{"id":43218,"date":"2014-01-02T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-02T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=43218"},"modified":"2014-01-02T08:20:53","modified_gmt":"2014-01-02T14:20:53","slug":"im-trying-fall-face-earth-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/01\/im-trying-fall-face-earth-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I’m Trying to Fall Off the Face of the Earth in 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 My pursuit of finding God in the present moment<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One of the scariest and most wonderful gifts of self-reflection through writing for me is the constant evaluation of myself. A few months ago, I began to feel like my posts about pulling away from distractions<\/a> were actually speaking to me specifically and I began to listen. By weaning myself slowly from blogs and Facebook, I have found my appetite for delightful distraction has shrunk considerably, and my presence in real life was something to be grasped again. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/em>System crash<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Back in August, I felt like my poor overworked mind had run a marathon and had hit the proverbial \u201cwall\u201d which runners describe. \u00a0I just began to feel like I couldn\u2019t write about a life I wasn\u2019t\u00a0living<\/i>, because I was too busy scrolling on my lap top or getting on my phone to scan through Facebook every 10 minutes to be inundated by beautiful pictures \u00a0of people I love and amazing articles by people I admire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0Shutdown<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u00a0All of this coincided with a Focolare retreat, which epitomized \u201cliving in the present moment\u201d and loving people by listening better. And soon after I began a reading group for a book by the name of \u201cSimplicity Parenting,\u201d emphasizing clearing your home, mind and heart of life\u2019s clutter in order to be a better spouse and parent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0Unplugged<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u00a0I sat here staring at this screen which was blank moments ago, blinking away bleary eyes, assuring my husband I\u2019d “get to bed soon,” as I do on so many nights. The realization struck me that I\u2019ve been in denial for a few months now.\u00a0The theme of simplification seems to be what I desire to write about most, and therefore, I must have hit a wall. Is it blogger\u2019s block, or is it a doorway to new things? \u00a0I am not sure. But the Holy Spirit assures me that I won\u2019t be left behind, or feel irrelevant, that I must follow where I am led.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u00a0Re-boot<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u00a0More and more people are choosing to disappear from social media, and I\u00a0get it. \u00a0<\/em>Where did my life go and why do I feel like I\u2019m 70 in dog years? And who was I before I felt compelled to tell the whole world what kind of sandwich I am eating at lunch every day? (Is it okay to not have a sandwich-making fan club???)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u00a0I suppose some have a \u201ctake it or leave it\u201d approach to social media, but I have more of a cookie monster inhalation approach, or maybe the all-consuming St. Terese approach of \u201cI choose all!\u201d Knowing this about myself, I will probably always struggle with my need to be “in the know,” and my simultaneous desire to “be away from it all.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u00a0Refresh<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>But may I encourage you, kind reader, as others have helped me, to spend your time tending to the eternal things… your thoughts and feelings, your dreams and the deepest hopes of your soul. And also the temporal things…like your child’s not so fresh diaper, your plants and maybe some of those bills. \ud83d\ude42 Life is a balance and the eternal has to co-exist with the temporal. \u00a0I am learning they really can fold into one another quite beautifully.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 My pursuit of finding God in the present moment \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 One of the scariest and most wonderful gifts of self-reflection through writing for me is the constant evaluation of myself. A few months ago, I began to feel like my… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[2135,408],"class_list":{"0":"post-43218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"tag-living-in-present-moment","8":"tag-new-year","9":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16155,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/05\/the-new-american-family-presented-by-apple\/","url_meta":{"origin":43218,"position":0},"title":"The New American Family Presented by Apple","author":"Jason Elizondo","date":"May 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Every Sunday after Mass I take my girls for breakfast while my wife teaches RE. This is a really special time for us as it allows us to share time together that I know we won't always have.\u00a0 Being present to each and building good father-daughter relationships is one of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"family_apple","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/family_apple_thumb.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25282,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/10\/what-was-supposed-to-be-a-movie-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":43218,"position":1},"title":"What Was Supposed To Be A Movie Review…","author":"Elizabeth","date":"October 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Just as the title suggests, this was supposed to be a movie review. Yesterday I was given tickets for a screening of Restless Heart: The Confessions of St. Augustine,the first full length movie about the conversion and life of St. Augustine of Hippo. It seemed to be the perfect solution.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/4385687715_8e6233dd53-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":63509,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/11\/challenge-advent\/","url_meta":{"origin":43218,"position":2},"title":"The Challenge of Advent","author":"Rita Suva","date":"November 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cJesus said to his disciples: \u2018Be watchful! Be alert!\u2026\u2019 \u201d Advent is a challenging time for Catholics. With the exception of Mass, it\u2019s easy to let Advent be consumed and overshadowed in our daily lives, as society pushes Halloween into Christmas with a small glint of Thanksgiving thrown in. \u201c\u2026.You\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Advent Challenge Photo by Rita Suva","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Unknown-550x550.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Unknown-550x550.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Unknown-550x550.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":896286,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/the-modest-ornaments-of-the-day-simple-routines-that-re-center\/","url_meta":{"origin":43218,"position":3},"title":"The Modest Ornaments of the Day: simple routines that re-center","author":"Shawn Rain Chapman","date":"May 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I have a cup of coffee, and I am listening to jazz (Alice Coltrane today,) because it is 2 o\u2019clock. That\u2019s what I always do this time of day; jazz and coffee. Somehow this makes me feel more present in the day. The loose, open-ended routine of stopping the day,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/21728831_10214768427108730_1643037025266803882_o-332x187.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":39996,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/06\/attention-please\/","url_meta":{"origin":43218,"position":4},"title":"Attention! (please?)","author":"Julia Motekaitis","date":"June 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0Photo credit \u00a0 Recently I watched a mash-up of family videos in piece meal fashion from my childhood. This is normal in our family since Dad was famous for taping over one event to catch the next one, not deliberately, but because we were always running out of film. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"stay-focused-beach","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/stay-focused-beach.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":55829,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/jabba-hutt-sexy-costumes-things-distract-souls-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":43218,"position":5},"title":"Jabba the Hutt, “Sexy” Costumes and Other Things That Distract from All Souls Day","author":"Britt Echtenkamp","date":"October 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"All Saints Day and All Souls Day are coming up this week, and instead of basking in the rich history and awesomeness of these days, I find myself looking at what constitutes for a female Halloween costume these days and fending off negative self-talk. So, yeah, I'm pregnant. I'm 25\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Halloween costume","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Britthalloween-127x190.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}