Posts Tagged ‘meditation’

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Be Careful What We Say

December 5, 2014

“Out of the overflow of our hearts, the mouth speaks.”
Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew 11

December in the US, and I would imagine in many other countries, is a time of stress, worry, impatience, overwork. We must buy just the right present for everyone on the list. We must prepare tasty dishes for Christmas or holiday gatherings. We must navigate through family feelings for visits and gatherings.

What is the status of our hearts?

Out of worry, fear, insecurity, impatience, stress in our hearts things we say to others or write on Facebook may not be what we wish we would have said during calmer times.

In fact, when I look at Facebook posts from self-professed Christians, I wonder if Jesus would be honored by what is said or implied.

During Advent, let’s try to simplify things.

Stopping every morning before the day begins to have a cup of coffee or tea, read, meditate, pray, these all help us check the status of our hearts, slow us down, focus us on the important things.

Good ideas come when we slow down and focus.

We can defeat the negative emotions that can distract us just by getting our hearts right intentionally every morning.

Then, we don’t have that other worry of reading our Facebook posts and wondering just what we were thinking!

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Meditate in Nature

November 3, 2014

Quiet and meditation are important spiritual disciplines. Meditation does not require a cushion, incense, quiet music.

Walking is a great physical posture for meditation. Walking around the block when I need a break from writing is refreshing. I can meditate on the problem I’m pondering and solutions just come to me.

Walking in the woods is even better.

We had the first hard freeze last night in western Ohio. We’ve had a beautiful autumn notwithstanding not having a hard frost early. Today Bev and I walked through the woods and hills of Bruckner Nature Center in nearby Troy. After a freeze, the air is clear. Breathing the fall air is a delight–cool, dry, full of the smells of fallen leaves. The underbrush is dead, so you can see through the woods and spot the white-tailed deer (we saw a few).

Meditating on nature, gratitude for God’s creation, it is refreshing to the soul to be out in God’s creation.

Psalm 104 sings gratitude and awe at God’s creation:

O Lord, how manifold are your works!

In wisdom you have made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

…These all look to you

to give them their food in due season.

Once again science verifies Bible teachings when it studies people’s well being and discovers that it is healthy for the body and the spirit to be in nature and aware of the beauty.

Happy November. (And to my friends in South America and Australia, I guess it’s happy Spring.)

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Meditation and Contemplation

October 15, 2014

The Website Lifehacker recently published a post on the Myths of Meditation exposed. It started my thinking about how confusing the terms can be in this era.

We have ancient sources on humans practicing both meditation and contemplation. The Bible, especially in the Psalms, talks about meditating on God’s words and contemplating God’s wonder or mystery.

There is a rich Christian heritage of contemplation including some of my heroes such as St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, John Climacus and many more.

Then the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru to the Beatles, helped popularize an Eastern form known as Transcendental Mediation. But that method actually invaded Europe and America by the early 1800s. Alan Watts and others popularized a form of meditation in the Buddhist tradition of Japan–Zen. That was a Beatnik thing (if you remember them).

If you have looked me up on LinkedIn, you’ll have noticed that I describe myself as a “contemplative Christian.” Contemplatives try to “empty” our minds typically by focusing on something such as a word or a scene (out in nature for example) and experience God. There are many writings of people who have experienced God in this way. I have had that experience a few times. It is unforgettable. The apostle Paul also writes about a contemplative experience he had.

Meditation typically is focusing on something to change the body or learn something. In the TM tradition, there are areas of the body known as energy centers (chokras) that are the source of a particular energy plus the universal energy center at the top of the head. Each of these “chokras” has a unique sound that helps the meditator focus on that particular energy.

So the energy center at the top of the head, the universal one, has the sound “Om” that you’ve probably heard of. Business people are taught that the seat of strength and power is the gut and the sound is “Ram” (pronounced with the soft a as in European languages and not the short a of English). You focus on the center and recite the “mantra” associated with it as you sit quietly. (Incense and gongs are optional.)

In Christianity, we might read a story in the Bible, my favorite is the road to Emmaus, and focus on the story. Sitting quietly, play the story over in your mind. Maybe making yourself the “fly on the wall” listening in. Maybe taking the place of one of the pilgrims and asking Jesus what he means.

Don’t get carried away by the terms or worry about them. Or be concerned that you’ve become “New Age.” Any time you stop, slow down your thinking, and focus on God, it’s good. Both meditation and contemplation are good for both your body and your soul.

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Trust As Faith Foundation

September 30, 2014

Yesterday I was meditating upon why it is that some people display such insecurity and lack of confidence.

Then I listened to Andy Stanly discuss trust as a foundation.

When Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt, he faced the leadership challenge of introducing a people who had known only slavery for 400 years to freedom. He had to form a nation. At every step of the way from God’s first call to Moses to his entire leadership God just told them, “Trust me.”

The introduction to the 10 Commandments and then the first Commandment dealt with trust. “You shall have no other Gods before me” and “I am the Lord your God”.

It important that we come to deeply understand and feel this presence of God. Through this we should be able to gain confidence and trust.

How do we get to that point if we are not already there?

  • Read, study, meditate on the Bible and other spiritual writing
  • Spend time daily in silence focusing on God and inviting God’s presence
  • Join a community of worshipers for celebration, worship and support

Daily Spiritual practices will get you back on track if you have slipped off the rails. They will also fortify and deepen your existing faith.

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Prayer Is Not Difficult

September 17, 2014

Jude, the next-to-last book in the Bible, warns us about the dangers of trusting and following the wrong people. The writer advises prayer as the answer to building us up and keeping us on the right path.

When I first started on the meditative path many years ago, I was frustrated (I guess like the disciples) about the supposed lack of teaching about how to pray and meditate in the Bible. We are instructed to pray and to meditate and contemplate the Word.

Jesus went alone to pray, but we know nothing about his usual prayers. He did teach one time on the subject. The answer was not to pray like the religious people with big words and gestures and spectacle. He said to go by yourself and pray simply. He gave an example which we have turned into ritual–the Lord’s Prayer (or the Our Father).

This is basically just a conversation. Simple words. From the heart.

Last week at Willow Creek, Bill Hybels taught on the scene from ancient times when Elijah challenged the priests of Baal who had captured the official religious life of Israel. The priests of Baal prayed by shouting, dancing, cutting themselves. Elijah prayed just a simple prayer.

Sometimes in prayer, our focus may wander. So, we may repeat a phrase. Maybe one of the phrases of the Lord’s Prayer. Or a favorite verse. But this can be continually simplified.

It’s like when I first learned guitar after having been a percussionist. My friend said, remember that just two notes can be a chord. Just so, you can go to just one or two words. I repeat the word “God”. Others make like spirit. Or love. Just by sitting (or standing or walking or lying) and focusing on your word can calm your thoughts and cause you to enter into the presence of God.

Then you can focus your heart on what matters to you at the time. Even without words. Just focus on others, your ministry, yourself, whatever is a burden at that time.

Prayer is both simple and powerful. Try it sometime.

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Merely Religion

May 12, 2014

Just going through the motions.

That’s what many people think of when they internally define the word “religion.” They think that “religious people” merely “recite” prayers.

My wife was raised in a fundamentalist, independent Baptist church. She was taught many misconceptions about other people and their religions. The teachings about Catholicism were so off the mark, for example, that her mother was amazed to discover that the Catholic Bible was pretty much the same as hers. She was probably 60 at that time.

I’m part of a generation that tended to reject “organized” religion. When I was younger, I thought that true worship had to be in “house churches.” There was a movement in the 70s. I only reluctantly joined (actually rejoined) a denominational church back then. Now, of course, I’m sucked into the structure.

Our pastor hit on something yesterday. “Respect for God without intimacy with God is religion.”

You can respect God, yet not live with Him. You can respect God, yet fail to try to live a pleasing life. You can respect God by coming to a worship service, yet feel nothing. You can even sing the hymns, yet be unmoved.

Jesus pretty much didn’t discuss formal religion often, and when he did it was to point out the hypocrisy of the leading practitioners. He taught right relationship and right living.

The reason to develop Spiritual discipline–reading, study, meditation, prayer, simplicity, worship, praise, fasting, and the rest–is that these practices have been proven over many centuries to aid people in developing that right relationship with God through Jesus in the Spirit. As your focus is sharpened every morning through practice, the life you live that day will be more pleasing to God.

Worship does not have to be going through the motions, yet for many it unfortunately is.

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Gratitude Even When You Don’t Feel It

April 29, 2014

Some days, I just don’t feel grateful.

A long, long time ago when I first got into supervision in manufacturing, my boss told me that it would not be technical problems that ate your time and energy. It would be people problems. And it’s true. Everywhere I look recently, it seems that there are people problems blocking my path. Have several now.

I try to teach people about the value of mindfulness. When I sat in my chair this morning to meditate on this post, my thoughts went everywhere. No focus. No mindfulness. I’d come back to the present and then suddenly realize I was off thinking about something else.

There is a recurring to-do item in my Nozbe Getting Things Done planner (affiliate link) to make a list of people and things for which I’m grateful. I often ignore it.

That makes it even more important to my mental/emotional/spiritual well being to stop and contemplate all the blessings which deserve gratitude.

  • People who’ve come into my life
  • A meaningful ministry that can bring spiritual growth to many
  • Choices that led to a simple lifestyle that reduces financial worry
  • The ability to think and write
  • The ability to listen to God when He metaphorically kicks me in the pants and tells me to get over emotional despair
  • Opportunities beyond which I could never even dream as a kid in a very small town in a very rural area

Thanks for listening. What’s your list? Even just writing that list brought to mind many thoughts and prayers for each item. It’s good to make yourself stop in the midst of mental and spiritual distraction and make a list.

Now to go tackle those people problems.

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Cultivate A Powerful Mind

April 7, 2014

Twenty minutes of quiet meditation daily rewires your brain to tap into and grow the regions responsible for a more positive outlook on life.

How many people do you know that just can’t settle down? They can’t take time to focus on just one idea at a time. Their thoughts are scattered all over and their anxieties multiply.

Is that somewhere that you’ve been? Or are now?

Brain researchers are discovering that the brain need not harden and weaken as it grows older. It can, in fact, continue to grow, add “wiring”, become more integrated. It just needs new experiences to keep it malleable and growing.

True confession–I have never read any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes novels. I own one in paperback that I don’t think I ever read. But I’ve gotten hooked on the CBS series Elementary, the Sherlock Holmes movies and the BBC adaptation mini-series on PBS. I’ve been learning about Holmes’ thought process.

Maria Konnikova has written a well researched book on Holmes’ thought process intertwined with the latest on brain research. The book is Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes. I recommend it.

Toward the end of the book, she says, “If you get only one thing out of this book, it should be this: the most powerful mind is the quiet mind. It is the mind that is present, reflective, mindful of its thoughts and it’s state. It doesn’t often multitask, and when it does, it does so with a purpose.”

I have struggled with overcoming the busy mind, anxieties, lack of focus on my life. I’m sure many others have. I’ve also spent almost 50 years researching and experiencing and reflecting on this topic. She nails it.

And every time I drift, something calls me back to a quiet mind, focus, being present in the moment.

Here are a few things I’ve discovered:

  • Start the day with quiet time, maybe a cup of coffee or tea, just relaxing and focusing on breath. (remember that in the Hebrew and Greek of the Bible breath, wind and spirit are the same word)
  • Take a break during the day at times to move around to break the momentum of stress
  • Become aware of yourself and your thoughts that reside in the background, when they are not helpful, stop and take a few deep breaths
  • Turn off email and phone when you need to concentrate on reading or work
  • When you listen, listen; when you read, read; when you meditate, mediate–become fully aware of only the present moment

Peace.

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Watching and Overcoming Your Emotions

March 20, 2014

I am carrying an idea that I need to lose 10 lbs. People look at me and ask why, but I am at the top of “good” on the Body Mass Index. I think I’d be healthier if I were down in the middle–or about 10 lbs. lighter.

I make poor food choices at times and get lazy at the gym and drop to a brisk walk rather than run. The problem is really me. Like many people, I look for shortcuts. I used to drink an herbaI concoction called BrainTonIQ that was supposed to enhance brain functions and banish what the Desert Fathers called the “noon day demon” or that lethergy after lunch. The company developed TrimTonIQ that was supposed to promote weight loss. It is herbal, but that does not mean harmless.

My body started feeling different at times. What I really noticed was feelings almost like paranoia–people were against me. (Heck, maybe they really were, but that’s beside the point.) It was more akin to anxiety attacks.

I read a blog post recently about ways to start your morning like successful people do. The writer suggested one thing is to journal. In this way you think about feelings. That’s a good thing to do. You don’t need Freud or Jung or James. The Desert Fathers discovered much during their times of solitude the first two centuries after the founding of the Christian church.

They recognized that feelings can interfere with a Spiritual life. They categorized them. Arranged them into hierarchies. They talked about how to put them behind you so that you could concentrate on God.

I don’t remember what I was reading and taking notes on when it occurred to me what was going on. Immediately my mind went to diet. What had changed. Ah, the tonic. I poured out close to $50 worth of the stuff right then. Down the drain.

I know people whose emotions have been stirred by medications. I know people who just live mired in their emotions. I get lost into emotion at times. After all, it is a physical/mental response of the body.

Do as the Desert Fathers taught. Find space to contemplate what is going on in your self. What feelings have changed? What feelings are dominant. Are they interfering with prayer, study, meditation and relationships? Find the cause. Overcome emotions in order to truly live in the Spirit of God.

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The Truth About You

March 19, 2014

John Ortberg, senior pastor of the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, is teaching a series now on “The Truth About You.” He says, “The truth about you is that you don’t know the truth about you.”

The most famous phrase on this subject is the inscription at the Temple of Delphi, home of the so-called Delphic Oracle, which says, “Know Thyself.” Christian theologians have picked up that phrase over the centuries–including Clement of Alexandria, Augustine, John Calvin.

During the course of years of my meditating, there have been periods where recurring images would come to me. I’d explore the images during meditation. Sometimes reflecting on them. Then some conclusion would happen, and I would never revisit that image again. Doesn’t mean that I forgot them. I just never went back to that experience.

Paul begins his letter to the Romans talking about how sinful we are. Those can be just words. In my meditations many years ago, there was an image that recurred over the course of many months.

One day during meditation, I opened a door and came face-to-face with all of my sins and all of the sins that I was (am) capable of committing. It was a a shocking experience.

Later, I could understand Romans. And other such works. Forget that I’m so good. I know that within me is the power if unchained has great capability for committing evil deeds.

I’ve said that I’m not really a “Lent” person. It was just never in my heritage and I’ve not picked it up very much. If we take it as a time of reflection of how much bad we have done and how much we are capable of doing, then the release from all that sin and evil (a subsequent experience in that series of meditations) is all the more sweet. That would be the climax of Lent–the celebration of Easter and the Resurrection.

Know yourself. It’s hard. It’s necessary.

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