23rd Psalm

This morning I read the 23rd psalm.  It was in a book about poetry.  I still remember it by heart from my early Sunday school class.  Though I haven’t thought of it in years and because I don’t have the same theology I did then, the words do not bring solace.  But they do bring up memory… I would probably cry if I stood with a group of people reciting this psalm today – not because I think the dead (or I) will “dwell in the house of the Lord forever”. – but because I treasure the ritual of people gathering together, stopping their usual lives and reciting words together.  Words that have ancient history.  Words that remain in the sacred folds of the brain long after they were planted there.  To me, ritual almost always moves me, regardless of the particular meaning of the words.  The words are all we have to point the way or to express what our heart can’t quite say.

            Did you too learn this Psalm by heart?  Do you have memories of reciting it with others?  Has its meaning changed for you over time?

Psalm 23:  The Lord is my Shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd;  I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he

            leadeth me beside the still waters

He restoreth my soul:  he leadeth me in the paths of

            righteousness for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow

            of death, I will fear no evil:  for thou art with me;

            thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of

            mine enemies:  thou anointest my head with oil

            my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the

            days of my life:  and I will dwell in the house of

            the Lord forever.

And, here is my very much less poetic, but contemporary take on this Psalm for me today;

I have no shepherd, still I want

someone to lie down with me

in green meadows, beside a still pond.

This would restore my soul.  Someone

who knows a path in the forest

where we might walk and talk

about our own shadows.

Someone who will bear with me,

comfort me, and who will

share their own sacred story.

The world is a banquet,

a table where I might

reconcile with mine enemies,

a sanctuary where I can anoint myself,

where there is enough to fill

everyone’s cup to overflowing.

Surely goodness and mercy are available

to me and to you,

if we but open our eyes every day.

This place here and now where I will

not dwell forever – yet, it is enough.

            ~Penny Hackett-Evans

SIFT your experience

I recently learned about this method of approaching a concern or issue in your life.  My friend and colleague Wai Chin Matsuoka introduced me to it.  Instead of trying to “think” your way through a problem, you approach it from a different angle.  While I hope you don’t have “problems” to deal with today, I imagine most of us do!  Perhaps you’ll give this a try!  Sift your way into understanding!   Many thanks to Wai Chin for this method.  Fondly,  penny

S. I. F. T. Your Experience

1/16/26

In contemplative practice, attention and noticing are important skills. But before one can even notice, one is required to slow down. It’s so counter-intuitive to the extremely accelerated pace of life we are accustomed to.

After one is internally convinced or persuaded to accept the invitation to slow down, one can then begin offering attention and noticing. But due to our fast-paced life, even after one slows down, one has no idea what to notice.

Dan Siegel, a psychiatrist, who introduces the acronym SIFT has helped me tremendously with that task. “SIFT-ing Your Experience” became an easy path for me to practice a more embodied way to notice when I’m reflecting on an experience.

S -Body Sensations

Notice the temperature you are experiencing; the tensions of your muscles; are they tight? What might be pulsing in your body? How’s your breathing? What do you see, hear, smell, taste or experience your sense of touch?

I -Images or Memories

Notice what images or memories are stirred up in your mind; Notice how you are emotionally connected to the images or memories. What is your response to the image? What associations are brought forth by those images? If it’s a memory, take the time to reconnect with it, and notice.

F -Feelings or emotions

Learning to name your emotions is one way to learn how to own and connect with emotions. There are resources that give your list of emotional words to match what one is feeling. If this is very new to you, know that even if you just notice an emotion without articulating it , it is still a valid emotion. Now notice where that emotion might resonate in the body.

T -Thoughts

Notice what thoughts are stirred up. Do they come with a tone of voice? If so, whose voice is that? Noticing these thoughts can give you a clue as to where, and from whom they come from, and what you believe about this experience.

Wai-Chin Matsuoka

Spiritual Companion

Art of Ensoulment Coach

Soul-Tending Retreats Facilitator

Dancing Healer & Singing Priestess

Email: TheRestingPlace@Ymail.com

Give Me A Word

Well, it’s that season when we turn the calendar page and decide we want a north star to guide our ship in the coming year.  I always look to words and to the practice of having a “Word of the Year”.  In years past I have always just sought out one word – mostly by thinking what do I hope to be a guidepost for me in the coming year.  It’s usually an aspirational word – like kindness, or generosity, or patience.  This year I’ve been reading a little book by Christine Valters Paintner, “Give Me A Word”.  In it she talks of not so much seeking out a word as allowing a word or several words to find you, to come to you.  This is not so much a goal or a resolution or even an aspiration.   It is about “listening for what is calling to you”.  It is not so much about thinking as allowing.  She advises that we listen for a word or phrase that “shimmers” for us. 

I began this process as I usually do, by writing possible words on a page in the back of my journal.  Then I tried to resist the urge to “choose one!”  and just allow them to simmer and to keep collecting more.  Which words did I return to?  Which words showed up in other ways in my life?  Which words did my eyes linger on as I looked at the list. Which words excited me? I tried not to rush the process.  To let the words unfold in me. 

In the book Christine offers many ways that you might go about collecting words;  take walks outdoors and ask the natural world for a “wild word”.  Go to poems you love and see if a word appears there.  Consult sacred texts,  your dreams, even possibly an image rather than a word.  Walk a labyrinth and ask for a word.  That is where my word first came to me this year.  It was hard not to grasp for any word that showed up – but rather to just think of it as an interviewing process.  I interviewed several words!  It was fun. 

It is also possible to consider words that you don’t quite understand at first glance.  Some words are challenging and even troublesome, yet they may still be good candidates.  If it appeals to you, look up your word in a dictionary to find all of its meanings – or a thesaurus.  Of course, writing about the words is a good way to see what they hold for you.  Create a haiku of the word, or write a small poem.  Write a prayer to or from this word.  Collage it.  Have fun with the process.  Would LOVE to hear your words!  Please reply to let us know what you’ve come up with or what you are considering!!

Here is a poem of mine – more about the possibilities of a new year than about selecting a word!   I hope 2026 brings us all some peace – and if it doesn’t, I hope we will at least find the ability to roll with what comes.

HIBERNATION

It is that time of year.

Imagine yourself as bear

going into a hole

pulling the door tight

behind you.

But, I myself would not

want to go to sleep

if I found such

a perfectly quiet

solitary place, where

no-one would knock

on the door for four months.

I’d want a heater

and a desk and a ream of paper,

a drawer full of pens.

I would want music

and food to magically appear.

I would want to look out

a window and have my

computer nearby.

I would not make

a very good bear.

But, if I had to,

I would be forced to learn

the very difficult lessons

of boredom, emptiness,

letting go, patience…

nothing to achieve,

no-one to impress,

no duties to tick off the list.

No.  No.  I do not want

to be a bear.

Turns out, I guess,

that I want to be

who I am… Over-busy, charged up,

dancing on the coffee table

with a tambourine

and wondering

what’s on Netflix

and if there are

some potato chips

hiding in the cupboard.

~Penny Hackett-Evans