The Serenity Prayer

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it.
Trusting that He will make all things right,
if I surrender to His will.
That I may be reasonably happy in this life,
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next.

- Reinhold Niebuhr

Prayer of Abandonment

Prayer of Abandonment

Father,
I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you.
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you Lord,
and so need to give myself.
to surrender myself into your hands
without reserve
and with boundless confidence.
For you are my Father.
Amen .

- Charles de Foucauld

Prayer, A Quiet Place

Make In My Heart A Quiet Place, John Oxenham

Mid all the traffic of the ways-
Turmoils without, within-
Make in my heart a quiet place,
And come and dwell therein:

A little shrine of quietness,
All sacred to Thyself,
Where Thou shalt all my soul possess,
And I may find myself;

A little shelter from life's stress,
Where I may lay me prone,
And bare my soul in loneliness,
And know as I am known;

A little place of mystic grace,
Of self and sin swept bare,
Where I may look upon Thy face,
And talk with Thee in prayer.

Amen

Thich Nhat Hhan - Sometimes

Sometimes

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,
but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

Commentary:
I like this because it reminds me how practicing one small thing can turn out to be something unimaginable with time.

St. Jude's Prayer

Hello, Hello friends,

Tonight I share with you a very significant prayer for me. I have passed it along to many others, whether they believed or not, and their prayers were answered. Saint Jude is one of my Saint Buds. No, really, I have buddies that are Saints, no lie.

What I mean by that is that I consider some of the Saints that I pray with and to as Spirit Helpers of mine. Together, we co-create. I have to share with you the Prayer to St. Jude Thaddeus because it has helped me so much in my life and is very powerful. If you are in desperate need, Saint Jude is the guy to call on. In particular, I have called upon him in situations that relate to employment and money.

If you want to use this prayer, my suggestion is to pray it 9 days in a row and then let your concern go. Let go and let Jude. I have read before that praying out loud is more effective. I think it's a personal choice, although I will say that I have found that I can more easily become entranced and experience a deeper meditative state when I pray aloud in a low repetitive voice.

St. Jude, glorious apostle, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the name of the traitor has caused you to be forgotten by many. But the church honors and invokes you universally as the patron of difficult and desperate cases. Pray for me who am so miserable. Make use, I implore thee, of that particular privilege accorded to you to bring visible and speedy help where help was almost despaired of.

Come to my assistance in this great need that I may receive the consolation and help of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly - (here make your request) - and that I may bless God with you and all the elect through out all eternity.

I promise you, O blessed Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor, and I will never cease to honor you as my special and powerful patron and do all in my power to encourage devotion to you.

Saint Jude, pray for us and for all who honor and invoke thy aid.

By the way, Thaddeus is Greek name meaning "great hearted one", and as far as I know, this is accurate.

Please let me know what your special experiences are with St. Jude. I'd like to hear!

Spiritual Direction (roots of)

A little curious about the history of Spiritual Direction?

So was I, so here are some history highlights about Spiritual Direction. “S.D.” is practically as old as we are. In early oriental Christianity spiritual direction began primarily with the formation of monks in the desert communities of Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. The spiritual director was called “abba” or father. Among the Israelites of the Old Testament, Moses gave spiritual direction to the people of the desert and even appoints elders to assist him with the spiritual direction. In the New Testament, Jesus spent most of his public ministry giving spiritual direction to his disciples. Desert Fathers of the 4th and 5th centuries continued the tradition of spiritual direction for neophytes who flocked the desert seeking wisdom from these anchorites.

By the way, in case you were wondering(as I was), Anchorites are those who withdraw from secular society, like hermits, to be able to lead intensely prayer oriented lives, like monks. Anchoritic life is one of the earliest forms of Christian monastic living.

In the 16th century, the Carmelites and Jesuits practiced spiritual direction not only among their own religious community but also among lay people, both to men and women. In France, spiritual direction was practiced especially among lay people and became very popular there by the end of the 19th century. Social Scientists have discovered similar traditions of spiritual guidance in other cultures other than Judaism and Christianity, for example, the Eastern Gurus within the Hindus and Buddhists or the shamans among the Eskimos, and Medicine Men of American Indians.

The 17th century has been referred to as the Golden Age of spiritual direction. I have a strong feeling that we are entering another one of spiritual direction’s golden ages. We're at a point in our evolution where we are seeking out and allowing ourselves to have our direct experiences of God. We are moving to a place where we find God living within us, daily and at each moment. Our faith is being renewed because we are discovering that it is actually living and breathing and evolving
(kinda like us, eh?) ... evolving deeper into "Godness". We are moving away from prohibitive and authoritative religions and churches whether it be a conscious decision or whether one not so deliberate. It's obvious that many of us are just losing interest in religion and the strict doctrines of faith.

Of course, I haven't any issues with church goers or people who have religion ... as long as they don't have any issues with me -- a casual church/sangha goer, contemplative prayer/meditation practitioner, and a sort of modern mystic.

Prayer, A Spiritual Practice

Ki Healing is a sacred space that is dogma free. It is non denominational and is tolerant of various spiritual practices. There are many ideas that I share that come from many different spiritual traditions. Some of them may not be so obviously spiritual, as in the case of poetry or dogs. It is my purpose to help be the bridge to Spirit for all us "budding buddhas." In as much as that, I see God alive in just about everything. All spiritual traditions take us to the same place, albeit in different ways. God is in all of them and in all of us.

Ki Healing is a sacred space that lets you play in your exploration of what God means to you and where God exists within you. Allowing ourselves to explore and play presents us with countless opportunities for spiritual growth and holistic healing of our selves. The spiritual practice of Prayer can be one aspect of bringing us to spiritual growth and to self healing.

Prayer, is one way to be with God, find the God in ourselves, ask for the guidance we need that we may not have at the moment, a form of meditation, a practice in ritual and more. It can mean something different to you than to me. The most important thing is to explore it, use it, practice it, make it your own. This may be hard at first, if you are like me. I was raised up in a very formal religious upbringing where questioning the practices was not encouraged. When I was taught prayer, it was to be done in a typical way for particular reasons and counted more if it was done in a house of worship. I have come a long way from then.

Today, Prayer for me is an extremely powerful spiritual practice that I use in various ways for various reasons. Some of my prayers are very traditional and some are my very own words. The Prayer I am sharing today is one that gives me strength and keeps me on purpose on my doubtful days. This Prayer helps keep doubt at bay.

I want to encourage you to let go for just a moment any feelings, beliefs, experiences that you may have had with Prayer and just listen to these words come off slowly, quietly, and especially of your lips. Feel the goodness, the sweetness, the purity of them. No hidden agendas. Just honest heartfelt words that could come from anyone. Feel free to try on different words for a better fit. Yes, you can change the words to this Prayer to fit you. Nothing will happen to you. It is okay. It is the intention behind the Prayer that gives it its power.

St. Francis Of Assisi Prayer :

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

How Does Energy Healing Work?

I received a really great question from a fellow light worker around energy healing and I thought it would be good to share my reply. She thought that others might have this question, too. If you do have questions around how energy healing works, hopefully the below will shed some light. This is the very basics of it. I tend to like things basically. If you have any other questions about it, feel free to shoot me an email or leave a comment for me on this post.

--About how energy healing works, I have thought much about it, too.

There are many ways to understand the workings of healing energy . For me, this question begins with what the meaning of healing is. For the kind of energy work that I do, healing is the process that it takes for us to be awakened to the Life Force, the Creator within our selves. I feel that being brought to this awareness is what offers us a path to healing. Having said that, the "healer" can be thought of as the transmitter of healing energy, like you said, or a catalyst,facilitator or incubator of it. The real healer is the person doing the actual healing.

--So then, what happens to the physical problem/dis-ease of the being? Where does it go?

Here, the whole of the being fully opens itself (consciously or subconsciously) to RECEIVE. In the ability to get out of the way, so to speak, one is able to fully receive the life force energy that is always there for us to tap into. The being receives and the healing takes place which could look like something that gets better with time or could look like a spontaneous healing. As we are creative beings and have generative abilities, we also have RE generative abilities :-). The dis-eased energy does not go anywhere. Here is the best part.... the energy transforms! It changes into something else-- into EASE. Feeling good and being well takes it's place.

--As for prayer ...

The words we speak and words themselves hold energy/vibration that can actually shift/transform energy. The healer is open to receive and ... you know the magical rest!

Isn't it so amazing?

Blessings

White Light of Protection

As light workers awaken their light bodies we naturally become more radiant or bright lights. Our vibrations shift to higher frequencies.

Originally, I had thought that radiating more light energy would automatically create a protective shield around us. While I still think this is true (according to like attracts like law) I have also come to understand that the brighter the light radiates out the more it may attract -- both high frequencies and low frequencies. Lower frequencies are attracted to Light in much the same way that a moth is to a flame (a light source). Common theory states that moths use light sources as a navigational compass, or a guiding light so to speak, so that they can fly in a straight line. Workers of light (we know who we are) are guiding lights to "nocturnal creatures" sometimes guiding them towards a straight path. At times, these moths circling our bright light can be unwanted ... so, what then?

Well, then ... this is where we draw upon the very light we are radiating for added protection --- the White Light of Protection.

Here is how to use it:

FIRST -- You need to find a time and a place in which you will be undisturbed. If that means taking the phone off the hook, then do that. If you are at work, then go into the bathroom for a couple of minutes and do this very quick and easy meditation. This will only take a 2 or 3 short minutes. Then sit down and make yourself comfortable. Put your feet flat on the floor and let your hands rest on your lap, with the palms facing up. (Or you can sit on the floor in the Lotus position, if you prefer)

SECOND -- Place your thumb and index finger, or your thumb and middle finger, together. This is the east Indian position called "mudra" and has been shown in laboratory testing to actually make a connection in the brain that induces a relaxed feeling and light level of meditative trance.

THIRD -- Take 3 SLOW deep breaths, making each breath out longer than the breath in before it. ... Then ... imagine White Light coming down from above and entering your body through the top of your head. ... See and feel this White Light filling every part of your body and mind. ... Make it real with the power of your mind. ... See any dark places and spaces that might be within you fill with that White Light. .... See it .... feel it .... sense it..... This might take a few minutes the first few times you try it. As you keep doing it more and more it will take less and less time, until it takes just a few seconds to do .... When you see or sense your body AND your mind totally and completely filled with the White Light, then see a little bit of it coming out of your body through your solar plexus, just above your belly button ... and then see it surrounding your body like you are surrounded in a protective eggshell of positive White Light. ... This White Light is God-energy and it will cleanse and protect you.... KNOW that you are totally protected....