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. -22-   Stay in the present moment. That’s where you’ll find life’s magic… Sometimes to stay in the present we need to visit the past, to clear out an old feeling, to heal an old, limiting belief. But that visit can be brief. And sometimes we need to think about the future- to make commitments, to plan, to envision where we want to go. But to linger there can cause unrest. It can spoil the moment we’re in now.   Melody Beattie   It is honorable and often spiritually enriching to be in the present moment, but this is balanced by compelling reasons to visit the past or envision the future. Recently, I enjoyed a lovely evening bike ride along the Rillito River next to our seasonal home in Tucson. For people who haven’t lived in the desert southwest, “river” means a dry wash that occasionally has flowing water if there...