Sunday Special: I have no time to pray.

Here's a real story: I'm really bad with calling people, except my parents whom I call almost every day. All other people, even though I care deeply for them- I'm not so great at getting keeping in touch. There was a time when I didn't call my grandma for ages, and she fell poorly, I didn't know about it at all, and when I finally called, she said "I thought you have forgotten about me". Even now, thinking about it, I have tears in my eyes. My Babcia thought that I have forgotten. How could I? But I didn't talk to her for so long, and I missed so much from her life. The truth is, other things were priorities over somebody I love deeply.

Prayer is exactly like that. We don't find time to pray, because it doesn't seem important enough. But when you love someone, you have desire to spend time with that person. You want to talk to him and share your love for them. Talking to that important person in your life helps you to get to know him.

Do you love Jesus? Do you know Jesus? Do you want to know Him? Then you need to pray.

If you pray 7 minutes in the morning and 7 minutes in the evening, that 14 minutes of your day. That's about 1% of your day. I find this amount of time pathetic. It is simply not enough. It's a really good starting point, so if you struggle to find time to prayer, aim for that 14 minutes a day for now. But, ultimately, we should spend so much more time in prayer. It doesn't need to be a single block of time, it doesn't need to be the same sort of prayer. I have different kinds of prayer for different times of the day or different days. At the end of the day though, we need to really strive for what St Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians: "pray constantly" (5:16). Our whole life should be a hymn of God's glory.

I used to think that I had no time to pray, or no time to do all the prayers that I wanted to do over the course of the day. And then I had a close look at the way I spend my time outside of work and thought: "I spend so much time doing nothing in particular." You probably know the feeling of browsing aimlessly through Youtube, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram hoping to find some form of entertainment. Before you know it, an hour flies by and you haven't really achieved anything, ou haven't relaxed and you are just more restless than before.

Use that dead time for prayer. Put your phone under a cushion on the sofa so that you are not tempted to have a little peek at the screen, and talk to the Lord (I seriously do that, removing temptations is the best way of fighting temptations). Pray while you drive. Pray when you wash up the dishes. Controversial idea, pray in the shower. Pray wherever you are. The space is unimportant. Just turn your attention to God and praise him. Tell him all your sorrows and ask for healing.

And, if you have to, wake up early (or stay up late). When Mr Magic lived in the US, I used to wake up ridiculously early to talk to him before he went to bed. It was important, so I made time for this. It wasn't particularly pleasant, but that was the only way at the time. The thing is, God is waiting for you with such longing to hear about your day, to hear what's in the depths of your heart. Make time for Him. It's so worth it.

5 ways to reduce waste.

No 1: Ditch that plastic water bottle.

I know what you'll say: But it's so wonderfully convenient to just walk into a shop and pick up a water bottle from a fridge! Hands up if you recycle every single plastic bottle that you use. No? I wouldn't be able to do it either. Apparently the majority of plastic bottles are not recycled. This is why I have a glass water bottle that I carry around with me everywhere. I used to have a stainless steel one before, it worked really well and was lighter, so that might be a better option for you. If you are worried about availability of drinking water when you are out an about and you have run out of water in your reusable bottle, most cafes are quite happy to fill it up and I've also become really knowledgeable about water fountains at London airports to avoid buying bottled water after security. And yes, I can take an empty water bottle through security even if it is over 100 ml. Just make sure there is no liquid in there.

No 2: Leave your car on the driveway (and walk to work)

This one might not be an option for everybody, but can be easily changed into leaver your car on the driveway and take public transport/car pool. Ever since I've bought a car last year, I've driven a few thousands of miles, producing so much pollution and also drastically lowered the amount of exercise I get each week. Now I have a resolution to walk to work at least a couple of times a week, which takes me about 30 minutes both ways. Not a lot of time (though it does seem so at 6:45 in the morning), but, given my persistent failure to turn up at exercise classes, a brisk walk is what my body gets to keep relatively fit. Also, having this extra time to get ready for the day, calm down and think things through is so beneficial for mental health. By the time I get to work I am in a better state of mind and the exercises releases all those good hormones that I need to face a difficult way.

No 3: Peruse the depths of your fridge before it's too late

Food waste is a massive issue and I am so guilty of that one. I love cooking and sometimes I get far too excited while shopping, buying all these wonderful, fresh ingredients that I am simply not able to use up quickly enough in my little single person household. I used to to one big food shop a week, but now I'm considering doing more smaller shopping trips to use up the food more efficiently than I am at the moment. It won't be as time efficient, but sometimes my eating schedule gets amended and all of a sudden I am not able to make that french lentil salad that I've planned, even if the carrots and the cheese are begging to get used up. So definitely, think about the food you are buying and check your fridge before buying new items. And make friends with your freezer: you can freeze pretty much everything except things like tomatoes or lettuce. In general you can use up fresh produce to make a big batch of food and the freeze it in smaller portions. Your dinners for busy days are sorted.

No 4: Sort out your junk mail

I don't know about you, but I get so much stuff though my letter box. Literally almost every day something arrives that is not an important letter. It drives me crazy, because I read most of the things online, so all the leaflets, magazines etc. end up straight in my recycling bin anyway. Dealing with this might take some time, because you might need to send a few emails to the customer services of the companies/charities/clubs that send you traditional mail. It might be that you already receive emails from them anyway, so there is no reason to receive information in two different ways. And if you are not, but would like to, just say so in the email, these people really want to stay in touch, because then you are more likely to purchase their products or services.

No 5: BYOB

Get your own lovely shopping bag and don't buy those plastic ones from the store each time, even if they are long life or can be replaced for free. There are so many pretty designs available, made from a variety of materials including recycled plastic and cotton. Think you will forget to pack it up? Well, have a shopping bag always at hand. I keep one in my glove compartment in the car just in case I stop by a store to pick some little bits and bobs up. Another one is always in my bag, I just never leave it at home and after being used it goes straight back ready for the next day. My big shop bags are at the top of the fridge, not the most glamorous of places, but I can see them when I do my shopping list (and every time I'm getting anything from the fridge). Your canvas bag can double up as a book bag, an organiser when packing a suitcase or a temporary storage when you are cleaning up the house.

This beauty unfolds into a shopping bag.

Gift from my mum, so cute and useful.

Sunday Special: Christianty is eco.

I've heard somebody say that Catholicism is slow, eco and vintage. Today we celebrate World Earth Day and it could not be more apt to discuss the interaction between my faith and caring for our common home.

The story of creation from Genesis is the story of God entrusting the Earth to us. The relationship between a man and the creation should mirror the relationship between God and the world which is one of deep care for both the present and the future. 

As a Christian, I feel particularly responsible for God's creation. Looking around at all the beauty of this world, I cannot separate my faith for a duty to do my best to make sure that my negative impact on the planet is minimised. It's so clear to me that a failure to make changes that help the environment just because using certain resources or acting in certain ways makes our lives more convenient is a sin. Christians generally agree that destroying your body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, is  sin, but somehow destroying the world created by God for our benefit escapes our attention.

Just as conversion from any kind of sin, even sins that encompass whole institutions, must start with our own personal conversion, so does the conversion that is needed to stop the insane speed of degradation of our surroundings. As Pope Benedict wrote back in 2008:

“In fact, it’s not just a question of finding techniques that can prevent environmental harms, even if it’s important to find alternative sources of energy and so on. But all this won’t be enough if we ourselves don’t find a new style of life, a discipline which is made up in part of renunciations: a discipline of recognition of others, to whom Creation belongs just as much as those of us who can make use of it more easily; a discipline of responsibility to the future for others and for ourselves. It’s a question of responsibility before Our Lord who is our Judge, and as Judge our Redeemer, but nonetheless our Judge.”

I was so pleased that Pope Francis wrote Laudato Si as his first encyclical* "On Care For Our Common Home", linking environmental change with the impact it has on the most poor in the society. It's not only about the water, trees or the amount of oxygen in the air: what we do to the environment has an immediate moral dimension. Francis writes:

95. The natural environment is a collective good, the patrimony of all humanity and the responsibility of everyone. If we make something our own, it is only to administer it for the good of all. If we do not, we burden our consciences with the weight of having denied the existence of others. That is why the New Zealand bishops asked what the commandment “Thou shall not kill” means when “twenty percent of the world’s population consumes resources at a rate that robs the poor nations and future generations of what they need to survive”

So let's start this week with this deep awareness that we are all responsible for the world around us so that it can serve us and other people, especially these most vulnerable, today and also future generations. Love of our neighbour needs to be see the big picture as well. And there are so many ways in which we can reduce our environmental impact, live more simply and really glorify God in his creation. 

On Tuesday I am going to post about little changes to your lifestyle that can make a difference to the environment. If we all decide to really approach the issues of environmental degradation with attitude of personal responsibility and actually act on it, the world can still change. We won't be able to undo a lot of damage, but we can make the world more beautiful, much fairer and closer to what God intended it to be: a beautiful home for all of us.

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* Lumen Fidei from 2013 was largely the work of Benedict XVI

An introverted teacher.

Teaching does not seem like a career suited for introverted people: you spend all day talking to others, be it students, your colleagues or managers, you can't hide yourself in the office and pretend you're not there, because it's not that sort of a job.

When I started teaching, I was a little worried about this side of things. I had an office job one summer and it was really enjoyable, just sitting at my desk, getting tasks done with very little distractions. Having come to a classroom, I had to get used to high pace, unpredictability and sometimes controlled chaos. And having people around you all the time.

I don't crave human contact after work, I'm not keen on those pub outings on Friday afternoon: after a buys day, I just want to go home and finally be on my own. I will call Mr Magic and speak to my parents as well, but beyond that, I'm pretty happy to do my own thing. Every fortnight or so I might reach out to a friend to go out for a cup of coffee or to see a movie, but I'm not a sort of person who needs entertainment involving other people every night.

As it turned out, teaching is a pretty good match for my introverted personality. I reckon it's all about purposeful interactions.

If I went to a crowded party, it would make me feel uncomfortable, because these interactions would have no defined purpose. However, in a classroom, the purpose is really clear: I'm there to teach the children, and the children are there to learn. Of course, it's also about building relationships and I don't spend 100% of time talking about Maths. But this is something that I had to get used to, because I'm not naturally good at having those little chats about pets, movies, apps and whatever else children are obsessed about at that moment. So it took me some time to become comfortable with interactions going beyond strictly teacher-pupil structure. But as I got more confident and got to know my pupils better, these unstructured moments became less painful. Sometimes I'm still thrown off guard but what my pupils share with me, but I feel that I can deal with it in a much better way now than before.

Being an introverted teacher really gives me the best of both worlds. I get my dose of human contact during the day, but after work I get home to my quiet place where I can recharge. Of course, I need to manage this human contact during the day: I have quite a low noise threshold, so I struggle with loud classes and this drains me more than anything. After an hour in a particularly noisy environment I need time to recover and this might not be possible immediately, since there might be more children waiting at the door. But I can spend a break in a quiet space, or close the doors for a minute and gather my thoughts before moving on. It takes a bit of thinking and effort in terms of finding techniques which work for me, but it it necessary: otherwise the danger is that I will become emotionally burnt out.

I love my pupils and really enjoy working with them. Teaching is such a fulfilling profession and I wouldn't change it for another job. In the past two years I've found that my introverted nature doesn't hinder me at all in becoming a successful teacher. I embraced who I am and how I work, letting go of the ideas what teachers should be like or what they should do. I'm doing things my way instead, making it work for me and my pupils.

Things I don't buy.

My Lenten challenge this year was NOT to spend money. I've realised that I was buying a lot of stuff, from shoes to notepads and it added up to a lot of money. So, for over 40 days, I've decided not to spend money on anything other than bare essentials, that is food and travel. I've actually purchased a book (£2 in an antiquary bookshop) and a toothbrush, because I managed to leave my old one at Mr Magic's, but apart from that, no shopping for me.

This was such a positive experience, especially coupled with decluttering most of my possessions. There is actually not that much that I need to be happy and content with my life. And it made me think of the things that I used to buy but no longer need, not only because of my Lenten challenge, but also because of the choices I made last year to improve the quality of my life.

Here are 7 things that I no longer buy in the following categories: entertainment, personal care and kitchen.

ENTERTAINMENT

Video streaming subscriptions

My experience is that if you have a Netflix or Prime Video subscription, it is so easy to completely lose track of time spent watching your favourite series, because you've already paid for that month and you can stream whatever you want whenever you want. I binge-watched nine seasons of Big Bang Theory in about two weeks in summer. Did I enjoy it? Oh yes! I love Sheldon. Was it healthy? Most definitely not. I've found that unsubscribing from Netflix meant that I relied more on freely available material that often had more educational value. Youtube is full of really good TEDTalks for instance. Also, there are other options if you want to watch something specific. Google, Amazon and YouTube allow you to purchase or rent specific films or TV series without subscribing. And this actually makes you really think if you want to watch that specific thing. Because I now only pay for films I really want to see, I actually watch less of them. This means more time spent doing other valuable activities, like reading or baking. I sort of treat this like going to a cinema, but without leaving my house.

Stationery

This one is a challenging one, because I really like cute notepads, different coloured pens, sticky notes in various shapes and sizes, stickers and other accessories of this sort. But I have so much of it already, I won't have enough time in my life to use all of this up. So if anybody is in need of some stationery supplies, please get in touch, I will happily part with most of it. My problem with stationery is twofold: most importantly, an environmental one, because not so much of those items are actually made of recycled materials; but secondly it's such a drain on your wallet. These things are really expensive.

PERSONAL CARE

Nail polish

I had this idea a few years ago that I will do my nails, paint them with beautiful rich colours and be this really neat looking young lady with nail polish matching my outfit. In reality, I simply don't have time for that, painting and drying your nails is too much of a hassle plus I don't like the chemicals contained in nail polish. There are plant-based alternative, but I was never committed enough to actually invest in those (it's over £10 per item, so compared to around £3-£5 for a regular nail polish, the difference is insane), so a month or so ago I discarded the only nail polish that remained in my cosmetic bag, admittedly a beautiful shade of red, but I wasn't using it, so it had to go.

Female sanitary products

No, I didn't stop having my periods, but I switched to reusable cloth pads last summer, and never looked back since. They do require a bit of an upfront investment, but will last for a good few years and you will not create waste throwing those products straight after use. This is what really bothered me about female products, that you would spend a lot of money on those each month, but you would actually only get a few hours of use out of them at best and then discard that item, never to see it again. The advantage of cloth pads is that you can use those again and again. It does require a degree of organisation, having a wash bag ready in your bag and you need to do an extra low temperature wash, but I found it so much more comfortable both in actual physical terms and in terms of my psychological feeling of doing something good for the environment, that I simply got used to functioning a little bit differently.

KITCHEN

Teabags

Most teabags are sealed with plastic, which contributes to plastic pollution given how much tea I drink and many people in the UK drink. I used up all the teabags in the house now, invested in a tea strainer, and now I only brew loose-leaf tea which is less convenient, but the taste is far better and it avoids all the plastic contamination that I was contributing towards, albeit inadvertently, while drinking five or six cups of tea a day.

Kitchen towels
I have one more roll under my sink, but it has been there for ages, probably since summer and I can't see it being used any time soon, I'm still on the previous roll from that pack. It's just such a waste, because you use a piece and then it ends up in the bin straight away. It's like throwing your money away. Instead of paper towels, I have bought a set of cloths that can be used to cleaning, wiping, dusting and drying. They can be washed in the washing machine with kitchen towels. No brainer!

Single purpose kitchen gadgets
Think nutmeg grater, cheese grater, waffle maker, spiraliser, ice cream scoop, crepes pan, smoothie maker, tiered cake pans... I love cooking, but I've realised that most of the dishes calling for some special equipment can be made as successfully with standard utensils. I've decluttered a lot of items and left those essential ones. When I think about it, our grandmothers managed to cook without all these fancy single purpose gadgets. I can do without the too. Especially that storage space is precious in my kitchen and I would rather not take it up with a multitude of items.

Sunday Special: He is RISEN!

Have you experienced the Resurrection in your life?

It's only this year that I fully embraced the meaning of Easter. My Lenten journey was full of ups and downs, but when I reached the time of Sacred Triduum, I suddenly felt ready. I haven't reached the heights of holiness, my sins remained a problem, but I felt an immense longing for the Risen Lord. I wanted Jesus to lift me up from the abyss of death into a place filled with light. From grave to Resurrection.

I am certain that I will continue to struggle with sin and that I will need all mercy I can get, but this Easter filled me with such hope. Hope that whatever might be going on in my life, Jesus is there with me, even in the pit of despair where it feels that God has forsaken me. 

The Mystery of Easter has shown me with all its power that hope is greater than despair, that life is greater than death, that love is greater than fear. I believe that when Jesus rose from the grave, he was thinking about me. About life eternal spent with me, his daughter. And I have no doubts he was thinking about each one you as well.

We have eight days of Easter celebrations ahead. Let's make it eight days of incredible joy and praise for the Risen Lord. He is truly risen. And he wants you to experience his love as manifested through his Resurrection.

‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
moreover my flesh will live in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One experience corruption.
You have made known to me the ways of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ 

Psalm 16