Meditations on God

Attention To The Shadows
Fear attaches itself to us.

It seeps into the cracks and crevices of our wounded souls and makes itself at home.

Like a parasite, it feeds off of our life-force.

By separating us from God and our fellows, fear traps us in isolation.

It envelopes us, weighs us down, and suffocates us from the inside out.

We cannot run away from our fear.

Nor can we power through it.

The only way to overcome fear is to sit with it, face it, and make friends with it.

By becoming intimate with fear and the parts of ourselves within which it finds a home, we take away fear’s power.

We can never be rid of fear altogether because there will always be some vulnerability in our spirit or psyche to which fear will find a way to attach itself.

If we allow it to, however, fear can actually guide us to these places within ourselves to which we may have otherwise remained strangers.

Fear is like a beacon. calling attention to the shadows of our souls.

For this reason, we should be thankful for our fears because, without fear to force our growth, our lives would be very shallow indeed.

‘Attention To The Shadows’ by Robert Van Valkenburgh

HOLISTIC BUDO: As in Life, so too in Budo. As in Budo, so too in Life.
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July 27, 2022

bravery, courage, fear, know thy self, knowledge of self, self discovery, self knowledge
Work We Can Live With
Focusing on the outcome distracts us from the process.

When we begin doing creative work, we tend to do so for the work itself.

There is something in us that we want to get out.

Whether it be in writing, in song, on a canvas or a plate, we feel pulled to create.

The creative process itself is what drives us.

Over time, however, as we hone, polish, and sharpen our skills, as we begin to master our craft and others begin to be drawn to it, we may start to see the possibility of being rewarded for our work.

Such rewards may be material or financial, or they may come in the form of acclaim or prestige.

Regardless, it feels good to be noticed, appreciated, and even compensated for work that began as something extremely personal, especially if we are now good at what we do.

There is a danger in this, however.

The reward itself distracts us from the very thing that brought us here.

By focusing on what we can get from our work, our work begins to change.

This may happen slowly, subtly, and over a long period of time, but it nevertheless starts to take us off track.

Eventually, our work feels foreign to us.

When we start to feel like our work is being made by and for someone else, we must choose between being outcome driven or process driven.

The former may bring us more immediate results, but the latter gives us work that we can live with.

‘Work We Can Live With’ by Robert Van Valkenburgh

HOLISTIC BUDO: As in Life, so too in Budo. As in Budo, so too in Life.
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July 26, 2022

art, artist, creative, creativity
Seeking Shared Value
We can tell what a person values by what they reward.

People can claim to value one thing or another, but as we all know, talk is cheap.

Action, as the saying goes, speaks louder than words.

So when a person says that they value honesty, integrity, kindness, or some other attribute in the people around them, but they actively reward the opposite attitudes and behaviors with their time or attention, we should pay attention.

Life is too short to give the better parts of ourselves to those who do not want or appreciate it.

After all, we should not reward that which we, ourselves, do not value.

We should, instead, seek out those with whom our value is and values are shared.

‘Seeking Shared Value’ by Robert Van Valkenburgh

HOLISTIC BUDO: As in Life, so too in Budo. As in Budo, so too in Life.
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July 25, 2022

relationships, value, values
Meaning Finds Us
When we put too much effort into our search for meaning, it may pass us by.

As we work through life’s challenges, we inevitably want to know why we are going through what we are going through.

We hope there is purpose behind our struggles.

We want to know that it all means something.

Suffering for the sake of suffering, we tell ourselves, cannot be what life is all about.

So we search for meaning.

If we cannot find what we are looking for, we ascribe meaning to that which we have experienced or are experiencing, insisting that, if only we try hard enough, we will figure it all out.

Quite often, however, meaning finds us.

When we stop fighting back against the pressures put upon us and accept our present state of existence, settling into life as it is instead of as we wish it to be, we discover that there is purpose in every moment, every interaction, and every breath.

Seeking is part of the process, but meaning is found here and now, as we are and as life is.

‘Meaning Finds Us’ by Robert Van Valkenburgh

HOLISTIC BUDO: As in Life, so too in Budo. As in Budo, so too in Life.
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July 23, 2022

journey, meaning, path, purpose, search for meaning, seeking
Balancing Our Output
We only have so much of ourselves to give each day.

Our internal resources are finite.

We have to decide how much we are willing to give to others and how much to keep in reserve.

Without a balance, we risk either being overly selfish on one hand or getting burned out on the other.

We are not here to hoard our gifts.

Neither should we give so much away that we are left depleted and miserable.

Life is meant to be enjoyed and joy is meant to be shared.

We can do neither if we exhaust all of our resources on tasks or relationships that require more of us than they give in return.

‘Balancing Our Output’ by Robert Van Valkenburgh

HOLISTIC BUDO: As in Life, so too in Budo. As in Budo, so too in Life.
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July 22, 2022

energy, joy, output

Attention To The Shadows

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Work We Can Live With

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Seeking Shared Value

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Meaning Finds Us

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Balancing Our Output

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