Eirenicole (m4a Feed): Recent Episodes
Nicole Oliver Snyder
For Lent, we have been using the book, The Art of Lent: A Painting a Day From Ash Wednesday to Easter, by Sister Wendy Beckett. This week, Holy Week, the theme is Love. Our meditation for Holy Saturday is entitled, “Radiant Expectation,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, Easter Saturday, 2010, Mark Cazalet.
For Lent, we are using the book, The Art of Lent: A Painting a Day From Ash Wednesday to Easter, by Sister Wendy Beckett. This week, Holy Week, the theme is Love. Our meditation for Good Friday is entitled, “Passionate Sacrifice,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, Crucifixion, 2008, Craigie Aitchison.
For Lent, we are using the book, The Art of Lent: A Painting a Day From Ash Wednesday to Easter, by Sister Wendy Beckett. This week, Holy Week, the theme is Love. Our meditation for today is entitled, “No Greater Love,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, The Last Supper, 1497-98, Leonardo da Vinci.
For Lent, we are using the book, The Art of Lent: A Painting a Day From Ash Wednesday to Easter, by Sister Wendy Beckett. This week, Holy Week, the theme is Love. Our meditation for today is entitled, “Forgetting Self,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, Camille on her Deathbed, 1879, Claude Monet.
For Lent, we are using the book, The Art of Lent: A Painting a Day From Ash Wednesday to Easter, by Sister Wendy Beckett. This week, the theme is Love. Our meditation for today is entitled, “Chasing the Butterfly,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, Chasing the Butterfly, c.1775-76, Thomas Gainsborough.
For Lent, we are using the book, The Art of Lent: A Painting a Day From Ash Wednesday to Easter, by Sister Wendy Beckett. This week, the theme is confidence. Our meditation for today is entitled, “Absolute Trust,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, Sacrifice of Abraham, 1994, Albert Herbert.
For Lent, we are using the book, The Art of Lent: A Painting a Day From Ash Wednesday to Easter, by Sister Wendy Beckett. This week, the theme is confidence. Our meditation for today is entitled, “A Bright Fortress,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, Seaside Residence II, 1994, Pia Stern.
For Lent, we are using the book, The Art of Lent: A Painting a Day From Ash Wednesday to Easter, by Sister Wendy Beckett. This week, the theme is confidence. Our meditation for today is entitled, “Courage,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, Gilles, 1721, Jean-Antoine Watteau.
For Lent, we are using the book, The Art of Lent: A Painting a Day From Ash Wednesday to Easter, by Sister Wendy Beckett. This week, the theme is confidence. Our meditation for today is entitled, “Inner Tranquility,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, St. Nicholas of Bari (detail from the Ansidei Madonna), 1505, Raphael.
For Lent, we are using the book, The Art of Lent: A Painting a Day From Ash Wednesday to Easter, by Sister Wendy Beckett. This week, the theme is confidence. Our meditation for today is entitled, “Joyful Confidence,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, Diana the Huntress, c.1550, School of Fontainebleau.
For Lent, we are using the book, The Art of Lent: A Painting a Day From Ash Wednesday to Easter, by Sister Wendy Beckett. This week, the theme is joy. Our meditation for today is entitled, “Beyond Experience,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, White Clematis, 1887, Claude Monet.
For Lent, we are using the book, The Art of Lent: A Painting a Day From Ash Wednesday to Easter, by Sister Wendy Beckett. This week, the theme is joy. Our meditation for today is entitled, “Radiant Truth,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, Pink Bowl With Green Grapes, 1992, Craigie Aitchison.
The theme is joy. Our meditation for today is entitled, “Lost in Time,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, Children on the Seashore, Guernsey, 1883?, Auguste Renoir.
The theme is Joy, the meditation for today is, “Embracing Joy,” and the focus of our attention is on the painting, By Moonlight, 1994, by Margaret Neve.
Art of Lent meditation for today is entitled, “Joy in Infancy,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, Baby in Red Chair, c.1810-30, by unknown artist.
For Lent, we are using the book, The Art of Lent: A Painting a Day From Ash Wednesday to Easter, by Sister Wendy Beckett. This week, the theme is peace. Our meditation for today is entitled, “Conditional Peace,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, Allegory: Inconstancy, c.1490, by Giovanni Bellini.
Using the book, The Art of Lent, by Sister Wendy Beckett, this week's theme is peace. Our meditation for today is entitled, “Isolation,” and the focus of our attention will be on the painting, The Silence, 1965, by Carel Weight.
Peace with the art of Lent
The in-betweening is most difficult space to occupy – that place of not-rich-not-poor that is lived in fear – in fear of fear even. Because in the in-between the hunger is not for want of food, but for that which is just-above, just a whisper of breath beyond the fingertips that one cannot quite hook a finger on. And no matter how comfortably set, the just-above is eternally just there: above. Enter the space of sheer silence and know the presence of God who is deafeningly within reach.
It disturbs me to consider how much my reaction and responses to activity on my phone is targeted and designed with incredible precision to keep me looking, scrolling, clicking . . . . In this episode I discuss how we might begin to break the addiction cycle with our technology.
Mothers provide the growing space, nutrition – inside and out – and contribute to the functioning of growing human beings from the very smallest portion of our DNA to their graduation and beyond. None of this can occur without that person who carries the Y chromosome. And not everyone who possess to Xs can or do make new human beings, or are inclined or well suited to do so. In this episode, consider the experiences you have/had at the hand of your mother.
In all of our deformities, all our inadequacies, there is beauty in the imperfections. That beauty is seen most clearly when others reflect it back onto us. Who I am is who we are. This is me. This is we.
Freedom is a nebulous concept, vague and imprecise, yet for all its deftness to evade definition, we (and North American’s in particular) assert our right to wholesale freedoms. Freedom protests.
“True power exists when you can’t tell where it comes from,” Chadwick Boseman, actor, the Black Panther. In sociological terms, this kind of power is referred to as “soft” power. It does not seek to dominate or crush; nor does it require obeisance or affirmations of its power. It is messy and seemingly out-of-control at times. But it more real, more true, a tangible influence on the community it leads.
Mindfulness use of your phone's camera in a more intentional way. Make memories and refocus your perspective as Lenten practice by being present, noticing, processing your surroundings and experience – making a memory that will remain with you longer than my stay.
By straying from my true self – over-estimating or under-estimating who I am – I have sinned against the one whose image I bear. Repentance, Teshuvah, is returning to that space at the very center of my being where Jesus resides, where I am most truly – and being that.
Welcome the meannesses visited on your child by seeing the brilliance into his heart and recognize our responsibility to awe.
Mindfulness practice is one of those methods that are indicated to help alleviate depression. But one feature about being in the habit of practicing mindfulness is that it helps to prevent one from delving as far into the depths in the first place. It also offers tools that are practical and easier to access.
Practicing mindful attention of examen for this year – see it for what it has been, notice your reaction to the events, hold loosely these things in God’s presence, and bring our intentions for the new year into awareness of God’s presence and intention toward you, toward me.
We all possess the capability (as created in God’s very image) to conceive and grow creative life, to give birth to a nurturing love toward other human beings. We are equipped with the capacity to consent, as Mary did, to the presence of God’s Spirit, the creative life and love within.
As long as some are not at peace, I cannot really know true peace. The prayer, "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace," assumes that peace will exist in me – that the source for that peace I’m meant to be instrumental in sharing – must dwell within me.
What brings you joy? It isn’t as if we can expect joy to just appear. It is true that some circumstances we find ourselves in might occasionally bring unexpected joy. But it isn't usual. The practice of loving kindness is a beautiful reminder that every person around me has the same desires and needs that I do. And praying for their well-being shifts my perspective. And maybe I can appreciate them. Perhaps, even delight in them.
When you hold in your hand the things that distress you, the fist clenches and everything seeps through, between the fingers – coming apart. Practice hope this week, the holy indifference – hold loosely the things that seem to be falling apart or breaking you apart so the More Than can have space, have room, to hold it all together.
Spending time among trees is healing, and we can find wisdom and refreshment from them, particularly as Thanksgiving is upon us in the US this week.
We see the signs, but not their meanings. We are not blinded, but we have blinders. What I notice shapes my mind. And I choose what I will or will not notice. And in doing so, this affirms my prejudices, and confirms my expectations. Awe and wonder erase expectations. The ability to be surprised is exactly that: an ability – one that must be fostered, nurtured, practiced.
The language of emotion, and mindfully using our words. It is a mindfulness practice to reflect on the words we use to ascribe meaning to a situation or emotion, relationship or perspective.
the first episodes focused on noticing, attending our senses so that when automatic routines are paused for some reason, automatic reactions can be attended with grace. When on autopilot, any interruption is an opportunity to react – and, for me, it is usually with irritation. Our brains are made to accommodate new information and stimuli by allowing our bodies to do many things automatically.
When I consider chaos (Chicago traffic, for example) I am reminded of the genius artists apply to the chaos of media, of possibilities and expressing beauty, ascribing meaning through the chaotic elements. By practicing visual prayer, meditation in sight, it becomes easier to see into the landscape no matter the contents, evidence of God’s presence.
Our bodies are complicated terrain. Most of us have a love-hate relationship with it, likely heavy on the hate end of the scale.There are more factors than any medical, psychological, sociological, anthropological, theological field can name for my occasional disdain for my body, but none are satisfying and none can really explain why perceived imperfections make me feel negatively toward my body. Because whatever I do not like about my body I internalize and ascribe a moral failure or deficiency to it. But why?
To really taste something, I need to slow down, to sit and pay attention to what I’m eating. Taking in a breath automatically draws in the fragrance from the meal. And if I take a few breaths before taking a bite, I might distinguish some of the ingredients used in the dish.
Taking time with my meal allows my body to digest the food – enough time to provide the sense of satisfaction and fullness so I do not eat more than I need.
Smell is a powerful sense. In fact, psychologists and neuroscientists believe it is the most powerful of all the senses to evoke emotion and memory. This is because the olfactory bulb, which starts inside the nose and continues along the lower part of the brain, touches two areas important for processing emotion and memory: the amygdala and hippocampus. The other senses do not run the same course, so they do not have the same impact on memory and emotion. A smell is more easily linked to an event and the associated feelings of that event.
Often, we feel things without seeing that joy or pain for what it is. Rather, it is internalized and becomes part of the self, often in very physical manifestations.
Overreacting to an internal judgment about my inadequacy can undermine – attack – the healthy strengths I do possess, and render myself socially or professionally infirm. Also, perhaps we do this as a society by passing judgment without thought, without real insight, and attack the whole of another’s position. In doing so, we debilitate constructive civil conversation.
It is certainly true that in order to center our hearts and minds, quiet is extraordinarily important. But sometimes you can fight fire with fire, and with a cacophony of sound a single tone, a chime or gong can serve to draw the mind away from the chaotic noise – toward a center.
When I am rushing around trying to get all the things done that seem so urgent, or twirling around in my mind the circumstances in which I find myself that feels overwhelming or impossible to endure, I find that I am nearly holding my breath, my breathing is so shallow. Because I am so focused on everything I’m concerning myself over I cycle through inhalation and exhalation at the minimum to . . . still be breathing. So, we practice more breathing.
Breathing is foundational to any mindfulness practice, so this first exercise will be about noticing how we breathe.
How do you react when someone you know makes a statement with intense conviction – and the thesis of that statement is utterly at odds with your own principles? I begin this podcast with a 10-Day Challenge. My challenge is for my listeners to spend 5-10 minutes each day developing a habit of mindfulness – one that is more than just an exercise, but one that seeps into your day.