OUR AMAZING JOURNEY -- 13

+ This is the twelfth post on Relationships, the current emphasis here as we enjoy Our Amazing Journey and seek to grow in our wisdom, practices and commitment.

As Jacob Boehme puts it, “I am a string in the concert of God’s joy.”  . . . We need to experience our own personal aliveness as part of that greater cosmic aliveness. When I become “a string in the instrument of God’s joy,’” I am “sounded through” by the music, and in that sounding, a harmonic resonance with all the other instruments, is revealed both my irreplaceable uniqueness and my inescapable belonging.” — Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Way of Knowing

This quote was offered by One Spirit on 11/12/21.

I think that affirming our “irreplaceable uniqueness” and “inescapable belonging” has to do with claiming our birthright. 

Here is how Ken Keyes, Jr. put it in The Handbook to Higher Consciousness:

I am perceiving everyone, including myself, as an awakening being who is here to claim his or her birthright to the higher consciousness planes of unconditional love and oneness. (Twelfth of the 12 Pathways to Higher Consciousness)

I often recite all 12 of these pathways.  Pathways 7 to 9 are particularly devoted to our relationships:

7. I open myself genuinely to all people by being willing to communicate my deepest feelings, since hiding in any degree keeps me stuck in my illusion of separateness from others.

8. I feel with loving compassion the problems of others without getting caught up emotionally in their predicaments that are offering them messages they need for their growth.

9. I act freely when I am tuned in, centered and loving and if possible I avoid acting when I am emotionally upset and depriving myself of the wisdom that flows from love and expanded consciousness.

So, strive to reach that level of consciousness where you don’t have to hide but can gently, sensitively and honestly be yourself as you engage in your relationships. Share your “irreplaceable uniqueness” in wise and compassionate ways. 

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+ Please join THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH facebook group where you can offer and read comments > https://www.facebook.com/groups/567789840446209

OUR AMAZING JOURNEY -- 12

+ This is the eleventh post on the topic of Relationships.  I hope it is helpful to you as you seek to be transformed into the person of your greatest ideals on your amazing journey.

Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically – kind, fair, true, generous – but to be that time after time, you need courage.

-- Maya Angelou

+ It takes courage to pursue the task, day after day, breath after breath, of bringing more and more compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance to all when there seems to be so much resistance in so many ways from so many quarters.  But this is nothing new and we can remember that there is indeed a moral arc bending toward justice as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. so often said. 

 Take a moment right now, right here, to renew your commitment to the struggle to bring about the vision of a brighter day. Focus on a relationship where your loving presence can be a light to another.  We all have different ways to express our commitment, our faith, our determination.  What is your special way to motivate yourself and others?  

 Perhaps you have seen my credo before.  I like to repeat it often:

We are intimately, intricately, infinitely connected in a matrix of

unconditional, unlimited, uniting Love

which is miraculous, mysterious and marvelous.

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+ Please join THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH facebook group where you can offer and read comments > https://www.facebook.com/groups/567789840446209

OUR AMAZING JOURNEY -- 11

+ I am seeing some synchronicity going on as the One Spirit Daily Inspiration posts are coming through with Relationship quotes.

To perceive the soul of the Earth requires a sense of what the Taoists call the way of life, the fact that everything in our world is in relationship to everything else, that nothing is itself without everything else, and that anything that seems to be a distinct thing is actually an element or strand in a larger pattern.

— Geneen Marie Haugin

This was the One Spirit Daily Inspiration on 11/8/21

No one who achieves success does so without the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.

— Alfred North Whitehead

This was the One Spirit Daily Inspiration on 11/3/21

+ It is so easy for us to feel separate from everybody else and everything else.  It takes that surrender to the Tao or to a mystical awe which can overcome that separation.  It doesn’t come easy.  It can take years of practice but it is worth it.  I am sure you know that. 

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+ I get the One Spirit Daily Inspiration via E-Mail.  You can also find them on their Facebook page > https://www.facebook.com/1SpiritOrg

+ Please join THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH facebook group where you can offer and read comments > https://www.facebook.com/groups/567789840446209

OUR AMAZING JOURNEY -- 10

I am a humble and compassionate companion on your amazing journey. 

+ All of our relationships matter.  This affirmation is something I intend to offer to you and everyone and everything.  My first thought as I write this (on 11/5/21) is the dog lying on one of our living room chairs.  I am Meriah's humble and compassionate companion … even though she wrecked a pair of my reading glasses yesterday. Then I looked out the window and looked at the trees across the street. I am their humble and compassionate companion. In another living room chair right now sits Mary and I certainly am her humble and compassionate companion … well at times anyway … for 52 plus years of marriage and 57 plus years of being a best friend. I can name many more people and things. My vow is to be a humble and compassionate companion to all . I have a long, long way to go.  How can I be your humble and compassionate companion on your amazing journey? 

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+ Please join THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH facebook group where you can offer and read comments > https://www.facebook.com/groups/567789840446209

OUR AMAZING JOURNEY -- 9

+ We continue with a focus on the importance of working on our relationships.

What is missing in mainstream consciousness is an awareness of ourselves as members of the human family, the Universe, and the Earth community. We tend to ignore that our cells and bodies are part of the creative history of evolution. That our atoms are part of the history of the Cosmos. Peace and gratitude arise naturally in our hearts when we take more time to reflect upon how we are each a part of a much greater whole. -- Albert Einstein 

This is the One Spirit Daily Inspiration for November 5, 2021

Albert Einstein gets to the heart of our need for meaningful relationships.  We are all in this together as one evolving creation.  We need each other.  We depend on each other.  We must strive to appreciate and understand every person and every  creature.

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+ Please join THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH facebook group where you can offer and read comments > https://www.facebook.com/groups/567789840446209

OUR AMAZING JOURNEY -- 8

 + "All human beings are alone. No other person will completely feel like we do, think like we do, act like we do. Each of us is unique, and our aloneness is the other side of our uniqueness. The question is whether we let our aloneness become loneliness or whether we allow it to lead us into solitude. Loneliness is painful; solitude is peaceful. Loneliness makes us cling to others in desperation; solitude allows us to respect others in their uniqueness and create community.

"Letting our aloneness grow into solitude and not into loneliness is a lifelong struggle. It requires conscious choices about whom to be with, what to study, how to pray, and when to ask for counsel. But wise choices will help us to find the solitude where our hearts can grow in love." – Henri Nouwen in The Dance of Life

+ Our relationships are important. There are relationships which need our attention so that we can be truly humble and compassionate companions on the amazing journey of others.  We do this best by using our times of solitude for that illuminating, mysterious, miraculous connection which creates more wisdom and compassion for our own amazing journeys and the amazing journeys of others.

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+ Please join THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH facebook group where you can offer and read comments > https://www.facebook.com/groups/567789840446209

OUR AMAZING JOURNEY -- 7

 

 +

I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people:

that each protects the solitude of the other.

-- Rainer Maria Rilke

+

It is in solitude that I find the deep gentleness with which I can truly love others.

— Thomas Merton

+

Language has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone. There is no place to which we could flee from God, which is outside of God.  – Paul Tillich

+

Fortunately I have been blessed by a number of significant relationships where my solitude has been protected.  I cherish my solitude and I know that my amazing journey benefits immensely when I move into a time and space of solitude. But I also know that loneliness can come all too quickly and the joys of solitude can quickly diminish.  I need you.

Whenever I do the Spiritual Styles Preference Tool which is offered by Spiritual Paths Relationships does not come out on or near the top.  I prefer Wisdom, Contemplation, Imagination, Arts, Prayer and Mysticism. For some, Relationships come naturally and easily, If you are in that category and are also reading this, I suspect you know how important Solitude is and can appreciate what Rilke said here. 

 The Spiritual Styles Preference Tool js free. You don’t need to sign up for a course.  Once you do it you will get an email with a circle chart and a bar chart indicating your preferences.  We are all different .  Recognizing what comes naturally as a spiritual style and what doesn’t can be a useful awareness on your amazing journey.  Keep working at and enjoying those styles which you prefer but don’t neglect to work on the other styles which can add to the joy as you become more and more integrated.  

The twelve styles are:

·         The Arts

·         The Body

·         Contemplation & Meditation

·         Devotion

·         Imagination

·         Love

·         Mystic

·         Nature

·         Prayer

·         Reason

·         Relationships

·         Wisdom

For illuminating descriptions of each style. please read Mandala: Creating An Authentic Spiritual Path: An InterSpiritual Process by Edward Bastian. Ed offers short videos on each style on the ISM app (InterSpiriuall Meditation App) which you can add to your devices.  Search for ISM. I know that you don’t have to scroll down too far at Play Store before you get to it.  But if you search for “Interspiritual” it comes up on top.

Ed has created the amazing Spiritual Paths website which offers two courses, InterSpiritual Meditation and InterSpiritual Mandala. I would love to be your InterSpiritual Mentor and guide you through one or both of these courses.  It is easy to register and it is only $8 per month to be a member and have access to these 2 wonderful courses.

+

+ Please join THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH facebook group where you can offer and read comments > https://www.facebook.com/groups/567789840446209

OUR AMAZING JOURNEY -- 6

+

In times of deep darkness, we not only need light — we need to be light for one another.

-- Parker J. Palmer

+ 

Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light. 

-- Dr. Albert Schweitzer

+ I invite you to reflect on one or more of those sacred encounters which rekindled your inner light.  And maybe you can think of one or more in which you did it for someone else.  Our gratitude for our relationships is a foundation for the creation of more compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance for all.  As we work on our relationships we shine brighter and brighter as individuals and as communities making a difference.  

+ The Style of Relationships is one of the 12 spiritual styles of Mandala: Creating An Authentic Spiritual Path: An InterSpiritual Process by Edward Bastian which are are listed in SE206. We are all different and need to find our own paths.

+ Please join THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH facebook group where you can offer and read comments > https://www.facebook.com/groups/567789840446209

OUR AMAZING JOURNEY -- 5

+

Silence is God's first language;

everything else is a poor translation.

In order to hear that language,

we must learn to be still and rest in God.

-- Thomas Keating in Invitation to Love

 +“Today was a difficult day …” >  https://www.facebook.com/jenean.gain/posts/10221366436611427

 "Today was a Difficult Day," said Pooh.

There was a pause.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Piglet.

"No," said Pooh after a bit. "No, I don't think I do."

"That's okay," said Piglet, and he came and sat beside his friend.

"What are you doing?" asked Pooh.

"Nothing, really," said Piglet. "Only, I know what Difficult Days are like. I quite often don't feel like talking about it on my Difficult Days either.

"But goodness," continued Piglet, "Difficult Days are so much easier when you know you've got someone there for you. And I'll always be here for you, Pooh."

And as Pooh sat there, working through in his head his Difficult Day, while the solid, reliable Piglet sat next to him quietly, swinging his little legs...he thought that his best friend had never been more right."

-- A.A. Milne

+ Don’t you just love Pooh and Piglet? What a wonderful story about the most basic requirement of a caring relationship: simply being there with a silence which is more powerful than any words. Silence in any relationship can be a real gift to each person involved.

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+ The Style of Relationships is one of the 12 spiritual styles of Mandala: Creating An Authentic Spiritual Path: An InterSpiritual Process by Edward Bastian which are are listed in SE206. We are all different and need to find our own paths.

+ Please join THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH facebook group where you can offer and read comments > https://www.facebook.com/groups/567789840446209

OUR AMAZING JOURNEY -- 4

+ This is the third post on the current focus: Relationships.

Everyone you meet knows

something you don’t know

but need to know.

Learn from them.

-- Carl Jung

Our Amazing Journey becomes more and more amazing and fulfilled as we discover and appreciate the wonderful blessing each and every person offers us.

Perhaps you can ponder an encounter you have had recently where you learned something you needed to know as you continue on your amazing journey of life. I am sure that over the years you have had many such encounters which you may want to remember and give thanks.

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+ Please join THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH facebook group where you can offer and read comments. 

+ The Style of Relationships is one of the 12 spiritual styles of Mandala: Creating An Authentic Spiritual Path: An InterSpiritual Process by Edward Bastian which are are listed in SE206. We are all different and need to find our own paths.

OUR AMAZING JOURNEY -- 3

+ One important way to learn how to relate to others with compassion and appreciation is to seek wisdom from other cultures and traditions. For example, Ubuuntu is a wonderful way to build and sustain compassionate community:    

In our country, we speak of something called ubuuntu. When I want to praise you, the highest praise I can give you is to say, you have ubuuntu — this person has what it takes to be a human being. This is a person who recognizes that he exists only because others exist: a person is a person through other persons. When we say you have ubuuntu, we mean that you are gentle, you are compassionate, you are hospitable, you want to share, and you care about the welfare of others. This is because my humanity is caught up in your humanity. So when I dehumanize others, whether I like it or not, inexorably, I dehumanize myself. For we can only by human, we can only be free, together. To forgive is actually the best form of self-interest. — Desmond Tutu

Desmond Tutu is a retired Anglican ArchBishop who played an important part in ending apartheid in South Africa.  He made Ubuuntu come alive when he led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was a process of healing after the apartheid finally ended and the long oppressed black majority took power.  We would all gain so much by learning and applying this process.  Healing from centuries of oppression is needed by much of humanity in many places.   The healing is needed by those who have oppressed as well as those who have been oppressed. The world needs ubuuntu.

+ The Style of Relationships is one of the 12 spiritual styles of Mandala: Creating An Authentic Spiritual Path: An InterSpiritual Process by Edward Bastian which are are listed in SE206. We are all different and need to find our own paths. 

OUR AMAZING JOURNEY -- 2

+ I have collected thousands of quotes and other resources on many topics in recent years so there is absolutely no reason why I should not share a thought, a quote or a resource daily on a chosen topic. Name your topic. But I will start with quotes and resources on RELATIONSHIPS which is one of the 12 Mandala Styles found in Ed Bastian's wonderful book Mandala: Creating an Authentic Spiritual Path: An InterSpiritual Process and at the Spiritual Paths website.  You can see 12 posts on this style -- SE 281 to SE 292 -- in the Spiritual Explorations series of posts which I offered here on this blog in 2016.

Here we go:

Our work, our relationships, and our lives succeed or fail one conversation at a time. While no single conversation is guaranteed to transform a company, a relationship, or a life, any single conversation can. Speak and listen as if this is the most important conversation you will ever have with this person. It could be. Participate as if it matters. It does. — Susan Scott, Fierce Conversations (This was the One Spirit Daily Inspiration on October 12, 2021)

I invite you to take a look at the One Spirit website.  Here is a quote I found there which I really like because it resonates with everything I have come to believe about what our planet now needs for us humans to do: 

If we are to survive and grow in our world, we must transform ourselves through love and acceptance for all teachings, all people, and all cultures, everywhere. One Spirit is a leader in this work. — Rev. Cory C.

The New Faith for the New Earth is becoming a reality all over the planet washing away the greed and fear which has prevailed for too long in our human evolution. In these posts I intend to promote this amazing happening by simply noticing and reporting the individuals and groups which exhibit what Rev. Cory C. is talking about here: “… love and acceptance for all teachings, all people, and all cultures everywhere …”

OUR AMAZING JOURNEY -- 1

+ I am glad you are here and I hope you will continue to share this Amazing Journey with me and others.  

+ I have previously offered a lot of what I intend to offer in this series of posts in a variety of ways.  Hopefully this series of posts will lead to a book, the book I have promised to write and publish for at least the last 2 decades.  You can find the basic ideas at Abundancetrek.com where you will find links to my blogs and to a few recommended websites on the home page.  Also on the home page are some of the basic ideas I have pur forth for THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH.  On that home page are links to the nine Heavenly Attributes and the four essential Spiritual Journeys: Mind, Heart, Body and Soul. 

+ I have long believed that humanity needs to move beyond the narrow confines of particular cultural and religious associations.  In the past couple of decades I have found more and more people who share this belief and many of us now identify as InterSpiritual.  In my experience the InterSpiritual community goes deeper into sharing wisdom and practicing contemplation methods than does InterFaith or MultiFaith communities. I hsve nothing against such communities. They often do a lot of good  I participate enthusiastically in the InterFaith Coaltion of Greater Utica. 

But if humanity is now moving into a great evolutionary leap forward and I believe we are, then we simply must share the wisdom and practices of the great variety of communities of faith far more than we have in our history so far. It must be a sharing of great respect for wisdom and practices from new and different places.

This is not easy.  Devotion to a disciplined spirituality of any kind takes practice for many years.  Too many people today are finding little bits of wisdom and practices without appreciating or understanding their true meaning. I urge you to discover wisdom and practices from other places but not  without going deep into their meaning and purpose.

There are many InterSpiritual pioneers.  Some of them are ancient teachers of profound wisdom and practices who I will probably name in future posts. In  recent years there have been a few who stand out including Thomas Merton and Wayne Teasdale.  Both of these men were Christian monks who became fascinated with the monastic traditions of other faiths. Brother Wayne Teasdale even became a Hindu monk as well as a Christian monk. He is the one who coined the term InterSpiritual and wrote several books which are InterSpiritual classics including The Mystic Heart, A Monk in the World and The Mystic Hours.

Brother Wayne Teasdale offered some amazing wisdom which I think can benefit all of humanity immensely.  He longed for us to build a new InterSpiritual community which he hoped would make it possible for us to share our "mystic heart." In The Mystic Heart he wrote: 

Humanity stands at a crossroads between horror and hope. In choosing hope, we must seed a new consciousness, a radically fresh approach to life drawing its inspiration from perennial spiritual and moral insights, intuition and experience. We call this new awareness interspiritual, implying not the homogenization of religion, but the recovering of the shared mystic heart beating in the center of the world’s deepest spiritual traditions.

He called for us to recognize the "the real religion of humankind" and he said he wants this to become "the religion of the third millennium." In The Mystic Heart he wrote:

The real religion of humankind can be said to be spirituality itself, because mystical spirituality is the origin of all the world religions. If this is so, and I believe it is, we might also say that inter-spirituality – the sharing of ultimate experiences across traditions – is the religion of the third millennium.

THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH -- 7

MOST OF THE POSTS AND COMMENTS IN THE
NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH FACEBOOK GROUP IN APRIL 2021

 ++++++++++++

• THIS IS A LINK TO THE SECOND EDITION OF THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH: OUR AMAZING JOURNEY April 2021.
• THIS IS A LINK TO THE FACEBOOK GROUP.

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JOHN WILDE POST 4/5/21

+ Resurrection + Richard Rohr nails it > https://cac.org/a-pattern-we-can-trust-2021-04-04/

excerpts >

"All will be well, and all will be well, and every kind of thing will be well." —Julian of Norwich, Showings, chapter 27

"I like to think of the resurrection as God’s way of telling us that God can take the worst thing in the world—the killing of the God-Human Jesus—and change it into the best thing: the redemption of the world."

"If divine incarnation has any truth to it, then resurrection is a foregone conclusion, not a one-time anomaly in the body of Jesus, as our Western understanding of the resurrection felt it needed to prove—and then it couldn’t. The Risen Christ is not a one-time miracle but the revelation of a universal pattern that is hard to see in the short run."

Comment by Juliet Rohde-Brown  >

JOHN WILDE POST 4/8/21

+ Journaling on each of the 7 steps of InterSpiritual Meditation is a practice which can really increase our effectiveness as we continue to engage with our deep connection to all. please join me in contemplating Step Two for a while. MAY WE (YOU, I) BE GRATEFUL FOR LIFE’S MANY GIFTS

I Invite you to share your insights and experiences on your practice of being grateful.

“We gratefully remember our teachers, loved ones, the natural environment, our opportunities, and life’s challenges for giving us the empathy and wisdom to help others.” – Ed Bastian

And here’s more Ed. This is a link to a recent presentation he did for Contemplative Life where he offers his wisdom on each step and then guides us through the steps of the process > https://player.vimeo.com/video/378431897

+ Here are three of my favorite quotes on Gratitude which I offer with the hope that it may be a springboard for your journaling or other creative response to this practice (such as art):

"Gratitude celebrates life with a joyful "yes" at every knot of the great network in which everything is connected to everything." -- Br. David Steindl-Rast

"It’s so much easier, to learn to love what you have instead of yearning always for what you’re missing, or what you imagine you’re missing. It’s so much more peaceful." -- Anna Quindlen

"Your lamp was lit from another lamp. All God wants is your gratitude for that." -- Rumi

+ I am grateful for YOU. You are wonderful. You are fascinating. You offer so much to me and to all creation. Thank You for being such a blessing.

JOHN WILDE POST 4/15/21

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” -- Melody Beattie

“When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree.” -- Vietnamese Proverb

"The grateful heart sits at a continuous feast." -- Proverbs 15:15

+ Gary Gach on making every day Thanksgiving day because we are how we eat. > A Book Excerpt on Being Present > https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/.../view/14712

+ In some miraculous, mysterious and marvelous way we have the ability to make life a continuous feast. Every meal can be viewed in a festive way. Every precious moment can be experienced as a feast.

Please reflect on ways you are seeing life in festive ways.

I am connecting the essential practice of humility to the essential practice of gratitude. Humility allows us to overcome ego and become connected to the awesome plenitude of love and joy which makes life festive even breath after precious breath. The third meme in the S&P gallery on Humility addresses this > https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/galleries/#/37/12-humility

Here it the quote by Sri Chinmoy in that meme: “The easiest way to conquer ego is to offer gratitude to God for five minutes daily. Then you will feel that inside you a sweet, fragrant and beautiful flower is growing. That is the flower of humility. When you offer Him your gratitude, God gives you something most beautiful, which is humility. Once it has seen the flower of humility, the ego goes away because it feels that it can become something better: universal oneness.”

You are wonderful. You make life festive. 

JOHN WILDE POST 4/19/21

+ I am working on the second edition of THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH: THE AMAZING JOURNEY. It will include links to all of THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH blog posts published so far. The fifth blog post offers most of the February group posts and comments. Here's the link > http://abundancetrekblog.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-new-faith-for-new-earth-5.html

Household responsibilities currently have priority over my TNFFTNE duties due to a misbehaving dog and a misbehaving living room blind but the next edition will come soon. Also I am engaged in a wonderful and demanding course on THE IMMORTAL DIAMOND by Richard Rohr.

Meanwhile let's keep reflecting on the second step of the InterSpiritual Meditation process: MAY WE (YOU, I) BE GRATEFUL FOR LIFE'S MANY GIFTS.

It is always good to remember the teachers you have had and now have who are guiding you in all kinds of ways toward your ultimate destiny. I keep remembering my seventh and eighth grade science teacher who helped me appreciate all that creation and our knowledge of science has to offer.

Contrary to popular opinion posts by all members of this group are welcome and appreciated. YOU have a lot to share which can be a blessing to us all. You are fantastic and fascinating. Yes, you. I am grateful for YOU, my teacher and my companion on this amazing journey.

JOHN WILDE POST 4/22/21

+ IT'S HERE > https://johnawilde.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-new-faith-for-new-earth-our-amazing.html

It's the second edition of THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH: OUR AMAZING JOURNEY with a focus on the glorious heavenly attribute of Abundance.

Most of you will also be receiving this edition as a Word document via email.  Your encouraging or critical comments are welcome. 

JOHN WILDE POST 4/24/21

+ The Weaving Home Blog is always a worthwhile read.  Here is a Ritual for Watershed Blessing published on Earth Day > http://www.weavinghome3.org/blog-1/2021/4/22/a-ritual-for-watershed-blessing.  Thank You Naomi. 

JOHN WILDE POST 4/27/21

The next edition of THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH: OUR AMAZING JOURNEY will focus on the heavenly attribute of JOY. I seek your contributions on JOY. You can contribute by offering a post on JOY right here.

JOY is one of the nine heavenly attributes I have identified and shared at abundancetrek.com and my blogs. Here is a link to the abundancrek.com page on JOY > http://abundancetrek.com/joy

Any time we experience JOY in our lives is a contact with the heavenly realm which is not far away but we are immersed in it if we would only notice, pay attention and be grateful constantly for the gift of JOY.

St. Paul urges us to pray unceasingly. Gratefulness is an essential dimension of prayer and gratefulness leads us to be awake, aware and connected to our oneness as a heavenly being. Ecstasy is always a breath away as we practice, practice, practice. Maybe you are already aware of my favorite quote -- it was in edition 2 -- but I like it so much that I offer it again:

You do not need to do anything; you do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You do not even need to listen; just wait. You do not even need to wait; just become still, quiet and solitary and the world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet. -- Franz Kafka

I discovered other great quotes on JOY, some of which I will offer in Edition 3 of THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH: OUR AMAZING JOURNEY. Here are a couple: 

In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.

— W.H. Auden

 May all beings learn how to nourish themselves with joy each day.

— Thich Nhat Hanh

 Your turn! 

JOHN WILDE POST 4/28/21

Antony S. Galbraith is also known as Venerable Myohye Do'an.  He is a member of this group.  He is a Monk in the World and leads Lotus Heart Zen and One Point Mind.  I am a fan.  More than that I have been blessed by his teaching not only on Wednesday evening OPM Mediation and Mindfulness practice but also at the LHZ sangha meetings on Sunday mornings with a chanting practice followed by an intense study and practice of NonViolent Communication.  I am learning that I have been conditioned over the decades of my life to think and even act in violent ways.  We are learning how to change our thinking and acting so we can be a compassionate presence in our homes, neighborhoods, work, clubs, whatever. 

Here is a link to the April 28 One Point Mind invitation. 

Comment  by Antony S. Galbraith: Thank you! Your presence in our study and practice is truly a blessing! 

RAVILUMAR STEPHEN J POST 4/30/21

Appeal To All The Religious Leaders Of The World: 

Pray For India - Friday, May 7, 2021 – A Day of Prayer and Fasting For Covid-19 Pandemic:

I am happy to get connected with all the Religious Community Leaders once again after a long break. One year back all of us were more or less in a similar situation regarding Covid-19. Now India is recording around 300,000 new cases of COVID-19 every single day. The second wave has hit India like a tsunami, and the peak of surge is yet to be felt!  Added to this is the apparent lack of planning, has resulted in the shortage of hospital beds, anti-viral drugs, and oxygen.

I am inviting all religious leaders to observe Friday, May 7 as a Day of Prayer and Fasting for Relief from the Covid-19 pandemic. The Catholic Bishop’s Conference (CBCI), the National Council of Churches (NCC), and The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) have agreed to join us in prayer on this day.

Since we have diverse local circumstances, I leave the choice to every religious institution to have their own mode of Prayer and Fasting. Friday being a sacred day for all the religious communities in India, you could align the Fasting & Prayer along with your ongoing ritualistic practices of Friday. Muslims could take advantage of the ongoing Ramzan Fasting. Similarly, the Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Brahma-kumaris, Vaishnavites,  Shaivites, Shaktas, Smartas, Suryaites, Ganapatists, Kaumaras,  and Jews align yourself to your ongoing Friday Prayer events.

I request all the religious heads to inform their respective, Synagogues, Churches, Mosque, Pagodas, Gurdwaras, Ashrams, and Temples about this Day of Prayer and Fasting.

The following could be the Guiding Points for Prayer:

1.)  Invoke God to End the pandemic:

2.)  Prayer for the Healing for those who are infected;

3.)  Prayer of Comfort for those who are mourning,

4.)  Prayer for the Courage for the frontline workers,

5.)  Prayer for the Success of the Efforts of those, who are involved in COVID-19 Research.

6.)  Prayer for the Quality production of Medicine and Vaccines.

7.)  Prayer for Robust Heath all those who are working round the clock in Essential Services.

This Prayer & Fasting has to happen either through Zoom Meetings or through Prayer Chain ( Each one commit a 15 minutes to the organizer at a stipulated time slot and pray. The organizer could ensure that 24 hours is covered this way by at least one person at a stipulated time slot. It would be easy, for running the prayer chain, if you divide the congregation into small Group of 96 people, to pray in all 96 time slots of the day.). People should NOT meet at a stimulated place for Community Prayer, rather they have to remain indoors and pray. 

I request you to document these efforts and preserve the pictures of them. This will be useful for future generations. I would be happy, if people could share the Zoom / Google Meet / M.S. Teams - Link (Meeting ID & PassCode)  / Facebook and YouTube Video Link. I would be delighted, if you could inform me about your Action-plan in advance.

Please share this message widely and make this 7th May, 2012 Fasting & Prayer a major surrendering initiative to the WILL of God. I have prepared a document “How To Pray?” Please download and read that article at: https://m.facebook.com/groups/1450946678504853/permalink/2881510922115081/

With affectionate regards and best wishes, I remain

Yours fraternally in God,

Swami Gnanayuthamananda Bharathi

Founder, Sages of the New Covenant

THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH -- 6

MOST OF THE POSTS AND COMMENTS IN THE 

NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH FACEBOOK GROUP 

IN MARCH 2021

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LINK TO SECOND EDITION OF THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH: OUR AMAZING JOURNEY > http://johnawilde.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-new-faith-for-new-earth-our-amazing.html

 FACEBOOK GROUP LINK > https://www.facebook.com/groups/567789840446209

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JOHN WILDE POST 3/1/21

+ When I think of what THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH is all about, several great teachers immediately come to mind. Perhaps the one who deserves to be at the top of the list is Wayne Teasdale. In the 10 years or so before he died in 2004, he wrote several books which I would like to say are required reading for anyone who sees InterSpirituality as the way forward. For Brother Wayne Teasdale, InterSpirituality goes beyond sharing wisdom and practices to building new communities of faith which share wisdom and practices and are actively creating compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance for all.

Here is a link to an excerpt on transformation in THE MYSTIC HEART by Wayne Teasdale. https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/.../the-mystic-heart

And here's the link to the S&P review of this wonderful book > https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/.../the-mystic-heart

JOHN WILDE POST 3/2/21

I am getting some clarity now about the focus of the posts I plan to offer. I will go into that soon.

But NOW HEAR THIS: I don't want my particular focus to stop you from posting on any topic, any question, any thought, any insight, any inspiration, any recipe, any practice, any link, any experience you would like to bring up.  The new faith for the new earth is a dynamic and ever new and ever surprising evolutionary journey we all are on.  It is an amazing journey and we need each other as companions, as guides, as truth tellers and truth seekers.  Please offer your wisdom in posts or comments so that we can all benefit from what you see and hear and taste as you go on your amazing journey which is also our essential journey in some mysterious way.

I urge you to include THE CHARTER FOR COMPASSION as a significant place of common ground that we can share as we go on our amazing journey > https://charterforcompassion.org/

Comments by John A Wilde

·         oh, and oh how we need music and mantras https://youtu.be/lu5tnNUVhTs > The Angels are Listening: Snatam Kaur sings Suṉi-ai with Ajeet Kaur at Sat Nam Fest

·         the meaning of suni-ai is offered at http://www.suni-ai.com/en/about/

 JOHN WILDE POST 3/3/21

+ Ed Bastian wrote four beautiful verses for each of the seven steps of InterSpiritual Meditation which I am sharing in this post. There is a wonderful video > https://youtu.be/MN2CtXTe1xw where Ed sings the ISM mantra and recites the verses for each step. I have recently memorized all of the verses and I sing them mostly just for myself but I have sung them for others as well. If you find these verses meaningful, I invite you to memorize them and maybe even sing them like I do.

Ed created this InterSpiritual Meditation process. The book is InterSpiritual Meditation: A Seven-Step Process from the World’s Spiritual Traditions. Read about it at https://spiritualpaths.net/interspiritual-meditation/books/

I would like to encourage you to do Lectio Divina with the four verses of Step One.

First, read the four verses twice each time entering into a time of significant stillness and silence where a word or phrase might jump out at you. The word or phrase can change as you continue this practice.

Second, read the verses again and enter into another time of significant stillness and silence letting a word or phrase dwell in your heart for a while. Contemplate what particular meaning and purpose you find in the word or phrase or one or more of the verses.

Third, read the verses again and enter into another time of significant stillness and silence where you allow the meaning and purpose to penetrate into your consciousness more deeply and then be open to possibly making a commitment or vow to follow through on a specific purpose.

Fourth, enter into another time of significant stillness and silence where you simply rest in the here and now with unconditional love for yourself and for all with absolutely no judgment of how well this time of Lectio Divina went for you.

I encourage you to write about what came up and possibly share it with us.

Here are the verses for all 7 steps without pauses between verses because Facebook editing is very limited:

(1) MOTIVATION: May We be Happy and Healthy

In all the world

I cannot find

The source of peace

Outside my mind.

Neither play, nor drink,

Nor sex, nor food,

Can cause a constant

Blissful mood.

The things I see,

Touch, smell, taste, hear,

Cause both joy and pain,

Hope and fear.

Meditation relieves

my mind of stress,

Leading me to health

And happiness.

(2) GRATITUDE: May We be Grateful for Life’s Many Gifts

To all my teachers,

I beseech,

Please stay near

and help me teach.

Your wisdom helped me

To find my way,

For constant blessings

I will always pray.

To the natural world

That sustains my living

I honor her

For always giving.

My many faults

I now confess,

And clear them all

Through forgiveness.

(3) TRANSFORMATION: May We be Transformed into Our Highest Ideal

This ignorance does

A prison make,

Only true wisdom

Helps me escape.

Freedom lies

Inside, not out,

Of this pure truth

I have no doubt.

I know that

Real happiness

Must arise from my

Own consciousness.

Within my being’s

Sacred design,

Resides the heart

Of the divine.

(4) COMPASSION: My We be Loving and Compassionate

For those who

Live in misery

I engage in

active empathy.

To help all creatures

To be free,

I place their joy

In front of me.

With love’s

Compassionate intent,

I strive for pure

Enlightenment.

The only true

Pain prevention

Is my

Compassionate intention.

(5) MINDFULNESS: May We be Mindful Through Breathing

Mindfully my

Breathing starts,

My consciousness

Goes to my heart.

Within the silence

Of my breath,

There is no birth,

There is no death.

When thoughts

disturb the stillness,

I return

To emptiness.

And then I rest

With tranquil mind

In unity

With the divine.

(6) MEDITATION: May We become Wise Through Meditation

I rest into

A sacred presence

Joined as one

Eternal essence.

The silent wisdom

Keeps me seeing

The loving nature

Of my being.

Sacred light pervades

Me through and through,

And bliss descends

Like mountain dew.

Radiating out,

I now impart

Rainbows of healing

From my heart.

(7) DEDICATION: May We Serve All Beings

I send love to friends

And foes who fight

To oppressors and

Oppressed alike.

I see the people

In my life

And vow to help

Overcome their strife.

I vow to sustain

This peace of mind,

To all I meet

I will be kind.

Liberation for all

Is my dedication;

May you be blessed

By this meditation.

JOHN WILDE POST 3/8/21

+ As I continue to emphasize InterSpiritual Meditation, Step One: MAY I (YOU / WE) BE HAPPY AND HEALTHY, here are some favorite quotes I find motivational:

 May all beings learn how to nourish themselves with joy each day. — Thich Nhat Hanh

You do not need to do anything; you do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You do not even need to listen; just wait. You do not even need to wait; just become still, quiet and solitary and the world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet. -- Franz Kafka

In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag. — W.H. Auden

To take an interspiritual journey is to circle ever inward, to a place of holy silence and vibrant stillness, and then to surge back outward with the contemplative fruits we have gathered to feed a hungry world. – Mirabai Starr

Where we have stopped dancing, singing, being enchanted by stories, or finding comfort in silence is where we have experienced the loss of soul. Dancing, singing, storytelling, and silence are the four universal healing salves. -- Angeles Arrien

We must come to stillness. In the silence of our hearts, we must wait patiently for the compass to steady. Then it will point to true north, the still center, the fine point of the soul, and we will be enabled to move forward again. — Margret Silf in Inner Compass

Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself. -- Herman Hesse

To meet everything and everyone through stillness instead of mental noise is the greatest gift you can offer to the universe. -- Eckhart Tolle in Stillness Speaks

+ I urge you to sign up for plenty of inspiration, illumination, encouragement and practices at Spiritual Paths

Comments:

·         Mary: I like integration of quotes about stillness. Thanks for collecting and sharing these.

·        Anna: Here is the verse I wrote for the first step - I reflect on thoughts like these when I do this step of ISM:

Happy and Healthy

How can we be happy and healthy?

So many of the seven steps

Are interrelated,

For Happiness can come

Through gratitude.

Happiness is not a constant state,

For life is full of

Ups and downs,

But one can be

Contented and grateful

For what is.

And one can live with

The attitude of hope

That the happiness will

Come again,

Even in the more difficult times -

A kind word,

A touch,

An experience of

Having done something nice

For someone else.

As for health,

Meditation can help

In so many ways –

So let’s get going!

It can help us

Transform ourselves,

Through focus and calmness,

To be our best selves.

It can affect

Our outlook,

Our relationships,

Our connections

And our happiness!

Why wouldn’t we mediate?

 JOHN WILDE POST 3/10/21

CONTINUING TO REFLECT ON ISM STEP ONE: MAY I (WE / YOU) BE HAPPY AND HEALTHY

+ The Course Introduction page (linked below) offers a way to see each step introduced using a simple to use Mandala. It's fun and illuminating.

+ Journaling on each section Ed wrote for each step is a very worthwhile process.

+ Here's more on ISM step one from my Course Paper when I took the InterSpiritual Meditation course in 2013:

HOW MEDITATION CAN HELP ME BECOME HAPPY AND HEALTHY:

Father Keating says we can find REST in Centering Prayer and in other modes of contemplation, meditation and prayer. Resting in God. Sabbath moments as well as Sabbath days or Sabbath weeks or Sabbath years. It's a different kind of rest than sleep or vacationing. It's the amazing relaxation found in breathing fully and breathing deeply, becoming still and silent, centered and grounded, loosening up and lightening up, letting go and letting God. It takes practice and it takes awareness. There are so many detours and dead ends and distractions and seductions along the way.

ULTIMATE SPIRITUAL GOAL:

I meditate because I want to realize my real identity as a heavenly being. I am (You are) (We are) a heavenly being. I am (You are) (We are) intimately, intricately, infinitely connected by a matrix of unconditional, unlimited, uniting Love which is miraculous, mysterious and marvelous. As I diligently practice stillness, silence, solitude and simplicity I become one with all creation. I realize who I really am. In this glorious state I am liberated from all of my earthly addictions, particularly the security, sensation and power addictions which keep me from experiencing heaven right here and now. Love is everywhere and is always creating more abundance, joy, wisdom, beauty, truth, peace, justice and freedom. One of my daily affirmation is: I am (You are) (We are) (God is) creating the new, most holy, glorious, fantastic realm of abundance, joy, wisdom, beauty, love, truth, peace, justice and freedom. A shorter version is: I am creating more compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance.

As much as I believe this, I find myself all too often neglecting the practices which make it possible for me to realize my real heavenly identity. So, I need many reminders from morning to night, day after day. For me, these include frequent journaling and blogging, my Yoga and Chi Lel Chi Gong practices, hymns, rock’n’roll, prayers and mantras based on Christian and other wisdom traditions (my beads help). I get frequent doses of wisdom and guidance from many books including: The Bible (particularly the daily and Sunday Lectionary readings), The Book of Common Worship of The Presbyterian Church USA, The Handbook of Higher Consciousness by Ken Keyes, Jr., A Course in Miracles, How to Meditate by Lawrence LeShan, Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das, The Tao of Abundance by Laurence G. Boldt, Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness by Erich Schiffmann. Also from many websites including www.movingintostillness.com | www.dailyzen.com | www.spiritualityandpractice.com | www.gratefulness.org | www.innerfrontier.org

The amazing spiritually oriented rock’n’roll of Todd Rundgren deserves special mention here. Healing is an album offered back in 1981 and recently revived on a new tour. Over the years, I have listened again and again and been inspired and illuminated again and again by his journey into inner space with the goal of healing based on compassion toward self and all others.

https://spiritualpaths.net/interspiritual-meditation/

JOHN WILDE POST 3/12/21

#TNFFTNE 32 > "My religion is kindness ... I'd rather be kind than right ... You can always be kind." --  Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

Comment by Rebecca:  Amen and amen to that!!! 💙💜❤

JOHN WILDE POST 3/15/21

+ The first edition of THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH: OUR AMAZING JOURNEY is on the JOHN A WILDE blog. If I have your email address, you will soon be receiving this as an attached word document.

+ Here is a link to the first edition on the JOHN A WILDE blog: http://johnawilde.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-new-faith-for-new-earth-our-amazing.html

 COMMENTS

• Naomi: Thank you John, wonderful!
• Mary: It is really coming along. Much wisdom in those little tweets of yours. Thanks 

 JOHN WILDE POST 3/16/21

+ I think Eckhart Tolle gets right to the heart of ISM step one MAY I (WE / YOU) BE HAPPY AND HEALTHY.

https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/book-reviews/excerpts/view/19587/a-new-earth > Excerpt from this excerpt > "People believe themselves to be dependent on what happens for their happiness, that is to say, dependent on form. They don't realize that what happens is the most unstable thing in the universe. It changes constantly. They look upon the present moment as either marred by something that has happened and shouldn't have or as deficient because of something that has not happened but should have. And so they miss the deeper perfection that is inherent in life itself, a perfection that is always already here, that lies beyond what is happening or not happening, beyond form. Accept the present moment and find the perfection that is deeper than any form and untouched by time."

+ If you would like to work on The Seven Steps of ISM systematically with me as your mentor, message me and we can set up a Zoom meeting to get started and decide how to proceed. I and so many others have been blessed immensely by immersion in this practice. Visit https://spiritualpaths.net/ and learn more.

COMMENT

Mary:  Love this statement from Eckhart Tolle.

 JOHN WILDE POST 3/17/21

+ In honor of Saint Patrick's Day and continuing to emphasize ISM Step One -- May We Be Happy and Healthy -- I am offering links to the Abundancetrek.com pages on JOY and DELIGHT and HEALING with a quote or 2 from each page. I also include links to the S&P practice of JOY and the S&P memes gallery on JOY. What a resource. May you have a delightful day.

JOY > http://www.abundancetrek.com/joy.html

"As he was dying, Abba Benjamin taught his sons this: Do this and you''ll be saved: Rejoice always, pray constantly, and in all circumstances give thanks." -- Desert Wisdom: Sayings from the Desert Fathers, Yushi Nomura, Editor

DELIGHT > http://www.abundancetrek.com/delight.html

"The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention." -- Julia Cameron

"In the time of your life, live -- so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it. " -- William Saroyan

HEALING > http://www.abundancetrek.com/healing.html

"The regular practice of contemplative prayer initiates a healing process that might be called the divine therapy. The level of deep rest accessed during the prayer periods loosen up the hard pain around the emotional weeds stored in the unconscious of which the body seems to be the warehouse. The psyche begins to evacuate spontaneously the undigested emotional materials of a lifetime, opening up new space for self-knowledge, freedom of choice, and the discovery of the divine presence within." -- Thomas Keating in Invitation to Love

"Many native cultures believe that the heart is the bridge between Father Sky and Mother Earth. For these traditions the four-chambered heart, the source for sustaining emotional and spiritual health, is described as being full, open, clear, and strong. These traditions feel that it is important to check the condition of the four-chambered heart daily, asking: 'Am I full-hearted, open-hearted, clear-hearted, and strong-hearted?'" -- Angeles Arrien in The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer, and Visionary

S&P practice of JOY > https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/.../alphabet/view/17 > excerpt > "Joy is an essential spiritual practice growing out of faith, grace, gratitude, hope, and love. It is the pure and simple delight in being alive. "

S&P memes gallery on JOY > https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/galleries/...

Comment by John Wilde > “Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3” by Ian Dury and the Blockheads on Youtube >  https://youtu.be/CIMNXogXnvE

JOHN WILDE POST 3/18/21

+ Here are a couple of links I just discovered offering wonderful wisdom and practices for our amazing journey:

S&P blog 3/5/21 > https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/blogs/posts/short-sweet-spirituality/807/rituals-of-our-lives > rituals quotes

Weaving Home page with great photos and quotes on the theme of Celtic Worship > http://www.weavinghome3.org/celtic-worship

JOHN WILDE POST 3/29/21

How are you doing with your practice of INTERSPIRITUAL MEDITATION: STEP ONE > May I (you, we) be happy and healthy?

Since you are reading this post, you belong to that portion of humanity which believe in the power of prayer and is engaged in growing in the practice of prayer. Something has happened which made you this way. Something continues to happen making you renew this commitment perhaps as often as every day or even more frequently.

What is it? I ask because I benefit from knowing what's working for you. I believe you benefit from knowing what's working for me. We all can benefit from sharing our discoveries in this realm. While the praying of any individual is powerful, it can be even more powerful when we enter into prayer as a community of contemplative, praying, meditating folks.

So, what is it? What motivates you and sustains you in this practice? How does your practice increase your happiness and health? How does your practice connect you to your greater self and to all creation?

Ed Bastian, the creator of this InterSpiritual Meditation process, teaches us to keep discovering what works and finding ways to remind ourselves about what works, what leads us to meditate faithfully, what encourages us to create health and happiness for you, for me and for all. And it has to be for all.

Comments

·         Mary: I feel somewhat lost without prayer and meditation. That motivates me.

·         Naomi: Right now yoga is my meditation practice.

·         Jill: Prayer, meditation and reflective journaling are opening me to be more. I am transforming from a human doing to a human being.

·        Clarice: I AM, happy and healthy. I embrace my joy, gratefulness, health and happiness now, and at every moment. It is my choice at each moment. 

·        Allison: It coalesces everything else....

·        John A Wilde > Calming, Centering, Grounding, Deepening, Focusing, Humbling, Awakening, Extending, Challenging, Comforting, Inspiring, Illuminating, Loving, Transforming, Connecting ... and more.

·       Miyo: I try to at least meditate daily, whether it's driving mindfully (I send out metta to those who are on the road with me, and in the houses I drive by daily), and I also do sitting meditation practice on the weekends, and sprinkle in some Qigong and bowing practice. I find these things have helped center me and keep me grounded. The qigong and bowing are new to me, and I've found that it has been an eye-opening experience in terms of humbling me, and making me feel better able to be present for people around me, to truly hear them and connect with them. It helps me "feel" my service to others, if that makes sense.