Waking the Body, Stirring the Soul

I slept early last night. I woke up at 5 AM. I went to the office before 7 AM. Unfortunately, when I was about to blog my story, our power supply shut down. After a few hours of troubleshooting, the power returned at 11:50 AM.

Yesterday, I watched videos about living long. Two different videos, but the message is the same. One claims that it is the Shaolin secret to a long life. The other video is from a medical perspective. I prefer to call this the Shaolin Morning Exercise.

The exercise includes five steps: hydration, circulation reset, protein intake, mobility sequence, and mental clarity.

In practicing mental clarity, one must recall his activity the previous day. It is a way to wake up one's brain. It was claimed that this habit prevents memory loss and cognitive decline. Many aging people these days are worried about dementia. Though I don't have a medical basis, I suspect that such a problem happens to those whose brains remain inactive for so long.

I encounter a new term described as "the fertilizer for brain cells." It is called BDNF—Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor.

If you want to progress in this exercise, try to remember your activities the last two days instead of one. As I tried, I realized that the practice isn't easy. I could only remember a few things of what I did the previous day. To recall the two days activities is almost impossible for me.

I am not sure if it is valid to use journaling to recall your activities. This has been part of my discipline for decades now. I think I started it in my early 20s. I just forgot who influenced me to write down the things that I do.

Source

Even though different in content, I think the practice of morning devotion is almost parallel to mental clarity exercises. This has been part of Christian discipline, especially during my seminary days. I forgot the year when I lost it. Instead of habitual, it became infrequent and rare.

Backed by ancient wisdom and science, I want to recover this practice. After doing the five longevity exercises, I added Bible reading, meditation, and prayer. I spent around 30 minutes this morning while enjoying the sunshine vitamin.

My reading this morning is from Psalm 10. I just want to make a spontaneous reflection of the chapter.

The Psalmist started his song with a question about the Lord's seeming withdrawal in times of trouble. Such trouble is caused by a wicked man whose favorite pastime is hunting—hunting down the weak and powerless. He is arrogant. God has no place in his mind. And yet, despite his wickedness, or perhaps because of his wickedness, he is prospering. He thinks he is unshakeable and is always happy. His tongue is full of curses, lies, and threats.

Reading these verses made me think that prosperity has two kinds: the prosperity of the righteous and the prosperity of the wicked. God promises blessings to those who obey his laws. Such blessings can be described as the prosperity of the righteous. What is difficult to explain is the prosperity of the wicked. I thought the Bible teaches us that those who violated his laws will be cursed. How come this wicked man, who is arrogant and is a murderer, is prosperous and happy?

And then in verse 12, the Psalmist calls the Lord to arise, as if He is sleeping and doesn't know what's happening to the victims of oppression and injustice. However, the truth is the Lord knows. Nothing is hidden from his sight. He will call everyone to account for all the things they do in this life.

The Psalmist concludes with an affirmation of faith that the Lord is the Eternal King and He listens to the cry of the fatherless and the oppressed.

Grace and peace!