People produce and purchase piles of stuff: pots and pans, papers and paraphernalia. Some stuff we use daily. Other stuff loses its novelty or utility.  Day by day, year by year, stuff circulates through our lives.

What do you do with all your stuff?  Do you hang on to it? Hide it away? Do you sort,  organize, and store it?  Or do you eject it in a desperate attempt to simplify your life?

Think back about Stuff and share forward!

Meditation – the practice of mindfulness to achieve mental clarity and emotional calm – has always been a traditional part of the Eastern religions of Jainism,  Buddhism,  and Hinduism.

In the 20th century, meditation was used by the European psychoanalysts Carl Jung and Erich Fromm as part of their treatments. And today’s Western medical establishment recognizes the benefits of meditation in reducing depression, stress, and anxiety.

Do you meditate?  If so, how long have you practiced it, and how has it helped you?

Think back about Meditation and share forward!

Human swimmers have appeared in Stone Age paintings dating back 7,000 years. In ancient Greece and Rome, swimming was considered a martial art and was required of all young boys.

Do you love to swim?  If so, did you learn as a child or as an adult?  Do you prefer swimming in lakes, oceans, or swimming pools?

Do you now or have you ever feared the water?  Did you ever survive a near-drowning experience, or witnessed one?

Think back about Swimming and share forward!

Ever have one of those well-planned days that got buried in a snow storm so big that everything else was cancelled?

Perhaps it gave you a free fun day off from school or work? Or a bad day of stress, maybe during a long road trip when your car said, “That’s it, I’m done!”

Or at the Bemidji, Minnesota airport when you should have landed in Chicago?  Either way, did the day play out for better or worse?

Think back about Snow Day and share forward!