“Frustration is a cover-up for something we have yet to face in ourselves.” -Joan Chittister. I’m still uncovering my cover-up. Frustration has a long, illustrious history with me that continues to play out every day. I learned frustration from my culture. I was taught to strive. We strive to do better, to get smarter, to […]
Lent 2022: Frustration vs. Crisis
It seems trivial to be writing about frustration when so many in Ukraine are in real crisis. Crisis calls for action or for intentional non-action. Fight or flight or freeze are the responses to crisis. Frustration, on the other hand, prompts me toward hand wringing, brow furrowing, pacing, nervous inaction. I am not frustrated in […]
Lent 2022: Frustration 2
Frustration, that systemic discontent with my life, is a vague thing. Rarely can I identify the source of my frustration, and when I can, it’s trivial: it’s too noisy to get anything done, I don’t have enough time to get started on that, I have too many things on today’s to-do list, I don’t think […]
Lent 2022: Frustration
“Nothing is quite right, though, if we were forced to admit it, nothing is really wrong either.” Well, that little statement by Joan Chittister pretty much sums up most of my waking hours. Chittister is writing about frustration. I don’t know if frustration is a uniquely human experience, but even if other animals share this […]
Lent 2022, the dilemma
‘Tis the season of Lent. As religious seasons go, this is my favorite. One reason it is my favorite is that you don’t have to be particularly religious for Lent to be meaningful. For me, Lent is about being aware of many things that I too often ignore. Things like gratitude, grief, life’s impermanence, and […]