Are you inundated with email messages right now? From poems, prayers and meditative pieces, to concerts, exercise options and both hilarious and heart-warming videos, there is an unending stream of options flooding into our lives right now. Alone? I’m sure there are many who do feel alone but others say they’re feeling almost overwhelmed by zoom meetings, social media conversations, internet options and news updates.
I don’t want to write anything this week.
The days that we are currently in are holy days. Nothing like this has ever happened to the world before. We are being set apart. What will we learn?
What gives your life purpose?
What do you need to feel well, whole and happy?
Our Loving Creator is speaking. Let’s use this time to listen – to her, to one another, to our self. And remember, God’s voice is always a Voice of Love. Don’t listen to anyone else.
Love and prayers
Anne
Mystic in Motion
Companion on the Way with Contemplative Fire
Contemplative Fire Canada (Founder)
Does it feel to you like we’ve been invaded by an alien being from outer space? Our world has been shaken upside down in the last few weeks as the coronavirus, it’s containment and fear has spread around the globe. I know there are always lessons to be learnt from life, so I’ve begun to consider the lessons from this invasion. It’s still early days so I’m sure lessons will evolve, but here are a few I’m considering.
Have you been required, or asked to self-isolate? Have your activities or work been curtailed? In some way all of us have been affected by the virus and its containment. We are all being required to live at least temporarily, a slower life.
get away. I knew it was time to be quiet and listen deeply to God’s Spirit within me. I had to do some deep listening before I could do any writing. The Rubik’s cube within my soul twisted into shape that day. It felt SO right. I booked a week away at Rivendell’s Hermitage. Maybe I’d have a few days of listening and then write, or maybe I’d simply have a few days of listening, of being open to God and in God’s Presence. Either way, I knew I needed solitude.
A part of me is concerned about so many people entering self-isolation without knowing how to do it. We’re created to be social creatures and to separate ourselves can cause inner turmoil. I wonder how we will respond to so much solitude, especially untended solitude. Not only am I an introvert, I have spent, over the years, many weeks in solitude and know how to care for myself as I open to God’s Spirit. Sometimes it’s very challenging to be alone, while other times it is full and nourishing.
as ‘isolation’ or as ‘solitude’? I think those are two very different approaches. If you are required to separate yourself from loved ones for two weeks or more, I hope you can find within it time for reading, reflection, prayer and meditation. Perhaps, rather than fighting the separation, it could be an opportunity to deepen your life, so when you emerge, there will be more of you that will emerge.
bet the view is wonderful here!” Despite the cloud, she could imagine what we most often see. How wonderful it is to be able to see beyond the cloud.
First, I acknowledge the cloud, not running from it but rather opening to the fear, worry, doubt, exhaustion, loneliness or whatever is assailing me. I say “Hello” to it. Second, after saying “I see you”, I remind myself that there is more to life. There are trees and water beyond the cloud. In humility I ask ‘The-God-I-Can’t See’ for help. I recall some time of connection, of goodness in my life. I recall a spiritual memory when I did know God’s presence with me. Often, I write both down, acknowledging the cloud and then going more deeply into a memory of a positive time. Third, I think of someone else. Is there someone I could help today? If I’m alone, I might find someone to hold in the loving presence of God. Even if I can’t see God, I know that God’s reality and healing presence is NOT dependent on my cognitive or emotional awareness. The trees are always there! Fourth, I find some mature friend and speak to them about my cloud. I ask them just to listen deeply to me. These four steps can be repeated – as often as needed.
received the discount I was so intent on. I had saved the $2.00. He looked at me, gently smiled and said, “Life is too short.” Oh, that landed right in my heart. There was no condemnation. There was nothing but a lift out of the swamp of bargain pursuit, into the land of ease, presence and priority.
How about you? Life IS short. What are you pursuing? How are you living?
question I’m pondering or an issue I’m mulling over and open the door to wondering about it. To wonder is to take the question and then turn it around, look at it from all sorts of sides, from underneath, overhead and inside it. See the question from other people’s perspective. What would….(and you insert a friend, a spouse, a colleague, a neutral person, a hostile person)….think about it. What would God’s Eternal View be of it? Wonder opens the door to the unexpected, to those amazing ‘Ah ah moments’, the spontaneous knowing and maybe a few surprises.
“When my energy is low, meaning I don’t feel at my best in terms of creativity, inspiration, attunement or rest, I let Creator have my flow and ask only to be a channel. My deepest audience connection has always happened when I do this. So, on my way to a podium nowadays, I say to myself, “Okay, Creator, you and me, one more time.” When I surrender the delivery, along with the outcome, the anxiety and expectation, everything becomes miraculous. It’s a recipe for life, really.” Embers pg67
follow. I trust wherever You want to take me and whatever You want to give to me and to others through me. This life is Your show, Your pathway. We walk it together, but I want it to be about You, You and me, not about ME. My life is more embedded in you than it used to be, more entangled with the delight of You.
well as know that each step unfolds at a time. Step by step. Step by beautiful step. Each step leads towards healing and wholeness for that is The Way of Love.
are suspicious of something new. Each interaction shows me what The Way of Love looks like in action. Each meeting, if the person is open, leads to healing and wholeness. Yet not everyone is receptive for some simply don’t want what he offers. He doesn’t push or insist on his way. He releases them. Each encounter unfolds a bit more of the pathway of The Way of Love.
Love?’
A talk with myself about that nagging conversation was in order! Just what benefit was I receiving from re-working the conversation? I couldn’t find any benefit, yet it kept re-playing. So, time to bring something positive in to replace it, find some devotional reading, something short and punchy to twist my insides back into line. That’s a practice that usually works for me, but this week it was so hard to focus my thoughts. I sank back into re-playing. I wondered if an apology would alleviate the boring re-play. I could do that! I can usually say ‘I’m sorry’ and try to move things in a different direction. Yet I wasn’t going to jump right into that response. I could…but was that the wisest response? Maybe my feelings weren’t mine at all. Maybe I was picking up someone else’s anxiety. I’ve known that emphatic response in the past. I feel awful but it’s not my ‘awful’ but someone else’s unfinished business. I know that is a call to prayer, to encircle the one I’m re-playing with kindness and gentleness. That was possible!
Mystic in Motion 