Meditation

Peace, love, and joy can be sought through quiet thinking and honest prayer.  The wholeness, the new awareness, that is produced affects one's relationship with God and man to a degree greater than would seem possible in ordinary life.

Meditation means trusting the silence around me for a while, as if it were an answer I had long sought.

F I T = Feel, Intuition, Trust.

Notes On A Desert Heart

The early desert fathers fled the desert not to get away from people but to find inner freedom and learn better how to love others and God.
According to Thomas Merton, "These were men who believed that to le oneself drift along, passively accepting the tenets and values of what they knew as society, was purely and simply a disaster"
These spiritual adventurers who chose to live in the wilderness and nourish a down-to-earth, gutsy spirituality became the first monks.
The desert call of these spiritual pioneers continues to appeal to me because I too search for a primal way of addressing my longing for God.
Perhaps I reached a point in my life when, in spite of the influence of a secular culture, I yearn for detachment as a way of freedom and peace of heart.
The desert heart is a heart broken open, expansive, and yearning for love. Its humble posture is its prayer.
Love as an attitude of hear is not about achieving some ideal but living day to day with a disposition, with an openness to the fullness of divine presence.
It is a firm commitment to grow in relationship with God and others.
Fundamentally, humility means keeping in mind one's true condition before God – both my brokenness and need – but also remembering divine forgiveness and mercy.
Humility softened the heart and allowed room for love to grow.
Remembering my true place in the eyes of God, I keep my feet solidly planted on the earth and realize that love is only possible with the help of grace.
In the fertile soil of humility, the seed of inner life finds nourishments to grow.
The seed grows in incremental but important stages as I learn to take small but essential steps to make room for love.
In humility, I do not see myself as capable of heroic tasks but as weak and vulnerable, utterly dependent on the Spirit's grace.
I may have come to a point in my live where I am disillusioned with social expectations, political chaos, and a cultural tide of restlessness.
I seek peace beneath the turmoil as well as inner freedom.
It is not as if I want to isolate myself from the world but desire to find a way to live in it but not of it.
The desert call emerges especially during those times of suffering that strip us of our usual props: a meaningless job, chronic illness, a crumbling relationship, or the loss of a loved one.
I sense the urge to risk all, even if this means participating in the slow process of inner renewal and learning a humble posture of being.

Already Broken

“You see this goblet?” asks Achaan Chaa, the Thai meditation master. “For me this glass is already broken. I enjoy it; I drink out of it. It holds my water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. If I should tap it, it has a lovely ring to it. But when I put this glass on the shelf and the wind knocks it over or my elbow brushes it off the table and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’ When I understand that the glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious.” -- Mark Epstein, Thoughts Without a Thinker

Seeking & Running Away From Silence

 

When speech is controlled, the eyes speak;
the glance says what words can never say.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

 

What is silence? Silence is something which we consciously or unconsciously are seeking every moment of our life. We are seeking for silence and running away from it, both at the same time. Where is the word of God heard? In silence. The seers, the saints, the sages, the prophets and masters, they have heard that voice which comes from within by making themselves silent. I do not mean by this that because one will have a silence that he will be spoken to. I mean that he will hear the word which is constantly coming to him once he is silent.

Once the mind has been made still, a person gets in communication with every person one meets. He does not need too many words, when the glance meets he understands. Two persons may talk and discuss their whole life and they will not understand one another; and two persons with still minds look at one another in one moment there is a communication. Where comes the difference between persons? It is by their activity. And when comes agreement? It comes by the stillness of mind.

by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Living Prayer

The saying goes.... "Prayer is talking to God, and meditation is listening to God."

A few years ago, I went to a seminar on meditation.

The spiritual teacher, taught and demonstrated many forms of meditation.

One of the forms he demonstrated was what he called, "Living Meditation".

Living meditation is a method of contemplative introspection while moving through our daily lives.

It is a way, to slow down, and cast our thinking inside of our hearts, before verbalizing our feelings and thoughts.

This method allows us to "speak from the heart".

This methodology also teaches us to be a part of, rather than separate from.

Try it! You will like it!  

I was meditating this morning, and my inspiration came.

Why not create Living Prayer.

Yes! Live a prayer!

Choose something that you pray for and bring it into the world.

If you pray for God's will, "Let Go and Let God".

Trust in God!

If you pray to be loved, be loving.

If you pray for health, (even if you are sick) act as if you are healthy, and help another.

The point is, prayer works if we work it.

Open your hearts to your "Higher Power" and the possibilities are endless.

Live your prayers and you will see the miracles that God wants for all of us.  

Today I will live my prayers.  

I will be contemplative and speak from my heart.

I will be a part of rather than separate from.

 

Words For The Day

 

Service is the rent we pay for
the privilege of living on this earth.

It is the very purpose of life, and
not something you do in your spare time.

Shirley Chisolm

 

 

At first dreams seem impossible,

then improbable, then inevitable.

Christopher Reeve

 

 

In the stillness of the quiet, if we listen,

we can hear the whisper of the heart

giving strength to weakness,

courage to fear, hope to despair.

Howard Thurman

 

 

The coin that pays for ecstasy
is always stamped despair.

One cannot love empathically
until one wanders there.

 Jane Krainin

Dictated right before she died of ALS

 

www.gratefulness.org

Thoughts & Prayers

We are each gifted in a unique and important way.

It is our privilege and adventure to 

discover our own special light.

Mary Dunbar

 

My task is to stand in the sun and create a climate that will develop and nurture my gift.

To fully believe in my talent, I need only step from the darkness into the sun.

I will take this first step, trust enough, and start believing that; yes, I do have special gifts.

 

Today let me be aware of my deep and unfilled desires, dreams, and wishes, which is the first step on the way to accepting our gifts.

 

~~~ @@ ~~~

 

We honor the spirit in other people when we listen to them.

 

God's messages surround me.

The people I share the day with carry my lessons within their words and actions.

Let me be vigilant in my attempts to listen.

I can learn my lessons and fulfill my purpose only by acknowledging the spirit, the presence of God, within each person God has ushered to me.

 

I will pay special attention to the people in my life today.

 It's a wonderful feeling knowing they are part of God's plan for me.

 

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I cannot see the future.

It's a blessing that I cannot.

I could not bear to know all the future.

That is why God only reveals it to me day by day.

God is powerful enough to do anything God wills, and no miracle in human lives is impossible with God.

 

I pray that I may gladly leave my future in God's hands.

 

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Life is a series of letting go's -
an "infinite" series of letting go's.
All things in life are given us on loan. . .
Once we have learned to let go,
we are prepared for whatever life gives us.
And death itself is nothing to be feared.

Matthew Fox

 

Letting go is a behavior I can practice each day, whatever the circumstances in my life.

It's a useful tool to use when I really want to bring something or someone into my life, and in accomplishing my goals.

It's a helpful tool to use on outdated behaviors such as low self-esteem and manipulation.

Letting go takes the emotional charge, the drama, out of things and restores me to a sense of balance, peace, and spiritual power.

Letting go works well on the past and the future.

It brings me into today.

Learning the art of letting go really means learning to calmly let things be.

 

God, help me learn to let go.

 

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EGO = Edging God Out

Whatever problems confront me, large or small, they can be solved wisely.

Or they can be solved my way.  The choice is mine.

If I want to know God's will, I must pause and ask: "What would God have me do?"

Why, then, is it so difficult for me just to pause, to meditate, and to allow God to guide me?

The reason is my ego.

I know -- though sometimes I forget -- that by myself my capabilities are nil.

Came To Believe . . ., pp. 60-61

 

I asked from the heart, and I received.

 

 

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Buddhist Saying

There is no large and difficult task

that can’t be divided into little easy tasks.

 

Remember the Golden Key

Whenever trouble arises, the first thing to do is to turn it over to our Higher Power.

I can take all necessary practical steps to solve a problem, but I don't need to decide what the answer may be.

Do this, and I'll soon be out of my difficulty.

This is essentially the formula of the Golden Key as taught by Emmet Fox.

It is also the core idea of Steps Three and Eleven.

It is a manner of living one's life with the constant knowledge that a Higher Power is always part of it.

 

My Higher Power is always with me today, supplying whatever I need for the accomplishment of any good purpose.

 

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Minute Meditation

In a culture which values autonomy and self-reliance, I sometime imagine that I can call only on my own personal strength to shoulder the burdens of those I care for and to face my own difficulties.

My recovery reminds me again and again that God’s love is my true source of strength.

On him the strongest person can lean without apology.

 

My mind is out to get my ass.

 

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Minute Meditation

Remember also your Creator

in the days of your youth,

before the evil days come.

 

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Daily Prayer

Encouraged by the faith of Mary, our Mother, I pray:

Through the intercession of Mary, grant my prayer!

 For those who hear only the dissonant clamor of despair:

‑ fill them with the new song of salvation.

Through the intercession of Mary, grant my prayer!

 For those who see only endless night of sin and death:

‑ awaken them to the day of salvation

Through the intercession of Mary, grant my prayer!

For those who place their hope in you:

‑ reward their faith with joy.

Through the intercession of Mary, grant my prayer!

 

Father of light, let the light of your face shine upon the darkness of our sin.

Through the intercession of Mary, our Mother, free me from the shadows to which I cling and draw me into the light of your eternal kingdom.

 

Amen

 

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Stillness

www.gratefulness.org

Let us accept the invitation, ever-open,
from the Stillness,
taste its exquisite sweetness,
and heed its silent instruction.
Paul Brunton
Perspectives

शिप्व्रेच्केद इन साउथ कैरोलाइना

Rushing Through

"AndthankyouforkeepingmestraightyesterdayAmen."

Sometimes I can almost hear God saying,

"What did he just say?"

शिप्व्रेच्केद इन साउथ कैरोलाइना

Asking And Receiving

Prayer And Meditation

Prayer and meditation are similar practices in that they both offer us a connection to the divine, but they also differ from one another in significant ways.
Put simply, prayer is when we ask the universe for something, and meditation is when we listen.
When we pray, we use language to express our innermost thoughts and feelings to a higher power.
Sometimes, we plumb the depths within ourselves and allow whatever comes to the surface to flow out in our prayer.
At other times, we pray words that were written by someone else but that express what we want to say.
Prayer is reaching out to the universe with questions, pleas for help, gratitude, and praise.

Meditation, on the other hand, has a silent quality that honors the art of receptivity.
When we meditate, we cease movement and allow the activity of our minds and hearts to go on without us in a sense.
Eventually, we fall into a deep silence, a place that underlies all the noise and fray of daily human existence. In this place, it becomes possible for us to hear the universe as it speaks for itself, responds to our questions, or sits with us in its silent way.

Both prayer and meditation are indispensable tools for navigating our relationship with the universe and with ourselves.
They are also natural complements to one another, and one makes way for the other just as the crest of a wave gives way to its hollow.
If we tend to do only one or the other, prayer or meditation, we may find that we are out of balance, and we might benefit from exploring the missing form of communication.
There are times when we need to reach out and express ourselves, fully exorcising our insides, and times when we are empty, ready to rest in quiet receiving.
When we allow ourselves to do both, we begin to have a true conversation with the universe.

DailyOM