Silence, Prayer, Love

When I am liberated by silence,

when I am no longer involved in the measurement of life,

but in the living of it,

I can discover a form of prayer in which there is effectively, no distraction.

My whole life becomes a prayer.

My whole silence is full of prayer.

The world of silence in which I am immersed contributes to my prayer.

Thomas Merton

1915-1968

In the silence we tap into the source of all peace, light, and love.
Love is unconditional and is like an abundant feast that you can feed from at any time. No other food can satisfy you like the table spread before you. With such a feast available, why would you ever want to eat elsewhere? When you no longer thirst or hunger after any other forms of desire because you have found Love, you have reached the zenith of understanding.

We love whether the people that we know are present in our lives, far away, or sadly are no longer present here on Earth.

Whether today marks a happy anniversary or is a day to remember a person who has passed away, may you find love always in all that you do and in everyone that you know,

Today, as every day, I remember with love Margaret Barr Waters who passed on October 13, 2006, in Scotland.

CONTEMPLATIVE MEDITATION

Word
Prayer
Spirit

Background
Centering Prayer is now more commonly known as Contemplative Meditation. It is drawn from prayer practices that began in the first century C.E. and was made popular in the 1970’s by monks from the Trappist Abbey, St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts.

They describe Contemplative Meditation as “A prayer of silence, an experience of God’s presence as the ground in which our being is rooted, the Source from whom our life emerges at every moment.”

This form of meditation is a means of centering the mind to receive God’s presence and increase awareness of God's presence in your life. It creates a peace even when awake by releasing the flow of knowledge and guidance at the level of the soul.

There is a peaceful and sacred place that abides within you. It is your refuge and your home. It is here in this hallowed sanctuary that you are safe to withdraw to discover the areas where you need to grow.

Find a quiet place to reflect on a word in Contemplative Meditation

Essence
Contemplative Meditation is a means of training the mind to concentrate, or center, on a word, a thought, a spiritual passage, or a mantra.
This type of meditation can be practiced anywhere that you have time to yourself such as walking, physical activity, or simply sitting.

Method
Choose a phrase from a spiritual book, or select a spiritual word or name.
Study the word. Notice what “speaks” to you.
Study the word again. What feelings does it evoke within you.
Return to the word a final time.
Keep focusing on the word, absorbing it, understanding it, and knowing its truth.
Merge into meditation if the situation permits.


Benefits
It expands your ability to concentrate and become aware of the thoughts, emotions, and feelings from the body as they arise.
Any time that you find yourself in a situation that is challenging, you can induce relaxation by bringing awareness to the flow of the breath and focus on a word or phrase that you have encountered during your Contemplative Meditation.
It heightens your spiritual journey and deepens your relationship with God.
Your intuition increases as it maintains an openness to hearing and following the wisdom that arises from within.

You may like to carry your word with you to deepen your spiritual connection and awareness.

Meditation:Healing Stress

Meditation: Healing Stress
When you are in control of your thoughts and emotions, you are in control of your physical body and able to view the world with clarity of vision and compassion. You are able to envisage a better way of living and you also gain a unique perspective of viewing the world around you.

We don’t often think about the importance of maintaining awareness of our thoughts. Think about a race car driver though.


He or she cannot risk the mind wandering and thereby losing concentration. It’s easy to see what may happen.

When any aspect of the body is unhealthy, other parts suffer. A stressed mind adversely affects the body if there is no release from the undue tension. Disease spreads if healing is impinged in any way and when one person is in pain they affect others who see their suffering.

As you take care of your home and environment, should you not also look after your living body and the thoughts that you keep?

Your body, thoughts, choices, and mind all undergo many transitions through each stage in life and you have a choice to either respect and maintain your body at each level to enable it to achieve its highest potential, or to consume and do whatever you want with no thought to the end result either on your own body or on the environment around you.

Meditation

Maintaining a healthy life is determined in part by what you eat and drink, how you think and act, and increasing your devotion to a spiritual path.

All decisions lie with you and it is by taking time through meditation that you are able to know what you should be doing and take the steps necessary to stay on the path even if you do not know where the journey will end and have only a rough idea of the destination.

Meditation both frees and clears mind occurs when you remove the existing thoughts and preconceptions that you carry with you everywhere you go.
It sweeps the area clean for a fresh beginning.
Remaining focused on the present, consciously choosing to act in a loving manner, and living in gratitude on a spiritual path directs the mind inwardly and away from distractions.

Through meditation you achieve conscious relaxation and freedom from stress. Meditation gives you the peace that you seek and helps you keep it.


Affirmation
Release yourself from stress using the following affirmations or words of your own choice that meet your daily needs.
You may first speak them aloud then draw the words in and out silently with each breath.

I am relaxed and free
I am at peace
I am loved and accepting of others
I trust my inner self to lead me in the right path.
I am always connected with the Divine Love in the Universe.

If you have any suggestions for meditation articles please write to me from the website (there's a place at the end of each posting to do this) and I'll be happy to write on this subject.
New meditation information is added to the site every week with links to my additional articles on how to meditate, reduce stress, and gain inner peace.