Category Archives: Meanderings

Clearing your mind of distractions

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There was a commercial that ran on American TV a decade ago. I do not remember for what product. Anyway, it featured Phil Jackson, the Head Coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, as a cab driver. Some high-powered looking lawyer/executive couple (man and woman) had simultaneously climbed into the back seat of his cab and gave differing destinations. If I recall, they were confused about them. Cabbie Phil spouted a New-Agey philosophical observation on “Clearing your mind of all distractions and focusing on the business at hand is pivotal.” (I wrote it down as I was in early sobriety and was keen on extracting bits of wisdom from any source. I copied it into my Big Book.)

Some other time, doesn’t matter when as I watched re-runs of it whenever I could, I saw an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” entitled Birthright, Part II (Via Memory Alpha, the Star Trek Wiki.) In it, there is a scene in which Lt. Worf is doing the “mok’bara”, which I always took to be Klingon Tai chi chuan (Via Wikipedia.). As he is explaining the practice, he says “The form clears the mind, and centers the body.” (I wrote that down too, in my Big Book. Still in early sobriety at the time.)

Perhaps developing a ritual in that which is important come first: Matthew 6:33: “Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Via DRBO.)

Begin the day with prayer and meditation (See: Keeping Your Head on Straight, Part 1 (Regular Daily Prayer) and Keeping Your Head on Straight, Part 2 (Regular Daily Prayer)) Then write and blog for however long until the feeling of “being productive” hits.

Save email, RSS feeds and daily news reviewing as well as social network checking in for some time AFTER a measure of blogging and writing have been done. Same goes for all the “tools” for getting organized. Look at those at the end of the day to get an idea of what the next day holds and then glance at them after the hour or so of creative work.

The “form” clears the mind of all distractions and centers the body, so that focusing on the business at hand is possible. Huh. Maybe.

I just wrote Faithful in small matters. This is sort of a follow-up.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Faithful in small matters

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I am struggling with a few things. (So what else is new?) If I were to time travel back a few years and report on this to a past self this would be a little surprising to that old self given that I am more successful in life now than I had been in any previous period.

The main thing I am struggling with is time for my writing and blogging. I have a full-time job consisting of four shifts, each of ten hours. Add to that the time for the commute and a nice home life, four days out of my week are accounted for. The remaining three days never seem like enough to do what I need and want. “Wow! I have 3 days off!” Real life things seem to crop up, as they do for everyone. This isn’t a complaint, just an observation. I actually like real life. It is just a bit messy. My real life has a lot of neat things in it that kind of get in the way of my creative efforts. But real writers and bloggers have that stuff going on, too, and they seem to have time for their creative work.

Two words: “Time management”.

I can do better with that. One thing I had contemplated was changing jobs (never easy for me) to one that is a more normal one of 5, eight hour days.

But the thought occurred to me that this would give me just more time to do non-writing things. “Work expands to fill the time allotted it” is a saying I found sometime ago. I think it is also true that “anything” expands to fill the time allotted it. Or, the conflicting thought that in working 5 days I would have one more day to be too tired from work and not write or blog that day, either, as well as having real life stuff take up more of the two remaining days.

I can be complicated, especially in regards to time.

Which comes back to those two words: “time management”.

So, how to do that? There’s all sorts of “Getting Things Done” courses and computer applications to help you better organize your time. Yeah, like they would work for me.

I was in Eucharistic Adoration (my weekly Holy Hour) and the following scriptural passage drifted across my brain:

Matthew 25:21: “His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.'”

(Via USCCB.)

It was the ending of the parable of the talents, in which a Master gave 3 servants different amounts of money, 2 of them did well with the gifts and were rewarded with more, one failed and was punished.

So, in thinking of that, I decided that time can be treated in this manner. Make the most out of the gift of time that you have and do not squander it. I am aware that this is no stunningly original realization, millions have latched onto this notion as a motivating factor to do things before they run out of time. But this is from a Christian angle. We are given a limited amount of time on Earth. We are all called to do God’s will and to help establish the kingdom of God here on Earth. Treat time as a currency that we invest in building God’s kingdom on Earth so that ultimately we are rewarded with the greeting from the passage.

Rather than asking for more time to do certain things like write and blog, perhaps instead I shall endeavor to make the best use of the time I already have. Maybe in doing this, a better job opportunity may somehow present itself to me in which I will have subsequently more hours to write and blog. (Such as online writing work that pays?)

I am not treating this as an “if/then” statement. Like: “If I write more with the time I already have available, then God will give me a better job.” That’s simplistic and formulaic. But perhaps the more disciplined life that results from this will have a correspondingly more productive effect on other areas of life, especially writing and blogging.

This isn’t the first time I’ve tried “time management”, but perhaps things were too chaotic for my meager attempts before. Life is somewhat more stable (relatively speaking). Anyway, as long as one always picks oneself up after a fall, failure can’t be conceded.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Hey… Dad?…. you wanna have a catch?

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Ray: “(choking back tears) Hey… Dad?…. you wanna have a catch?”

Dad: “I’d like that…”

Field Of Dreams: catch.mp3

(Via MovieWavs Page.)

That line and scene from the “Field of Dreams” movie always gets to me.

My father is dead, and I’ll never play catch with him again (unless we meet again in Heaven).

Playing catch with my Dad was one of the happiest experiences with him I had when I was a child.

We did not part on the best of terms, but that is all in the past. I feel he is watching over me from Heaven, and is probably wondering why I am wasting a perfectly good sunny day sitting inside typing on my computer, when I can be outside doing something in the yard. (Unless there was a baseball game on TV, that might merit staying in. But we don’t have cable or satellite TV, so that’s out. 🙁 The Yankees might be on the radio, but I hate the Yankees. 😉 )

Later…

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Time and Sobriety

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Today, May 22, 2011 marks my 9th sober anniversary. I did a little reflecting on the 9 years and thought “what a long, strange trip it’s been.” (Apologies to Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.)

I think I’ve made the best of it. I sobered up in time to care for my Mom before she died. (Although my family disputes the importance of my being there for her. One reason I speak as little to them as I can.) I had enough strength to cope with her death and the painful struggles (quite a bit were family-inflicted) afterwards. I eventually found love and married a nice lady (ARTIST4GOD: Rose Santuci-Sofranko) and established myself in a nice job caring for people with disabilities.

I also started this site which has been well received, for a niche blog in the Catholic blogosphere.

Yes, nine years of sobriety. One of the 12 Step daily meditations says that we alcoholics have 2 lifetimes, the one before sobriety and the one we are given after sobering up. So, today I am 9 years old.

Happy Birthday to me! 🙂

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Beatification of Pope John Paul II Online Schedules

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Pope John Paul 2 will be beatified in ceremonies at the Vatican this Sunday, May 1, 2011. Here is a listing of fairly comprehensive English language programming covering the event, and these are links to online schedules as well as live, online streaming of the ceremonies if you wish to view it on you computer:

First off is EWTN, a major American global Catholic TV and radio network:

EWTN coverage: “Beatification of Pope John Paul II Coverage with EWTN Catholic Television Network”

(Via EWTN.)

Next is “CatholicTV”, not to be confused with “RealCatholicTV”:

CatholicTV: “Online Schedule of Papal Programming”

(Via CatholicTV.)

The Canadian “Salt and Light TV” offers their programming here:

Salt + Light Television: “John Paul II Beatification”

Their live stream is here:

Streaming LIVE | Salt + Light Television

(Via Salt + Light TV.)

“Pope2you” is a Vatican service in the new social media age:

Pope2you: “Pope John Paul II – The Beatification”

(Via Pope2You.)

“Xt3” is a Catholic social network founded after the Sydney World Youth Day. Although they are focused on WYDs, they are a comprehensive social network:

Xt3: “Beatification: Live webcast”, and the stream is found here: John Paul II: “webcast”

(Via Xt3.)

And finally, and certainly not the least of these, here is the Home Office’s offerings:

Vatican Radio – Vatican Radio CTV, : “Bringing Rome to your home for JPII beatification”

The stream is found here (I think) Vatican Player

(Via Radio Vatican.)

The above links are not presented in any particular order of importance. If you find any link to be wrong or broken, etc, please email me or comment. All comments are moderated but I hope to get to them as quickly as I can.

Pope John Paul 2 was very important to me. He was the Pope during my departure from the Church, thus proving how stupid and prideful I can be, and he was reigning when I returned. His papacy was instrumental in my reversion and re-formation of my faith.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Treating addictions as if they were a bad habit

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I chanced upon an interesting article that proposes a relatively “easy” take on beating addictions:

You Don’t Need Help to Beat an Addiction or a Bad Habit—Just Yourself

(Via Lifehacker.)

The central premise of this idea is contained in the article’s third paragraph, which basically treats addictions like they are bad habits, and you have to recognize the immediate bad effects they are having on your life.

The notion is related to ideas that addictions are not a disease or genetic disorder, such as mentioned here: Alcoholism is not a Disease and here: Myth of an ‘Addict Gene’ (Courtesy of Addiction Info.)

First, you have to realize that whatever the addiction is, it is causing you problems. Then you have to consider all the bad effects that the addiction is having on your life, right now. This is key, according to the article. It is easier to consider the immediate now rather than the long term later. This is understood by all addicts and alcoholics, “we want what we want, and we want it now.”

Once you realize the bad effects that the addiction is having on your life, focus and amplify those bad feelings, and eventually your behavior will change. Sort of like do-it-yourself aversion therapy.

Nice, in theory.

In short, to a serious addict this may sound like: “My drinking is bad. Really bad. It is messing up my life, my home life is being ruined by it, I’m about to lose my job, and losing all this will destroy me. OK, so if I focus on these bad feelings of losing all this stuff, I will start to prefer the things I am about to lose, and be less interested in drinking.” I am thinking that a person who is seriously in the grips of an addiction will find it difficult to follow along that line of rational thought.

Addicts generally feel that their addiction is helping them to cope with their problems, and only after much suffering and loss might they come around to the idea that their addiction is the source. By this time their mind and will is so affected by the addiction that it might prove difficult to realize the truth of their problem’s cause. The immediate gratification effect of drinking or using again may prove easier than mentally contemplating how this “habit” is destroying their life. Doing that may just generate more internal conflict: “I want a drink” combined with “No, this is bad, it is costing me such and such” may just yield a desire to drink again to ease the pain. The idea also assumes that the addict must seriously believe that the addiction is worse than their daily living activities. There may be a preference for the addiction versus the healthy life, if they feel that their healthy life has little value.

Support groups organized to reinforce this thinking that the immediate effect is bad could assist as I doubt that any serious addict could accomplish this on their own.

There is merit in the idea. It is an excellent way to avert sinful behavior. We all vow to have a “firm purpose of amendment” when we go to Confession. This idea sounds reminiscent of aids to maintaining virtue as proposed by various saints. Be vigilant on the destructive nature of sin, as it applies to your life now.

Anyway, it is something to mull over.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Voting begins today!

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This is a rare digression from the usual postings here, namely it is personal and FUN! (Well, sort of fun.)

There is Something in our attic. Something big and lumbering. My wife and I think it is a raccoon, as it is their mating season and they usually take up residence somewhere to lay their baby ‘coons.

Anyway, my friend Mike L over at What Does Mike Think? has a poll for you to vote in .

We do plan to call specialists for a humane removal of… the Something.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

My contribution to “Catholic Media Promotion Day!”

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As I posted earlier: Today is Catholic Media Promotion Day!

Therefore, here are my picks:

For my 3 blogs:

I will place a dear, sweet, lady first:

Dymphna’s Well, described as “Celebrating beauty in art, music, poetry and scripture.”

I discovered Dymphna’s blog years ago. Long before I had my own computer I had made it a point that whenever I was online her blog would be on the list of sites to review.

Next up:

Stumbling Back Home: “A posterous to document my spiritual journey. – A spiritual seeker’s diary of returning to the Catholic church, after a long time in the desert.”

Anything about “spiritual seeking” involving Catholicism or returning to it draws my attention. Laymonk does a great job.

Then:

Roger’s posterous: “A blog, an eclectic collection of things, an experiment.”

Roger is an online friend of mine, and is helpful and supportive of some of my online doings, namely Recovery for Christ.

I picked Dymphna’s, Laymonk’s and Roger’s blogs as although I read a bunch of blogs and probably communicate on Facebook, Twitter and Plurk with other bloggers more often, these are really the only 3 that I go to without bothering to see their feed in my RSS feed reader first. No disrespecting any other bloggers, it is just how things resonate.

For my 3 podcasts:

First, the “Home Office”: Radio Vaticana. Vatican Radio has some great podcast resources, from the Pope’s weekly audiences and Angelus broadcasts, to English language news and such.

Then:

Where I learn stuff:
Catholic Roundup

Sean’s a wonderful guy, and Canadian!!!!! How kewl is that!

Last up:
Catholic Weekend — An SQPN Featured Show

For my 3 Media picks:

Rob Williams, is the Tupelo Geek: “Using Technology for Personal and Professional Growth!”

And um, Oh My God… It’s Full Of Stars. Just because Chris is cool, too.

Lastly: Catholic Web Solutions:”Bringing the Expertise and Gifts of Catholic Organizations to the Internet”

For random Catholic stuff:

My wife Rose’s site, which feature her photography and other work, including links to her online store. These store are places where you can purchase her work. Yes, as in BUYING MY WIFE’S excellent photography and other artistic endeavors (HINT-HINT-HINT)

ARTIST4GOD: Rose Santuci-Sofranko

Then, a great idea for a browser startup page: myCatholic.com : “Customizable Catholic Homepage”. It has been my home page for years. It is customizable!

Finally, the premier Catholic radio station in the world, after Vatican Radio:
Station of the Cross

For my projects:

There’s my primary blog: Sober Catholic: “Conversion, Penance, Recovery, Sobriety, Scripture, Prayer, Catholicism.” Also The Four Last Things: “Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell.”

I also run a small social network: Recovery for Christ

I’ll cheat and mention a fourth project: CatholicPreachy.com : “Preachin’ da WORD to da HERD :-)”

CP is a joint project I share with Bro Jer, one of my bestest online buddies, and to whom I owe a lot.

Well, that’s all for that. I Tweeted an idea to Sean that maybe this CMPD should be held on March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation. Just a thought!

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Today is Catholic Media Promotion Day!

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Today is Catholic Media Promotion Day! Read Sean’s blogpost for details on how you can participate: Catholic Roundup 91- Catholic Media Promotion Day

(Via Catholic Roundup.)

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

A Catholic New Media Advent- the Catholic Roundup Podcast

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It’s now “Official”, the Catholic New Media Advent Calendar has been announced on the project’s home page here—> A Catholic New Media Advent- Catholic Roundup Podcast 87

(Via Catholic Roundup.)

Click on the link and download the podcast into iTunes or whatever you listen to podcasts on. You can also play it in your browser by going to the “Recent Episodes” box along the right-hand side and click on the “Podcast 87” thingy scrolling along. Just remember to plug in your headset.

Your’s truly was mentioned, as I am assisting him a bit, but that is unimportant 😉

It isn’t too late to get involved. You can email Sean through his blog (or me through this one) and we can set you up with what you need to know and do.

During the podcast Sean brings up a interesting point about those of us who write blogs or record podcasts. For the most part, we do this alone. It is not as if there is an office building where we arrive at daily, sit at our desks and post to our sites. We do this at home. There is a sense of loneliness and isolation due to the obvious disconnection from our readers and listeners. I write a blogpost and you might be reading it years later and thousands of miles away. And I do not know what you look like or sound like. We will probably never meet. And sometimes it’s a wonder if anyone is out there.

There are sites like “St. Blog’s Parish” and “Amateur Catholic- The ‘B’-Team”, but they’re hardly interactive. There has been only recently conventions of bloggers and podcasters, but that costs money to travel to and stay at unless one is held in a city near you.

What am I getting at? Projects like Sean’s New Media Advent Calendar are events that enables us to work together. It brings us closer inasmuch as we become aware of each other’s existence and work. The attention and traffic that it might bring to our online endeavors is important, too. But in working together and reading or viewing each other’s contributions gives us a sense that there is a community of Catholic New Media people out there and we are a part of something wonderful.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)