786th Week: The Gift of Transmitting Love

ByNancy Napier

One of the practices I’ve taken on even more actively these days is imagining that I am an open and always-available channel for the energy of universal love to flow through me as I move around in the course of my daily life activities. When I use the word “love”, I’m not referring to the personal kind but, instead, to my sense that the most potent healing energy in the universe is Love with a capital “L”.

It seems to me that this particular kind of “subtle activism” can be an addition to whatever else I, or we, may do to help heal our distressed world, our human family, and all our other earth kin. Imagining the energy of love flowing through me throughout the day doesn’t ask anything of me other than to bring my awareness to the process as often as I choose to do so. And, I feel somewhat confident in saying that choosing to be a channel for the healing quality of love probably doesn’t have a downside when we don’t personalize it…when we realize that we are, indeed, simply open channels for this universal energy to flow through us and into our world.

For years, I’ve had a practice of blessing everything around me. This particular practice became much more an ongoing part of my life when I went through seminary and was ordained as an Interfaith (now called Interspiritual) Minister back in 2003. In recent years, I’ve found that taking classes with David Spangler through his Lorian Association has helped me focus even more fully on these ways of moving through the world.

One practice that has deepened for me in recent years has been enhanced by these class experiences. I’ll describe it here and ask you to try it on for size and see if it’s something you would feel comfortable doing. Or, you might discover another way to do it that works better for you. Also, this is my version of the practice and doesn’t match exactly the ways David and other Lorian teachers may offer it. The beautiful thing about these kinds of practices is that it’s perfectly okay to adapt them to your own style, your own belief system, and your own sensibilities.

  • Wherever you may be right now, notice what happens when you settle into an awareness, first, of the support you receive from your body. It is your body that allows you to be here…
  • Next, notice the support of the surface under you and take a moment to become aware of how your body receives that support. Support is a reciprocal process—it is offered and then accepted…
  • Now, notice the space around you. If you are indoors, notice the walls that enfold the space holding you right now, and also notice everything that is in the space with you. If it feels all right to you, take a moment to send love and appreciation to all that supports you in the space around you right now…
  • If it feels all right for you to do so, take a moment to feel how everything around you sends its love and appreciation back to you…
  • Next, imagine that there is a source of universal love that pours into and through you all the time. You might imagine it entering through the top of your head and flowing out through your heart area, or there may be another way that makes more sense to you…
  • Notice that your whole body-mind being fills up with this love as it pours into and through you. There is always more than enough. This flow of universal love is ceaseless and infinite—it can never run out…
  • Now, imagine that you are outdoors, perhaps going to the grocery store or going to someplace where you can have some time in nature…
  • As you imagine moving around in your outdoor life, continue to sense the love pouring into and through you, touching everything you encounter along the way…
  • Notice the quality of your experience as you do this and how it feels to fill yourself and your world with love.

Anyone who knows me won’t be surprised to know that I get particular pleasure from imagining this universal love flowing through me and into all the trees, other plants, rocks, birds, turtles, insects, and all others who inhabit Central Park. That said, I also enjoy paying attention to this flow of love when walking down the street, going into the grocery store, sitting in my living room. 

One of the things I’ve noticed since getting more focused about doing this practice regularly is the presence of an underlying sense of well-being. I have a feeling that the frequency of this universal love works on me in ways I don’t recognize consciously, but I do feel its impact on the quality of my inner life and a greater sense of connection to everything around me in my “outer” life.

As you explore this particular practice, take time to notice the sensations that arise in your body as you do it. Also notice the quality of your internal dialogue, that self-talk that is our personal ongoing flow of self-hypnosis. Be sure to allow mixed feelings, as they are a natural part of trying on practices. 

As with all these practices, this is just one more opportunity to bring awareness to how you move through the world. I’ve said many times that where we focus our attention and awareness has an enormous impact on the quality of our inner life, even when we encounter big challenges along the way in the course of everyday living.

Please remember to bring along curiosity as your constant companion and to pat gently on the head whatever judgments may arise (and you know they probably will), allowing these judgments to simply move on through without your having to do anything in particular about them.

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833rd Week: Where We Place Our Attention

833rd Week: Where We Place Our Attention

ByNancy Napier

Walking in Central Park a few days ago, I found myself deeply nourished and uplifted by the return of the green and by the powerful wind that accompanied my walk and workout. Again and again, my eyes were drawn to the green, to the beauty of the trees again filling out their leaves, creating patterns of light and shadow that have been missing over the winter season. And, the wind brought with it a sense of invigoration that was, in its own way, quite delicious.

At some point along the way, I also noticed a trumpet player who competed with a singer who has a weekly gathering of children on Saturday mornings. Fortunately, the sound of the trumpet didn’t overpower the singing and guitar playing of the entertainer and his class of young ones. Then, I also noticed the ever-present helicopters that hover over the park these days as a tourist activity, usually beginning sometime around 9am, taking away the silence that is so precious here in the city.

What struck me most is that these sounds didn’t seem to take away from my deep enjoyment of the return of green and the beauty of the tall trees all around me. This got me to thinking about how important it is to notice where our attention is absorbed, where we focus and what we notice. Even though the sounds were obvious, they weren’t in the foreground of my awareness and I also noticed how my lack of irritation allowed both the trumpet and the helicopters to slip into the background. There have been mornings where these kinds of sounds seem to pierce through my wish to drop into silence or into awareness of the beauty around me and irritation takes the place of pleasure. Today, for whatever reason, it was powerfully clear to me that my focus of attention allowed for the pleasure with no hint of irritation.

For this week’s practice, I invite you to pay even closer attention to what you focus on, where you place your awareness, and what you choose to notice. I could have shifted into dwelling on the helicopters or the trumpet and that would have created a whole different quality of experience. Just as I couldn’t make those situations go away, notice how it is when you are faced with something you can’t change but where you can shift your focus of attention to something else. It might be noise, a smell you don’t like, disruption of some kind—anything that might normally create irritation or some other reaction in you. Then, notice what happens if you shift your awareness to something that inspires, nourishes, or pleases you in some way. 

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689th Week: Seeking Inspiration

689th Week: Seeking Inspiration

ByNancy Napier

Each morning, I post an inspirational quotation and a nature photo to the Devadana Sanctuary website and also to the Devadana Sanctuary page on Facebook. This morning, as I looked through all the photos I have available to post, I again felt so deeply moved by the beauty of our earth. This got me to thinking about all the various quotations I find that have to do with loving our earth as our mother, as our true home.

As I looked through prior posts, I became aware of how important it has become to me to take in something inspiring at the beginning of each day. For me, looking at images of our beautiful planet touches an important place in my being and helps me orient to the love I have for our earth and all the life within and on it. For me, taking time to love our planet, to love the nature that gives us life, automatically invites us to shift into heart awareness. The perception and intelligence of the heart (the heart-brain, actually), tends to naturally offer a different perspective than does the brain we carry around in our heads.

I am also moved by beautiful music or by the sound of birdsong, stories about acts of kindness, encountering a fur-friend, and more. Sources of inspiration might be different for you. For this week’s experiment, I invite you to pay even more attention to what brings you inspiration and deepens your heart awareness. Also, notice what happens when you remember to shift to something inspiring if you begin to feel overloaded by the challenges, suffering, and hardships you either experience personally or see happening in your world. If you don’t already start your day with inspiring input, notice what may be different about your experience of entering the day if you include something in your morning routine that offers you inspiration.

It’s helpful to remember that finding inspiration needn’t require anything special. There may be a plant in your living room that gives you pleasure and it may be inspiring to see new growth there. Or, you may have a piece of artwork or an object that brings a smile each time you look at it. It’s a matter of orienting to the quality of inspiration and then to noticing how you feel in your heart space when you engage this quality.

As with all these practices, there is no right way to engage this one. It is one more opportunity to become more deeply aware of how the quality of your consciousness, of where you orient your attention, affects the quality of your inner life. Bringing along curiosity as your constant companion supports discovering new sources of inspiration along the way. And, remembering to pat judgments on the head as they arise, move through, and move on, letting them go without having to engage them, can support an ever-deepening connection with whatever inspiration may offer itself to you.

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October 2015 Audio Meditation

ByNancy Napier

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July 2009 Audio Meditation

ByNancy Napier

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