Sunday, April 30, 2006

Finding your cow pasture




I've learned in the past while that many people who are very healthy (I know physically and I'm pretty sure mentally too) are all about eastern mysticism, zen buddhism and the like. They speak of mindfulness and breathing techniques. I have a friend who is getting a Ph.D in clinical psychology and has found that there are many Christians who are more depressed than their non-christian counterparts (this testing has something to do with alcohol, and I can explain more later with his permission). The point is that there are a great deal of mental health issues within Christianity. This has to do with a number of things I think: Stigma attached with certain behaviors, trying to live up to a perceived super-christian standard, or myriad other particulars.

I heard a smart guy speak one time about how he stayed sane. His wife had been killed in a highway accident about a year earlier when a car came over the median and collided with head on with hers. He said he had to take time and go out to a cow pasture with high grass and just lay there. He would let all of the thoughts in his head work through his head and just wait until his brain was empty of the thoughts of his day and week. Then he would start listening for God.

We were created and told to take breaks, to rest, to commune with family, nature, and God. We often don't do these things and then say God or our faith is failing us. God has given us and continues to give us all that we need. We need to slow down, take deep breaths and process our day. We need to get outside and exercise. In short we need to find our cow pasture.

What is yours and when was the last time you were there? What do you think will happen if you go there? What is out there?












2 comments:

Josh Kleinfeld said...

Um. Cow pasture.

Makes me think of cow pies.

That's shit.

Anyway, i think you're hitting something that Nouwen would love to talk to you about.

i'm interested in hearing more of what your friend has to say.

Anonymous said...

i really like the picture of what the guy whose wife died must have seen when he was lying down in the pasture: sky with a frame of grass blades. i think that's beautiful. thanks, sam.