January 17, 2013

"Youth is a gift; immaturity is a choice."  Holiday

1/15/13

A Spiritual Practice

 

 

In my previous entry I talked about spiritual practice as a means of quieting distracting mind chatter.  Spiritual practice also is a means of connecting consciously with our Divine nature.  Put another way this is heightened awareness.   Spiritual practice also grounds this heightened awareness in daily life.  We shift our awareness of ourselves from the mundane history of our lives to that of a Divine creation originating from the One Source of all that is.

 

The hardest part might be to begin.  I encourage you to pursue a spiritual practice that appeals to you.  Don't feel that you have to limit yourself to a certain practice. The practice is for your spiritual benefit and there is no one practice for everyone.  If you try a practice and it doesn't seem to be "doing it " for you, then my suggestion is to modify the practice to better suit you or try another one.

 

A simple practice is likely to serve you best.  You can always add more elements later.  Can you do the practice whether you are traveling or at home? Make it doable.  If you don't have twenty minutes then do ten minutes or five minutes, start wherever you are. Perhaps you can do your practice first thing in the morning when the house is quiet or at night when you are lying in bed before going to sleep.  Maybe you could do five minutes in the morning and five in the evening.  If the time extends itself, so be it. 

 

Some find that using guided practice such as a C.D. or an MP3 works well.  Some find reading prayers or daily meditations works well for them.  Some repeat a mantra.  For others, silence is key.  I have found that repeating a written or audio practice soon becomes familiar and I can then do the practice on my own.  The ritual of a repeated process can accelerate entering the state of heightened awareness.  You might find that you want to engage in some added spiritual practice when you have s few moments of time like waiting at the dentist's office.

 

Blessings from the heart,

Reverend Marya OMalley

 

 

 

 



1/14/13

The First Step is to Ask

 

Welcome to my (almost) daily blog, a conversation about all things spiritual, expressing my thoughts and hearing yours! 

The first step in moving forward is to ask for what you want.  Are you seeking enlightenment, spiritual knowledge, a spiritual mentor, ways to address challenges that you are experiencing, peace? or something else?

The Divine will never force itself upon you.  Really, all you have to do is to ASK.  "Ask and it shall be given." 

Sometimes we don't just forget to ask, to invite, we actually shut out or even disinvite the Divine.  It happens through our false beliefs and our negative thoughts, sometimes known to us and sometimes hidden from us.   For instance, I had a limited understanding of allowing or surrendering to the Divine, really an act of trust in a trustworthy source.  I could let go and let God in terms of my relationships, my social life, and many other areas but realized that where I was having the greatest of challenges I wasn't letting go.  I didn't trust the Divine with my finances! 

What are you areas of greatest challenge?  What are you avoiding most?  What are you denying?

Whether we are aware or not, we are generating an out-picturing of our thoughts and beliefs in our life experiences.  Mere positive thinking is not enough.  It is necessary to neutralize the negative (more about that to come in future Spirited Conversations). 

Do you have to worry about every negative thought that bubbles up in your mind?  Of course not, the key is not to entertain those thoughts.  By having a regular spiritual practice of some kind, you will be reducing that irritating mind chatter that is taking up too much of your precious energy.  There are many many spiritual practices that offer great benefit.  In future Spirited Conversations we will be discussing some of them.

What I ask you to do today is to think about what you really want spiritually.  Spirituality does encompass your physical and material life.  In my opinion the illusion of our physical lives lies mainly in the illusion that we are isolated from spirit, the illusion that we live in a finite and sharply defined world that is perceived only through our 5 senses.

There is nothing wrong in wanting something really big, like say, enlightenment!  As creations of the one Originating Source, we are of Originating Source ourselves just as an acorn only sprouts to form an oak tree.

Blessings from the heart,
Reverend Marya OMalley