Welcome to this conversation

New Grooves - Episode 1: Remembering to Groove. One groove after another. Always a new one. Unless you are stuck in a rut going round and round. The pandemic is winding down - sort of - and we are all facing what’s next. That groove is ending and you need, we all need, a New Groove that remembers the past and looks to the future. We don’t have the answers, but we can help each other learn this rhythm of life. Let’s groove!

Episode 1: Remembering to Groove

In talking about change we’re not saying anything new!  

Change is part of life. Change is hard. We can do hard things. It’s worth it.

What has changed or is changing in your life this year? Take 1 minute and start listing. Ok. Now list some of the things you feel when you look at your list. 

We’re coming back to the old wisdom of New Grooves through the writings called Deuteronomy. (Here’s a short, great video). The heart of it is captured in these lines that have become a Jewish prayer called the Shema… which means “hear.”

Hear, O Israel: Yahweh, I Am Who I Am, our God, the Lord is one. Love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. -Deuteronomy 6:4-9 

Listen and Love. Choose Life.

I call heaven and earth to witness that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live. -Deuteronomy 30.19

Choose life doesn’t mean choose not to die. It means to choose the presence of love. 

Some things to consider: Choosing Life takes trust in things unseen, unknown and unrealized. And trust (a.k.a. faith) always comes with doubt. You will often feel doubtful, uncertain, clumsy, and uncomfortable as you choose new grooves. If you don’t, you are probably staying in the ruts you already know. What is that trusting?  How are your doubts part of your trusting and growing? 

How can remembering help you deal with the constant new grooves?

The Hebrew word זָכַר zakar is to REMEMBER. These stories are written so that we, too, will zakar as we choose our future.

Remember: what’s worth grooving for

Something to consider: When have you felt most alive and grooving?  Who and what do you surround yourself with that remind you of that sense of life when you aren’t feeling it? How are you a reminder to others?

Remember: where you’ve been, fully and honestly

By writing this account (in Deuteronomy) of their early history 100’s of years later when they knew how it would turn out, Israel wasn’t REVISING its history, it was REVEALING its history so others could do better than they had.

Israel wanted us to know that FAILURE happens, and PROGRESS matters.

SHAME (not letting the real story be told) closes us off to both forgiveness and growth - turning our mistakes into lasting obstacles rather than momentary pivot points. Shame can’t survive when the real story is told!

Something to consider: What happens when others share their real stories? What stories do you show others? 

Remember: so you can choose

To find new grooves, you’ll need to keep practicing the PAUSE BUTTON.

It gives you the space you need to remember and choose. Not just react. 

Some things to consider: The pause button can be as simple as taking a breath, being still or chewing your food longer. Your body is made with wisdom to help you. What cues tell you when you need to push pause? How does your body help you pause? How do you build proactive pauses into your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly routines?

Are We There Yet? 

So this story Israel tells about themselves is a Halakha. That means walking!  They had walked a long way already to their destination only to find that they weren’t done yet. They had to keep walking.

They discovered and rediscovered that Yahweh - I Am Who I Am - wasn’t handing down rules for HOW to walk to get to some far-off heavenly place. God wanted to walk WITH them and make heaven here and now, together.

The “Promised Land” of peace, rest and joy that we long for isn’t a place to go someday. It is a way of moving now.  A way of grooving, together. 

Try it.

1. Pause to review the last day or two in your mind like you’re watching a movie. Or on paper like your writing a quick recap in a diary. Notice a moment that seems like a rut. It may have involved some regret, shame, giving up, numbing, comparison, defensiveness or self-righteousness.

2. Find someone you trust this week to help you re-member it by simply listening without judgement. Tell them all about it.  What led up to it, what happened, how did it feel emotionally and physically? How can you choose differently going forward? What will be your reminder to push pause again to help you make that tweak? And then the next?

3. After they listen to you - return the favor! 

More Resources…

Group Discussion Guide: Click HERE.