Intro: 00:00

Welcome to the Infinitely Precious podcast produced by Infinitely Precious LLC. Your host is James Henry. Remember, you are infinitely precious and unconditionally loved for the gift you already are.

James: 00:12

Hello, beloved. It's me, James. I make it my habit to come to you once a week live, on Tuesdays at noon. And, then, the same is re, rebroadcast as a podcast, the Infinitely Precious podcast at, 3 o'clock on Tuesdays. So you just have an audio.

James: 00:40

And then I produce a second podcast on Fridays, where I share some thoughts, usually about 10 minutes or so. It has been difficult for me to, come to grips with what my thoughts are. This is actually a second recording of my Tuesday thoughts. The first ones were going okay. The first recording was going okay, until I hit a bump and, spun out a bit.

James: 01:11

And started doing something that I try not to do in these, in these podcasts in these broadcasts. And that is to blame or to point fingers or to mock. I I just don't think there's a place for that in public discourse. It happens a lot, but I don't think that there's a place for it. And it's certainly if I want to set an example, I'm not going to do it.

James: 01:38

So in about minute 7 of my recording, I lost it. I lost it. Last week, I tried to prepare for my Friday podcast, which I prerecord, obviously, so I can upload and it's available at 3 on Fridays. And, I went at it 5 times. The first four times, I scrapped.

James: 02:02

And it was the 5th one that came out alright when I talked about, diversity and the celebration of diversity, and how important diversity in our world is. God must really like diversity, or else there wouldn't be nearly as much as there already is. But I digress. You can listen to that if you want to on the Infinitely Precious podcast, my Friday episode. So if I try to be a calm, a whole voice when I speak in this space, when I come to you, I have to find that place of wholeness.

James: 02:44

And and, oftentimes before I sit down to do this this talk, that I do, I sit and let go of all these other things that are rising up in me because they're very distracting. But last week, there was a lot of chaos going on. And in the midst of all of that chaos, I just couldn't bring a place of calm. That's that's fairly unusual for me. If you know anything about me.

James: 03:15

It's fairly unusual. I have, a meditation centering prayer practice, a journaling practice that helps me empty myself, let go of my thoughts and feelings, which are not me, and then be, as fully present as I can in a moment. And I've been practicing that for 13 years. But there's a lot of chaos in the world right now, and I'm gonna name it. That's the best I can do.

James: 03:44

There's a lot of chaos in the world right now. There's a lot of information and disinformation coming out of various sources, and has been for the last couple of weeks. And, a lot of people have been dehumanized. No matter what their immigration status is, we've blamed them. We've blamed diversity.

James: 04:08

We live in that kind of a world where blame is there don't seem to be a lot of people interested in solving some of the problems, but they sure seem quick to tell you who's to blame, whose fault it is. I wanna suggest to you that there are some things that we can do. There are things that I can do and I'm trying to do in the midst of this world. I, I first of all try to name the thing that's coming up in me. When I start to feel the chaos rising, apart from the time when I'm in my Centering Prayer and meditation time, when I'm journaling, Oftenly oftentimes, I'll try to pull out the journal so I can write down what's going on.

James: 04:58

And eventually, it becomes clear to me what where what's going on is coming from. So naming it is a is a really good place to begin. And then if you have named the thing that is making you feel even more out of control than you might feel normally, I encourage you to do what I just did. I took a breath in the midst of the chaos, and I tried to bring myself back to this moment. Often, the feeling of being overwhelmed comes from my borrowing anxiety from a future that is not yet in existence, or bringing and dragging, a chain of regret from the the past that I didn't do something more, or didn't do something differently.

James: 05:56

I carry those pieces around. But I can't do anything about what's going on in the past. And the only thing I can do about the future is whatever I do right now, because I only have now. So I begin by naming what's going on. I breathe into myself.

James: 06:18

And as I name that thing, oftentimes I find myself getting a little agitated. I can feel the tightness within. And as I name that, which is causing me consternation, anxiety, uncertainty, in this case, chaos. I try to breathe and slow down, you know, my heart. I try to slow down my breathing.

James: 06:48

I try to calm myself into this moment. Because I have discovered for myself, you may have discovered the same thing that reactivity, just jumping around based on whatever is happening at any given moment doesn't help anything. In fact, if it does anything, it drives me a little, bit further along the edge. And my response is not a response. It's a reaction.

James: 07:16

It's a knee jerk reaction. So begin by naming. And after you've named after you've named it, breathe through it, decide if there is something you can do about it. Is there a response that is appropriate? That is part of what you're called to do?

James: 07:44

One of the things I find a lot of folks do, and sometimes it's me. I've I've reacted. I often do it on social media. Maybe you don't, but I do. I'll see a post that just makes me frustrated or angry.

James: 07:57

I'm convinced it's filled with this information. So I just spew some stuff. Sometimes I just take a breath and I try to spew only facts, which only makes somebody who is spewing falsehoods even more angry, more certain, and you become the object of of of trolling and all sorts of other kinds of things. So I let those things go. I let those things go.

James: 08:26

I keep trying to. Because when you react, when you just put down whatever comes to your mind, you just add to the noise. I just add to the noise. That's why of the 5 podcasts I worked on last week for 1 podcast on Friday, 4 did not cut it. The 4 that didn't cut it, 2 of them I transcribed and then reworked into blog posts that will make appearances over time on my substack and my in my, my web page, my web blog.

James: 09:07

But, when we get stirred and the and we let the reactivity shape what we do, it's not often very productive at all. And I suspect that all the disinformation and loud voices and dehumanizing moves are designed, you you know, to throw us off our game, to make us live, on our back foot, thrown back, if you will. Not prepared to respond, but only reacting. So I wanna suggest to you and to me to slow it down. Yes.

James: 09:53

Things are happening very quickly in our world and some of them are very concerning. Very concerning. But reacting may not do anything but add more noise. Responding, naming what's going on, slowing down enough to figure out how can I respond in a way that might make a difference? Taking a step back to ponder, to pray, to, contemplate, to meditate, to take a moment to do that, and then engage.

James: 10:33

Engage with your whole heart. Find the right space for you to be engaged in this conversation. But just stirring up more noise, I don't find it's very helpful. Part of my challenge with all the chaos is it's not just chaos from one side. It may start on that side, but then there's chaos back on the other side.

James: 10:52

And it's just like all this noise coming at me. And it takes a while to sort through it. So step back from being part of the noise. Catch your breath. If you feel the chaos overwhelming you, it's okay to take a walk.

James: 11:12

It's okay to sit back. It's okay to turn off all the sources of the chaos that you're listening to in your life for long enough to just come back to yourself. Let go of your thoughts and all the emotions that are driving you to quickly jump in, and instead respond with passion, but in a way that is well thought and carefully tried. Those are my thoughts, for today. Remember, you're infinitely precious, unconditionally loved for the gift you already are.

James: 11:49

You will make mistakes. You will be reactive. You may do some things that you wish you hadn't done, but learn from those moments. Learn from those moments. Step back.

James: 12:00

Slow down. Catch your breath. Name the challenges, and give it your best. Until the next time I see you, you are infinitely precious and unconditionally loved for the gift you already are.