Taking a Decompression Break...

     Note the picture...although not exactly a self portrait, it's close enough.  My hair feels as though it is standing on end and my last myelinated nerve is shot.  I need a decompression chamber with perhaps IV valium flowing freely.

     Since I don't have the chamber or the IV, I suppose I will have to resort to my often forgotten practice of reflection and meditation...focusing on another topic besides my angst.  But since my attention span is also a bit short, I'm just resorting to reading some of my favorite words of wisdom over and over and over...at least until the words make better sense to me.

     One of my favorite pieces of writing was done in the 1200's by a man born as Giovanni Bernardone...you may better recognize him as St. Francis of Assisi.  His words persist in our culture today, not because of his roots in the Catholic faith, but because his message is timeless.  And one need not be of any "faith" to gain a deep appreciation for his words.  He simply asks for assistance to be a better person...something I'm looking for myself right now:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where thereis sadness, joy.

O, Devine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.