Challenge for Growth Prompt #7: I Unplug

I unplug

This week’s challenge is:

“Today I unplug.”

Don’t panic. I’m not talking about totally unplugging. But think of how much time during the day you spend engaged with emails, texting, instant messages, Facebook, Instagram, Linked-In, Twitter, Snapshot, surfing the Internet, video gaming, online shopping, talking on the phone, etc. Bloggers, how much additional time do you spend reading or writing blog posts, or looking at your stats? What would you think and feel if you no longer had access to a phone, laptop or other electronic device? Does the thought of not having those things bring you a sense of relief, panic or something else?

For 1, 2, 3 days or longer commit to unplugging for some period of time. Pick a time of day when you normally use those devices and then set an amount of time to unplug that would challenge you, but not set you up for failure.

Sometime during the week, write a post about some aspect of this topic or about experiences you had when you unplugged. Feel free to use whatever form you desire: i.e., prose, story, poem, photograph, etc. (If you don’t have a blog, please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section below.)

General Prompt Information:

New prompts will be posted at 5 a.m. (PST) every Wednesday.

Since it is easier to make behavioral changes if we focus on them one day at a time, each of the weekly challenges will start with “Today, I focus on…….” It will be up to you to decide how long you want to focus on a particular challenge— one, two, three days or even longer. At some point during the week, publish a post that relates in some way to the subject of the week.

Link your post back to this prompt post. If the pingback doesn’t work, then leave the link to your post in the comment section below. Be sure to include “Challenge for Growth Prompts” as one of your tags.

Throughout the week, I will publish the links for the posts that were created as the result of this prompt. I will also post the links from those who participated the previous week. That way they will be seen by anyone who comes to this page.

This week’s contributors to I unplug:

Challenges for growth prompts/unplug- Annette’s place

Unplugged- Home and Loving It

I Unplugged!- Living, Learning and Letting Go

OFF- Nik’s Place

How about you?

Last week’s contributors to I listen attentively:

I Hear You- Nik’s Place

Please Listen to Me- Living, Learning and Letting Go

Challenge for Growth Prompt #6- Home and Loving It

Challenge for growth prompts/#6- Annette’s Place

Wordless Wednesday

Signs of Spring

It is only February but there are still many signs that Spring is approaching.

My Early Morning Walk (February)

When I walked out my front door this morning, the first thing I saw was the garbage and left over food someone had thrown onto the street in front of my house. I picked up most of it before starting my morning walk. A few blocks from my house I saw more trash; this time it was four beer cans, a paper bag and other forms of litter. I decided to pick up at least some of it on my way back home.

I took a route that I had never taken before. I was startled when I walked by a house that had bamboo stalks bigger than any I had ever seen. In fact, they were much taller than the three story house. A fence hampered my ability to take good photographs, but these will at least give you an idea of what they looked like.

I continued walking for awhile and then headed back home. The garbage was still waiting for me.

As I got ready to pick it up, some very tiny flowers caught my eye. I decided to photograph those.

After gathering the trash, I continued on my way home. As I walked, I reflected on the litter, the bamboo and the flowers. I’ve continued to think about them throughout the day.

Several years ago, picking up litter was a major focus in my daily life but that has not been true for awhile. It is time for me to find my litter grabber and to once again support Mother Nature in that way.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Life Imitates Art

Two ideas came to my mind when I read the Weekly Photo Challenge for this week.

Last summer I visited Martin Luther King Jr’s National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia. Some of the exhibits were interactive. In one we were able to “walk” alongside sculptures of the civil right’s marchers. My heart was moved by participating in this way.

Cheri, the person who wrote this week’s challenge, also suggested that we consider creating a new version of an old photo.

Her words reminded me of two photographs I was given after my mother died. They are of my parents with their closest friends.

The first was taken in 1943. My mother and father are on the right side of the picture. My mother’s sister is in the middle. The men met their future wives and each other during World War 2. They remained friends throughout their lives and were family to me during my childhood.

1943
This is the photo they recreated, in the late 70’s or early 80’s.

1970s

As I gaze at this picture now, I’m aware that they have all passed from this world except for the woman on the left. She is now 96 years old!

Please Listen to Me

When I started my psychotherapy practice in 1987, I hung a poster titled “Please Listen to Me” on my group room wall. Even though it is no longer on the wall, I think of the content often. I believe it contains important information for everyone, but might be especially helpful to those of you who are participating in this week’s Challenge for Growth prompt.

Please Listen to Me

When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving advice, you have not done what I asked.

When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that way, you are trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problems, you have failed me, strange as that may seem.

All I ask is that you listen. Not talk or do, just hear me. Advice is cheap: 50 cents will get you both Dorothy Dix and Dr Spock in the same newspaper. And I can do for myself I’m not helpless. Maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless.

When you do something for me that I can and need to do for myself you contribute to my fear and weakness. But when you accept as a simple fact that I do feel what I feel, no matter how irrational, then I quit trying to convince you and can get about the business of understanding what’s behind this irrational feeling.

And when that’s clear, the answers are obvious and I don’t need advice. So, please listen and just hear me, and if you want to talk, wait a minute for your turn; and I’ll listen to you.

Author Unknown

Challenge for Growth Prompt #6: I Listen Attentively

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I Listen

This week’s challenge is:

“Today I listen attentively.”

Sometimes when we are listening to another person, we may find our minds wandering to problems at work or home, or to future plans. At other times, rather than paying close attention to the person’s words, we may start thinking about how we are going to respond to them. Or we may reflect on advice we want to give them when they stop talking. If the person is angry, instead of listening to them, we may start planning our defense. These communication patterns often leave people feeling unheard, discounted and/or disrespected.

This week, for one, two, three days or longer, practice giving people your full attention when they are talking to you. Sometime during the week, write a post about some aspect of this topic or about experiences you have when you listen attentively. Feel free to use whatever form you desire: i.e., prose, story, poem, photograph, etc. (If you don’t have a blog, please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section below.)

I look forward to seeing where this challenge takes you.

The article that you link to this prompt should be a new post written specifically for this challenge.

General Prompt Information:

New prompts will be posted at 5 a.m. (PST) every Wednesday.

This week’s contributors to I listen attentively:

I Hear You- Nik’s Place

Please Listen to Me- Living, Learning and Letting Go

Challenge for Growth Prompt #6- Home and Loving It

Challenge for growth prompts/ #6- Annette’s Place

How about you?

Last week’s contributors to I am Love:

I Am…- Nik’s Place

It Takes a Revolution- The Seeker’s Dungeon

I Am Love- Living, Learning and Letting Go

Love Has No Borders (haibun)- Tournesol dans un Jardin

I AM love (free verse)- Traces of the Soul

Stillness- Dancing to the Words

Wordless Wednesday

Goliath

Goliath top

The Wonders of Nature

I spent last weekend at Loon Lake in British Columbia attending a regional retreat for members of Amma’s Pacific Northwest satsangs. Those retreats are a time for devotees to meet together in-between Amma’s visits for the purpose of doing spiritual practices, attending classes and building our sense of community. We were blessed to have one of Amma’s swamis, Br. Dayamrita Chaitanya spend part of the weekend with us.

On Sunday morning, I participated in a nature walk led by one of the weekend participants. Jayanand worked as a botanist and ecologist for the National Park Service for 18 years. He knows so much about the environment and I learned a lot.

I am always fascinated by fallen and decaying trees. There was a big fire in the forest near Loon Lake in 1868 and you can still see remnants of that fire.

Jayanand gave us this information about downed trees:

Downed trees play an important role in maintaining the health and regeneration of forests. Not only do they provide nutrient pools for other plants during stand regeneration, they often even serve as “nurse logs” which support the germination and growth of other trees by providing substrate, moisture and nutrients to the seedlings and young saplings. They also can act as carbon sinks by locking up carbon in the forest floor – instead of being released into the atmosphere by burning. Decaying wood provides habitat for a variety of plants and animals, adding to the diversity of life found in forested areas. Finally, downed woody material can also help prevent runoff and soil erosion.

Here are some photos from our walk: