October 2008 Audio Meditation

One of the great gifts of vacation time is to have an opportunity to do some reading. One of the books I had an opportunity to read over this year’s recent vacation is Pierre Pradervand’s book, “The Gentle Art of Blessing.”  In his book, Pradervand speaks of offering blessings as a powerful practice of presence. In part, this practice brings us back into presence because of the way it invites us to shift from reactions and judgments into offering blessings in a spontaneous, moment-to-moment way.

As I read his book, my feeling was that what he offers powerfully supports a shift from moving through the world from a mental perspective, drawing primarily on the brain in the head, to moving through the world from the perspective the heart.  Read More “724thWeek: The Practice of Blessing”

For the past few days, as I’ve pondered what I wanted to share this week, the living presence of kindness kept coming into my awareness. I experience all the qualities of life to be expressions of frequencies, qualities that have, as their foundation, particular frequencies with which we resonate.

Listening to the news these days, one of the qualities that seems to be in short supply in the news reports we hear about is kindness. I’m sure that there are countless acts of kindness happening every day, but we don’t tend to hear about them. This got me to thinking about the importance of choosing to resonate with, and express, the qualities and frequency of kindness. 

I’ve no doubt shared before one of the experiences I had with frequencies that convinced me of the power and efficacy of choosing to resonate with chosen qualities. When my sister and I used to take our mother out for a day’s activities, I began those mornings with my usual attunement/meditation time and, as an additional piece, I asked the Spirit of Affection to fill me with its essence, its frequency, all day long. On those days, I found that I was much more patient and attentive to my mother in even more positive ways and the experience oriented me to a practice of choosing frequencies with which to resonate in various situations and contexts.

You may notice that I think of these frequencies as embodied Spirits, such as the Spirit of Ease, the Spirit of Comfort, the Spirit of Love, etc. You can just as easily think of them as archetypes or energy patterns. Or, you can simply think of them as qualities that are available to us at any time. Whatever works best for you is all that matters, so take a moment to touch into what is, for you, the most comfortable way to think about accessing frequencies—qualities of being and expression.

Read More “849th Week: Choosing Kindness”

As I write this week’s practice, we’re about a month into “sheltering in place” here in New York City. For all of us, the whole world of human beings, this is a time of challenge beyond what many of us would have imagined possible. The fact that we are able to be connected around the globe is a previously unimagined gift of being able to move through this experience as a connected human family.

I had an experience this week that touched me deeply and I want to share it as the theme of this week’s practice that I’d like to invite you to explore. I got an email through my website and it was from someone who had noticed that I hadn’t posted a practice last week. She hoped that I was okay and wanted to make contact to be sure everything was all right with me. 

As I read this unexpected email, my heart filled with gratitude and warmth that this person cared enough to be in touch and to check in with me. It got me to thinking about how powerful it is when we care about and for one another, what a balm it is to the heart, and how such an act can fill someone with a sense of connection, warmth, and gratitude.

Read More “783rd Week: The Gift of Caring”