Butt in Chair Time
Teaching my Sunday School class is going really well. Preparing an Adult Education Curriculum for our congregation is going pretty well.
Applying the lessons of the class - Spirit in Practice - to my own life is not going so well.
I have a hard time doing unpleasant or boring things for myself. If I feel like I am meeting an obligation or expectation of others, I am fairly reliable. If I am trying to improve myself or work towards building myself something, I am not reliable. The more tenuous the connection between the tedium and the outcome, the worse I am.
So, that's one problem. I am having difficulty applying butt in chair time. I have identified one practice from the class that I want to engage in more regularly, journaling, and this is the second substantial journal entry I have made since the class started, and the first to address anything about the class. (I want to do roughly half and half. My willingness and ability to order my fannish thoughts has been on the wane for a while, and I would like to get back to that, I like making those statements and I actually find the process of creating them pleasurable, or at least I find the process of doing them rewarding, and not just the product, which is the way I usually feel about fanfic.)
The other problem, of course, is that with the exception of journaling, I haven't come to any conclusions about additional practices I would like to integrate into my life, even though I'm teaching a ten week course on that very question! Part of the problem is that preparing and giving the course is taking a lot of the attention that I have been able to devote to religious questions. I think the other problem is that I am still wrestling with myself as a person who is religious but not spiritual, so I am still working on translating some of the fluffier spiritual concepts into something which is meaningful, useful, and actionable.
Luckily, the above means that I have a focus for my religious journaling. When I can get my damn butt in my damn chair. (And not play Mille Bourne or Dope Wars or spend hours reading about *nymwars.)
Original post at Dreamwidth. Read (
) comments or reply there using Open ID.
Applying the lessons of the class - Spirit in Practice - to my own life is not going so well.
I have a hard time doing unpleasant or boring things for myself. If I feel like I am meeting an obligation or expectation of others, I am fairly reliable. If I am trying to improve myself or work towards building myself something, I am not reliable. The more tenuous the connection between the tedium and the outcome, the worse I am.
So, that's one problem. I am having difficulty applying butt in chair time. I have identified one practice from the class that I want to engage in more regularly, journaling, and this is the second substantial journal entry I have made since the class started, and the first to address anything about the class. (I want to do roughly half and half. My willingness and ability to order my fannish thoughts has been on the wane for a while, and I would like to get back to that, I like making those statements and I actually find the process of creating them pleasurable, or at least I find the process of doing them rewarding, and not just the product, which is the way I usually feel about fanfic.)
The other problem, of course, is that with the exception of journaling, I haven't come to any conclusions about additional practices I would like to integrate into my life, even though I'm teaching a ten week course on that very question! Part of the problem is that preparing and giving the course is taking a lot of the attention that I have been able to devote to religious questions. I think the other problem is that I am still wrestling with myself as a person who is religious but not spiritual, so I am still working on translating some of the fluffier spiritual concepts into something which is meaningful, useful, and actionable.
Luckily, the above means that I have a focus for my religious journaling. When I can get my damn butt in my damn chair. (And not play Mille Bourne or Dope Wars or spend hours reading about *nymwars.)
Original post at Dreamwidth. Read (
) comments or reply there using Open ID.