Sleeping with Bread: Monday, November 3rd

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Monday, November 3rd

I have to confess that I love November. I'm sure it couldn't possibly have anything to do with it being my birthday month! But it is also the month of cooler weather, sweaters, turkey and all the trimmings, fireplaces, candles, and all sorts of other coziness. At least in theory.

It is also National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), a post a day, every day in November. Crazily enough, I decided to participate, but at least I know that my Monday posts are pretty much take care of!

I hope you all have a great first full week of November... the best month of all!

~~~~00O00~~~~

Although the examen is a Christian practice and I am a Christian, I would hope that anyone who has something to share would feel welcome here.

Also, if you don't have your own blog and would like to participate, share your bread in the comments.

To holding on to what gives life,

Mary-LUE

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: The seasons change, but people don't.; November 03, 2008 3:25 AM
Mel said...: Oh, what an ambitious gal you are!
Send some of your excess my way, please? ;-)

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The season's DO change, BW--and sometimes, when there's an 'awakening', people do too.; November 03, 2008 6:57 PM
Unknown said...: Well, it is done before midnight. It is not my best reflection post, I have to say, but it got done!; November 03, 2008 10:26 PM
Elizabeth said...: Well, I'm excited for November too, but not for the weather to get yucky...my post was up yesterday, but I forget to come back here and comment. The weather is already making me dorky...; November 04, 2008 3:50 AM
Elizabeth said...: And I posted myself twice, because the first one doesn't work. I don't know why I have such difficulty with this....I'll blame it on being November. =); November 04, 2008 4:00 AM
Anonymous said...: Better late than never. I hope so.; November 04, 2008 3:10 PM

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What is Sleeping with Bread?

During the bombing raids of WWII, thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve. The fortunate ones were rescued and placed in refugee camps where they received food and good care. But many of these children who had lost so much could not sleep at night. They feared waking up to find themselves once again homeless and without food. Nothing seemed to reassure them. Finally, someone hit upon the idea of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime. Holding their bread, these children could finally sleep in peace. All through the night the bread reminded them, "Today I ate and I will eat again tomorrow." (Linn, Dennis et al, Sleeping With Bread, p.l)

These are the beginning words of a book that introduced me to a practice called the examen. The orphans held on to what nourished them and were thus able to sleep peacefully at night. The examen, based on the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, helps a person hold onto what spiritually nourishes him by looking at what is giving him consolation in his life or causing him desolation. It allows someone to express his gratitude to God for the good stuff and turn to him for solace for the bad stuff. It is quite simple. You simply ask yourself, in the last day/week/month what gave me consolation and what caused me desolation.

How do you do it?

Sleeping with Bread is a Monday meme. You can participate in one of two ways: 1) Pick one of the above examen question sets and answer it in the comments section of my SWB post; or, 2) Create your own Sleeping with Bread post. You are welcome to right click on the Sleeping with Bread button and save it to your own computer before uploading into your post. Then, make sure you come back and put the link to your post in the automated Mr. Linky form at the end of the current SWB post. I hope you will join me and my fellow bakers as we Sleep with Bread on Mondays!