{"id":7538,"date":"2020-12-08T10:12:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T15:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/?p=7538"},"modified":"2020-12-08T10:12:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T15:12:30","slug":"commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/","title":{"rendered":"Commit to spiritual self-care this Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Advent in our modern world has long been behind the cultural eight ball. It\u2019s a season of waiting in a world of instant gratification, a season of quiet anticipation in a world of noisy commercialism. But this year, in the midst of pandemic challenges and political worries the likes of which we have never experienced in our lifetime, it might just be a season of joyful opportunity in a world of stressful chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>As we move through the next few weeks toward the Christmas celebration that will be the pinnacle of our preparations\u2014the prayers said, the presents wrapped, the homes decorated\u2014 we are being given a rare opportunity to stay put, slow down, simplify and find hope even amid the challenges thrown in our path every day. It\u2019s not something that can happen without our willing participation, however. We have to commit to it, to seek out beauty right where we are, to soak in the moments of awe in the ordinary, to name the gifts in our midst in an intentional way. And, when we find ourselves losing hope, to return to prayer and begin again. We can always begin again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I say all of this not as an expert but as a companion on the journey. Trust me, I don\u2019t have this down pat. Far from it. But I know from experience that something shifts when I commit to intentional living and gratitude for what is rather than focus on what I think should be. My heart softens, my breathing slows, my nerves settle and suddenly there is beauty all around me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, where do we begin? With gratitude. Not just in our heads or in silent prayer, but in concrete ways\u2014in a notebook, on your phone, on slips of paper collected in a glass jar. It\u2019s so simple it seems insignificant, maybe even silly. How can this shift anything? It can and it will. Just begin. Every day write down three things for which you are grateful. It doesn\u2019t have to be earth-shattering. In fact, the more simple and ordinary, the better. I was driving to work one day and spied two bright pink Adirondack chairs on the second story balcony of a little gray house. The pop of color in my dreary day made me smile. Later that night, I wrote it in my journal. Crescent moons, raindrops on the roof, an old man walking his dog, the smell of soup simmering on the stove\u2014it\u2019s all fodder for joy. It begins with noticing and giving thanks for the everyday miracles. Of course, you\u2019ll want to include the big things too\u2014the good diagnosis, the job found, the children safe. Big and small, begin to keep count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 13th-century German mystic Meister Eckhart once said, \u201cIf the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is, \u2018Thank you,\u2019 it will be enough.\u201d Gratitude in any form is prayer, and that is a great beginning, but we need to go further. Look at your prayer practices. Where can you add to it this season? An Advent wreath on the kitchen table for mealtime prayers, perhaps? A Bible beside your bed for morning or evening reflection? A small sacred space near your favorite chair for moments of silent prayer in the presence of God?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This Advent, commit to the spiritual self-care that will not only soothe your soul during these difficult days but will transform your life from the inside out. Little by little, you\u2019ll find that the outside world, with its bad news and daily threats, can\u2019t shake the quiet joy that lives in your heart. The secular world has never really understood Advent, which is such a loss, because now more than ever our world needs the joyful hope that comes from being willing to wait, to watch, to find the miracle hidden in plain sight, no overnight shipping or gift wrap required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This column originally appeared in the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"December 2, 2020 (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cny.org\/stories\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent,21694\" target=\"_blank\">December 2, 2020<\/a>, issue of Catholic New York.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@polarmermaid?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Anne Nyg\u00e5rd<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/s\/photos\/advent?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Advent in our modern world has long been behind the cultural eight ball. It\u2019s a season of waiting in a world of instant gratification, a season of quiet anticipation in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[136,121],"tags":[64,560,138,241,668,101,66],"class_list":["post-7538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent","category-life-lines","tag-advent","tag-advent-wreath","tag-christmas","tag-gratitude","tag-gratitude-journal","tag-life-lines","tag-self-care"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Commit to spiritual self-care this Advent &#8211; Not Strictly Spiritual<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Commit to spiritual self-care this Advent &#8211; Not Strictly Spiritual\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Advent in our modern world has long been behind the cultural eight ball. It\u2019s a season of waiting in a world of instant gratification, a season of quiet anticipation in [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Not Strictly Spiritual\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Mary-DeTurris-Poust\/105157722861796\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-08T15:12:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/anne-nygard-9cwkJ-ioHeA-unsplash.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"427\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@marydtp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@marydtp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mary\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#\/schema\/person\/98535137020dd532c92ce7cbb6d163f1\"},\"headline\":\"Commit to spiritual self-care this Advent\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-08T15:12:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/\"},\"wordCount\":684,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/anne-nygard-9cwkJ-ioHeA-unsplash.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Advent\",\"Advent wreath\",\"Christmas\",\"gratitude\",\"gratitude journal\",\"Life Lines\",\"self-care\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Advent\",\"Life Lines\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/\",\"name\":\"Commit to spiritual self-care this Advent &#8211; Not Strictly Spiritual\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/anne-nygard-9cwkJ-ioHeA-unsplash.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-08T15:12:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/anne-nygard-9cwkJ-ioHeA-unsplash.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/anne-nygard-9cwkJ-ioHeA-unsplash.jpeg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":427},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Commit to spiritual self-care this Advent\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/\",\"name\":\"Not Strictly Spiritual\",\"description\":\"Discovering the Divine in the Everyday.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Not Strictly Spiritual\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/NotStrictlySpiritual-logo-web-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/NotStrictlySpiritual-logo-web-1.png\",\"width\":427,\"height\":244,\"caption\":\"Not Strictly Spiritual\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Mary-DeTurris-Poust\/105157722861796\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/marydtp\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/marydtp518\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#\/schema\/person\/98535137020dd532c92ce7cbb6d163f1\",\"name\":\"Mary\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Commit to spiritual self-care this Advent &#8211; Not Strictly Spiritual","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Commit to spiritual self-care this Advent &#8211; Not Strictly Spiritual","og_description":"Advent in our modern world has long been behind the cultural eight ball. It\u2019s a season of waiting in a world of instant gratification, a season of quiet anticipation in [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/","og_site_name":"Not Strictly Spiritual","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Mary-DeTurris-Poust\/105157722861796","article_published_time":"2020-12-08T15:12:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":427,"url":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/anne-nygard-9cwkJ-ioHeA-unsplash.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@marydtp","twitter_site":"@marydtp","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mary","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/"},"author":{"name":"Mary","@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#\/schema\/person\/98535137020dd532c92ce7cbb6d163f1"},"headline":"Commit to spiritual self-care this Advent","datePublished":"2020-12-08T15:12:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/"},"wordCount":684,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/anne-nygard-9cwkJ-ioHeA-unsplash.jpeg","keywords":["Advent","Advent wreath","Christmas","gratitude","gratitude journal","Life Lines","self-care"],"articleSection":["Advent","Life Lines"],"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/","url":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/","name":"Commit to spiritual self-care this Advent &#8211; Not Strictly Spiritual","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/anne-nygard-9cwkJ-ioHeA-unsplash.jpeg","datePublished":"2020-12-08T15:12:30+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/anne-nygard-9cwkJ-ioHeA-unsplash.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/anne-nygard-9cwkJ-ioHeA-unsplash.jpeg","width":640,"height":427},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/commit-to-spiritual-self-care-this-advent\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Commit to spiritual self-care this Advent"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/","name":"Not Strictly Spiritual","description":"Discovering the Divine in the Everyday.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#organization","name":"Not Strictly Spiritual","url":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/NotStrictlySpiritual-logo-web-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/NotStrictlySpiritual-logo-web-1.png","width":427,"height":244,"caption":"Not Strictly Spiritual"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Mary-DeTurris-Poust\/105157722861796","https:\/\/x.com\/marydtp","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/marydtp518\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/#\/schema\/person\/98535137020dd532c92ce7cbb6d163f1","name":"Mary"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}