The longer I am in the HeartPaths program, the more I am convinced that they put together their program with a lot of thought and an active response to prior students’ experiences. I think the roots of that sentiment began with today’s topic: Centering prayer. I learned, quickly, that Breath Prayer was really a warm-up for centering prayer!

If trying breath prayer was challenging for me, centering prayer made breath prayer look like a breeze! In centering prayer, you again empty the thoughts in your head and just try to be with the Lord. The difference between it and breath prayer, or the Jesus prayer is that you choose one word (yes, just one word) and use that word to bring yourself back to just a state of being with God whenever your mind begins to wander.

You’re not even supposed to change the word as you pray. In the Jesus prayer it was common for me to change the phrasing I used if I felt like I couldn’t settle myself with the current phrasing. Thus, settling on just one word and sticking to it was really challenging!

Howdy, Word Nerds! Last week’s WOW (Word of the Week) was diapason. The father-in-law set me straight on this one–I knew I had seen it before! (If I had remembered the days when I sat beside my mom as she played the church pipe organ, it would have dawned on me!)

According to Merriam-Webster Online, diapason actually has several meanings:

1. a) a burst of sound

   b)  the principal foundation stop in the organ extending through the complete range of the instrument

   c) :  the entire compass of musical tones

2.  range or scope

3. a) tuning fork

   b)  a standard of pitch

Today’s WOW is actually composed of two parts, but is listed as one word in the dictionary. Here are my guesses for ex cathedra:

ex cathedra (eks-kə-ˈthē-drə) 1. a former cathedral 2. the relief of a hospital patient after a catheter is removed *cough* 3. when you finally quit being obsessed by Cathy comic strips

What is your guess for ex cathedra? Post a comment below to let me know!

Wednesday’s Post: Where’s Your Center?

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: diapason; Word of the Week: captious; and Word of the Week: caitiff

Sunset on Serenity

I was not looking forward to a trip to East Texas in October 2014.

My brother’s best friend wanted to dedicate a park he had created on some property he was developing and he invited my other brother and my family to be at the dedication. I was not looking forward to it for several reasons:

1. I was just getting to the point where I wasn’t sobbing incessantly about losing my brother.
2. The event would be attended by people I had never met except for my brother’s best friend, my other brother and my hubby. I’m an introvert in such situations by nature and awkward when I try to fake being an extrovert. Add grief to the equation and I’m doubly awkward.
3. My allergies often send me to the ER for anaphylaxis. These are costly and threaten my very existence. I wouldn’t be where I already knew the doctors and hospitals if that happened…not bueno for me, since my health adventures defy typical medical scenarios.
4. The Reserve (the development where the park was being dedicated) was full of lakes and a wide variety of trees, bushes, etc. Translation? It could be my allergy tomb! Mold is often around bodies of water; I’m allergic to all kinds of dust, grasses, weeds, and tree pollens.