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Praying for hope

1/31/2020

My commitment has been to refrain from getting into politics on this blog; my hope is that what I have to say here continues to honor that commitment.
I’ve watched the impeachment hearings and am sad at what indisputably will be the outcome. I am not sad for me, as much as for majority of people in our country (and in the world). I will be fine; very little will change in my life, because I am a white privileged woman with enough money to keep my life style, and with limited years remaining to get caught up in the aftermath of a rough president and the dismantling of the Constitution of the United States . Sad is a soft emotion, one that fits my situation, but not strong enough for most of humanity.
As a person of faith I am praying that love, truth, and hope surround every senator and every person effected by their vote.

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Elizabeth Gilbert and radical compassion

1/25/2020

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Yesterday as I started listening to Tara Brach’s interview with Elizabeth Gilbert on Day 5 of the Radical-Compassion Challenge, I thought to myself; you don’t need this, you don’t need this ‘crazy’ tale. But I continued and am very grateful that I did. My personal world doesn’t include stories or people that Gilbert tells about, and yet the human desire for love is there in everyone. Hearing about the suffering of others helps me be compassionate towards others and honest with myself.
      Here are a few of my personal take away from the interview.
   This deep longing, which Gilbert names as love, is within everyone. I have a church and faith tradition that keeps me tapped into the love, but that not the only way for people. I had a mom who opened up that love inside me and nurtured it within me during her long life and continues to be there for me. Mothers may not be ‘the one’ for everyone, but I believe there is a special someone who offers that love to every human being.
    Sometimes we can’t help people in their struggles, but we can love them. What a relief. We can’t fix people but we can love them while they are doing their own repair work.
   I believe that life is good even in the midst of pain. I have to take time to pray/meditate/sit in the silence to tap into that love that is within me.

https://www.tarabrach.com/calendar/radical-compassion-challenge-free-10-day-online-event/

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Radical-compassion challenge

1/21/2020

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The Radical Compassion Challenge, led by Tara Brach. I’m giving it a try. Check it out. It’s free. Daily guided meditations; interviews with leaders in the field, challenges to try.
    Why did I sign up? After all I’ve tried on-line courses before and never completed one of them. So why this one?
    On the practical level, it’s free and I’ve agreed to be compassion buddies with two friends who have joined the challenge.
    On a personal level, I need help. I know that guided meditation will help me with my paltry meditation practice.
    On a soulful level, I need help. I know that the compassion I feel for others is more in my head than in my heart, where I want it to be.
     I’m not going to summarize the teachings and learnings from each session. Sign up if you want those details. I will, however, give you a few nuggets. Here’s today’s. Nothing new, other than refreshed awareness.
     Take three deep breaths when you find yourself becoming upset about or preoccupied with something.

https://www.tarabrach.com/calendar/radical-compassion-challenge-free-10-day-online-event/

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Thinking about thinking

1/11/2020

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I’ve been thinking about thinking, and think it ought to stop. No question, too much thinking is going on with me, and for that matter, everyone I know. The issue is that it is not new thinking but repeat thinking, going over and over the same issues again and again (notice how I repeated those words). I know better because I know that letting go of thinking is key to silence, solitude, and simplicity, and thus to peace and love, which is what I long for. Be in the NOW, meditate, return to the breath; answers will come, not in words but Being.
This morning, as I read what Emmet Fox wrote about thinking, I began to question (think) whether my thinking consciously leads me to soulful decisions.

You think, and your thoughts materialize as experience; and thus it is, all unknown to yourself as a rule, that you are actually weaving the pattern of your own destiny, here and now, by the way in which you allow yourself to think, day by day and all day long.
I sure isn’t easy to stop thinking. Don’t think about meditating, just do it.

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Praying for hope

Elizabeth Gilbert and radical compassion

Radical-compassion challenge

Thinking about thinking

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