Blog Archives - trish hermanson

Can't Get Satisfied?

3/28/2019

I’m testing a theory here: the first chocolate chip cookie is delicious, the second is not as good, the third - I won’t even go there.
Ever notice that’s true about anything we take in with our senses? The first taste, touch smell, sight, or sound are great. Then those sensations either fade or gag us. Which is why Annie Dillard’s conviction makes sense, that relying on my senses to satisfy me “requires more and more” because “the life of sensation is the life of greed.”
Economists call this the law of diminishing marginal utility - a mouthful to say that at a certain point, the more we have of something, the less we enjoy it.
I’ve noticed this, too, when acquiring stuff. I work hard to get something, then after a while it doesn’t thrill as I thought it would. So I’m disappointed and seek something else. Which reminds me of a “New Yorker” cartoon about two women. One admits to the other: “I got what I wanted, but it’s not what I wanted.”
So how do we get satisfied? In “The Writing Life,” Dillard says we must look to “the life of the spirit.”
For me, that means feeding my soul - my whole being - not simply my senses. It’s breathing deeply of God’s love.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still indulge in a chocolate chip cookie. But to be truly satisfied, I need “soul” food.

When Are Tears Good?

3/22/2019

My grandson’s tears provided some relief after his cousin pinched him. To experience even greater relief from pain, experts suggest we read a story about someone else’s suffering. They say emotional stories not only help us heal, they can change our brains for the better for days.
Book critic Kristin Lamb says that when we “vicariously experience our hurts, failures, disappointments, betrayals through another set of eyes, it’s a way of facing our villains in life.”
Besides that, researchers at Emory University in Atlanta discovered that a novel can cause positive brain changes that last for days.
     I don’t recommend any book to achieve this brain-and-emotion cleanse. Some stories are so dark they only validate the brokenness in real life. I look for stories in which the main characters grow through adversity, books that give me hope and humor along life’s highway.
Recently as I’ve sprawled in bed from the pain of a broken foot, I’ve vicariously vanquished evil in a fallen kingdom, sailed to the end of the Earth, and cheered as a mouldering relationship sparked into life again. As Lamb says, these stories have shown me “it is possible to come through the fire not only healed, but stronger and better.”
  So grab a good read. Together we can experience a catharsis as we let our feelings flow and our pain go.
Because healing tears are good.

What's the Worst Pain You Can Endure?

3/14/2019

A friend asked me what I’m learning these weeks as I hobble around with a broken foot because of a silly fall. Here’s one thing - the answer to a question that may surprise you: What is the worst pain you can endure?
Your own pain.
Some well meaning folks have reminded me that my malady “could be worse,” and I know they’re correct. But this is MY trial that I have to deal with RIGHT NOW.
Many of you have it much harder than I do. Some have chronic pain. Some have debilitating trauma. But no one’s affliction should be compared to another’s, nor should it be dismissed.
So to all of you out there who have physical or emotional suffering, I acknowledge that your stress is big and real and not fun at all. It’s what’s hobbling your life - even if it “could be worse.”
For those of us who are cut down physically or emotionally, we don’t want this to be the sum of our identity. We may be like a broken down pickup now, but we’re working hard to get our parts fixed so we can hit the road again.
We want to keep on truckin’ down life’s highway.

Got a Cop in Your Mirror?

3/7/2019

It didn’t take a cop in my side mirror to stop me in my tracks recently. It was a broken foot from a silly fall. Now as I lug around a cumbersome boot for six weeks, I can get pretty whiney. But I’ve discovered something that lifts me out of the dumps. And it’s all the more appropriate I practice it because the Spaniard Ignatius developed this technique nearly five hundred years ago after recovering from a leg wound.
     Here’s my adaptation of his Daily Examen. Several times a day, usually when rising and retiring, I consciously:
     ~REST in God’s PRESENCE - “You’re always with me. I’m never alone.”
     ~REJOICE in God’s PROVISION - “Thank you for a good night’s rest, for breaths of air.…”
     ~RELEASE my PAIN and PROBLEMS- “What’s bugging me here? God, you take them.”
     ~RECEIVE God’s PERSPECTIVE - “God, what do you say about this"”
     ~REST in the PRESENT - “God, help me to live in the 'now.' "
This is a great way to travel through my day, and helps me remember that true spirituality occurs not when I find a cop in my side mirror telling me what I’m doing wrong. It’s when I’m traveling along life’s highway with a personal guide at my side, the God-Man Jesus.
    Here's a song with lyrics that describes this journey.

My red badge of courage.