The following is a discussion I am leading on November 20th at Erie County Community College around the practice of Joy Finding the Joy in the Every Day A Presentation for EC3 Lunch and Learn Rob Giannamore, MDiv, MS, LPC The late Calypso poet Jimmy Buffett writes in his song “Barefoot Children” that “the wrinkles only go where the smiles have been”. Today, I want to talk about a topic that... Read more
In a previous series of blog posts, I tried writing weekly on healthy eating and living. I want to pivot and return to this project, however looking at it through the spiritual practice of you. Two quotes come to mind for me, “Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, as long as you ever can”. This is by John Wesley, the father of Methodism. The other quote is “Live in such a way as... Read more
This week, we continue our exploration into the many ways gratitude is seen in the Abrahamic religions. This week, I will be looking at the Islamic tradition and the practice of Shukr. An Outsider Looking In From an outsider looking in, one may ask, “why do Muslims bow so much when they pray?” Understanding shukr helps answer this question. Again, it is important that I am an outsider, born in the blood of Jesus Christian and in no way is... Read more
When I was still preaching, my favorite season of preaching was the Thanksgiving through Christmas seasons. I feel it is important to meditate on gratitude and providence during this season. I would like to spend the next four weeks looking at four perspectives of gratitude from the Abrahamic and Dharmic traditions. This week, we will look at the Jewish perspective of gratitude. Gratitude as a Spiritual Practice As a practice, gratitude enhances our satisfaction, our contentment... Read more
“Wonder is God’s way of getting our attention” – Joan Chittister “When we wonder, we touch God”, Nontando Hadebe Of the many modalities I use as a mental health therapist, Eric Erikson’s model of development leads my understanding of the clients I work with on a daily basis. As a pastor, I often and still use John Westerhoff’s developmental theory of faith development. A Brief Overview of Development Erik Erikson was a German psychoanalyst who would become... Read more
What is not there is there when you let go of your expectations Beware, keep alert: for you do not know when the time will come. Mark 13:33. I have always loved this text. From the old days when I was more of a conservative, fire and brimstone, slayed in the blood of the lamb Christian to now as a more mindfulness based mental health clinician, this text offers a lot. I want to focus on the latter, looking at... Read more
There are several YouTube videos that I enjoy around bicycling, specifically mountain biking. In the video, the person conducting the video buys a mountain bike from Walmart and proceeds to take it on a Black Diamond (the hardest) mountain bike trail. The bike holds up for maybe one or two runs down the hill and then the problems start showing; the chain breaks, the brakes fail, the fork bends and the shocks fail and ultimately, the bike is unridable. Christianity... Read more
7/8/21- Vacation starts today! Unfortunately it rained all day and I could not play on the gun range and get my 10 mile run in. Instead I am noshing on this amazing Halo Top ice cream. 590 calories for the whole thing. 15 g of carbs. Not the greatest start but it is vacation 7/9/21- Vacation day 2 and more rain, not getting much training in. Today we shopped for supplies for our road trip tomorrow. I took my bride... Read more
It has been far too long and I kinda fell off the horse before Memorial Day and then June escaped me. This week, a short piece on blood sugars. We have all been there, “hangry”, it is one of my core questions when asking why a child or an adult act in an off manner, is the person hungry? Why do we get angry when we are hungry? The short answer is our blood sugar drops, but what does that... Read more
This Memorial Day weekend, I am taking my 14 year old daughter, Faith on a section hike of the Appalachian Trail in Maryland. Things did not work out as planned. Day 1- Departure and Sightseeing Day 2: Mason Dixon Line to Cowal Shelter We would hike 10 miles today and it would be about 6 miles in that I knew Faith was in trouble. We hit multiple sections of rocks like the ones seen below and several pointless ups and... Read more
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