INTERSPIRITUAL MEDITATION -- 13

+ This is the eleventh post on Step One of InterSpiritual Meditation: MAY WE BE HAPPY AND HEALTHY

+ Oh, it has been too long since the last post. Sorry and I will try to do better. 

+ The live classes of the current InterSpiritual Meditation course are really inspiring, illuminating and informative. I am enjoying being one of the resource persons. Fellow mentor Alejandra Warden is doing a fantastic job as head teacher. And the wonderful leader of Spiritual Paths, Ed Bastian, is contributing a lot from his experience and knowledge.

+ Here are some of my current thoughts on Step One: Motivation: MAY WE BE HAPPY & HEALTHY:

· The Mandala Style of Wisdom is always my GO TO as I seek guidance, encouragement, new insights and inspiration. I am looking forward to doing more Nature Immersion this spring, summer and fall. Even right now in winter I can get out there and do the 7 steps using the guidance Jeanette Banashak provided. I am seeking to develop more compassion in all of my relationships and becoming contemplative is always necessary for that to happen. Music is so important. I will get my guitar out, tune it and sing! I will listen with more intention and attention.

· I am committing myself anew to embracing the evolutionary imperative of building a New Earth full of compassion, peace, justice and abundance for all. My health and happiness and the health and happiness of all creatures depends on this.

· Becoming more mindful has made me more aware of thoughts and actions which are healthy and thoughts and actions which are not healthy. The more I meditate, the more I become aware of addictions and habits which prevent me from becoming all I can be. For 5 decades I have often heeded the guidance of a great teacher, Ken Keyes Jr, who gave us 12 Pathways toHigher Consciousness with a focus on freeing ourselves from our addictions.

Thanks to an experience 20 years ago at The Church of Reconciliation in Chapel Hill NC I began regularly doing Centering Prayer. Allison Davidson co-led a weekly group doing Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina.

A little more than ten years ago I became committed to InterSpiritual Meditation and became an InterSpiritual Mentor certified by the Spiritual PathsInstitute. 

· Nothing else could possibly provide the joy and wholeness that contemplation, meditation and prayer provide. It is a powerful process of coming into the present moment and finding Unconditional Love, Unlimited Love, Uniting Love. It is miraculous, mysterious and marvelous. I believe we all need to sooner or later get intimately, intricately, infinitely connected to the matrix of Love and Compassion which is our true identity, our only reality. And a blissful, amazing, wondrous reality it is.

+ This is one of a series of posts on InterSpiritualMeditation: A Seven Step Process created by Dr. Edward Bastian. 

In these posts I and others offer reflections on each of the steps which are:

1. Motivation: “May we be Happy and Healthy.”

2. Gratitude: “May we be Grateful for Life’s Many Gifts.”

3. Transformation: “May we be Transformed into Our Highest Being.”

4. Compassion: “May we be Loving and Compassionate.”

5. Mindfulness: “May we be Mindful through Our Breathing.”

6. Wisdom: “May we Become Wise through our Meditation.”

7. Service: “May we be in Service to All.”

+ I invite you to purchase and read Ed's wonderful books including InterSpiritual Meditation: A Seven Step Process and Mandala: Creating an Authentic Spiritual Path -- An InterSpiritual Process.

+ I invite you to join The New Faith for the New Earth Facebook Group where I and group members post and comment on InterSpiritual Wisdom & Practices as well as other topics.