MSI Press Blog

  Today's meditation from  Weekly Soul: Fifty-two Meditations on Meaningful, Joyful, and Peaceful Living   by Dr. Frederic Craigie. -24-   I want to pay tribute to people who have hope, who have always been kind of a minority, who are called “activists.” “Activist” means what? Someone who does an act. In a democratic society, you’re supposed to be an activist… you participate. It could be a letter written to an editor. It could be fighting for stoplights on a certain corner where kids cross. And it could be something for peace, or for civil rights, or for human rights. But once you become active in something, something happens to you. You get excited and suddenly you realize that you count.   Studs Terkel   In my counseling/consultation work, I often invite people to talk about what really matters to them. Consistently, I hear three responses. People often describe spiritual and religious relationships (“God;” “my faith;” “I’m not religious, but my spiritua...

Today's meditation from  Weekly Soul: Fifty-two Meditations on Meaningful, Joyful, and Peaceful Living   by Dr. Frederic Craigie. -23-   When we make a place for silence, we make room for ourselves. By making room for silence, we resist the forces of the world which tell us to live an advertised life of surface appearances, instead of a discovered life—a life lived in contact with our senses, our feelings, our deepest thoughts and values .   Gunilla Norris   Silence is a rare and precious commodity. It is rare because the world is filled with the sounds of modern industrial and commercial life. Unless you live in the Great North Woods of Maine or other similarly rural place, it is hard to escape the background din of motor vehicles. Your grocery store, your big box store, your local restaurant—all typically have background music that is so subtle and pervasive that you may hardly notice it. Like many people, you might have a radio on in your house ...

  Today's meditation from  Weekly Soul: Fifty-two Meditations on Meaningful, Joyful, and Peaceful Living   by Dr. Frederic Craigie. -20-   The quality of one's life depends on the quality of attention. Whatever you pay attention to will grow more important in your life. Deepak Chopra   Achieving artistic and financial success by the early 1890s, Claude Monet purchased his home in Giverny, France and set to work developing a landscape that would inspire his painting in the last 30 years of his life. He received permission from local authorities to divert water from the Epte River to create a pond for cultivating water lilies. Monet spent long hours in his gardens, tending to them, and joyfully observing the constant unfolding of light, colors, and texture. He commented on his attention to his lily pond:   It took me a while to understand my water lilies. I cultivated them without thinking about painting them. A landscape doesn’t captivate you in just one da...