V for Voices

Our “V” entry begins with the Latin “venire” meaning “to come” which is the root of Advent, the wonderful season preceding Christmas.  Christians await the arrival of our Savior. Families await the arrival of far-away loved ones.  Malls await the arrival of shoppers and profits.  All of us await the arrival of Santa Claus. It’s a time of waiting. Almost. But not yet.  We’re excited and full of anticipation.  We know something good is ahead.

When my dad died, we found a note in his wallet.  “The best is yet to come.”  There seems to be something inherent in the human condition that yearns for something more.  We know that this life is good, we are blessed with food and shelter and relationship. The world is truly a beautiful, wonderful, mystical moment in this absurd cosmos.

And yet we sense…something more is possible.

People die in senseless ways.  We spend our precious time scrambling after meaningless things.  We hurt each other, intentionally and accidentally.  We make the same mistakes over and over.  We try.  We fail.  We try again.  And we wait. 

The prophet Joel tells us that mountains will drip new wine and hills will flow with milk.  The prophet Isaiah speaks of rivers in the desert and lions and lambs and cows and bears all living together in harmony.  Revelation tells us of a time when tears and pain and death are no more. 

When?  When is that coming?  How long must we wait?

That I cannot answer. But every once in awhile, we get a glimpse of what that could be. It may last a moment or an hour, but it’s enough to keep us believing.  We see what could be.

On Sunday afternoon, Charlie and I attended a concert.  The International Festival Chorus of Singapore presented a beautiful ceremony of carols and Christmas songs.  The concert coincided with World Choral Day.  Did you know there is such a day?  Neither did I.  But I really like that such a thing exists in the world – it’s described as an “event to extol the values of solidarity, peace and understanding.” We could certainly use more of all.  This is their proclamation.

Sing, choirs of the world!

May your voices take springs

there where fire burns.

May your songs put roses

there where battlefields lay.

Open furrow and sow love

to harvest fruits of hope.

Sing to liberty where despot rule,

Sing to equality where poverty nests,

Sing to love where hate prevails.

May your singing direct the world

so that peace takes over wars,

so that all will cherish the earth,

so that all race or color discrimination is banished,

so that we will be together as sisters and brothers

so that this planet rejoices with your voices.

For a moment, I glimpsed the new earth.  Joyful voices, joined in harmony, banishing the darkness, letting the light of love reign.

Then, just a few hours after this concert, reality came hurtling back at tsunami strength.  Our beautiful island paradise experienced an unusual outburst of violence. The fires burned.  The pain imploded.  The hate took center stage. It was truly a sad day.

The vision of living together as brothers and sisters receded. 

And yet…we wait. 

For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; it will certainly come, it will not delay. Habakkuk 2:3

U for Universal

Universal.  That’s our U word. I was thinking about this yesterday while spending time with a young friend.  After several hours of fun, we were walking from the bus stop and her little steps were stumbling.  I mentioned the “t” word – “are you tired?”  She immediately perked up and assured me she was not, even as her eyes drooped with the next step.  “Would you like for me to carry you?”  “Yes.”

A universal truth – ask a kid if she’s tired and she’ll most likely protest.  None of us wants to get tired.  We might miss something.  Can’t blame her…I often protest, too, especially late at night when there’s just one more thing catching my attention.  Which reminds me of another universal – when it’s impossible to find sleep at 2 a.m. with the help of GPS, at 6 a.m. when the alarm goes off, sleep is camping out at the back of both eyeballs, pouring a concrete foundation to boot and has to be eradicated with major explosives – preferably weapons of mass caffeine. 

And then the other universal – you never need a bathroom when there’s a clean facility nearby.  But get ten minutes away from running water with the next rest stop two hours ahead and your bowels will open faster and more furiously than Wal-Mart on Black Friday.

I noticed my universals are rather basic (and bio-oriented) so decided to see what other more enlightened souls had to say.

I want to disagree with Dr. King, but I’ve experienced it – heck, I am that at times. 

In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.  George Orwell

Ouch.  Not many Paul Reveres around these days.

A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.  William Arthur Ward

Music is the universal language of mankind.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

So which is it?   Someone clarify, please.

There is no faculty of the human soul so persistent and universal as that of hatred.  Henry Ward Beecher

Unless maybe it’s hope?

Live your life as though your every act were to become a universal law.  Immanuel Kant

Wow – this is a real challenge.  All that potential fairness and equity gets in the way of my wants.

There’s this great Andy Griffith episode when Barney volunteers to fill a vacancy in the choir, assuring the director of his singing abilities.  Of course, it doesn’t take along until they realize Barney’s claims are exaggerated.  And the comedy ensues as the choir tries to replace him without hurting his feelings.  Inspecting Barney’s throat, Andy tries to convince Barney that something looks wrong in there, his throat is too red and swollen and needs to be rested.  Barney protests that he feels fine, and then hustles off to the doctor, returning with a smile.

Barney:  That’s a uvula.  Everybody’s got one. You’ve got a uvula.  They’ve got a uvula.  I’ve got a uvula. All God’s children got a uvula.

Andy replies with a sigh and a “Hallelujah.”

Maybe, at the end of the day, the uvula is the greatest universal truth there is.  We’ve all got one.  We’re all human.  Hallelujah.

T for Transition

Transition.  Webster’s defines it as a movement, passage or change from one position, state or stage to   There’s such energy, excitement, anxiety and possibility in transition. It’s a beautiful thing.

another.

I remember my first big transition.  After 18 years at home in the same town, same school, same church, same friends, I set off for college.  Granted it was only 90 minutes down the road, but it might as well have been the far side of the moon.  I was lost. Homesickness almost overwhelmed me, but my tenacity saved the day.  I had signed up for this, I would complete it.  At least the first semester.  That’s what I wrote home to my grandparents the second week of freshman year – that I would stay until Christmas, but then it was back home for me. 

Of course, by Christmas break, I was settled, connected and happy as a lark.  They couldn’t have drug me away from college life.

Fast forward about a dozen years.  Charlie and I are about to make our first corporate relocation from Kentucky to Wisconsin.  Doesn’t seem that drastic, hey?  Again, it could have been the far side of the moon.  I was in a tizzy.  Tossed and turned at night asking what we had done.  How could we fix it.  Finally, after a long talk with Charlie, I picked up the phone, called my old boss in Louisville and asked for my job back. 

I was flying through Louisville in a few weeks so he suggested we meet then.  We talked and agreed to my return. And, immediately, upon getting back to Wisconsin, I thought – what am I doing?  I’ve moved on.  I can’t go back now. 

So we didn’t.  My boss was a pretty smart guy.  I’m guessing he knew that all along, but he had placated me, let me know I had a home if I needed it.  I respect him for that to this day.

When the next move came, no big deal.  By this time, I knew to expect the initial shock.  And I knew that it would pass.  I knew that going back wasn’t a good idea.  Once we made the decision, we moved forward.  This lesson was pretty easy to remember. 

Until it wasn’t.  Our first international move almost led to complete brain freeze.  At more than one point, we were tempted to throw in the towel, call it a day and go home to the USA.  We persisted.  And it was great.  Our second international move was smoother.  We reclaimed our star pupil status.

And then we stopped moving.  After 24 years of marriage and more than a dozen moves, we landed in Singapore in 2006 and have been firmly rooted here since.  At this point, that’s about eight out of our almost 32 married years – a full 25% of our lives in one place. But that doesn’t mean life hasn’t had its transitions.  I’ve moved from my 40s to 50s.  I’ve moved from being the mother of two amazing young women to being a mother-in-law of two outstanding young men and Oma to two beautiful little people.  In 2008, Charlie’s mom died. In 2010, we said goodbye to my dad.  There have been promotions and new jobs and graduations and celebrations, illnesses, heartaches, challenges and triumphs.  A few weeks ago, Mom sat at the closing table and turned over the keys to the family home.  In a few more weeks, for the first time in 40 years, a new family will celebrate their first Thanksgiving dinner in the old red brick house in a kitchen that overflows with good memories and great times. 

I used to think the geographical relocations were tough transitions.  I’ve learned that isn’t always the case.  But I’ve also learned that life is transition.  And we must carry on. Tenacity, today and thanks – more great T words.

Through all life’s transitions, let us give thanks and rejoice for today is the day the Lord has made.

S for Satisfaction

I am on day five of a Specific Food Plan as defined in The Inside Tract: Your Good Gut Guide to Great Digestive Health (authors Gerard E. Mullin and Kathie Madonna Swift). After several weeks of discomfort, and many more months before that of just not feeling right, I decided to take matters into my own hands and search out solutions.  This book came into my line of sight so I ordered it from Amazon and read with care and delight.  The digestive system is truly amazing.

Dr. Mullin warned that many physicians will recommend more meds for digestive problems such as heartburn, GERD, IBS, – and this is exactly what happened to me.  When the doctor had nothing else to offer but another prescription, I politely declined, quickly exited the office, went straight to the market and embarked on the Specific Foods Plan suggested in the book.  The timing was excellent as Charlie was to be away on a business trip and would not have to suffer through the dietary limitations with me.

Exercising such specificity in what I consume has led me to the S word “satisfaction.” I’m on Day 5 and having great success.  I really thought I’d be starving, but to my great satisfaction, I am satiated.  Satisfaction comes from the Latin satis meaning enough and facere meaning to make or do.  Do enough, make enough.  Such a nice place to be.  And food is a great place to start to understand and appreciate satisfaction. 

That hasn’t been the case with my eating in the past – I would ignore my stomach’s signals about its satisfaction and keep stuffing.  And then suffer later.  I’ve learned a few key things that have really helped me rethink how I use my spoon and fork – and how to listen more carefully to my gut.

Here are some of my favorite bits from the book:

There are more nerve cells in your bowel than in your spine.

Your gut has as many neurotransmitters as your brain (it’s called your second brain)

Chewing is essential to good digestion.

The stomach is about 12 inches long and 6 inches across at its widest point – it can hold about 1 quart of food, but more if pushed. 

Eat until you are about 80% full – this gives the tummy room to work on that food. 

The average adult gut contains approximately 5 pounds of bacteria.

Food preferences are shaped by repeated experiences with food over time – so if something is really good for you, start working it in slowly.  You’ll acquire a taste for it.  Unfortunately, many of us have preferences that have been shaped by over-salted and over-sugared processed foods so there’s some re-training to be done.

Implementing this diet plan has brought me great satisfaction.  My gut feels better, my joints don’t ache, my tummy isn’t bloated, my sleep has improved, and I feel satisfied. It has taken a bit of adjustment and creativity, but the rewards so far are well worth the effort.  Most importantly, it has made me mindful of satisfaction – of realizing when I’ve had enough and stopping there.  It started with food, but it’s manifested into other areas.  And it’s quite refreshing.  In a world that says – don’t ever stop – it’s good to learn that sometimes it is right to stop.  Stop eating when you’re full.  Stop talking when you’ve lost your thread.  Stop worrying about everything.  Stop trying to control everything and everyone.  Stop being busy all the time and just rest.  Stop obsessing.  Stop craving more and more.

Satisfaction – knowing when enough is enough. 

R for Ready

This past Friday, Charlie and I attended the New York Times Thomas L Friedman The Next New World Asia Forum.  Friedman’s opening comments were titled “What world are you living in?” and, in a humorous, insightful and optimistic manner, he painted a picture of where we came from to get to where we are today and what tomorrow holds – always making it clear that the future is ours to create.  But we must be prepared as things have, and are, changing. Hence this week’s word – R for Ready.  Are you ready?

One of the foundational changes is in authority structures.  We’ve moved from vertical to horizontal.  In the old world of hierarchy, bosses bossed and workers worked and if everyone just followed the plan, all was right with the world.  Frederick Taylor, the father of scientific management, believed that “one best way” could be found for any job and that workers should have detailed training in their discrete task and then repeat that over and over for mastery. 

But who has discrete tasks in their job?  Every job is a combination of strategy-implementation, customer service, sales, marketing, finance, compliance, corporate security and technology – and the requirements change from customer to customer, day to day.  The world and its workers do not fit into neat little boxes – it’s a big messy complex rapidly changing world in which we live.  To succeed, we must be able to learn and unlearn and relearn – Friedman calls this ability the new literacy.  We can look to the past as prologue, but not as a pattern for the future. 

Another change he pointed out was that we are moving from high wage middle skill jobs to high wage high skill work – and our greatest shortage is brain power. Thanks to the Internet, knowledge is abundant.  Skill – defined as the practical application of knowledge – is not as plentiful. It’s not what we know, it’s what we can do with what we know.   

A third change in the new world is that companies only hire if they have to do so.  Although GDP and job growth used to move together, this is no longer the case. Rather than find a job, we may have to invent a job – and, if we have a job already, it’s important to think about how we add value to the organization.  Our contributions should not be based on a static job description, but by a desire to be relentlessly entrepreneurial in how we identify opportunity and help to drive corporate objectives.

So how do we prepare for what’s next?  A healthy dose of persistence, curiosity and imagination will be helpful.  Add to this a desire to take risks, to experiment, to fail and try again. Get comfortable with ambiguity – in case we had forgotten, the first decade of the 21^st century has made us painfully aware of the uncertainty and unpredictability of life. Keep learning and unlearning and relearning. Always be in beta. 

That may sound like a lot.  So be sure to take regularly scheduled R&R.  Once restored, you’ll be ready to rule your realm.

Q for Quotidian

Today we arrive at the 17^th letter of the alphabet, a relational fellow as he’s rarely seen without his best friend, u, beside him. Queued like that, they make quite a quaint couple, no question about it.

Without further quibbling, let us quickly turn to our Q word.  Quotidian.  Say it out loud.  It’s a lot of fun.

Webster’s defines it as an adjective meaning daily, usual or customary, ordinary, common place.  And as a noun meaning something recurring daily, a quotidian fever or ague.  The root of the word is the Latin for occurring daily. 

In Europe, it’s likely to be seen as an adjective in a bakery’s name – such as Le Pain Quotidien (spelled with an “e” not “a”).  Listen here.

http://www.lepainquotidien.us/#/en_US/about_us/our_name

Fun, hey?  But for some reason, in the American English dictionaries, a common definition of quotidian is tied to malaria – e.g., a quotidian fever. Which is sad because I think the word has much more to offer. 

These are some of the quotidian events of my life that, although customary and usual for me, are not to be taken for granted. 

Waking up with my husband beside me

Waking up in a climate-controlled bedroom

Electricity – lights at a flip of a switch

Running water and all that entails – an indoor flush toilet, a hot shower

The first whiff of the coffee brewing

The first sip of coffee in the morning

The second cup of coffee in the morning

Skype calls to loved ones

Checking email and Facebook to catch up with loved ones

Clean clothes – a whole closetful with lots of shoes, too

Cupboard and fridge full of food

Ease of doing laundry

Good tennis shoes and a good walk

My Bible

My iPod and all the music on it

Reading

Quotidian events are the substance of life.  Today, I’m giving thanks for “le pain quotidien” that nourishes me, body mind and soul.

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the ordinary. - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

P for Peace

P words have been flipping and flopping around in my head like fish out of water, struggling to find their natural element, to slip smoothly through my fingers and onto this paper.  But I’ve been holding them tightly…until this moment when peace has won the page.

I started out with “peace” awhile back, but kept wandering down other paths – pizza, play, poo-poo, and puzzles being a few “Ps” that made me smile. I kept planning to put pen to paper, promising to prioritize this particular project, but the purpose for the prose remained perplexing and it was possible to procrastinate day after day. 

Then I hit the fork in the road that brought my P into perspective. In the midst of all the unrest in the US, I had been self-righteously observing the goings-on at a safe distance, making it easy for me to judge all of those in power and shake my head.  Why can’t they just get along?  Why can’t they focus on the work and quit playing politics?

The details of my fork are not relevant.  Suffice it to say that it was my own political battle and I was in the right.  I knew I was right.  I had the facts and data.  I felt the pull of power, to put my persecutors in their proper place, to pull out all the stops and pound them over the head with the obvious.  My attack was prepared, my speech played over and over in my head. 

Come on, you’ve been at that fork, haven’t you?  One way led to victory for me and my ego.  In the opposite direction was letting go of all that and pursuing peace.  But, let me say it again, I WAS RIGHT.  The decision was obvious.

I couldn’t sleep that night.  I tossed and turned, I rationalized and justified, I argued my case in a manner worthy of Perry Mason.  Not so obvious after all.

At the end of the day, I knew I had to choose peace over being right.  It was not an easy thing to do.  It required self-denial and discipline and letting go of being right, the latter being an especially difficult thing for me to do.  The moment I made that decision, the hard work began.  But the peace was worth the price. 

Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:12-14

My pursuit continues.