Balance and Ice Cream

Balance and Ice Cream

   Do you ever suffer from sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia? If you do, you have no one to blame but yourself. That may sound harsh, but I know first hand about this because I, through my own doing, suffered from it again last week. That's right, just a few days ago I made the mistake of eating my two scoop mint chocolate chip ice cream cone way too fast.  Sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia is the scientific name for what we normally refer to as a brain freeze or a dreaded ice cream headache. 

   A brain freeze, I learned after doing a little research, is caused when the nerve fibers on the roof of one's mouth get overwhelmed with too much of a cold sensation. When this happens the nerve fibers begin to constrict and the brain interprets the signals it is getting as pain. A brain freeze will pass relatively quickly (although it doesn't feel quick when you in the midst of it) and it is helpful to know that holding your tongue on the roof of your mouth will help relieve the symptoms. This is because your tongue will help warm up, and thus expand, the cold nerve fibers.

    The lesson in all of this is simple--too much of a good thing is often a bad thing. We know this in theory of course, but it is easy to forget in the moment. For example, I have a tendency to work too much and when I do my work/life balance gets off-kilter. This can easily create its own kind of brain freeze, where stress causes my thinking to be less clear and my emotions to be more reactive. Others may routinely stay up late enjoying the quiet of the night leaving them exhausted and crabby in the morning. Others may overspend in the excitement of the moment, only to feel the pain when the credit card bill arrives. Still, others may enter too quickly into a relationship only to find out later that the other person is not a good match for them.

   We live in a culture that seems to thrive on excess and intensity, and where moderation can even be viewed as boring or dull. This way of thinking is captured in a saying I have heard folks proudly exclaim from time to time, "If anything is worth doing, it is worth overdoing." It is usually said in a joking manner, yet many people seem to take it seriously or even as good advice. However, interestingly enough, whenever I ask people to list some words that they associate with wellness, the word balance is almost always at the top of the list.

   The famous Trappist monk and writer, Thomas Merton wrote, "Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm, and harmony." And the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus wrote, "Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance." My response to these two great thinkers is to pose a few important questions for all of us, myself included: Is there anything right now in our lives that we are doing either too intensely, quickly, or in excess? Is there some area of our lives that if we slowed down or did in a more moderate way, we might enjoy it more, both now and in the long run?

   With this in mind, the next time you find yourself enjoying an ice cream treat, remember that balance and moderation are not only essential to enjoying ice cream, but are also the keys to helping us all, "taste the joys of life in abundance."

Scott is on vacation today and next week, and is no doubt eating lots of ice cream. This column first appeared several years ago.

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Food For The Soul

Food For The Soul

  I have always loved going to farmers markets, but the last two years, my weekly visits to buy freshly harvested vegetables have taken on a whole additional level of significance for me. That’s because the market vendor I am buying my freshly harvested, chemical-free vegetables from is Blue Heron Community Farm, a Wisconsin farm started two and half years ago by my hard working daughter and son-in-law.  

  I have learned more about how to grow and choose healthy food in the last few years than I ever knew was possible. To walk the fields with the farmers who are growing your food and to see first hand how food can be grown without herbicides and pesticides (but with a lot of hard, manual labor) has helped me to connect with the source of my food in a way that no trip to a grocery store ever will.  

  I recently read that there are over 8,000 farmers markets in the United States each summer, and that this number is increasing rapidly. What is it that people are longing for that accounts for the growing popularity of these markets? I can think of at least three reasons. 

  The first  is community. Farmers markets are communal by nature. They bring together producers of various kinds (vegetable farmers, growers of flowers, organic meat producers, bakers, local artisans, musicians, and more) and at the same time they bring together the local community. Part of the fun of going to a farmers market is running into neighbors and friends. Since the beginning of time, food has brought people together as it is grown, gathered, cooked, and shared with others.

  I think a second reason we love farmers markets is that, as the saying goes, “They are keeping it real.” Most of the produce offered at farmers markets is like my daughter and son-in-law’s in that it is grown without pesticides and chemical fertilizers. In a world where much of our food is processed and filled with artificial ingredients, it is all the more appealing and important to purchase and eat food that is produced the same way it has been produced for hundreds of years. Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food, Cooked, and The Omnivore’s Dilemna captures this perfectly when he suggests, “Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”  

  The final reason that I love farmers markets is because they directly connect me with the source of the food I am eating. When I buy my produce from the grocery store, I don’t have that same direct connection to the farmer and the land where the food is grown. In thanksgiving for all those who make healthy food possible I find another quote from Michael Pollan to be appropriate, “Whenever possible, shake the hand that feeds you.” 

  Spirituality is central to my life, and so I do many things to practice and nurture my spiritual life. It occurs to me as I write about what I love about farmers markets, that I am describing what, for me, are three cornerstones of spirituality: community, “keeping it real,” and connecting with the source from which all life comes. It’s no wonder I love farmers markets so much!  

  If you haven’t visited a market yet this summer, you still have time to support your local farmers and other artisans, and your own well-being all at the same time.

You can learn more about Blue Heron Community Farm at their website HERE.

Great photos of their produce can be found by visiting and liking their Facebook page HERE.

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Love Is Greater Than Hate

Love Is Greater Than Hate

     Portions of these thoughts were shared in a previous column I wrote several years ago, in response to acts of hatred that had occurred that week. Regrettably, these words are still timely in response to the horrifying acts of violence that occurred once again this past week.  

  Some of the most beautiful words ever written about love were authored two thousand years ago by the apostle Paul. The words appear in the Bible’s New Testament. If you have attended a Christian wedding this summer, you may have even heard his words read at the ceremony. No matter how many times any of us have heard or read these words, they are always a good reminder of how we are to live in relationship with others. I, for one, am always moved by them. Here are Paul’s words from his first letter to the Corinthians written almost two thousand years ago.  

Love is patient; love is kind.

Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. 

It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 

It does not rejoice in wrong doing, but rejoices in the truth. 

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. 

And now faith, hope, and love abide, 

these three; and the greatest of these is love.    (1 Corinthians 13)

  Sometimes we are better able to understand something when we reflect on its opposite. And so when I read the words below this week about hate, I found that they made me appreciate even more the power of Paul’s words. These words are intended to help us deepen our understanding and commitment to living out the words from 1 Corinthians 13 by looking at its opposite.  

Hate is impatient; hate is cruel.

Hate is jealous; it puts on airs.

It is snobbish; it is always rude.

It is self-seeking; it is prone to anger.

Hate rejoices with what is wrong, but does not rejoice with the truth.

There is no limit to hate's malevolence, to its untrustworthiness, its despair, its weakness to sustain.

Hate never wins.

There are in the end three things that fail:

Deceit, despair, and hate.

And the weakest of these is hate.

(Rob MacSwain, shared with permission)

  Each of us must do our part to stand up and speak out against hate, both in our public, and private lives. We must work to ensure that, “Hate never wins” and that, “Love never ends.”

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There Is No Time Like The Present

There Is No Time Like The Present

    A core principle of centering practices, including mindfulness, meditation, and centering prayer, is focusing on the present moment. Concentrating on one’s breath, or a centering word is often helpful to keep one’s mind from wandering. 

    I have had a mindfulness/centering prayer practice for many years, but in all honesty, it’s a challenge. Sometimes I am very disciplined in practicing daily, and sometimes not. And I always struggle with my attention getting hijacked by a myriad of thoughts and concerns.  

    This summer, I have had the good fortune of spending some extended time with two of the most exceptional mindfulness teachers I have ever known. To be in their presence is to experience what it is like to be singularly focused on the present moment, free from all worries about the past or future. These two teachers are my five and three-year-old grandsons, and when I am with them, I am aware of the Zen saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” I am grateful to have two such fun-loving, adorable teachers.  

    Here is an example of what I am learning from them. The other day I played a board game with the five-year-old for over an hour. All he did for that entire time was play the game. I played the game the same amount of time, but here is a partial list of what I was doing during that same time: playing the game, worrying about a friend who is ill, thinking about five emails I needed to send and several more I needed to answer, rehashing a conversation I had with someone a few days earlier, and making a to-do list of various tasks I needed to complete later that day.

   When young children play a game, they are completely invested in that present moment. That’s how they approach every activity actually. Young children are so fully present in what they are doing that it is often hard for them to transition when an activity needs to end. Adults, on the other hand, seem to have the opposite problem—we are so good at multi-tasking and bouncing from one thing to another, that we have difficulty being fully focused on doing just one thing. 

   I am now intentionally working on being less distracted and more fully present with my grandsons. With the help of my young teachers, I am making progress. I have also committed myself to extending my practice of being more fully present in my interactions with adults, too.

   You might want to give this a try yourself. irst, notice how able you are to be fully present and free of distractions when you are with others. Without telling anyone, simply make the intention to be singularly focussed with others and see what difference you (and maybe even they) notice.

   And if you think you might benefit from spending time with a wise meditation teacher, I hope there is a young child in your life that you will commit  to spending some time with soon. 

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Banding Together

Banding Together

      Our office mail always comes with a rubber band wrapped around it. About a year ago, I started saving the rubber bands and making them into a ball. Each day I add a new band to the ball, which doesn't seem like much, but my ball has gradually grown to the size of a baseball. Given its composition, it is naturally bouncy, and I'm finding it makes for a fun diversion when I take a break. 

    I once used a rubber band ball as an illustration for a children's sermon on the importance of having a group of supportive people in our lives.  I held up a few individual rubber bands and asked the kids what would happen if I tried to bounce them on the floor. They looked at me rather strangely when I threw a few individual bands down to the floor, and nothing happened. Then I took out my ball of bands and demonstrated how easy it was to bounce it on the floor, and how fun it was to play catch with the ball as well. We talked about how a large, tight-knit group of rubber bands could do something impossible for a few separate ones to do. We then concluded that the same was true of people. Together we could do much more than each person could do on their own.

    I am an avid fan of the Tour de France, the famous multiple stage bike race which concludes this Sunday.  As I watch the race, I often think of my rubber band ball. If you know anything about biking, you know about the importance of the peloton, the large group of tight-knit riders who stay together over the length of a day's ride. It just so happens that peloton is a French word, which literally means "little ball." Makes sense when I see the participants riding so close together that they resemble a fast-moving ball of riders.

   So why is the peloton so important in competitive cycling? Why do the riders choose to ball together so tightly, sometimes riding thirty to forty miles per hour just inches from each other? Wouldn't it be better and safer to space themselves out? The reason is the same as the message of the children's sermon I mentioned earlier: good things happen when we have a supportive group of people surrounding us. 

   In a bike peloton, riders alternate taking turns breaking the wind (pulling) and drafting behind other riders. This makes an incredible difference, allowing all cyclists to achieve results that would be impossible to accomplish on their own. The effort it takes to ride in the middle or back of a peloton is so much less than is required at the front, that it actually provides a rest for the cyclists who are benefiting the hard work being done by the riders who are pulling up in front.  

   In biking, as in life, individual skills are highly valuable. But the best results are always achieved when we have a community, a peloton, of people with whom we can ride and bounce through life together.  

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