Coping

Meditations - From Spirit Circle - Fall 2010

The following meditations opened and closed the Spirit Circle discussions during the autumn of 2010. The group was reading books by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, and these books influenced some of the meditations. The newest meditations are listed first.

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Oriah Mountain Dreamer writes, "The Dance is about finding ways to let our essential nature guide our choices and our actions." This life is about learning to dance well - learning to listen to the voice within without our ego translating the thoughts intomore self-serving and protective messages. A friend of mine once told me, 'Fate is what life deals you, destiny is what you do with it.' Allow your destiny to be directed by your essential nature - your being-ness of joy, optimism, clarity, abundance, wisdom, compassion, service, and love. These are the traits of our inner being. Allow them to come through you every instant of every day. Allow your essence to be visible and palpable, not so much to others, but to yourself. Seeks ways to express yourself each moment in a way that exercises these traits and demonstrates your essence. Walk your talk. Experience your spirituality. Go in peace. Go in kindness. Go in Love.

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We learn from Oriah Mountain Dreamer that 'what' we do is not as important as 'how' we do something. Note that in this statement and her writings, more often than not, she tells us to 'take action in a mindful manner.' We are doing but attending to the 'How' - as do so, we are more present, more in the now, and more open-hearted. We don't allow our physical presence to plod along on autopilot - we interact with mind and spirit as well. We look deep within with gratitude about who we are and our place in the Universe. We look outward with our physical eyes and accept the world as a place we can reside in, embrace, and create beauty, peace, and kindness in by giving freely of our love. Be the place where light shines through. Be the person you are.

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Tonight we have heard of the joy, excitement, and struggles of a spiritual being having a human experience. We share in her emotions, in her personal frustrations, and in her growth. We share in both her physicality and her spirituality. Now we connect with each other, through our hands, through our thoughts, and through the love we embody and share. Live each day knowing that source energy dwells within you and is your divinity. You are part of the ocean of love and abundance, of joy and bliss, of wisdom and exploration, and of strength and compassion. Be human. Be spiritual. Go in kindness. Go in peace. Go in Love.

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Today is a day for self-love. Take your arms and hug yourself. Nestle you head into your shoulders and smile lovingly at yourself. Tell yourself aloud ‘I love you.’ … You come from, are, and always will be source energy – the energy of all the Universe – the Universe of Mystery and the Universe of Love. This is the energy of love, of healing, of connection, and all the assets and attributes that you quest after from both this material world and the spiritual world in which we live, move, and have our being. There is nothing you can’t do, be, or have. The perfectness of the Universe is found in you and all around you. Manifest love of self, love of others, and love of the connections we share. All the joy, beauty and abundance of this space flows to you - now and forever.

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Allow any stress or pain you hold to flow from you; it should find no home in your being. Use your thoughts to unburden those you love of their problems, not to multiply your own, but to help them dissolve their fears and hardships by your spiritual light. Allow your intentional family to dissolve away your cares as you do the same for others. Become aware of the chaos that can surround and consume us, but keep your hearts open rather than succumb to the fire this material world wants to use to burn up your spirit. Allow your inner light to shine outwards to all about you. Allow not a fire in which we get lost and consumed, but a fire which gives illumination and warmth – that enables us to see our unity with Source and to bask in the Love of the Universe. Go in peace. Go in kindness. Go in love.

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Join hands. In your connections with each other, feel your connection with the entire Universe – with all of source energy – that from which you are made. In this spiritual connection you live and move and have your being. Reach deep inside yourself and feel your true and natural spiritual rhythm. Bring your outside world in sync with that rhythm so that you can live a deeper and more satisfying life. Be grateful for the love you bask in. Your spiritual heart beats with this love. Give this gift to others and feel it return to you tenfold. Awareness; knowledge; wisdom; compassion; service; tolerance; support; and awe, are all other gifts you can share along with love. Share these too, and allow the circulation to benefit you as you gift these spiritual heart beats with others. We see and feel the joy and love in this Circle - in each other; and we willingly share it amongst ourselves.

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You are the place where the light shines through. You are the place where love blooms. You are a place a place of strength. You are a hub of connections between your wonderful physicality and your spirituality. You can transform loneliness into beautiful solitude, ugliness into beauty, failure into success, uncertainty into decision, lack into plenty, distance into intimacy, and indifference into love. You have the energy of the Universe in your fingertips, unboundless potential in your being, and infinite love and compassion in your core. You are The Path of magic and mystery you have always sought. It is not out there. It is here before you now. You are the place where the light shines through!

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Join in connection with this Intentional Family. We are all learning – some in hindsight and some in foresight. We bring our longings, desires, and quests for insight to this Circle, ever aware of our material nature in this spiritual universe. We cannot buy enlightenment through ordeal. Wisdom need not be born of pain. We can learn as much from not doing as from doing. Allow yourself to be in the flow of source energy tonight and in the time ahead. Allow source energy to guide your dreams, thoughts, and actions. Touch your own deepest levels of thought and being. Go in peace. Go in kindness. Go in love.

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Three deep breaths and slowly exhale. With each exhale feel yourself relax. Feel the stress even the source of that stress flow from you. Allow all those busy thoughts to take a secondary place in your thinking. Allow yourself as you hear the bowls to disconnect for at least these few moments. Allow the resonance of the bowls to fill your head and push all else away. When we stop you will feel rested, relaxed, alert, and hold a new perspective on things. As we stop our meditation, come back to our Circle and affirm to yourself ‘I am whole. I am healthy. I am a success. I am connected to the Universe. I am loved. We express our gratitude by saying three times thank you Spirit, thank you Spirit, and thank you Spirit.

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The Invitation and the insights this beautiful book has stimulated in our thinking helps us create a new intimacy – with ourselves, with our friends and lovers, and with the world. Let us allow these personal insights to guide our life and to be our companions on this journey; to remind us of our physicality and our spiritualilty; to allow us, from this plane of being, to appreciate our divinity – our own personal godliness. Let us remember that boundaries are sometimes for tearing down, that the journey around may never end but the journey through can be the most rewarding, and that beauty, love, and peace exist where we allow them to flower. Go in peace. Go in kindness. Go in Love.

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Take a deep breath and exhale slowly; do this three times slowly. As you do, plant your feet solidly on ground. Feel the earth and Universe supporting you. Feel that support strengthen in your awareness. Will that awareness to be with you every minute of each day. Now sense your surroundings: both physical and spiritual. Open your senses to include those beyond the senses we are used to – our sixth or even ninth sense too. See, sense, and experience the interconnections just in this room – the serendipity and the synchronicity of all spirit and matter. Allow yourself to form a deeper intimacy with your own life and with the world. Experience what it feels like to live in this greater intimacy. Bring that sense of spiritual adventuring into this room now. Couple it with a willingness to share and learn from each other tonight and in all our connections with people. We are here, and we are spirit. And so it is.

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Oriah Mountain Dreamer tells us the life lived intimately may not be easier. Intimacy is coupled with desire. Ache for something. Love something. Dream, risk, and commit to somethings … someones. Open yourself: Allow the world – both physical and spiritual – to touch you at the deepest levels. Look for and touch the divine in everything. Examine the choices that expand your life: have you chosen safety or risk? Are you chasing your dream? Do you love? Do you allow yourself to risk being the fool? Do you face your fears? Do you give something essential back to the world? Take the ideas and expressions of tonight and grow them in the fertile spaces of your own mind. Allow them to take root and grow into mighty concepts that can take you to new dimensions of thought and action over the coming weeks. Go in peace. Go in kindness. Go in Love. Namasté.

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These meditations are to stimulate your spiritual thinking in the hope that they will contribute to your spiritual growth. The author invites your comments and critiques: e-mail to bob@futuremoons.com.