Mark Conner Soul Food

Soul Food Episode 30 – Reorientation

Have you noticed that life tends to move through seasons and cycles?

Walter Brueggemann, an Old Testament scholar, notices that even a life of faith has cycles of what he calls: orientation, disorientation, and reorientation. 

  1. Orientation is when everything is going well. Life is good. The sun is shining, We are experiencing a great deal of joy and satisfaction. Hope and positive expectations are high. 
  1. Disorientation is when life begins to fall apart. Things aren’t going well. The sun is no longer shining. We are experiencing loss and grief, sadness and discouragement. Hope has died and we aren’t even sure we’ll make it to tomorrow. These are dark days.
  1. Reorientation is when the sun starts to shine again. A new day begins to dawn. Hope emerges out of the darkness. Death leads to resurrection. A new chapter begins. 

I am sure you can look back on your life and see this pattern – times of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation. We all go through them … as individuals and a common humanity. 

The reality is that we are not in control of these seasons. They happen TO us and we simply choose how best to navigate them. We also can’t determine how long we may be in any one part of this pattern or cycle. We may be in one season for an extended period of time. Then again, everything can change in a moment of time. 

In many ways, this recent COVID pandemic has been a huge disorientation. It has disrupted every part of our lives. There has been loss and grief, sadness and discouragement. Not one of us has been unaffected by this. 

So where are we now?

Could it be we are just starting to move into a time of reorientation? It’s not about going back to the previous orientation but about cautiously yet courageously moving forward into what’s next for us. 

Some things will never be the same. Other things may return to ‘normal’. But a lot will be different. 

What could your future look like? I encourage you to take time some time to re-imagine your own life, in light of the current reality. It’s easy to automatically go back to the way things were. But what could be different going forward? What changes are worth embracing? What new and different ways of being and doing things are worth exploring? 

These are some of the questions I am asking myself right now … at the end of another year and in preparation for the new year ahead. 

Reorientation – let’s embrace this unique moment together.

This has been Episode 30 of Soul Food with Mark Conner. 

Enjoy your Christmas and holiday season. See you next year! 

You can watch a video of this episode on the Soul Food with Mark Conner YouTube channel.

Mark Conner Soul Food

Soul Food Episode 29 – Clarity

As we prepare to enter another new year, how are you feeling? One of the words that I hear a lot nowadays is ‘uncertainty’. There is a lot of uncertainty about the future. After all, who knows what next week will look like, let alone next year!

We are living in turbulent times. There is a lot of uncertainty around and that can bring all sorts of fears and worries into our life if we aren’t careful.

One of the things you’ll discover in life is that you can’t always be certain but you can endeavour o be clear. Uncertainty is a permanent part of our lives. It never goes away. We all have to make decisions with limited information. So one of life’s insights that I have found helpful is to stop trying to eliminate the uncertainty. Instead, it can be far more helpful to develop the art of clarity.

  • In business, can you be certain of the economic environment over the next year? Of course not, but you can be clear about the service or product you have to offer and who your market is.
  • On a sports team, can you be certain of the outcome of the game? Of course not, but you can be clear about what you are trying to achieve.
  • In a church, can you be certain what next year will look like? Of course not, but we can be clear about the kind of church you want to be.
  • In life, can you be certain about your future? Of course not, but you can be clear – about who you are, what is important to you, and what you are going to give your life to pursue.
  • With this coronavirus pandemic, can we be certain that it’s all over and we won’t be locked down again? Of course not. But we can be clear about what is within our control – what we can and can’t do, as well as how we can all work together to minimise further infections.

Don’t fight or try to eliminate the uncertainty. Focus on gaining and keeping clarity. That can make all the difference in the world. 

Why not take some time aside today to pause and find further clarity for your own life.

This has been Episode 29 of Soul Food with Mark Conner. 

You can watch a video of this episode on the Soul Food with Mark Conner YouTube channel.

NEXT episode: Reorientation.

Mark Conner Soul Food

Soul Food Episode 28 – Overwhelmed

Have you ever felt overwhelmed? I sure have! Sometimes the pile of things I’d like to do is so big I can’t even see the top of the pile let alone ever get on top of the pile. 

Life seems to keep giving us more and more – more opportunities, more invitations, and more challenges. Eventually, we have so much on our plate that we can’t take on any more. We have no margin. We have no space. We’re are officially overwhelmed. 

I coach quite a number of leaders and one of the questions I am often asked is how do you get through a busy time when there is more that needs to be done than you have time to do.

Maybe you are feeling that right now, especially leading up to the Christmas and holiday season. 

Here are a few things that I do when I need to reduce the overload and minimising that feeling of being overwhelmed:

  1. Delete – is there a project, task, or appointment in the next few weeks that you could delete? Simply don’t do it, because it is no longer important or necessary. 
  1. Delay – is there a project, task, or appointment that you could delay until a later time? If so, go ahead and do that. If it’s not urgent, then it can wait.  
  1. Delegate – is there something on your plate now that someone else could do for you? If so, then go ahead and delegate that.

Already, you should be feeling a little less stressed right now. 

  1. Re-negotiate – is there a project, task, or appointment that you committed to quite a while back that you could re-negotiate based on your current reality? Speak to the person or group involved and ask to be released from your initial commitment. 
  1. Just say ‘No’ – determine to say ‘no’ to any new commitments or opportunities that aren’t vital or essential to your life right now. ‘No’ is a very positive word. By saying ‘no’ to many of the things that continually come our way, we will have the time and energy to say ‘yes’ to the few things that really matter.

It’s amazing how making a few small changes like this have a cumulative positive effect in reducing the feelings of being overwhelmed. 

I hope that has been helpful to you today. 

This has been Episode 28 of Soul Food with Mark Conner. 

You can watch a video of this episode on the Soul Food with Mark Conner YouTube Channel.

NEXT episode: Clarity.