Awe heightens our awareness of being part of a community… of feeling embraced and supported by others. – Dacher Keltner

I am making my through an excellent source for reflection, the book Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life. Author Dacher Keltner provides research-based insights into how – when we feel and experience a sense of awe – we are able to “place the stressers of life within larger contexts.” Dacher notes especially the importance of nature in promoting awe. Isn’t this the truth?!?

Today I post two additional resources, a below excerpt from a prayer at our virtual team meeting earlier this week. I also share some music I came across from my NPR Youtube feed. Enjoy and blessings and your week ahead!

On Listening to God’s Voice-
Dennis Hamm, SJ from Rummaging for God: Praying Backwards through Your Day


How do we hear the voice of God? Our Christian tradition has at least four answers to that question. First, along with the faithful of most religions, we perceive the divine in what God has made, creation itself (that insight sits at the heart of Christian moral thinking). Second, we hear God’s voice in the Scriptures, which we even call “the word of God.” Third, we hear God in the authoritative teaching of the church, the living tradition of our believing community. Finally, we hear God by attending to our experience, and interpreting it in the light of all those other ways of hearing the divine voice–the structures of creation, the Bible, the living tradition of the community.

I look to the future optimistically and wish for us all happy and productive lives. -John Coltrane

Yesterday a former colleague texted me this image of a quote from author Toni Morrison. In honor of Labor Day I share it with you in hopes that how you spend your time this week reflects who you are and what you value. I am grateful for the work I do, and the family I have, for allowing me to strive to do the same each day. Blessings on your week ahead!

Prayer awakens us to God’s presence and, at the same time, increases our experience of interdependence with each other and with all of humanity. -Robert Schieler

Today I share a couple nuggets of wisdom provided to me during a few meetings in recent days. I am leading through some instances of change management and I have found these quotes to be resourceful. I find prayer, being out in nature, and community to be so grounding to support these moments of change. Blessings on your week ahead!

“To practice active hope, we do not need to believe that everything will work out in the end. We need only decide who we are choosing to be and how we are choosing to function in relation to the outcome we desire, and abide by what those decisions demand of us.”  [Mariame Kaba] 

“People think of a moment of transition as uncertain and anxiety-filling. Delta means change. But deltas are also the most fertile places, where both the best aspects of land and water are available to us.” [Norma Wong, Nan Stoops, and Rosie Abriam]

God is much larger than our finite brains can comprehend. This God we know and love—this God we have experienced—is big enough to hold it all. The question is, can we put aside our fears and prejudices and get on board with that? -Shannon K. Evans

Yasmin Dodds recently authored this excellent article, Are You A Gracious Leader? , excerpted from her book Graciously Assertive: How Becoming a Better Human Makes You a Better Leader. Over the past week, I have benefited from several robust conversations with long-time collaborators, and I am grateful for this gift of time and space. I have spent time thinking about if/how I practice the important principles outlined by Yasmin. It’s definitely a process, but I am striving toward the better.

Over the weekend we visited an amusement park on Saturday, and spent the afternoon on the beach on Sunday. Watching our kids enjoy the water rides and rollercoasters, and play soccer on the beach together, brought happiness to our heart. This week, summer is over and school is back in session…God is good. Blessings on your week ahead!

“Gracious” Leadership Principles:

1. Value emotional safety. Create an environment where individuals feel safe to express their true thoughts and feelings without fear of judgment or repercussion.

2. Practice radical humility. Approach interactions with humility, recognizing that you do not have all the answers and that every perspective is valuable.

3. Engage in active listening. Listen with the intent to understand, not just to respond. This involves giving your full attention and reflecting back what you hear to ensure comprehension.

4. Practice acceptance. Accept others as they are, without trying to change or judge them. This fosters a sense of belonging and respect.

5. Try being nonjudgmental. Suspend judgment and approach each interaction with an open mind. This encourages honest and open communication.

6. Demonstrate compassion. Show genuine care and concern for others. Compassionate leaders inspire trust and loyalty in their teams.

“Implementing these principles can transform your workplace culture. Start by setting the tone in meetings and interactions, demonstrating these behaviors consistently. Encourage your team to do the same by modeling active listening, empathy and nonjudgment. Becoming a better leader involves becoming a better human being.”

Because of our phones, we are forever elsewhere. – Sherry Turkle

I have spent much time this week thinking about presence and connectedness. Some of this reflection is motivated by the familiar familial whirlwind that is characteristic of our household experience during this time of year. We frantically purchase notebooks and school supplies, update multiple differing calendars and quickly immerse ourselves back into practice and school routines. I count our blessings that our kids are excited to return to their schools and are looking forward to being with their friends again.

I recently read this quote, cited in a San Francisco Chronicle article, and was reminded of the poetic leadership of a Daughter of Charity mentor of mine, Sr. Joyce Weller, DC. She often taught me- and others- of the importance of service and vocation in the midst of the business of our lives: “Sister Joyce Weller of the Daughters of Charity shared with me how in 1993 she came across a beautiful prayer posted on the wall of a hospital in Sierra Leone: When I die and happily meet my Creator, He will ask me to show Him my wounds. If I tell Him that I have no wounds, my Creator will ask: Was nothing worth fighting for?”

Here are a couple resources informing my thinking these days. Happy Back to School time! Blessings on your week ahead.

10 to 25: A Groundbreaking Approach to Leading the Next Generation—And Making Your Own Life Easier.

A life is not important except in the impact it has on others’ lives. -Jackie Robinson

It’s the last week of summer for my kids at home, and unfortunately for (at least one of them!) Covid is back and so we’re responding accordingly. Fortunately we are all relatively healthy and enjoy the support of each other. I share several resources that have come my way this week that have provoked my thinking, including a prayer to honor last Wednesday’s feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Also the thought-provoking Richard Rohr reflection serves as a nice reminder of how God calls us to community. This theme is supported by artist Jon Batiste in his moving commencement address that was recommended to me on Friday night by a thoughtful – and generous – farmer/business leader who supports one of our schools in central Washington state….I was fortunate to be with him last week during my visit to our school there. Check it out when you have a few minutes.

Blessings on your week ahead!

A New Way of Being Community

God calls us to a new way of living, a new way of relating to God, to others, and to the world. It is a way of cooperating rather than competing, a way of giving rather than getting, a way of faith rather than knowledge, a way of relationship rather than anonymity, a way of love rather than animosity.

-Richard Rohr

Life takes you many places. Make the best of any situation. Complaining doesn’t help. You’ve gotta adjust and make it work for you. -Willie Mays

I am working from home today and I moved a plant outside for it to access some much-needed sunlight on this nice San Francisco afternoon. Our puppy, who notices everything, immediately went into a barking fit at the unknown object on our backyard table…despite living alongside the same exact plant, indoors, for the entirety of her life with us! Once I noticed Bingo’s puppy angst, I walked around all corners of our backyard table, re-introduced her to our houseplant, and helped her feel comfortable with change. All it took was my presence and patience with her, along with expanding her perspective to view her new reality, in order for her to be comfortable.

I write about this experience today in light of all the natural change on the horizon in my life. A new school year brings with it much opportunity to adapt, learn, and grow….the same hopes that I have for my houseplant! I hope that I may be able to be as present, patience and supportive of my children, and my colleagues in education, as we all live into the exciting weeks and months ahead.

Happy concluding weeks of summer and blessings on your week ahead!

[The concept of Sabbath] is something to which we are called every day! -Richard Reece

This past weekend I enjoyed a visit with my two youngest children to my hometown outside of Philadelphia. Spending quality time with family, catching up with old friends, and enjoying nice weather and swimming brought great joy to my heart. This trip also concludes my vacation experiences of summer, as I now shift gears toward preparations for the new school year ahead.

I am happy to share a few resources to promote this ideal of taking time on a regular basis to reflect, relax, and practice “Sabbath.” Miriam Webster loosely defines this word Sabbath as a “time of rest.” May your week ahead be a blessed one!

On the Practice of Sabbath

Peace, gratitude, even joy are Sabbath goals that we are called to bring to others throughout the week. We might model these Sabbath virtues through the patience we show with our children, our spouses, our colleagues- and the person who cuts us off in traffic. We might also model listening – the way we expect the Lord to listen to us, with attention and compassion.

Another essential Sabbath virtue is gratitude for family, friends, and the beauty of creation….Today I pray to be a bringer of Sabbath to all I meet.

The opportunity [educators have] is to nourish our students; evolving senses of self in ways that strengthen their confidence, awaken their curiosity, and cultivate their sensitivity toward others. -Dennis Shirley & Andy Hargreaves

This summer I’ve been participating in an on-line book club sponsored by Boston College. We’re reading The Age of Identity together, exploring how young people view themselves and how schools can support students by creating and sustaining spaces of belonging. I am finding it informative and engaging, both as an educator and a parent. The on-line blogs and discussion portals, along with the weekly podcasts, are well organized and thought-provoking.

Speaking of thought-provoking, yesterday I spent the day with nearly 200 student leaders from the schools that I support. I admire their commitment and enthusiasm! AND I appreciate the dedication of the teachers who accompany them throughout their weeklong experience. Similar retreat-type experiences for me, beginning while I was in high school, changed the trajectory of my life and so I hold sincere appreciation for the potential impact of these immersive learning and communal gatherings upon the young whom we serve.

This week I share an image of the students’ closing prayer from yesterday’s morning service, as an invitation for us to continually consider how we can build bridges of belonging within and across our communities. There’s a lot going on in society today…blessings on your week ahead!

Pope Francis calls [us to]…“the culture of encounter,” a way of walking together in which love opens us to our difference. Francis teaches that this kind of love draws us out of ourselves into fuller existence. Sr Mary McGlone

Over the weekend, when I visited our neighborhood farmers’ market, I chatted it up with of our regular vendors. Our family loves the berries and stone fruit he grows. Our fruit friend said to me, “los peaches estan good” this week…and I was struck by how frequently our regular exchanges interchange English and Spanish. To me, it was a nice reminder of the power of relationships and communication….a reminder that I’m finding useful as I settle back into work this week.

Our kids are out on family trips, visiting with friends, and soon will be off to camp in another two weeks. I love this time of year, not only for the natural refresh and re-set that occurs professionally given my educational focus, but most importantly due to the quality time together with my family. We enjoyed some recent glorious time off to the woods and at the beach, and summer continues!

Yesterday I opened a board meeting with this below reflection. Grounding myself in the power of patience is a constant need in all aspects of my life:) Enjoy and blessings on your week ahead!

A Reflection on Patience               From Gracious Goodness by Melannie Svoboda, SND

Patient people are more flexible with time than impatient people. Impatient people exist in only one time frame—their own. They are comfortable with only one schedule—theirs. They want things done when they want things done. And they expect the rest of the world to adapt to their schedule. If they want their child to be potty trained by twenty-four months and he is not by twenty-six, they get angry. If they have to stand in line at the store while an elderly lady ahead of them carries on a brief conversation with the cashier, they get upset because that lady is disrupting their schedule.

Patient people, on the other hand, can flow back and forth between different time frames. They know, for example, that potty training a child may necessitate entering a time frame other than their own. Waiting in line for a few extra moments while an elderly lady chats with a cashier invites patient people to momentarily set aside their own schedule. They enter with compassion the schedule of another, someone who is lonely and who may have more time than she knows what to do with.

Recently I did some creative imagining and took a walk with Patience. When I asked her, “What can I do to become more like you?” she thought for a moment, smiled warmly, and said, “Plant an acorn. . . .Befriend a turtle. . . .Teach a child.”