Welcome to Day 3 of our virtual retreat on forming personal liturgies. If this is your first time this week, start from the beginning and work you’re way forward. We’ll be here when you come back.

As I wrote in The Book of Waking Up, we live in a dark world, one full of pain and despair. In that darkness, it’s tempting to use any old coping mechanism—booze, boobs, a penchant for purchasing—to numb ourselves to the pain. But there’s a different way, a waking way, one I outline in what some (read: I) have called my “magnum opus on the subject of addictions, attachments, and habits.”

I won’t get into the weeds of the waking way (you have to buy the book for that, and if you haven’t, come on man… what gives?), but I’ll share a waking practice, one meant to draw you into the goodness of God in the land of the living. What is that waking way? Creating an evening habit of tracking pleasure or joy.

Before we get to the nuts and bolts, though, consider my thoughts about pleasure from The Book of Waking Up:

We’re coded for pleasure. We have millions of synapses meant to fire, meant to tell the brain to release four neurotransmitters associated with pleasure: dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. What do those neurotransmitters do? That’s not so important for now. Instead, just know this: each plays a part in producing the sort of WHIZZ-BANG! rush of pleasure we all know. It’s this Whizz-Bang that sets us apart from machines, that makes us human. But what why do we feel this pleasure? What’s the point of it all?

Pleasure—what is it but a sign that our creator wants us to enjoy the created things of the world?

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it till I die—pleasure is meant to draw us into the joy of the Divine Love. So, let’s take note of the pleasures and joy in our lives. Let’s celebrate them as the antidote of despair.

How?

It’s a simple practice, really. In the evening, just before bed, reach for your journal, a notepad, or last month’s electricity bill envelope. Make two columns on your paper-product of choice—a skinny column on the left and a more ample one on the right. In the left column, write the date. Close your eyes and review your day, taking note of the things that brought you pleasure or joy. Then, record a few of those things in the right column. (If you’re not smiling as you record these pleasures, you ain’t doing it right.)

In recording your joy, you’ll begin to find despair’s equal opposite. And living in this dark age as we do, it might not be terribly comfortable at first, but keep recording. As you do, you’ll find reasons for living, things to look forward too. You’ll find a darkness that’s less dim. You may begin to find the light of Divine Love shining on you as you wake to what’s good.

Life Examined:

1. Review yesterday in your imagination and record three things that brought you pleasure or joy. Can you see the Divine Love at work through those things?

2. In prayer or meditation, thank your maker for giving you good things in the land of the living. Offer gratitude for a world full of pleasures.

Let’s Wake Up Together

THE BOOK OF WAKING UP —a book on addiction, attachment, and the Divine Love—launched TUESDAY so order a copy or ten at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookish (my favorite indie bookseller). Then, forward this post to a friend and ask them to read along.

Yesterday, St. Johnny (of the Cross) reminded me (and consequently you) how to find (or “swim in”) true joy—bend the entirety of your life around service to the Divine Love of God. Yes, that’s a mountain of a task, and I often fall a few rises short of the peak. It is true: There are times I don’t suppose I’m “serving God,” as St. Johnny would say, and so, I find myself wading in the toe-waters of joy instead of swimming in its ocean.

It is true; I’m no different than any other human. Instead of serving God when my joy tank is empty, I turn to my pet pleasures. I assert my opinions on the news du jour on the forum du jour. I fall into work—writing, photo editing, cranking out legal documents. I buy another book I don’t need, spend time I don’t have reading it, and often find the experience luxuriously dissapointing. (For instance, I recently bought a shit horror novel because I thought it might entertain me for a few hours. It did not.) But does that mean that news, art, and literature cannot lead to joy per se?

I’m no guru, but I’m going all-in on my answer to that question: No.

I’ve mulled over the words of the Cross-figured Johnny over these last 24 hours, and it seems to me that a component of “serving God,” is using all created things as intended. Can’t we serve God by listening to the news and partnering with God to respond to the crises of the day? Can’t we use our work—writing, photo editing, any old work—to recreate the world into something more beautiful, more Divine? Can’t engage art gratefully (and graciously), thanking the Creator for gifting us the Divine spark of creation? Aren’t these all ways of recognizing, and thereby serving the Divine?

An Examination: Today, grab your journal, your grocery list, or a spent envelope, and start a new sort of list. Write down those things you might be prone to treat as vices. Next, imagine what it might look like to recognize the goodness of God in those things, and to pursue only that goodness. Imagine what it might look like to serve God using those created things. (Caveat: If your particular mechanism is heroin, binge drinking, porn, or gambling, skip this exercise and seek a qualified therapist.)

The Virtual Retreat: A Liturgy of Waking to Pleasure and Joy

Let’s Wake Up Together

Feeling the Pleasures, Swimming in Joy

WAKE UP WITH ME

***Let’s Wake Up Together***

***WAKE UP WITH ME***

Let’s Wake Up Together

WAKE UP WITH ME