As part of a wellness challenge coordinated by my Pilates instructor Anne I’ve began meditating every day.  The first week our mantra was “I have all the love and support I need.”  The very first day I set the timer on my phone for 5 minutes, only to have it ring and be sure that I had made some error.  The time breathing through that mantra had quickly evaporated.  This week our goal is to have a daily 10 minute long session for meditation.  I edited the mantra to be “I move through life with grace and purpose”. After reading Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind years ago I had occasionally meditated, but this is the first time I have engaged in regular practice.  I am finding a big change in my anxiety levels this week.  I feel calmer and more focused.  My spirit is buoyant and I can see some of the ways I have let my fear be a barrier to my work in the new start. What is really eye opening is how clearly this mediation practice is a form of prayer.  My time spent breathing centers me in a truth bigger than myself.  Maybe sometimes I’ll use a more clearly prayerful mantra like”God is present in all things and people”, but whatever I say I know that this time and encouragement restores my spirit and readies me for the ministry God is calling me into here in Sellwood.

Each of us needs new spiritual practices from time to time as we live our lives.  I’m so excited to have found this new space of growth and renewal.  At dinner on Thursday several people made commitments to finding ways to pray and center daily.  Some are writing, some are knitting, some are using a devotional, some are using time tied to daily routines like showering to pray.  There are lots of ways for us to allow our spirits to grow.  I hope we can all find such ways as we journey together.

-Eilidh

Guatemalan men chanting with incense and rose petals.