Culture – Page 3

Why we still use a ticking clock

10.17.2016 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // Leave a Comment

Our power recently went out and the digital clock on our microwave went out along with it. My husband usually resets it, but for some reason, this time he didn’t. So I found myself looking over at the blank screen, instinctively, throughout the day, and then I had to remind myself to look a few feet away at […]

5 Tips For Taking Better Pictures

08.17.2016 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // Leave a Comment

I take less pictures of my children now than I did three years ago. It’s not because I value their “moments” any less. It’s just that the longer I am a mother, the more I recognize the sacredness of those moments. And one of the most puzzling and frustrating qualities of sacred things is that […]

My Birthday

06.07.2016 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // 6 Comments

Today is my birthday. When I was little, this was easy to say. I would tell strangers it was my birthday. I felt like everyone in the world should know it was my birthday! My mom and I would plan my parties months in advance and I had no shame about the amount of thought […]

Living From Home

03.01.2016 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // 4 Comments

There’s a whole lot of debate out there about “working moms” and “stay-at-home moms” and about which of the two is better for children. In theory, “stay-at-home moms” should have more time for their children. But it gets complicated if a mother spends that time irritated, stressed, lonely or […]

Seven Ways To Silence Your Phone

01.27.2016 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // 3 Comments

It takes courage to live in the present when we are constantly tempted by the endless escape and connectivity of technology. But how do we cultivate such courage? As with developing any virtue, the best thing we can do for ourselves is to create an environment that is conducive to that virtue. Surround yourself with beauty. Try to make […]

When We’re Afraid to Live Beyond a Screen

01.20.2016 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // 4 Comments

The other day my family and I were out to dinner and at the table next to us everyone was on their phone. For the entire meal, eyes were never lifted except to take a bite of food and words were never said except to share something from the phones. I know I struggle with […]

“There are degrees in idealism. We learn first to play with it academically, as the magnet was once a toy. Then we see in the heyday of youth and poetry that it may be true, that it is true in gleams and fragments. Then, its countenance waxes stern and grand, and we see that it must be true.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

I found this quote well described my own experience– consistently reworking my idealism, being surprised by it, sometimes even losing it only to discover it all the more fully. I know we will never find all the answers, but how thrilling it is to find ourselves getting a little closer to the source and summit of things, a little closer, as we work our way through the “degrees.”