Let's face it, to misquote Morrisey 'some days are better than others', life is just like that. Sometimes circumstances, sometimes the people around us, sometimes the things that happen or the things we do mean the way we feel is affected and life can become tough. Sadness, fear, anxiety, guilt, anger, insignificance are all feelings and, if we are honest, all feelings we all have from time to time. As a result 'some days are better than others' and some days we would rather forget.
I have been thinking about Claire Squires quite a lot recently and today, the total money raised is now above one million pounds. Brian Draper's article for the BBC news magazine has been a helpful response for me BBC News article here as he tries to articulate how a nation responds to such a sad and seemingly meaningless loss. Those sponsoring Claire are 'joining in' with the narrative, becoming the story and re-articulating the story. The darkness, Claire's untimely death, is not eradicated yet a glimpse of meaning can be found, on a practical basis people will benefit from the additional work that the Samaritan's can now undertake and Claire's family and boyfriend will stand even prouder as they are upheld in a nation's outpouring of support. Feelings of grief and sadness and loss are not lessened but theses actions offer a glimmer of hope or light.
Earlier this week I went to visit Sister Ann Sullivan, she is a renowned
expert of MBTI and Jungian theory and a most perceptive person. I was
privileged to spend a few hours with her on a one to one basis and I have been given much
to think about. Maybe for now just this one thought, Ann asked me what
was wrong with anger, after me wriggling a bit and trying to answer she
responded 'there is nothing wrong with anger it can be used to dig the
garden you know', this is so obvious and yet so incisive, the feelings
that we all have are not intrinsically wrong, even on those dark days, it really does depend on
what we do with them. How might our 'shadow-side' or even our
'dark-side' be used in a way that is helpful and dare I say beneficial?
Friday 27 April 2012
Sunday 22 April 2012
Inspired perspiration
This week has been a brilliant week. I joined a gym, completing 4 sessions, I have started my MBTI coursework and run the best part of 12 miles with Sharon on Friday. I have also finished reading Mary Webb's 'Precious Bane'.
The second week of my sabbatical is over, yesterday was my rest day from exercise, my 'sabbath/shabbat. Rest days are actually just as important as exercise days, they allow the exercised muscle to reknit so are essential in any training regime. I decided to take my rest day yesterday because I really wanted to watch the London marathon today and decided to train for as long as the men's race ran. The TVs at the gym allowed me to watch and plug into the sound system available whilst on the machines and listen to the radio on my phone whilst on the weights
I have to say that I absolutely loved it! 30 minutes warm-up on the bike and cross-trainer, followed by 30ish minutes on weights and core exercises a 7 mile, hour long, run on the treadmill using Fartlek I really wasn't sure how I would find a treadmill but have been advised to do at least one of my runs a week 'off-road' and it seems not only is it easier it is also better for the joints, I ended up doing some more quad work (these are the thigh muscles that I need to work on to help my knee problem) and finally warming down.
The two hours flew by and I could have stayed longer. When I think of how unfit I had become I am amazed - I am not sure that if 5 years ago you had told me that I would be doing what I am doing now, that I would have believed you. I am not saying that what I am doing now is impossible, for axiomatically it isn't, yet then it would have seemed so far out of reach that I would have considered it so unlikely I wouldn't have even tried, making it - effectively not attainable and therefore not possible.
Recently my youngest daughter, Kira, who is 15 has amazed me. A couple of weeks ago she decided that she wanted to get a little more in trim. She decided to go for a run and went twice around the park, around a mile. I, being the mean and heartless father that I am, told her that was next to useless and that she really needed to do a 30 stint, she could walk some of it until she got better but 30 minutes should be the goal. She also decided to go swimming once a week and I (who knows nothing about swimming) told her that it would be useless to splash around in the pool for and hour and that if she was serious then she should do forty lengths (see I told you I was mean and heartless).
Kira is now running three times a week and has run 27 miles in the last three weeks, she has been swimming twice, forty lengths the first time and forty two the second. She just decided to give it a go and I am REALLY proud not just of the achievement but her application and discipline. REALLY proud. I am sure that I have inspired her, as Sharon also has, the unanticipated payback is that she has also inspired me.
About 20 years ago I watched the close of the London marathon and witnessed something that moves me and inspires me to this day. One woman, utterly exhausted and hardly able to stand, literally staggered the last few hundred metres to the finishing line, surrounded by stewards as she crossed the line. The utter strength of will of that woman has made an indelible mark upon my memory, her persistence to the seemingly impossible task, yet she did it. The memory of that woman still inspires me today.
I return to Bristol tomorrow, for three days, for further MBTI training, specifically about 'Shadow-side', dealing with that part of us that is less well developed yet, almost by definition, is brimming with possibility.
The second week of my sabbatical is over, yesterday was my rest day from exercise, my 'sabbath/shabbat. Rest days are actually just as important as exercise days, they allow the exercised muscle to reknit so are essential in any training regime. I decided to take my rest day yesterday because I really wanted to watch the London marathon today and decided to train for as long as the men's race ran. The TVs at the gym allowed me to watch and plug into the sound system available whilst on the machines and listen to the radio on my phone whilst on the weights
I have to say that I absolutely loved it! 30 minutes warm-up on the bike and cross-trainer, followed by 30ish minutes on weights and core exercises a 7 mile, hour long, run on the treadmill using Fartlek I really wasn't sure how I would find a treadmill but have been advised to do at least one of my runs a week 'off-road' and it seems not only is it easier it is also better for the joints, I ended up doing some more quad work (these are the thigh muscles that I need to work on to help my knee problem) and finally warming down.
The two hours flew by and I could have stayed longer. When I think of how unfit I had become I am amazed - I am not sure that if 5 years ago you had told me that I would be doing what I am doing now, that I would have believed you. I am not saying that what I am doing now is impossible, for axiomatically it isn't, yet then it would have seemed so far out of reach that I would have considered it so unlikely I wouldn't have even tried, making it - effectively not attainable and therefore not possible.
Recently my youngest daughter, Kira, who is 15 has amazed me. A couple of weeks ago she decided that she wanted to get a little more in trim. She decided to go for a run and went twice around the park, around a mile. I, being the mean and heartless father that I am, told her that was next to useless and that she really needed to do a 30 stint, she could walk some of it until she got better but 30 minutes should be the goal. She also decided to go swimming once a week and I (who knows nothing about swimming) told her that it would be useless to splash around in the pool for and hour and that if she was serious then she should do forty lengths (see I told you I was mean and heartless).
Kira is now running three times a week and has run 27 miles in the last three weeks, she has been swimming twice, forty lengths the first time and forty two the second. She just decided to give it a go and I am REALLY proud not just of the achievement but her application and discipline. REALLY proud. I am sure that I have inspired her, as Sharon also has, the unanticipated payback is that she has also inspired me.
About 20 years ago I watched the close of the London marathon and witnessed something that moves me and inspires me to this day. One woman, utterly exhausted and hardly able to stand, literally staggered the last few hundred metres to the finishing line, surrounded by stewards as she crossed the line. The utter strength of will of that woman has made an indelible mark upon my memory, her persistence to the seemingly impossible task, yet she did it. The memory of that woman still inspires me today.
I return to Bristol tomorrow, for three days, for further MBTI training, specifically about 'Shadow-side', dealing with that part of us that is less well developed yet, almost by definition, is brimming with possibility.
Thursday 19 April 2012
I wanted to be a lumberjack
I Visited 'gym' again today, his demands are becoming harder to meet, he
introduced me to weights today, Dani (the very helpful sports coach)
showed me how weights could make every part of me scream in pain whilst
she smiled and said it was good for me. I have done quads, core, gluts
(!) triceps, biceps, lower and upper back and shoulders - I do hope this makes
me run better, even if it doesn't it really is an interesting experience. I have only been there three times and already I see that there is a sense of community, there are nods and smiles and a bit of occasional showing off. Some people take it easy, others seem to push themselves to the limit, one guy was there for an hour and I reckon he will go home and explain to his wife that he been down the gym for an hour, I reckon he spent at least 45 minutes chatting and doing no exercise at all! Today was particularly humbling because as I was trying to take in the various machines and remember settings and what each did, I was followed by a lady who, like me, was also learning, except she was blind, I must learn to grumble less and be thankful more.
Which brings me onto why I wanted to be a lumberjack, well actually I don't and never have. 'The Lumberjack song' Monty Python - 'The Lumberjack Song' Is a comedic song written by Monty Python first performed on 14th Dec 1969 (The day my sister was born!) various versions of the sketch start with Michael Palin, asserting that he didn't want to be a ....... (insert occupation) but instead a lumberjack, swinging from tree to tree'. It concludes with him singing 'I wish I'd been a girlie just like my dear papa', at this point the burly backing singers leave and his sweetheart departs distraught that her man is not the man she wants him to be. All very funny and comedic yet with a sense of poignancy for a number of the Monty Python cast were dealing with their own sexuality in a the country that was still coming to terms with the decriminalisation of acts of homosexuality only two years earlier.
As I was on a warm down this morning, cycling, at the gym I was watching a chat show with 4 women, (you can plug your headphones into the machine and listen), they were discussing a report which said that 70% of women did not want to end up the same physical shape as their mothers' yet 80% of them would, this was all down to their genes, the genetic make up had a hugely significant impact on their physical build. Most people (men and women) that I know do not want to be a lumberjack, however if they are honest most would like to be taller, slimmer, some parts smaller and some parts bigger. The MBTI theory I am studying, based on the work of Karl Jung, suggests that we are born with our temperament, it is innate, like the colour of our eyes, I might want to add 'God given'. The Psalmist says 'For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb' (Ps 139:13) but the next verse is really important 'I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, how well I know it'.
Maybe it is ok to want to be something, even a lumberjack, but perhaps more importantly we are to be thankful for who we are, with all the complexity and dare I say our perceived flaws. Maybe it is not what we are that is flawed but the way society batters us with advertising and 'flawless' celebrities that is the real issue.
For me and my sabbatical journey there is something about understanding who I am a little more, taking those raw elements, genetic and cultural and using them to be the most effective person I can be. Maybe for the church, that I am glad to be part of yet often frustrated by, it is time when we truly embraced people regardless of gender, status, colour, race and dare I say it sexuality. It seems to me that Jesus had this sorted before just about anyone, allowing each person he encountered, even those broken by illness, society's rules or even their own fault, to see that they were loved, fearfully and wonderfully made, that they were wanted, that they were of use, that they could take who they were and shape it into the person that God had made them to be.
Which brings me onto why I wanted to be a lumberjack, well actually I don't and never have. 'The Lumberjack song' Monty Python - 'The Lumberjack Song' Is a comedic song written by Monty Python first performed on 14th Dec 1969 (The day my sister was born!) various versions of the sketch start with Michael Palin, asserting that he didn't want to be a ....... (insert occupation) but instead a lumberjack, swinging from tree to tree'. It concludes with him singing 'I wish I'd been a girlie just like my dear papa', at this point the burly backing singers leave and his sweetheart departs distraught that her man is not the man she wants him to be. All very funny and comedic yet with a sense of poignancy for a number of the Monty Python cast were dealing with their own sexuality in a the country that was still coming to terms with the decriminalisation of acts of homosexuality only two years earlier.
As I was on a warm down this morning, cycling, at the gym I was watching a chat show with 4 women, (you can plug your headphones into the machine and listen), they were discussing a report which said that 70% of women did not want to end up the same physical shape as their mothers' yet 80% of them would, this was all down to their genes, the genetic make up had a hugely significant impact on their physical build. Most people (men and women) that I know do not want to be a lumberjack, however if they are honest most would like to be taller, slimmer, some parts smaller and some parts bigger. The MBTI theory I am studying, based on the work of Karl Jung, suggests that we are born with our temperament, it is innate, like the colour of our eyes, I might want to add 'God given'. The Psalmist says 'For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb' (Ps 139:13) but the next verse is really important 'I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, how well I know it'.
Maybe it is ok to want to be something, even a lumberjack, but perhaps more importantly we are to be thankful for who we are, with all the complexity and dare I say our perceived flaws. Maybe it is not what we are that is flawed but the way society batters us with advertising and 'flawless' celebrities that is the real issue.
For me and my sabbatical journey there is something about understanding who I am a little more, taking those raw elements, genetic and cultural and using them to be the most effective person I can be. Maybe for the church, that I am glad to be part of yet often frustrated by, it is time when we truly embraced people regardless of gender, status, colour, race and dare I say it sexuality. It seems to me that Jesus had this sorted before just about anyone, allowing each person he encountered, even those broken by illness, society's rules or even their own fault, to see that they were loved, fearfully and wonderfully made, that they were wanted, that they were of use, that they could take who they were and shape it into the person that God had made them to be.
Tuesday 17 April 2012
Draw Something!
One of my enduring memories as a child was drawing, my parents were always artistic and still paint and draw today and have recently started an art class with people in their 60s and 70s who have not drawn or painted since childhood, not only are they coming back every week but some of the work is really very good. I remember my father drawing things for me to colour in, those were the days when judgement on successful 'colouring in' was not on shading, cross-hatching or tones of colours but on one factor - did you keep within the lines!?
One of my hobby-horses is when someone says 'I wish I could draw', I retort 'you can', the reply 'ah I wish I could draw better' my reply (getting boring) 'you can'. I then ask when was the last time they picked up a pencil or squeezed some paint onto a board, invariably it was 10, 20,30+ years ago.
People say the same about playing the guitar or piano 'I wish I could play' I have a similar reply 'you can, just practice for 30 minutes every day for five years', you may not be the next Jools Holland or Jimmy Page but you WILL be able to play. Just how many things do we limit ourselves in because we have not tried, not practised nor not allowed ourselves the energy to have a go.
The Guardian ran an interesting article on Sunday on the latest craze sweeping the planet 'Draw-Something' http://www.guardian.co.uk/draw-something, essentially it is cyber Pictionary, a word appears on your phone/pad and you have to draw it using a limited stock of colours, it is then sent through the ether to a friend who has to guess the drawing and returns one of their own. Great hilarity ensues when you try to draw a cow, Britney Spears or one of the many possibilities the game throws at you. Here is my attempt at trying to convey 'Picasso'.
The amazing thing is is that with varying ability everyone can do it and as you see other drawings you start to learn new ideas and strategies, before you know it you are drawing and getting better at it too.
What is also interesting, from the perspective of my sabbatical, is the blank canvas 'Draw-Something' starts from and the same initial stock of colours everyone gets, despite these basic limitations everyone draws a 'cow' differently yet they are all cows and the vast majority are guessed correctly, we each bring our own (limited) ability, limited palette and media and simply do our best.
The Guardian suggests that the success of this app is that it draws(!) friends together and gives them a shared experience, a shared narrative and suggests that success in guessing is improved by how well you know the other person and they know us, again this seems to be about practice.
Yesterday I went to the gym for the VERY first time in my life, a new experience trying something brand new, something that I never dreamt I would try, having a go and seeing what it feels like, a fresh page, a blank canvas and I am still reflecting on what I am to make of it. But do you know now that I have made a start I am actually looking forward to the next session, if I am honest I am champing at the bit!
So maybe drawing inside the lines is a good pursuit when you are six or seven, my concern is the lines that guide us then start to constrain us, we want to draw something good, or play the piano brilliantly or run like a proper athlete, the lines are actually in danger of limiting us but actually stopping us before we have even made a start. Better just to have a go and see what it looks like.
One of my hobby-horses is when someone says 'I wish I could draw', I retort 'you can', the reply 'ah I wish I could draw better' my reply (getting boring) 'you can'. I then ask when was the last time they picked up a pencil or squeezed some paint onto a board, invariably it was 10, 20,30+ years ago.
People say the same about playing the guitar or piano 'I wish I could play' I have a similar reply 'you can, just practice for 30 minutes every day for five years', you may not be the next Jools Holland or Jimmy Page but you WILL be able to play. Just how many things do we limit ourselves in because we have not tried, not practised nor not allowed ourselves the energy to have a go.
The Guardian ran an interesting article on Sunday on the latest craze sweeping the planet 'Draw-Something' http://www.guardian.co.uk/draw-something, essentially it is cyber Pictionary, a word appears on your phone/pad and you have to draw it using a limited stock of colours, it is then sent through the ether to a friend who has to guess the drawing and returns one of their own. Great hilarity ensues when you try to draw a cow, Britney Spears or one of the many possibilities the game throws at you. Here is my attempt at trying to convey 'Picasso'.
The amazing thing is is that with varying ability everyone can do it and as you see other drawings you start to learn new ideas and strategies, before you know it you are drawing and getting better at it too.
What is also interesting, from the perspective of my sabbatical, is the blank canvas 'Draw-Something' starts from and the same initial stock of colours everyone gets, despite these basic limitations everyone draws a 'cow' differently yet they are all cows and the vast majority are guessed correctly, we each bring our own (limited) ability, limited palette and media and simply do our best.
The Guardian suggests that the success of this app is that it draws(!) friends together and gives them a shared experience, a shared narrative and suggests that success in guessing is improved by how well you know the other person and they know us, again this seems to be about practice.
Yesterday I went to the gym for the VERY first time in my life, a new experience trying something brand new, something that I never dreamt I would try, having a go and seeing what it feels like, a fresh page, a blank canvas and I am still reflecting on what I am to make of it. But do you know now that I have made a start I am actually looking forward to the next session, if I am honest I am champing at the bit!
So maybe drawing inside the lines is a good pursuit when you are six or seven, my concern is the lines that guide us then start to constrain us, we want to draw something good, or play the piano brilliantly or run like a proper athlete, the lines are actually in danger of limiting us but actually stopping us before we have even made a start. Better just to have a go and see what it looks like.
Sunday 15 April 2012
Stories old and new
Today was another run, my GPS differs from Sharon's by about ten percent (hers said 8.5 miles mine said 7.5 miles) -so I reckon we ran about eight miles at around 9.30 minute miles. It has got to be said we are really pleased with this and although a few aches and pains we are ok and enjoying it.Because of the way it works we have to be quite careful when we run, the idea is that you do several 'short' runs a week 3-5 miles and gradually increase your long run, ideally running a 20 miler about three weeks before the marathon so that you can 'taper off' and let your body recover. It is made more complicated by the fact that you shouldn't increase your long run every week, so you 'hop alternate' your long run. We are both in for the Great West run on 6th May so the last long run will be the week before - so I think we will aim to do an 13 miler on 20th April and and a 11 miler on 27th - For me that is running just over 2 hours.
Today we ran to the airport and back, over the new bridge across the motorway, it was perfect weather and a real pleasure to be in such amazing countryside, some people have asked to see a map of where we run so I hope that this works.
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/48566858
I would be grateful if someone could post to let me know either way.
As I run past houses, usually in the city I often get this huge sense of the size of the world we live in, each region, area, town, street and house is inhabited by people with things going on, decisions to make, lives to live. Not only that but many of these places have been inhabited by earlier residents all with their stories to tell of love and loss, good times and bad; it was on these streets that people shared the news of war starting, or celebrating it ending. Here babies have been pushed in prams and coffins carried, here balls have been kicked and pavements etched in chalk, here postmen and women have delivered millions of letters each with their story.
So as I run I feel a connection, not only to those people who inhabit those places currently but also to the past and the host of narratives remembered and forgotten. Today we ran down country lanes so not so many houses and at the end of the run, by the airport, we came across a big yellow sign and much digging and earth turning for we hit the edge of a brand new town 'Cranbrook' soon to be populated but many thousands of people. We stopped at the edge, no more pavement, but here is to be a blank canvas, a new community without stories, at least for a while. Also full of possibilities.
Tomorrow I start at the gym, I am also doing some more work on MBTI as I undertake 2 assessments later in the week, things are exciting as I ponder the 'rest' of my sabbatical. One more piece of news I hope to be able to share quite soon is which charity Sharon and I hope to run for, and that is proving to be very pleasing too.
Today we ran to the airport and back, over the new bridge across the motorway, it was perfect weather and a real pleasure to be in such amazing countryside, some people have asked to see a map of where we run so I hope that this works.
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/48566858
I would be grateful if someone could post to let me know either way.
As I run past houses, usually in the city I often get this huge sense of the size of the world we live in, each region, area, town, street and house is inhabited by people with things going on, decisions to make, lives to live. Not only that but many of these places have been inhabited by earlier residents all with their stories to tell of love and loss, good times and bad; it was on these streets that people shared the news of war starting, or celebrating it ending. Here babies have been pushed in prams and coffins carried, here balls have been kicked and pavements etched in chalk, here postmen and women have delivered millions of letters each with their story.
So as I run I feel a connection, not only to those people who inhabit those places currently but also to the past and the host of narratives remembered and forgotten. Today we ran down country lanes so not so many houses and at the end of the run, by the airport, we came across a big yellow sign and much digging and earth turning for we hit the edge of a brand new town 'Cranbrook' soon to be populated but many thousands of people. We stopped at the edge, no more pavement, but here is to be a blank canvas, a new community without stories, at least for a while. Also full of possibilities.
Tomorrow I start at the gym, I am also doing some more work on MBTI as I undertake 2 assessments later in the week, things are exciting as I ponder the 'rest' of my sabbatical. One more piece of news I hope to be able to share quite soon is which charity Sharon and I hope to run for, and that is proving to be very pleasing too.
Thursday 12 April 2012
9 million bicycles in Beijing
Well according to Katie Melua (or more correctly Mike Batt) the above is true, if there are indeed 9 million bicycles in Beijing then I reckon that their 'excess' is linked with the lack of in St Ives. In the 4 days I have been here I have seen 3 cycles and one of those of the 'uni' variety.
We ran about 6 and a half miles today (Hope to include a picture rather than link this time) at least that is the horizontal distance, I think we went much further because there are sooooo many hills. It is hugely gruelling to climb hill after hill, yet the reward is in the scenery and knowing that it does you good! For a couple of miles along the coast there was actually not even a path, more a series of rocks to scramble over. It is not just the hills that seem to put the cyclists off, here the terrain put us off too, too hard and too dangerous to try to run here. We actually saw many more walkers than runners (or cyclists!), festooned with back packs, waterproofs, solid walking boots and hiking staff in each hand.
One of the issues I am wrestling with is that which is innate and that which is learned, or practiced. Jungian typology (On which Isobel Myers and Kathryn Briggs did their MBTI work) assumes at its heart that our 'type' is innate, born as part of us, like the colour of our eyes or make up of our DNA. Much of the reading I have been doing about running and the basis of my sabbatical is based on the idea that when a thing is practiced enough, in a disciplined way that the impossible becomes possible. Much of my thinking over these coming months will aim to consider this apparent dichotomy.
I reckon that there are very few cyclists in St Ives because the terrain makes cycling very difficult, I have never been to York but people tell me it is flat, I am guessing there are more cyclists in York, pro rata, than in St Ives. I also reckon that the people in St Ives have the same basic physicality as the people in York, the same possibilities when it comes to being a cyclist, it is the context that is different. Even the physical geography we inhabit, let alone, diet, mindset, education, encouragement can cause us to aim for something or hold us back from trying.
I have started reading Mary Webb's 'Precious Bane' - Prue Sarn is born with a physical disability, a 'hare lip', yet this limiting factor is also her 'precious bane' for it causes her to live life differently, in the attic where the harvest is gathered she seeks solace of what she describes as the 'the glory... from the other side of silence' and that her blessedness comes from being cursed (society's understanding).
I am sure that the answer to my question 'innate or learned' will not rely on a dichotomy in its unravelling, John Wesley termed the idea of 'Christian perfection' not as an objective but as a process, something to garner all that we are, in all its imperfections and point it in a direction that was worthy of travel. So by bicycle, hiking, running or jogging, whichever befits the context, to set ones face towards something and try your best.
We ran about 6 and a half miles today (Hope to include a picture rather than link this time) at least that is the horizontal distance, I think we went much further because there are sooooo many hills. It is hugely gruelling to climb hill after hill, yet the reward is in the scenery and knowing that it does you good! For a couple of miles along the coast there was actually not even a path, more a series of rocks to scramble over. It is not just the hills that seem to put the cyclists off, here the terrain put us off too, too hard and too dangerous to try to run here. We actually saw many more walkers than runners (or cyclists!), festooned with back packs, waterproofs, solid walking boots and hiking staff in each hand.
One of the issues I am wrestling with is that which is innate and that which is learned, or practiced. Jungian typology (On which Isobel Myers and Kathryn Briggs did their MBTI work) assumes at its heart that our 'type' is innate, born as part of us, like the colour of our eyes or make up of our DNA. Much of the reading I have been doing about running and the basis of my sabbatical is based on the idea that when a thing is practiced enough, in a disciplined way that the impossible becomes possible. Much of my thinking over these coming months will aim to consider this apparent dichotomy.
I reckon that there are very few cyclists in St Ives because the terrain makes cycling very difficult, I have never been to York but people tell me it is flat, I am guessing there are more cyclists in York, pro rata, than in St Ives. I also reckon that the people in St Ives have the same basic physicality as the people in York, the same possibilities when it comes to being a cyclist, it is the context that is different. Even the physical geography we inhabit, let alone, diet, mindset, education, encouragement can cause us to aim for something or hold us back from trying.
I have started reading Mary Webb's 'Precious Bane' - Prue Sarn is born with a physical disability, a 'hare lip', yet this limiting factor is also her 'precious bane' for it causes her to live life differently, in the attic where the harvest is gathered she seeks solace of what she describes as the 'the glory... from the other side of silence' and that her blessedness comes from being cursed (society's understanding).
I am sure that the answer to my question 'innate or learned' will not rely on a dichotomy in its unravelling, John Wesley termed the idea of 'Christian perfection' not as an objective but as a process, something to garner all that we are, in all its imperfections and point it in a direction that was worthy of travel. So by bicycle, hiking, running or jogging, whichever befits the context, to set ones face towards something and try your best.
Tuesday 10 April 2012
Setting out my stall
So my blog resumes as my sabbatical starts, my sabbatical started yesterday and it started as it is meant to, with a 'shabbat' - a rest. Though, packing and travelling to St Ives, unpacking and competing with the multitude of cars looking for 'golden ticket' car parking space and then paying 35 pounds for the privilege is perhaps not the best definition of rest .
So as I move to the rest of my sabbatical I thought I would do so with broad brush strokes, I don't do Twitter (Yet!) but if I did I think I would #tag the following words that should feature in future blogs over the coming few months:
Discipline, running, jogging, MBTI, journey, Gestalt, failure, ENTP, Stationing, Sharon, patience, Reykjavik, ISFp, studying, exams, innate, learned, practiced, risk, 18 miles, 26 miles, Great West run, shabbat, reflection, Jesus, Gethsemane, Church, hermeneutics, Bible, destination, rainbow, draw something, scramble, body, mind, spirit, graduation, Caswell, Tash, Indy, Kira.
So, that list is not exhaustive and no doubt as soon I press enter I will think of others. But it is a start and often a start is all you need. so...
At the end of a hard three and a half mile run, shared with Sharon, around the craggy coast of wild and windy St Ives, amidst the huge spray leaping from the rocks was the barely perceptible but seemingly ubiquitous rainbow. A good start indeed.Rainbow in the spray
So as I move to the rest of my sabbatical I thought I would do so with broad brush strokes, I don't do Twitter (Yet!) but if I did I think I would #tag the following words that should feature in future blogs over the coming few months:
Discipline, running, jogging, MBTI, journey, Gestalt, failure, ENTP, Stationing, Sharon, patience, Reykjavik, ISFp, studying, exams, innate, learned, practiced, risk, 18 miles, 26 miles, Great West run, shabbat, reflection, Jesus, Gethsemane, Church, hermeneutics, Bible, destination, rainbow, draw something, scramble, body, mind, spirit, graduation, Caswell, Tash, Indy, Kira.
So, that list is not exhaustive and no doubt as soon I press enter I will think of others. But it is a start and often a start is all you need. so...
At the end of a hard three and a half mile run, shared with Sharon, around the craggy coast of wild and windy St Ives, amidst the huge spray leaping from the rocks was the barely perceptible but seemingly ubiquitous rainbow. A good start indeed.Rainbow in the spray
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