking about undertaking either. By the time he had reached the center he still felt sure that this was the right path. He did what he was supposed to and started walking back out of the center.
He walked out and around (a labyrinth isn’t a striaght spiral, you go around and in and out too) until he was in next to the center again, at which point he began to lose his balance. He almost tipped in towards the center, but caught himself and managed to get his foot back on his part of the path safely. Then, he told me, he heard a question, “Why did you do that? Why did you catch yourself?”
“Well,” he explained, “those are the rules. I’m walking this path and I’m supposed to stay on it.” (I don’t actually know if there is a labyrinth walking rule, it’s just how he sees it.)
This is when he had his epiphany: He’s walking a path in life and there are rules to follow. His rules are to work at a job, work 9-5, make a certain amount of money, support his family, etc… (Very masculine rules, my rules are a little different - wash the dishes, do the laundry - but we all have them.) The rules aren’t real rules, they are just the way our culture is set up. It is possible to step outside of these “rules”; to choose a different kind of life.
All of a sudden he “got it”; just to make a point to himself he purposely stepped into the center again. He cracked up laughing, stepped back onto his part of the path and then finished up his walk. I know that giving himself permission to step outside the rules - to change the rules - is a truly life altering epiphany for Wakizashi; he’s not only an introvert, he can be a little anal sometimes too (but I love him dearly and wouldn’t change him for the world!). After all though, rules were made to be broken!
Poor John; he probably thought Wakizashi had lost his mind (all of a sudden he’s standing in the center laughing for no apparent reason), but then again, he’s probably spent enough time with my husband to take that kind of behavior as normal.
Posted by Megan @
8:40 pm |
-image-Big Things
Thanks for the comments on the logo, Wakizashi has also weighed in and it seems constancy is the winner, so I’ll be leaving the Phoenix right where it is. You’ll just have to wait a few more weeks to see the Everyday Renaissance logo (she’s worth waiting for, she really is).
So many big things have been happening here in the last few weeks I can’t even begin to express them.
You know the Bible verse that says, “More than you can ask or imagine…”, wow, you can’t really comprehend what that means - more than you can imagine - until it starts happening all around you, and then it’s like… It’s like drowning in excitement, in possibility, and in goodness.
Just last month, I had to renew the URL for this blog - it’s been one year since I started Flaming Renaissance. (Actually, it’s been one year since I bought the URL, the blog is a little bit shy of that.) For the last year I’ve known what I wanted to do, I had a sense of my vision for Everyday Renaissance, and I knew a lot of the points along the way (like who I served, what I wanted to focus on, etc…), but I was just confused about how to connect the dots. I’ve been working steadily along on those things that I could, and was just waiting to hit the right button and have the floodgates pop open.
Well, I finally found the button that makes the whole dang machine start running. And man, it’s like all this time stuff has been piling up behind the door waiting for me to open it, because it literally has been a flood of inspiration, direction, and possibility. Within two weeks, I knew where this was going to end up - what my final vision/goal is, what I had to do first to get things up and running, and all of a sudden, I even had one of those “beyond what you can imagine” epiphanies.
On your end it probably doesn’t look like much is happening (except for the regular blog posts); but, you’ll have to take my word for it, it’s a flurry of activity on my end. When I actually start revealing things I know you all will be just as surprised (and, hopefully, pleased) as we are. I tell you, it’s life altering! (But, I really can’t tell yet. Sorry…)
And do you know what it was? The thing that really changed everything and got the ball rolling? We looked at the options, the possibilities, and we decided that yes if we were going to go down this path we were going to have to commit ourselves totally and take the risk. Risk, or maybe the commitment and passion that it represents, is apprarently the magic key!
So, keep your eyes open, and I’ll be back to update you (maybe with some actual information rather than a bunch of words that really tell you nothing) in the next few weeks. Let me just say, that I’m anticipating September and October to hold big surprises!
Posted by Megan @
1:30 pm |
-image-What Do You Think?
I’m thinking about changing the Phoenix logo on this blog. I have a fan-tab-ulous Everyday Renaissance logo image that I love, love, love, and I’m thinking about replacing the blue phoenix (top right hand corner) with her. I know that some of you really like the look and feel of my blog and I’d hate to ruin that if my bird is a major part of it, so, what do you think?
Change the logo? Or leave it?
Posted by Megan @
6:25 am |
-image-I Love This Quote
I’m still sorting through my papers and such from the move and I have a little pile of notes where I’ve collected quotes, thoughts, and book responses for myself. In it I found one of my all time favorite quotes and motivators for living life. I’ve decided to share it with you because it’s Saturday, and I can!
This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognised by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish, little clod of ailments and grievences complaing that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as I live it is my priviledge - my priviledge to do for it whatever I can.
I want to be throughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I love. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me; it is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
– George Bernard Shaw
George was a smart man, I think.
Posted by Megan @
9:29 am |
-image-Drum Roll Please…
And the winners are:
Karen - The Sound of Paper
Becca Taylor - The Artist’s Soul
Congratulations Ladies! I’ll be in touch over the next day or so to get your addresses and make arrangements to send you your books. Enjoy!
(p.s. thanks to everyone for taking the time to take my survey, I really do wish I could send you all a book.)
Posted by Megan @
9:10 am |
