Judith Valente's Blog: Mindfulness in the Age of Twitter - Posts Tagged "religious"
Try this when you're feeling tired & sad
When I was a young reporter in the Chicago bureau of The Wall Street Journal and new to the city, I sometimes found myself home alone on a Saturday night without plans or a date. To cheer myself up, I’d play CDs of my favorite Broadway musicals and sing along with every song. God knows what my neighbors thought.
I remembered those days reading a passage today from a wonderful new book, In Praise of the Useless Life: a Monks Memoir, by my friend and sometimes co-author, Brother Paul Quenon of the Abbey of Gethsemani. Brother Paul is a trim, fit septuagenarian who hikes four miles a day, amuses himself by jumping on top of hay bales, and used to climb the abbey’s 50-foot high water tower until the abbot fenced it off.
To what does Brother Paul attributes his physical stamina? To singing. The monks stand to sing Psalms seven times a day during community prayer. He writes, “To breathe often and deeply, to resonate subtly with sound, vibrates all the fibers ... It raises the heartbeat and boosts the metabolism and soothes the whole system. I generally leave choir feeling energized and refreshed.”
Feeling tired, sad, maybe even a little ‘useless?’ Like Brother Paul, why not try singing.
In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk's Memoir
I remembered those days reading a passage today from a wonderful new book, In Praise of the Useless Life: a Monks Memoir, by my friend and sometimes co-author, Brother Paul Quenon of the Abbey of Gethsemani. Brother Paul is a trim, fit septuagenarian who hikes four miles a day, amuses himself by jumping on top of hay bales, and used to climb the abbey’s 50-foot high water tower until the abbot fenced it off.
To what does Brother Paul attributes his physical stamina? To singing. The monks stand to sing Psalms seven times a day during community prayer. He writes, “To breathe often and deeply, to resonate subtly with sound, vibrates all the fibers ... It raises the heartbeat and boosts the metabolism and soothes the whole system. I generally leave choir feeling energized and refreshed.”
Feeling tired, sad, maybe even a little ‘useless?’ Like Brother Paul, why not try singing.
In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk's Memoir
Mindfulness in the Age of Twitter
In my blog, I focus on thoughts based on my new book (published from Hampton Roads) How to Live: What the Rule of St. Benedict Teaches Us About Happiness, Meaning & Community as well as from my previ
...more
- Judith Valente's profile
- 39 followers
