Week Four: Day 4 – What Worked Yesterday?

One of the things that I’ve found helpful for me is that I feel like for some reason I have a remarkable tendency to forget what is actually nourishing. And I would say even if you don’t have a reason for why something feels good or why it is nourishing for your soul, it doesn’t matter. I remember there is a great poem from Aquinas, it’s great. He says – I’m going to paraphrase it – he asked a plant, you know, he said to the plant, “What does light talk about?” And the plant says, “I don’t know but it helps me grow.” And so I think in a lot of ways without asking a lot of questions like what is this practice or this hobby or why does it work for me, why does it nourish me spiritually, why does it make me feel closer to God, to myself, to other people? I think without needing to know we should write a little note on our hand or something that says, “What worked yesterday? What worked last week?” Think of something that was nourishing at some point in the past and just do it again … just do it again. I would include that.

– Br. Nicholas Bartoli

Question to Journal
What practices help you to thrive in your relationships with others?