Listening Heart: Day 113

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family has been working on a new daily practice: listening. Active, reflective, engaged listening that says to the other person. My desire is to understand you as you are, not to correct you or improve you or educate you.

To that end, we’ve been writing questions to help us get to know each other better. Some of these questions are serious; many are silly. Sometimes we laugh at things that are meant to be serious, and sometimes our silliness leads us into serious places. Our goal is to publish one each day on our blog. We hope you find them useful, either as prompts to think about yourself or as questions you bring to the car ride or the dinner table. They’re written by all of us, and you’ll see the diversity of our thoughts and interest in them, so in the questions themselves, you’ll get to know us a little better too.

Subscribe to our blog (or follow our Twitter account @familyfoxhole) to have them appear in your inbox or Twitter feed daily.

Today’s question:

What is your favorite kind of berry?

Listening Hearts: Day 112

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family has been working on a new daily practice: listening. Active, reflective, engaged listening that says to the other person. My desire is to understand you as you are, not to correct you or improve you or educate you.

To that end, we’ve been writing questions to help us get to know each other better. Some of these questions are serious; many are silly. Sometimes we laugh at things that are meant to be serious, and sometimes our silliness leads us into serious places. Our goal is to publish one each day on our blog. We hope you find them useful, either as prompts to think about yourself or as questions you bring to the car ride or the dinner table. They’re written by all of us, and you’ll see the diversity of our thoughts and interest in them, so in the questions themselves, you’ll get to know us a little better too.

Subscribe to our blog (or follow our Twitter account @familyfoxhole) to have them appear in your inbox or Twitter feed daily.

Today’s question:

What is one thing you do to take care of the Earth?

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Prayers during a Pandemic: For Those who Feel Alone

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family is taking time daily to pray about the current global health crisis. Our prayers will likely reference the Christian tradition, but we’ve written with an ecumenical and agnostic audience in mind.

If you’d like us to pray for you, let us know. If you’d like us to write a prayer for you or for a concern you have and share it here, just ask. You don’t have to share your name if you don’t want to, and we won’t share it or any other identifying details about you here or elsewhere.

Today we pray for people experiencing loneliness.

Today we pray for people who feel alone. We pray for all those who live in isolation, for those who feel lonely even if they live with others, and for those who fear loneliness.

We pray for those we don’t know and for those we do, including [names of people we know struggling with loneliness.]

We pray for those who miss friends, family, neighbors, and community members. We pray for those who are or feel unseen. We pray for those who are in regular contact with others but feel misunderstood, ignored, or unimportant. We pray for those who, because of physical distancing, are unable to have their regular needs for face-to-face socialization met.

Our hope for all is kind relationships; deep, meaningful, challenging, and lasting friendships as well as friendships that are light and easy. Our hope is gentle, encouraging interactions with every stranger and neighbor. Our hope is that we remember that our words and tones carry weight in the lives of others. May we remember to be responsible for each interaction we have with others, that we treat each opportunity to be with others as sacred.

We are thankful for each person, known and unknown.

Solitude Paintings Charpentier-w636-h600

Above, Melancholy (1801) by Constance Marie Charpentier shows a women in a dress, a long scarf wrapped around her waist, sitting near a weeping willow tree.

Prayers during a Pandemic: For Lost Opportunities

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family is taking time daily to pray about the current global health crisis. Our prayers will likely reference the Christian tradition, but we’ve written with an ecumenical and agnostic audience in mind.

If you’d like us to pray for you, let us know. If you’d like us to write a prayer for you or for a concern you have and share it here, just ask. You don’t have to share your name if you don’t want to, and we won’t share it or any other identifying details about you here or elsewhere.

Today we pray for people experiencing losses related to the passage of time: missed opportunities that will not return.

Today we pray for people who are missing life events that will not return.

We pray for those who cannot share the first days of their child’s birth with their extended families and their friends.

We pray for high school seniors who will miss the rituals of prom and graduation.

We pray for those for whom all the rituals of adulthood–getting a driver’s license, getting a first job, preparing for college–are now delayed.

We pray for all those for whom the lasts–the last day of school, the last day of work before retirement–happened without their knowledge.

We pray for those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries–especially milestone ones–without friends to celebrate with them in person. 

We grieve with others canceled trips to see old friends or new places, pilgrimages that won’t begin, and family reunions that will be delayed–and, for some, not celebrated.

We pray for those we don’t know and for those we do, including [names of people we know who are grieving lost opportunities].

We recognize that sadness of these losses, not the life-shaping grief of losing a loved one but the challenge of making sense of what life is when we expected and yearned for it to be different.

Our hope for for peace of heart, acceptance of that which is hard, compassion for those who feel this sadness acutely, and lives of meaning.

Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun - The Magazine Antiques

Above, Self-Portrait with Her Daughter Julie (Maternal Tenderness) by Vigée Le Brun, (1786) shows a mother and daughter of perhaps 6 or 7 years old embracing. The little girl hugs her mother’s neck, and the mother holds her daughter around the waist. May we be as tender to each other and to ourselves.

 

Listening Hearts: Day 111

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family has been working on a new daily practice: listening. Active, reflective, engaged listening that says to the other person. My desire is to understand you as you are, not to correct you or improve you or educate you.

To that end, we’ve been writing questions to help us get to know each other better. Some of these questions are serious; many are silly. Sometimes we laugh at things that are meant to be serious, and sometimes our silliness leads us into serious places. Our goal is to publish one each day on our blog. We hope you find them useful, either as prompts to think about yourself or as questions you bring to the car ride or the dinner table. They’re written by all of us, and you’ll see the diversity of our thoughts and interest in them, so in the questions themselves, you’ll get to know us a little better too.

Subscribe to our blog (or follow our Twitter account @familyfoxhole) to have them appear in your inbox or Twitter feed daily.

Today’s question:

What is one opinion you have that few other people share?

Prayers during a Pandemic: For Those in Prisons and Jails

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family is taking time daily to pray about the current global health crisis. Our prayers will likely reference the Christian tradition, but we’ve written with an ecumenical and agnostic audience in mind.

If you’d like us to pray for you, let us know. If you’d like us to write a prayer for you or for a concern you have and share it here, just ask. You don’t have to share your name if you don’t want to, and we won’t share it or any other identifying details about you here or elsewhere.

Today we pray for people who live in prisons and detention centers or who are currently in jail.

Today we pray for people who are incarcerated. We pray for all those in prisons, jails, and detention centers.

We pray for those we don’t know and for those we do, including [names of people who we know are incarcerated].

We pray for those who are new to incarceration and those familiar with it. We pray for all of them hope for themselves and compassion for each other.

We pray for those who have done the hard work of making meaning in their lives and for those who seek it. We pray for them peace of heart and clarity of vision.

We pray for those who need kindness. We pray that they experience it, feel it, show it.

We pray for those who are afraid. We pray for them comfort.

We pray for those who are in ill-health or who fear it. We pray for them strength.

We pray for all those who miss people who miss incarcerated loved ones. We pray for the families, friends, and loved ones of those who are imprisoned. We pray that their memories of loved ones comfort them and that the time and connection they may have with ther incarcerate loved ones comfort them.

We pray for communities disrupted by incarceration. We pray for communities harmed by crime. We pray for them liberation and justice. We pray for them safety and dignity.

We pray for all those who care for people who are incarcerated, including prison guards, nurses, food service staff, wardens, chaplains, teachers, and volunteers. We pray for them tender hearts and consciences, an unwavering orientation to justice, and bottomless wells of hope.

We are thankful for all those who are incarcerated. We seek their welfare and remember that it is our own.

Prison Scene, c.1808 - c.1812 - Francisco Goya

Above, Prison Scene (1808-1812) by Francisco  Goya, shows men in prison. In the foregrand, one stands, using an aid of some kind, wrapped in a shawl. Another lies on teh floor, his feet bound. A third is in the background, seated.

Listening Hearts: Day 110

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family has been working on a new daily practice: listening. Active, reflective, engaged listening that says to the other person. My desire is to understand you as you are, not to correct you or improve you or educate you.

To that end, we’ve been writing questions to help us get to know each other better. Some of these questions are serious; many are silly. Sometimes we laugh at things that are meant to be serious, and sometimes our silliness leads us into serious places. Our goal is to publish one each day on our blog. We hope you find them useful, either as prompts to think about yourself or as questions you bring to the car ride or the dinner table. They’re written by all of us, and you’ll see the diversity of our thoughts and interest in them, so in the questions themselves, you’ll get to know us a little better too.

Subscribe to our blog (or follow our Twitter account @familyfoxhole) to have them appear in your inbox or Twitter feed daily.

Today’s question:

When you feel scared, what do you do?

Listening Hearts: Day 109

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family has been working on a new daily practice: listening. Active, reflective, engaged listening that says to the other person. My desire is to understand you as you are, not to correct you or improve you or educate you.

To that end, we’ve been writing questions to help us get to know each other better. Some of these questions are serious; many are silly. Sometimes we laugh at things that are meant to be serious, and sometimes our silliness leads us into serious places. Our goal is to publish one each day on our blog. We hope you find them useful, either as prompts to think about yourself or as questions you bring to the car ride or the dinner table. They’re written by all of us, and you’ll see the diversity of our thoughts and interest in them, so in the questions themselves, you’ll get to know us a little better too.

Subscribe to our blog (or follow our Twitter account @familyfoxhole) to have them appear in your inbox or Twitter feed daily.

Today’s question:

When was a recent time when you felt afraid?

Listening Hearts: Day 108

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family has been working on a new daily practice: listening. Active, reflective, engaged listening that says to the other person. My desire is to understand you as you are, not to correct you or improve you or educate you.

To that end, we’ve been writing questions to help us get to know each other better. Some of these questions are serious; many are silly. Sometimes we laugh at things that are meant to be serious, and sometimes our silliness leads us into serious places. Our goal is to publish one each day on our blog. We hope you find them useful, either as prompts to think about yourself or as questions you bring to the car ride or the dinner table. They’re written by all of us, and you’ll see the diversity of our thoughts and interest in them, so in the questions themselves, you’ll get to know us a little better too.

Subscribe to our blog (or follow our Twitter account @familyfoxhole) to have them appear in your inbox or Twitter feed daily.

Today’s question:

Have you ever held a baby animal?

Listening Hearts: Day 107

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family has been working on a new daily practice: listening. Active, reflective, engaged listening that says to the other person. My desire is to understand you as you are, not to correct you or improve you or educate you.

To that end, we’ve been writing questions to help us get to know each other better. Some of these questions are serious; many are silly. Sometimes we laugh at things that are meant to be serious, and sometimes our silliness leads us into serious places. Our goal is to publish one each day on our blog. We hope you find them useful, either as prompts to think about yourself or as questions you bring to the car ride or the dinner table. They’re written by all of us, and you’ll see the diversity of our thoughts and interest in them, so in the questions themselves, you’ll get to know us a little better too.

Subscribe to our blog (or follow our Twitter account @familyfoxhole) to have them appear in your inbox or Twitter feed daily.

Today’s question:

When has someone told you “thank you” recently?

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