Filling Up

Perhaps you also heard the repeat of a 60 Minutes episode this past Sunday on “mindfulness,’  in which Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan talks about his belief that being mindful can change the way Congress interacts and could even change the country at large. [60 Minutes, mindfulness] Or maybe you heard about the reporter who asked presidential candidate Hilary Clinton if she is joyful, as candidate Jeb Bush has declared himself to be. Certainly we know it’s better to be grateful than not. And a teacher at the yoga studio where I practice regularly tells her students to do the “needful” thing to make a pose work with the body you brought to class that day.  Thinking about all of the things I want to fill up with took me to Psalm 24, which reminds us that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”

As we all come into the busy season of beginnings – school, lessons, sports, meetings, rehearsals… – let’s be full of good things, like joy and gratitude and hope and mindfulness – i.e. a focused awareness of each moment of our days. And try to avoid filling up with things that make us fearful or scornful or deceitful.

Being cheerful, graceful and merciful can sometimes make us feel vulnerable too, but in the opening of our hearts that vulnerability represents, we might be changed and even become agents of change, in ways that being boastful, distrustful, or hurtful will never allow.