Priorities for 2015

     At the beginning of a New Year it is common for people to make resolutions.   A wonderful article in the Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) talked about resolving to have a less stressful 2015.  How so?  By setting priorities, turning off our devices, clearing our calendars, and limiting our time on social media sites.   Here's the gist of the article: 

People are extremely stressed in America.  Between 42 – 52% of them claim they don’t sleep well because they are stressed.  Why?  Because they feel so overwhelmed.   They feel like they are sooo busy they don’t have time to do everything. Well, this is actually an illusion we live with here in our fast paced lives.   In his book “The Time Management Workbook:  A Catholic Approcah” (Pauline Books and Media, $9.95) author Marshall Cook reminds us that we aren’t really busier than our counterparts from the 1950s & 1960s.  They spent 14 hours a day working at the factory.  

A recent survey sound that we actually work fewer hours and watch more tv than they did.  So why do we perceive ourselves as so busy?  Because we live in a “culture of distraction.”  It’s due in large to technology. 

Americans are so busy developing their resumes.  ( Captain of the X club, member of the Y team, etc).  Much blame goes to the sue of social media.  Social media usage takes time, time which could be used to do other things.  There’s an urgency to check one’s emails, check ones text messages, respond to them, answer the ring, ensure that they take a photo of whatever they are doing, post it on their sites.   So much is a stressful waste of time.  People are just reacting to those little electronic devices. 

What are they missing out on?  True relationships, commitments which satisfy.  The ones they make online are shallow and perhaps not even with  ‘real’ people.  How can we help ourselves slow down?   Take breaks from the electronics.  Put them away while eating.   Go Exercise.  Enjoy an activity.   Better yet, enjoy a relationship.  How about one with God?!  That doesn’t mean one has to totally forget about FaceBook or Twitter.  It means one should schedule the time for them.  Limit the number of times you check your email in one day. 

“For the chronically overscheduled, Cook also recommends not taking on new commitments without dropping old ones, plus leaving more time between scheduled activities — essentially planning on things taking more time than expected. Lastly, he said, it’s important to leave time for things that aren’t important — watching television, working on crossword puzzles and just doing nothing — all of which can help lower stress levels and stimulate creativity. “Being bored isn’t a bad thing,” he explained. ‘Boredom is where a lot of creativity comes from.’  In the end, perhaps the best advice comes from St. Paul in Ephesians 5, who urges Christians to ‘look carefully then how you walk ... making the most of the time.’ ‘It all comes back to intentionality and an eternal perspective,’ ” ... Sarah Christmyer, co-developer of the Great Adventure Bible study program says. “We only have so much time. How are we going to spend it? What are we here for? How are we going to be Christ to those around us? That’s what matters.”

New year, new priorities For a less stressful 2015, clear your calendars, turn off your devices and tune into what matters most Emily Stimpson OSV Newsweekly - See more at: https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/ByIssue/Article/TabId/735/ArtMID/13636/ArticleID/16638/New-year-new-priorities.aspx#sthash.EJTlLDgU.dpufT

 

Faith News: Pope Francis’s thoughts on FREEDOM: It’s Demanding!

“Pope Francis is a Jesuit, formed in the spirituality of the Spiritual Exercises. So it’s not surprising that he zeroed in on one of the central ideas of Ignatian spirituality when he found himself in front of a group of students from Jesuit high schools last June.  That idea is freedom.

“Each of us has a part to play in the great drama of Christ’s work to save and heal the world, and our challenge is to learn what that work is and to choose to do it. This is what we most deeply desire, but there’s a problem. We desire many things—a rewarding career, friends and lovers, good health, security, comfort, a good reputation, peace of mind, and many more. In the midst of all these desires and options and goals, how do we focus on the most important thing—to love and serve God and other people?

“The answer, Pope Francis said, is freedom. We need to be free from what Ignatius called “disordered attachments”—those wants and yearnings, some good, some not so good, that can govern our decisions and ultimately control our lives. It’s no small task. Francis wasn’t kidding when he said that being free is demanding. It requires a great deal of discernment, prayer, reflection, and grace to sort through the confusion of desires and attachments and find what it is that we most deeply desire.

“Ignatius believed that our deepest, truest desires have been placed in our hearts by God. So when we finally find what we really want, we find what God wants too. That’s the promise of freedom.”  (dotMagis – Ignatian Spirituality, Being Free is Demanding, Posted 22 April 2014 )