Anime Lectio: Slow Loop

                                                             1. Why do Anime Lectio? 

Anime Lectio is a time for us to stop and take a breath. Between work, activities, family life, and social media, our minds are always moving. We rarely take time to contemplate and ask, why am I watching this anime? What’s the point of all this? And, how is this making me feel? 

2. Put away all distractions 

(phones, work, etc.)

We are so enslaved to things that stimulate our minds. Let this be a moment for us to free our minds, look inside of ourselves, and be at peace.

3. Deep Breathing

Take several deep breaths. Let your mind relax. If you’ve had any questions, desires, or struggles that you’ve been hiding or stuffing away, let them rise up to the surface. 

4. Open yourself to God’s Presence

Remember God places all our thoughts and desires inside of us, and He uses them to draw us closer to Himself. God gives us a community to help us understand who we are and what He is calling us to do. The faces of other people you know and don't know are like signs of God’s presence.  

5. Think About What’s on Your Mind in Relation to the Anime

Think about what’s been on your mind in relation to the anime.  The following is an example of such thoughts written by me. 

Doing new things, or change, can be scary, but what makes doing these new things, or change, less scary and more exciting is doing them with other people and with other people in mind. Recently, my community elected a new abbot, or leader, for our community instead of going with the same one again that we've had for 49 years. I'm also thinking more of doing more in the school on the property of our monastery, as well as the monastery itself.  

6. Brief and written explanation of the anime

Pay attention to how the brief and written explanation of the anime seen on this blog, or seeing the anime for yourself since that's better than any explanation, might “speak” to you or shed light on the things that have been on your minds.

The anime series Slow Loop begins with a girl spending time alone in her favorite fishing spot to think about her mother getting remarried as she fishes. During this time of her thinking and fishing, another girl comes along planning to go for a swim in the fishing spot, but the girl who is there to fish stops this other girl. After some conversation, the other girl reveals that her father is getting remarried and it happens to be to the mother of the girl who was planning to fish alone before going back home by herself. She not only has a new friend now, but also a new sister. Learning about each other involves fishing, which is what the one girl who was fishing before meeting the other one knows a lot about already since her late father taught her what he knew about fishing, as well as other friends and experiences with them.

7.  Reflect on the anime

Has this brief and written explanation of the anime shed any light on what's been on your minds?  The following is an example of a reflection on the anime from me.

In addition to doing new things, or changing, with other people and with other people in mind, what also helps in doing new things, or changing, with and for others is to do these new things based on what you like and want to do. For example, the new sisters in the anime Slow Loop want to know more about each other. One knows about fishing already and likes it, while the other one wants to learn more about fishing, as well as her sister and her friends. Doing what you like and want to do should also involve what you need to do depending on what needs to be done and what you can do about it based on what you like and want to do, meaning your interests and talents. What needs to be done in the anime Slow Loop is for two families to get to know each other in order to become one family, which involves learning about each other through fishing and other experiences related to it. What we need to do depends on who we are, what we do, and where we do it, as well as other factors.

8. Final Prayer

Please voice any prayer intentions for friends, family, or people around the world that relate to this anime.  The following is an example written by me.

Let us pray that we can do new things, or change, in order to help others and ourselves, not just ourselves, based on who we are, as well as on other factors, like our interests and talents