Sometimes just bringing a familiar image into your mind and holding it there to really appreciate what you have seen at least ninety nine times before can become truly an act of contemplation when seen the one
hundredth time. Of course this simple
action requires some small effort on our part. Small, because you just have to be still. Yeah! These days however you almost have to declare
yourself mentally incompetent and be committed to some form of psychiatric
facility to be still. Short of that I have found my garage a wonderful place to get away to. It even has a name -
"My Thaaankin' Place". The name is significant because the garage is a place combining the actions of contemplation, namely thanking and thinking. Thanks is what Chesterton called "the highest form of praise" and the thinking part is the mechanics involved in summoning an image. Next, find an image. I use a tacky old 1950's, white plastic and all, picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This was salvaged from my late mother-in-law's house some years ago and now is in the
"Contemplation Corner" of "My
Thaaankin' Place". A word of caution with this methodology however, if your wife or husband visit you in your
thaaankin' place there is no way you can honestly listen to them and remember what they say, so fess up ahead of time and warn them of what you are doing, and of
course it goes without saying - never contemplate and drive!
JMJ. Mick, SFO
