I have shared this with my congregation, as a way of spiritually connecting over Good Friday. I hope it blesses you too.
Pastor Micah
Friends and family at Life’s Journey,
To help you find center and peace during this Easter season, with so much anxiety and stress, I have put together a special online service of prayer and worship. This email includes the Holy Saturday prayer service. Please feel free to join in these services of prayer and reflection at your leisure.
Prayerfully,
Pastor Micah Royal, Life’s Journey United Church of Christ
I have shared this with my congregation, as a way of spiritually connecting over Good Friday. I hope it blesses you too.
Pastor Micah
Friends and family at Life’s Journey,
To help you find center and peace during this Easter season, with so much anxiety and stress, I have put together a special online service of prayer and worship both for Good Friday and Holy Saturday (the Saturday before Easter Sunday). This email includes the Good Friday prayer service. Please feel free to join in these services of prayer and reflection at your leisure.
Prayerfully,
Pastor Micah Royal, Life’s Journey United Church of Christ
I am doing a series of videos and instructions for meditation practices for my job with hospice as a chaplain or spiritual counselor, to support our nurses and other staff in dealing with stress.
As others have told me they thought it might help folks outside the hospice and medical world, I am sharing them on my blog as well.
One of the points of lightness and peace for me during this time of shelter in place or stay at home orders has been when I watched the movie “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”. In that film, Tom Hanks plays the famous Mr. Rogers from “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood”. As I watched it I was reminded of the simple undiluted joy and wonder at life I had as a child watching Mr. Rogers, and also of how helpful his mantra “it’s you I like” is for us to hear and say to each other every time we get a chance.
Because of this, I want to share as my meditation a mindfulness practice which Fred Rogers invited people to take part in several times and which seemed to be a central practice of his own life, grounding him in his work as a TV personality, as a lifelong Presbyterian minister, a child educator, and an all around image of wholesomeness and positivity.
First, find a comfortable position to sit or stand. Take deep breaths, slowly letting the bottom of your lungs fill up, holding that breath, and slowly letting the breath leave you. Then repeat that breathing in, holding your breath, and then breathing out, throughout this meditation.
Now, sit or stand comfortably for awhile, just paying attention to the feeling of the breath going in and out of your body.
As you do this, I want in the words of Fred Rogers, “to give you all an invisible gift. A gift of a silent minute to think about those who have helped you become who you are today.”
So take a moment and silently picture the faces of those people in your early life who shaped you positively, helping you develop the best parts of yourselves, helping you become who you are today.
Whose faces do you see? What examples did they show you? What words did they say to you? How does their voice sound in your mind’s eye? What expression do you imagine they would have on their face now as they look at you?
Now, take a moment and picture the faces of those people whose influence as you moved from youth to adulthood helped shape you positively, helping you develop the best parts of yourselves, helping you become who you are today.
Whose faces do you see? What examples did they show you? What words did they say to you? How does their voice sound in your imagination? What expression do you imagine they would have on their face now as they look at you?
Now, take a moment and picture the faces of those in the more recent years who have influenced you, helping sustain you in life and positively opening you up more fully to the best best parts of yourselves, in all the different roles you’ve filled in adulthood.
Whose faces do you see? What examples did they show you? What words did they say to you? How does their voice sound in your imagination? What expression do you imagine they would have on their face now if they looked at you?
In Mr. Rogers’ words, during one time he led this meditation, “Whomever you’ve been thinking about, imagine how grateful they must be, that during your silent times, you remember how important they are to you. It’s not the honors and the prizes, and the fancy outsides of life which ultimately nourish our souls. It’s the knowing that we can be trusted. That we never have to fear the truth. That the bedrock of our lives, from which we make our choices, is very good stuff.”
As you pay attention to that sense of gratitude and of belonging, I want to read the words of Mr. Rogers’ often repeated song from his famous TV show:
“It’s you I like,
It’s not the things you wear,
It’s not the way you do your hair
But it’s you I like
The way you are right now,
The way down deep inside you
Not the things that hide you,
Not your toys
They’re just beside you.
“But it’s you I like
Every part of you.
Your skin, your eyes, your feelings
Whether old or new.
I hope that you’ll remember
Even when you’re feeling blue
That it’s you I like,
It’s you yourself
It’s you.
It’s you I like.” Let that sense that inside you is alot of goodness, the very goodness those who believed in and shaped you to become who you are today saw within you even before you could, fill you. Let it help you find hope and peace in these weary times at work, at home, and in the community.
I am doing a series of videos and instructions for meditation practices for my job with hospice as a chaplain or spiritual counselor, to support our nurses and other staff in dealing with stress.
As others have told me they thought it might help folks outside the hospice and medical world, I am sharing them on my blog as well.
The previous meditation I shared was inspired by the words of Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh.
Today’s meditation is based on a reflection called “Guest House” by Muslim poet Jellaludin Rumi. In it he calls us to recognize and accept all of our feelings and experiences as a part of us, and as potential gifts that make us part of who we are.
I think his invitation is important right now. Now we are all having experiences, some of which are beautiful like a stroll in the midst of our day near flowers or more time with our families, but other times that are hard — fears of catching or spreading illness, or grief at losing people you know. We sometimes just react to these feelings without noticing them, or run from them. Yet our feelings, both pleasant and painful, are there whether we face them or not. If we don’t take care of them they often will high-jack us, causing us to react in ways that don’t help and further our stress. But if we can acknowledge them, they help us.
Here is Rumi’s poem —
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
—
Here is the exercise, I’d like to invite you to take part in. Find a comfortable position to sit or stand. Take deep breaths, slowly letting the bottom of your lungs fill up, holding that breath, and slowly letting the breath leave you. Then repeat that breathing in, holding your breath, and then breathing out, throughout this meditation.
Hold your hands open to the sky, palm up, like you are waiting to catch a raindrop or a falling leaf.
Now focus on what you feel in this moment. It might be worry. Or anger. Or gratitude. It might be laughter. Or delight. Or loneliness. Or peace of mind.
Imagine that you are holding that feeling, whether pleasant or painful in your hand. Focus on that feeling, letting it wash over you. What brought it up? What is easy about it? What is hard? How does it feel in your body. Whether pleasant or painful, what does it teach you about your life now? About your desires, hopes, needs, and fears? About others? About your world.
Now turn your hands over, palm down, and let the feeling go. Imagine it is a leaf that rested gently on your palm, which you are now letting drift down out of your hand to the ground below you. Breathe the feeling out, imagining it returning to the earth.
Then turn your palm back up, and pay attention to another feeling you have in this moment or have had this day, and do the same: imagine yourself holding it in your hand. Let it wash over you. Ask what it teaches you. Turn your palms down, and return it to the earth.
Do this again and again, for several minutes.
When it feels complete, let’s end this time of meditation.
This is a meditation that helps me accept hard and happy feelings, but also helps me find space from them so I can, after having taken a moment, return with focus to help others here and now. I hope this meditation helps you.
I am doing a series of videos and instructions for meditation practices for my job with hospice as a chaplain or spiritual counselor, to support our nurses and other staff in dealing with stress.
As others have told me they thought it might help folks outside the hospice and medical world, I am sharing them on my blog as well.
I hope these help you!
Micah
I am going to be sharing a number of meditation exercises I and others I’ve worked with find helpful, each rooted in a different spiritual tradition. Mindfulness and meditation involve practices that help us become more aware of ourselves, our world, and others, while also helping us reduce stress in high-stress situations. By changing our relationship with the stressful situation and the emotions we are feeling, mindfulness and meditation techniques also help increase our focus and attention at work, in relationships, and in all aspects of life.
Right now I think those of us serving in hospice and in medical settings are carrying alot of stress and can be helped by mindfulness and meditation. I think this is a concern outside the hospice world and medical settings too, since we are collectively all dealing with new and unforeseen fears and anxieties.
Because of this I am going to be providing some virtual sessions on various mindfulness or meditation exercises I will make available both on Youtube videos and also in written pieces.
I will share a video with other, further sessions too, to help those who learn better by listening, seeing, or doing.
Since no culture or religion has the monopoly on mindfulness or meditation practices, I am going to try to share forms of mindfulness and meditation rooted in different spiritual traditions as I share.
The first and maybe most basic kind of mindfulness technique I can share is a “body scan”.
During a body scan, first find a comfortable position to sit or stand. Take deep breaths, slowly letting the bottom of your lungs fill up, holding that breath, and slowly letting the breath leave you. Then repeat that breathing in, holding your breath, and then breathing out, throughout this meditation.
Now, sit or stand comfortably for awhile, just paying attention to the feeling of the breath going in and out of your body.
You will find your attention wavering, with thoughts, feelings, questions, worries, hopes, flooding your mind and pulling your attention away from you body again and again.
When this happens, return attention to your breath. Don’t berate yourself for lack of attention, but just treat that recognition that you are focused on other things like a “return to class bell” that might have called you back from recess at school. Return your attention to your breath.
Once you’ve gotten some peace with returning to your breath, after several minutes, now in turn, focus on each part of your body — beginning with the top of your head, whether with long hair or shorn short like mine. Pay attention to how it feels, whether comfortable or tense, pleasant or painful, breathing in and out your experience of it.
Then go down to your face, your neck, your shoulders — taking time paying attention to how you feel in each part. When your mind wanders again, just let your noticing it is wandering be like that “return from recess” bell to call you back to the body scan, moving back to the last part you focused on.
Continue until you feel the soles of your feet. As you finish, imagine your whole body like a tree, with the soles of your feet like tree roots, spreading deep into your own consciousness and enabling you to stand secure and strong where you are.
As that image fills you, hear the words of Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh:
“The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.”
I have shared this with my congregation, as a way of spiritually connecting over Good Friday. I hope it blesses you too.
I am doing a series of videos and instructions for meditation practices for my job with hospice as a chaplain or spiritual counselor, to support our nurses and other staff in dealing with stress.
This being human is a guest house.
I am doing a series of videos and instructions for meditation practices for my job with hospice as a chaplain or spiritual counselor, to support our nurses and other staff in dealing with stress.
progressiveredneckpreacher 