Mandala Spiritual Practice

From Judith Veeder:

Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning "to have possession of one's essence." It is a sacred circle with a centerpoint, a universal image that has long been a source of the experience of oneness and wisdom. It uses symbolic forms to draw out truth from the unconscious. These symbols help connect our inner life to our outer life.

The making of the mandala requires from us an attitude of receptivity and reverence. It is a search for and a recording of our deepest self at one moment in time and serves as a container for our deepest emotions. A mandala may be drawn, painted, sculpted, and even danced. It may involve recognizable symbols or it may take an abstract form.

From Aletheia Luna:

“A mandala is a map, a model of the world, a model of the mind, and a powerful visual device to invoke specific consciousness states. Like sigils and symbols, mandalas touch the deeper layers of the mind.” (Jan Fries)

The fact that mandalas reach the deepest layers of our minds was something well understood by psychologist-sage Carl Jung. In his book Jung and Shamanism, C. Michael Smith explores how Jung would use the mandala as a doorway into the psyche:

“In the mornings he would sketch a circle in his notebooks, a mandala ... and within it he would draw what he felt to be his inner situation at the time ... Jung discovered that through such drawings he could observe his own psychic transformations from day to day. Gradually it began to dawn on Jung that the mandala is really a mirror of the psyche in its totality.”

Jung was also known to incorporate mandalas into his psychotherapy practice with patients. Intuitively, I believe we can all sense that the mandala represents wholeness. It is an image that is both fractured and whole at the same time – just like us human beings.

So why not try drawing your own mandala? It’s simple.

HOW

From Judith Veeder:

To begin a mandala, it is often helpful to have soft, meditative music in the background. You will need to have paper or a journal page, a pencil, and a compass for making the circle guide, crayons, pastels, markers, or paints.

Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed for about thirty minutes. Close your eyes for a few minutes and become aware of your breathing. With each breath, let go of concerns, centering on the experience.

Open your eyes and look at the colors in front of you. Remembering that being receptive is important, allow a color to "choose" you. Begin at the center of the mandala with whatever form suggests itself to you. Work outward from the center. When you are finished with your mandala, you may wish to write about it, date it, and give it a title.

From Aletheia Luna:

Just get a piece of paper and a pencil. There’s no need to get fancy with colors if you don’t want to. If drawing a mandala intimidates you, find a mandala image to meditate on. There are many freely available mandala images on the internet.

Make this into a daily practice and journal about what you experience and feel.
For a short (3:55) video on how to do this, see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U49TaN-MkM8

For an alternative to drawing mandalas, you may choose to color them in. Find mandalas for coloring here:
https://mondaymandala.com/m

Draft Your Obituary

Practice of the Week
Draft Your Obituary

Category: Occasional: These are practices suggested for "every once in a while." Some of them are responses to a particular need that may arise; others are simply enriching occasional enhancements to the spiritual life. All of them are worth a try at least once. And any of them might become a regular and central part of your spiritual practice.

This exercise is from Robert Hardies. He writes:

I heard a piece on the radio. It was a report from the annual convention of obituary writers in America. I hadn’t realized obituary writers had a convention. But the report revealed some interesting things about the particular beat. It turns out that editors from papers like the New York Times and Washington Post do some calculations to try to figure out what famous people might be dying in the near future. And on the basis of those predictions, editors assign reporters to interview these “subjects” about their lives and ask them how they want to be remembered. Obituaries are written and filed under lock and key until the appropriate time. Apparently, this is how obituary writers stay ahead of the game.

Most of us will never get the opportunity to have a newspaper reporter come to our homes and solicit the story of our lives. And most of us won’t make the obituary page of a national newspaper. But the story of our lives matters deeply too. It matters to us and to our conscience. It matters to those whose lives we touch. To our loved ones. If your faith is like mine and you believe that we all can play a role in shaping the unfolding drama of creation, then the story of our lives matters on an ultimate level, too.

So let us be good and faithful stewards of our lives stories. Let’s pay attention to how the story is unfolding. Go home today and write your obituary as if tomorrow were the last day of your life. Would the story you tell reflect what’s most important?

This week, give it a try! Use your journal -- or any piece of paper, or your computer keyboard.

* * *
List of all weekly practices: "Practices of the Week Index"

Unitask

Practice of the Week
Unitask

Category: Occasional: These are practices suggested for "every once in a while." Some of them are responses to a particular need that may arise; others are simply enriching occasional enhancements to the spiritual life. All of them are worth a try at least once. And any of them might become a regular and central part of your spiritual practice.

“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally... When we commit ourselves to paying attention in an open way, without falling prey to our own likes and dislikes, opinions and prejudices, projections and expectations, new possibilities open up and we have a chance to free ourselves from the straitjacket of unconsciousness.” (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

In our busy lives, how often do we find ourselves doing more than one thing at a time? Many days, it seems that multi-tasking is an ingrained part of life.

For ONE WEEK stop multi-tasking. Sounds simple, right? Try it and see how it feels. You may find you want to do this all the time -- not just occasionally.

For example, work on the computer without the TV or radio on, or drive the car without listening to the radio or a CD. Exercise or eat in silence. When you fold the laundry, only fold the laundry, without also talking on the phone or watching TV.

"Research conducted at Stanford University found that multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time. Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully. Research also shows that, in addition to slowing us down, multitasking lowers your IQ." (Udemy course description)

"The world’s greatest fictional detective is someone who knows the value of concentration, of “throwing his brain out of action,” as Dr. Watson puts it. He is the quintessential unitasker in a multitasking world. More often than not, when a new case is presented, Holmes does nothing more than sit back in his leather chair, close his eyes and put together his long-fingered hands in an attitude that begs silence. He may be the most inactive active detective out there. His approach to thought captures the very thing that cognitive psychologists mean when they say mindfulness. When we learn to unitask, to think more in line with Holmes’s detached approach, we may be doing more than increasing our observational prowess. We may be investing in a sounder mental future — no matter how old we are." (Maria Konnikova, "The Power of Concentration," NYTimes)

"Every day, I call my mother in the assisted living facility where she now lives, back in France. Every time, I struggle with staying present with her, as she keeps on asking the same questions, over and over again. Is everyone ok? When do I see you next? How is the oldest one (my daughter)? How is baby (my brother's child)? Boredom sets in, and I catch myself multitasking. Glancing at computer screen, checking on latest tweets, reading the news, . . . meanwhile talking to her. Today, I purposely resisted the urge, and chose to only be with her. And found a whole stack of emotions, underneath boredom. First, was aversion to situation, wishing for times past without Alzheimer's. Then, came sadness, from the irrevocable loss. Then, empathy for her, and what must be a terrifying experience. Today, I make another vow. To 'unitask', as much as possible." (Marguerite Maneau-Rao)

For Journaling

How does doing one thing at a time feel?

* * *
For list of all weekly practices: "Practices of the Week Index"

Integrity Exercises

Practice of the Week
Integrity Exercises

Category: OCCASIONAL or WORTH A TRY. Some of these are good one-time exercises to do -- and mabye re-do every once in a while -- quarterly or annually, say. Some practices in this category are great for responding to a particular need that may arise in your life. Others are simply enriching occasional enhancements to the spiritual life. Among these practices you may find the one particular practice that becomes "Your Thing" -- your main and central spiritual practice -- or a Key Supporting Practice. Most of these are worth a try one time, even if you never do them again.

Integrity entails being clear about your values, and acting consistently with your values. Are you clear about your values? Do your self-proclaimed values match how others see you? Exercise #1 invites you to wrestle with these questions.

Exercise #1: Your Values

1. Look over this list of values and select the FIVE that are most important to you.
accountability
achievement
adventure
authenticity
balance (work/life)
boldness
mentoring others
charity
commitment
community
compassion
competence
courage
creativity
diversity
education
excellence
fairness
faithfulness
family
financial stability
forgiveness
freedom
friendship
generosity
hard work
health
honesty
humility
humor/ fun
independence
job security
kindness
leadership
learning
loyalty
originality
patience
personal growth
physical fitness
self-care
self-discipline
self-respect
social justice
spirituality
success
trust
vulnerability

2. Show this list to someone close to you and ask them to pick the values they think are most important to you – without letting them know which ones you picked earlier.

3. Compare lists and discuss the differences, as well as why each of you picked what you did.

4. Here are some additional questions and an activity to explore more:

• From your selected five values, which one would like to live into more fully?
• What were your parent(s) five core values? In what way are your core values and theirs the most same and the most different?
• Which of your core values are most directly and deeply related to your UU faith? i.e. which value would not be on the list if it wasn’t for your faith?
• What’s the newest value to make it on to your list of top five? Which value did it “replace”? Did that happen consciously? Or did the shift sneak up on you?
• Try the free online Personal Values Assessment from the Barrett Values Centre: Personal Values Assessment (PVA) - Barrett Values Centre

* * *

Integrity is about acting in alignment with our values, honestly and faithfully. In this sense, it is forward-looking. But integrity also is about looking backward. It’s also about how well we remember. Important life lessons come our way. Some of them stick and some slip away. Our integrity is determined by whether we remember them or forget, whether we hold our life lessons close or let them evaporate. Exercise #2 asks: What life lessons do you want to make an extra effort to remember?

Exercise #2: Remembering Our Way into Integrity

Create a list of “5 life lessons I want to remember.” Think of it as self-talk. As your better self-helping your forgetful self-return to your center. Pull out a sheet of paper or pull up a document on your computer or phone and type out a list numbered 1-5. Then spend a week or two coming back to your list and filling it in with the pieces of wisdom or advice that are important to you but that you also often forget.

Here are some example reminders to get you thinking. Remember that:
failure stings but regret haunts;
masks that stay on too long will stick to my skin;
assuming good intentions is not only kind-hearted but also creates those good intentions in others;
the only audience I am really trying to please is myself;
I always have a choice;
I am different not less;
everyone is carrying pain, even if I can’t see it, so be kind;
I’m not the only one that feels like an imposter;
if they ask me to keep a piece of me hidden, this is not where I belong;
I’ve already “made it” and I’m already enough, so I can put the striving and the proving down whenever I need to;
they will likely laugh or leave but do it anyway.

* * *

Exercise #3 also asks us to explore the connection between integrity and memory. Instead of asking us to remember a specific value or life lesson, it asks us to remember all of who we are. It’s a reminder that integrity is about finding and holding on to our wholeness.

Exercise #3: Name Your Many Names

"Each of Us Has a Name," by Israeli poet, Zelda (1914-1984), tells us that integrity is a matter not so much of holding tight to your one true name, but remembering and embracing the many names given to us by the experiences of our lives.

Each of Us Has a Name
Zelda

Each of us has a name, given by God –
given by our parents.
Each of us has a name, given by our stature –
and our smile –
and given by what we wear.
Each of us has a name, given by the mountain –
given by our walls.

Each of us has a name, given by the stars –
given by our neighbors.
Each of us has a name, given by our sins –
given by our longing.
Each of us has a name, given by our enemies –
given by our love.
Each of us has a name, given by our celebrations –
given by our work.

Each of us has a name, given by the seasons –
given by our blindness.
Each of us has a name, given by the sea –
given by our death.

Suzzy and Maggie Roche produced a sung version of Zelda’s poem. You can hear it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsI1m-kRBtA

The poem mentions 19 sources of naming: God (or Love), parents, our stature, our smile, what we wear, the mountain, our walls, the stars, our neighbors, our sins, our longing, our enemies, our love, our celebrations (holidays), our work, the seasons, our blindness (closed-mindedness), the sea, our death (mortality).

How have each of these 19 “named you”? How do those names call you back to integrity? Spend a few hours, or a few days, going through Zelda’s poem line by line. How have each of those experiences imprinted itself on you and added a dimension to the wholeness and integrity of who you are?

Imagine each of the 19 saying to you, “You are _____” or “I name you _____.”
You are asking yourself: How did my first God experience say to me: “You are …”?
How has my relationship with my parents said to me: “You are …”?
How has my experience with mountains/nature said to me: “You are …”?
How has my experience with my shadow side or mistakes (“sins”) said to me: “You are …”?
And so on for all 19.

After answering the questions, consider assembling all your names into a list that functions as a poem of sorts. What surprised you about this exercise? What insights did you gain?

These exercises are from the 2021 Mar issue of On the Journey.

On the Journey, Jun: Borders/Boundaries

The June issue of "On the Journey" has arrived! HERE

We'll be exploring BORDERS AND BOUNDARIES. Don't miss it, and don't miss your Journey Group meeting to get together to work with this issue!

Here's your preparation:

"Poems," p. 2.

• Henry Bellamann, "Edges."
• Bei Dao, "The Boundary."
• Richard Wright, "Between the World and Me."
• Tyler Knott Gregson, "From Wildly Into the Dark."
• Sophie Jewett, "Across the Border."

Do any of these speak to you? Reveal a new perspective?

"Border/Boundary Quotations," p. 3. Which quote is your favorite? Why?

Readings:

• "The Harder I Look, the Blurrier Things Get"
• "The Boundary of Identity: The 'Ship of Theseus' Problem"
• "We Are Stories and Stardust"
• "The Threshold"
• "Defying Limits: Lessons from the Edge of the Universe"
• "Letters to a Young Poet"
• "Why Boundaries are Overrated -- Even at Work"
• "Strangers in Their Own Land"
• "Lines and Boundaries: An Orange County Almanac"
• "Advent Manifesto: Does My Soul Still Sing"
• "Why Sex is Not Binary"
• "The US Border is Bigger than you Think"
• "No Old Maps Actually Say 'Here Be Dragons' -- But an Ancient Globe Does"

Questions, p. 11.

1. Do you stay away from boundaries or push them?
2. Are you afraid of or attracted to crossing boundaries?
3. Do you have a border between your personal and professional selves?
4. Does the “Ship of Theseus” conundrum reveal a disturbing challenge to our ideas about the bounds of our identity?
5. What has it done to our sense national borders to have seen, since the late 1960s, photos of Earth from outer space – where no national borders (except coasts) appear?
6. What is the importance of respecting boundaries in a marriage? (see Rilke excerpt)
7. How do we cross “the empathy wall” – and does it matter if we do? (see Hochschild piece)
8. Are efforts to eradicate an invasive species analogous to a kind of “ethnic” cleansing? (see James Brown piece)
9. Are boundaries – such as between work life and personal life – overrated, as Courtney Martin argues?
10. What do you make of the border between grief and grievance? (see Lederach piece)
11. Anne Fausto-Sterling notes, “By birth a baby has five layers of sex” – chromosomal, gonadal, hormonal, internal reproductive organs, and external genitals. Each of these “layers” is nonbinary – and the sex-direction of one layer may conflict with other layers. How does this awareness change one’s perception of the boundary between male and female?

Our Spiritual Exercise: What are the borders between people – between groups of people – that justice and compassion calls us to cross? This month, can you identify such a border that you have tacitly observed – and then cross that border?

The link to the current and all past issues of On the Journey can always be found at cucmatters.org/p/journey-groups.htm

Let Go and Have Faith

Practice of the Week
Let Go and Have Faith

Category: Occasional. These are practices suggested for "every once in a while." Some of them are responses to a particular need that may arise; others are simply enriching occasional enhancements to the spiritual life. All of them are worth a try at least once. And any of them might become a regular and central part of your spiritual practice.

For this exercise, we will consider faith in its aspect of trust.

For the Western religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), faith involves trust in God. The core idea is that we don’t have to take responsibility for everything. How things turn out is, of course, an interactive mixture of what we do and what is beyond our control. Yet sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking we control what we do not.

One of our “secret” strategies for control involves “shoulding.” I try to ensure that other people – or even inanimate objects – will behave in the way I want by clinging tightly to a belief that they should behave that way. Thus, when somebody (maybe me) fails to be and do as they should, and the result is that things don’t turn out as I want, I get upset. Trust (whether in God, or in society, or in the universe) involves letting go of trying to control everything – including letting go of shoulding. There are two levels.

Level A: Trusting that things will work out the way I want them to
Level B: Trusting that things will work out in a way that is really and deeply OK even if it’s very different from what I would have wanted.

“Level B,” of course, gets more to the essence of faith – which reminds us that acceptance as well as trust are central aspects of faith.

Your exercise, then, is:

For one week try letting go of something that you normally spend energy “shoulding” about or otherwise trying to control. Just let go of worrying and meddling with it. In other words: pick one thing that you habitually expend energy to control -- and then step back and let go of as much control as you can over that thing. Have faith that it will turn out OK (even if it isn’t what you would have thought you’d want).

Examples might be:
-If you always follow a recipe when you cook, try making something elaborate and original with no recipe.
-If there is some assignment that your assistant or co-worker carries out with your careful oversight, trying letting them "fly solo" this time.
-Trust your kid in a way you haven't before.
-Try giving your next presentation with fewer notes than you usually rely upon.
-Set aside time for being outdoors (beach, woods, etc.) -- but do not check the weather forecast -- avoid any source that might mention what the weather will be. If it rains, or is too cold (or hot), adapt on the fly.
-Or, if this is the sort of thing that would be novel for you, go into the city without a plan. Just see what catches your fancy.
-If you carefully pair your socks before putting them in the drawer, next time you do laundry, throw all the sock in the drawer loose.
-Go on a "news fast." For one week, read (watch, or listen to) no news media. Let the world take care of itself for a week.
-Pick something that you're a fastidious perfectionist about, and do a half-assed job one time. (Who knows? By aiming at "half-assed," it may turn out even better!)

NOTE: Do exercise reasonable prudence in selecting something to let go of. Stepping back and trusting your toddler to make it across a busy street by himself would probably not be a good choice.

For Journaling

Write about the experience. What was hard about it? What was surprisingly easy?
.

* * *

PRACTICES INDEX

Take the Resilience Inventory

Practice of the Week
Take a Resilience Inventory

Category: Occasional. These are practices suggested for "every once in a while." Some of them are responses to a particular need that may arise; others are simply enriching occasional enhancements to the spiritual life. All of them are worth a try at least once. And any of them might become a regular and central part of your spiritual practice.

From First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque, NM, drawing on:
Al Siebert, “13 Ways to Develop Your Resiliency";
Brad Waters, "10 Traits of Emotionally Resilient People,";
a Harvard Medical School symposium, HERE.

Take this resilience inventory. Read the qualities listed below. For each quality, mark a + (plus) by the ones at which you world rate yourself as reasonably proficient. Mark a ^ (up arrow) by the ones in which you don’t feel proficient and want to work on.
Alternative: mark a + (plus) by the THREE at which you're most proficient. Mark a ^ (up arrow) by the THREE at which you're least proficient.

_____ Constantly learn from experience. James Joyce said, “A man of genius makes no mistakes; his errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.”

• Consider some difficult experiences you havehad in your life. Ask yourself: What is the lesson to be learned here? Think of a key lesson you have learned from a stressful experience that you later applied to another situation.

_____ Have good friendships, loving relationships. Talking with friends and family diminishes the
impact of difficulties and increases feelings of self-worth, self-confidence and connectedness.

• Think of a time when talking to someone made a dramatic difference to you as you were going through a difficult situation.

_____ Express feelings honestly. Highly resilient people can express anger, love, dislike,
appreciation, grief – the entire range of emotions honestly and openly. They can be vulnerable with
those they trust and can also suppress their feelings when they believe it best to do so.

• Think of a time when were you able to express your feelings clearly and openly.

_____ Willing to sit in silence. We are masters of distraction: TV, overeating, abusing drugs, gossip,
etc. We all react differently; some shut down, others ramp up. Somewhere in the middle is
mindfulness, one of the oldest forms of healing and resilience building.

• How well are you able to be mindful? What might you do to improve this quality in your life?

_____ Practice acceptance. Pain is painful, stress is stressful, and healing takes time. When we’re in
the middle of it, we want the pain to go away. Acceptance is not about giving up, it’s about leaning in
to experience the full range of emotions, trusting that we will bounce back.

• How well are you able to accept your emotions when you experience a major setback?

____ Have solid self-esteem. Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself. It acts as a buffer against
hurtful statements and destructive events. It is based on inner factors such as attributes, values and
principles rather than external factors such as job title, income level, physical attributes, and others’
opinions.

• Complete this sentence: 3 things I really like about myself are:...

_____ Practice forgiveness. There is a strong correlation between forgiveness, hope, and
depression. We may not forget what happened, but we can forgive.

• Think of a situation when you have forgiven someone (or yourself), and that forgiveness has enriched your life in some way.

_____ Mentally and emotionally flexible; comfortable with contradictory personality qualities.
Being both strong and gentle; sensitive and tough; logical and intuitive; serious and playful, etc. are a
few.

• List a couple of contradictory personality qualities you have.

_____ Find purpose or meaning. Viktor Frankl said that to live happily, humans don’t require the
absence of suffering, but “the call of potential meaning.”
Recall a time when you found and focused

• on the meaningful parts of a misfortune or struggle you experienced.

_____ Expect things to work out well. Look for the joy. Research shows that people who cultivate
positive emotion generally deal much better with adversity.

• Find new things to be grateful for, focus on the good, exercise, meditate, do random acts of kindness. If you already practice some of these, think about how they affect your life. Which other practices might you consider adding to your life?

* * *

PRACTICES INDEX

Get Into Your Body

Practice of the Week
Get Into Your Body

Category: Occasional. These are practices suggested for "every once in a while." Some of them are responses to a particular need that may arise; others are simply enriching occasional enhancements to the spiritual life. All of them are worth a try at least once. And any of them might become a regular and central part of your spiritual practice.

James Joyce tells us in his short story, “A Painful Case,” that the story’s protagonist, a Mr. James Duffy, “lived at a little distance from his body.” Maybe you know the feeling. We all have bodies, but we might seek to distance ourselves from them. We might live in our heads, “at a little distance from” our bodies. This exercise is for reducing that distance.

First

Do a "Body Scan Meditation." About 10 mins. Lying down or sitting comfortably:

(a) Lower your eyelids – almost but not quite closing your eyes.

(b) Bring awareness to the body breathing in and out, noticing touch and pressure where it makes
contact with the seat or floor.

(c) When you’re ready (no rush), begin by bringing attention to the bottoms of your feet. Spend a
minute or two exploring what sensations you’re having on the bottoms of your feet. Sensations
might include buzzing, or tingling, pressure, tightness or temperature, or anything else you notice. If
you don’t notice any strong sensations or things feel neutral, simply notice that. Just tune in to
what’s present, as best you can, without judgement. The main point is being curious and open to
what you are noticing, investigating the sensations as fully as possible, and then intentionally
releasing the focus of attention before shifting to the next area to explore.

(d) Move to the tops and sides of the feet, and repeat (c). Then to the ankles, shins, calves, knees,
things, and so on all the way up your body.

(e) Each time your attention wanders, simply notice that this is happening, then gently and kindly
direct your attention back to exploring sensations in the body.

(f) After you’ve reached the top of your head and spent a minute exploring the sensations there,
take a few moments to expand your attention to feeling your entire body breathing freely.

(g) When you’re ready, raise your eyelids and move gently back into the rest of your day.

Second

Do a Movement Exercise. About 5 mins. Find a suitable spot and “move in a way that feels expansive to
you. Open your arms wide, or raise your hand in a high five, or mimic Steve Martin doing his ‘wild and
crazy guy’ shoulder shimmy. Sync that movement with your breathing and notice how that changes
your mood. How did that feel? Do you notice a change in your thinking or energy level?” (Steve
Sisgold)

Third

Bodily Connect to Your Roots. 10-15 mins. (From Steve Sisgold, Whole Body Intelligence). The aim
of this exercise is to discover unconscious movement patterns – increasing self-awareness, and
affording you with choice to change those patterns (which you can’t do if you aren’t aware of them.)
Have your journal handy. Put it to the side, within reach. Sitting comfortably:

(a) Bring to mind the primary person who took care of you – Mom, Dad, Grandma – when you were
small. Choose whoever influenced you the most before age 6.

(b) Close your eyes and, in your mind’s eye, visualize how that person moves or moved through life.
Take a deep breath in and out as you do this, then open your eyes.

(c) Mimic any gestures you recall that person making. She may have swung her hands, scrunched her
nose, or exhaled with a puff when she was frustrated. As you do this, notice what sensations and
emotions you feel.

(d) Get up and walk the way you remember that person walked. After you walk like that, take a
moment to pause and reflect. You are beginning to piece together your movement history.

(e) Write down in your journal: What sensations, emotions, and discoveries do you notice when you
take on the movements of that person? Which of these discoveries are still present in the way you
move through life today? What movement patters or trains did you learn from your parents or
primary caretakers that you would like to change?

Forgiveness Meditation

Practice of the Week
Forgiveness Meditation

Category: Occasional. These are practices suggested for "every once in a while." Some of them are responses to a particular need that may arise; others are simply enriching occasional enhancements to the spiritual life. All of them are worth a try at least once. And any of them might become a regular and central part of your spiritual practice.

Adapted from Stephen Levine

Preparation: For this meditation, you’ll need to recollect three experiences: (1) a time when you were wronged by someone and resented it, (2) a time when you wronged someone else, (3) a time when you wronged or disappointed yourself.

Instructions: Read the meditation all the way through one time before beginning. Then, when you are ready, go through the meditation very slowly. Close your eyes for a few seconds after reading each sentence. When you get to a sentence in italics, speak those words aloud.

Bring into your heart the image of someone for whom you feel much resentment.
Take a moment to feel that person right there in the center of your chest.
Imagine yourself addressing that person, and say:
"For what you did – for anything you may have done -- that caused me pain, whether you did it intentionally or unintentionally, through your thoughts, words, or actions, I forgive you."
Take some time to let your words sink in.
Slowly allow that person to settle into your heart.
No force, just opening to them at your own pace.
Say to them:
"I forgive you."
Gently, gently open to them.
If it hurts, let it hurt.
Begin to relax the iron grip of your resentment, to let go of that incredible anger.
Say to them:
"I forgive you."
And allow them to be forgiven.
Now bring into your heart the image of someone you wish to ask for forgiveness.
Imagine yourself addressing that person, and say:
"For what I did – for anything I may have done -- that caused you pain, whether I did it intentionally or unintentionally, through my thoughts, words, or actions, I ask for your forgiveness.”
Take some time to let your words sink in.
Say to them:
“For all those words that were said out of forgetfulness or fear or confusion, I ask your forgiveness."
Allow yourself to receive forgiveness.
If you notice you are holding any resentment of yourself for what you did, or failed to do, gently set that aside.
Do not allow self-resentment to block your reception of forgiveness.
Let your heart soften to it.
Allow yourself to be forgiven.
Open to the possibility of forgiveness.
Holding the person in your heart, say to them:
"For whatever I may have done that caused you pain, I ask your forgiveness."
Now bring an image of yourself into your heart, floating at the center of your chest.
Bring yourself into your heart, and using your own first name, say to yourself:
“For all that you have done in forgetfulness and fear and confusion, for all the words and thoughts and actions that may have caused pain to anyone, I forgive you.”
Open to the possibility of self-forgiveness.
Let go of all the bitterness, the hardness, the judgment of yourself.
Make room in your heart for yourself.
Say to you:
"I forgive you."

* * *

Or try simply listening to and following an audio recording guiding you through a forgiveness meditation: Here's one from Tara Brach (28:50).

This youtube video forgiveness meditation is from Jason Stephenson:



* * *
See also, Practice of the Week, "Forgive Yourself"
For list of all weekly practices: "Practices of the Week"

Take the Mercy Inventory

Practice of the Week
Take the Mercy Inventory

Category: Occasional. These are practices suggested for "every once in a while." Some of them are responses to a particular need that may arise; others are simply enriching occasional enhancements to the spiritual life. All of them are worth a try at least once. And any of them might become a regular and central part of your spiritual practice.

See how many of these suggestions for showing mercy you can do in one week. Or in two weeks. Or in a month.

adapted from aleteia.org

1. Resist sarcasm; it is the antithesis of mercy.
2. Pare down possessions: share your things with the needy.
3. Call someone who you know is lonely, even if you understand why they’re lonely. Especially if you do.
4. Write a letter of forgiveness to someone.
5. Do something kind and helpful for someone who you don’t get along with, or who has wronged you.
6. Be mindful of your behavior online. Is that post designed to improve your image and leave others feeling bad? Are you hammering people in order to serve your anger and humiliate others?
7. Be generous enough to allow someone to help you; people need to feel needed.
8. If you didn’t mean to be a pain in the neck to someone, admit you were and ask the person to forgive you.
9. Carry around $5 Starbucks and McDonald’s gift cards for the homeless.
10. Take time to contemplate the good qualities of someone who is difficult for you.
11. Send a card, flowers, gift or note to someone on the six-month anniversary of his or her loved one’s death. By then, most people have stopped recognizing their grief.
12. Offer to babysit for a busy mom to go out and have a couple of hours to herself.
13. Make a meal (or buy a gift certificate) for a mom who’s just given birth or adopted a child, or for someone who’s just gone through a loss.
14. Hold. Your. Tongue.
15. Offer to run an errand (groceries, dry cleaning pick-up, dog-walking) for a busy parent or homebound person.
16. If you’re sharing a treat, take the smaller portion.
17. Instead of losing patience with someone online (or in person), try to hear that person’s fear.
18. Recall a time you were not given the benefit of the doubt, and extend one to someone else.
19. Put down the phone and really listen to someone else. With eye contact.
20. Take advantage of sales to buy small toothpastes, soaps, shampoos, socks and feminine products/toiletries; donate them to parish outreaches or make gift bags and have them ready to hand out where needed.
21. Create a short end-of-day ritual to ask for (and extend) forgiveness with those you live with.
22. Make a list of your “enemies.” Then, every day, say a prayer for them.
23. Make a point to smile, greet or make conversation with someone who is not in your everyday circle.
24. Give away something of yours (that you really like) to someone you know would enjoy it.
25. Make a gratitude journal for your spouse and jot down little things he or she does that you’re grateful for.
26. Respond to provocation with the respect you wish a person would show you.
27. Dig out your most attractive stationery and handwrite an actual letter to someone as a means of demonstrating his or her importance to you.
28. Offer to read to someone who is feeling ill or is just feeling blue.
29. Lead with a kind comment with friends as well as strangers.
30. Can you play the piano, or any instrument? Can you recite poetry? Give free “concerts” to the forgotten people in nursing homes and assisted living centers.
31. Go on retreat. It’s a way to be merciful to yourself and the people around you, who know you need to go on retreat. If you cannot do that, at least try to make a day, or evening, of recollection.
32. Offer hospitality in your home to someone or a group of people you would normally never invite over.
33. Pay the parking or toll fee for the person behind you.
34. Pray for your dead.

For Journaling

Each day you are following this practice, write in your journal about it. Which items did you do in the last 24 hours? Describe what you did, how you felt, and what effects of your action you observed.

* * *
For list of all weekly practices: "Practices of the Week Index"

Give Grace a Hand

Practice of the Week
Give Grace a Hand

Category: Occasional. These are practices suggested for "every once in a while." Some of them are responses to a particular need that may arise; others are simply enriching occasional enhancements to the spiritual life. All of them are worth a try at least once. And any of them might become a regular and central part of your spiritual practice.

Grace doesn’t just surprise us; it also often invites us to be part of the surprise. It’s sneaky that way. It likes to enlist us as its partner-in-crime. This exercise asks us to explore that more deeply— it asks us to notice how we are both givers and receivers of grace. Simply put, your challenge is to find a way to bring grace to someone’s life. That may seem simple, but there is one big, challenging rule you must follow: They can’t know you were involved!

Your task is not a generic "do a good deed.” It is to help someone experience life differently. The goal is to remind someone that life itself is generous, not stingy; open, not closed; full of surprises, not full of threats. If they know you are involved, it will only convince them that you are a good guy or gal. Your goal is to convince them that “life is good!”

Here is some inspiration to help you. (Notice that some of these ideas involve you getting grace to many people at once. If that's your calling as well, go for it!):

• See “13 Amazing Random Acts of Kindness To Make You Recover your Faith in Humanity”: oddee.com/item_98410.aspx
• See “Random Acts of Kindness” Pinterest page: pinterest.com/momofmadzakzoe/random-acts-of-kindness/
• Watch the film “Amelie” rottentomatoes.com/m/amelie/

In your journal, tell the story of how you gave grace a hand, and reflect on these questions:

1. Was remaining anonymous harder than you thought? Did the difficulty have more to do with you wanting credit or with you wanting to vicariously experience the recipients joy?
2. Why did you choose the recipient you did? Does this say anything about what kinds of people you think “deserve grace”?
3. How was this spiritual for you? Did it just make you feel happy? Or part of something larger than yourself?
4. Did the recipient have any trouble receiving the gift? Did others have trouble with the fact that they didn’t get the gift themselves?

* * *
For list of all weekly practices: "Practices of the Week Index"

Consciously Dwell in Mystery

Practice of the Week
Consciously Dwell in Mystery

Category: Occasional. These are practices suggested for "every once in a while." Some of them are responses to a particular need that may arise; others are simply enriching occasional enhancements to the spiritual life. All of them are worth a try at least once. And any of them might become a regular and central part of your spiritual practice.

There is something else present in everything you see, hear, touch, taste, or smell. It is the unspeakable – the silence inside the sound, the darkness inside the light, the stillness inside the motion. It is the mystery. It holds us always.

adapted from Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

The Basic Practice

To be spiritual is to have an abiding respect for the great mysteries of life — the profound distinctiveness of other souls, the strange beauty of nature – the worlds of flora and fauna – as well as the ineffable complexity of our inner selves, the unfathomable depths of the universe, inner and outer. The wisdom traditions challenge us to live within a cloud of unknowing. To practice mystery means cherishing the baffling, curious, hidden, and inscrutable dimensions of your existence and the world around you. Live with paradoxes. Give up the idea that you can always "get it.”

What This Practice Is Good For

The practice of mystery enhances our understanding of the complexity of reality. It is an affront to the modern need have answers to every question and our tendency to create tidy systems with a cubbyhole for every problem and aspiration. Of course, some people simply ignore the mysterious because it lies outside the hallowed precincts of reason and logic. The antidote to these reductionist approaches is to rest in the riddle of not knowing. If you sometimes think that answers are wisdom, it is time to try practicing mystery.

How

1. Discern the questions – deep and meaningful questions that resist easy answers. Look at “What is...?” questions like, What is evil? What is love? What is faith? What is justice? Discern the questions that seem to you to point toward something mysterious. Discernment begins in taking some moments for quiet reflection, and continues throughout your day as you hold the question in the back of your mind. Your starter question is: What are my questions? As they emerge, it might be helpful to write down several questions in your journal.

2. Repeatedly ask yourself your questions, but without seeking an answer. If an answer pops up, make a note of it and set it aside. Keep repeating the question. The point is not to come up with an answer, but to simply delve into and be with the mystery to which the question points. You are yearning for understanding with all your heart -- yet are rejecting every articulable understanding that might come to you. (You aren't rejecting them as false, but are setting them aside as "not the full story, not even close.") In this way you cultivate abiding, inarticulable wisdom -- in other words, you come to be at home in mystery.

3. Use cues to remind you to practice mystery.

• Sorting clothes and wondering what happened to the other sock: my cue to practice mystery.
• Passing a funeral parlor or a cemetery: my cue to contemplate mysteries.
• Hearing someone applying a system of explanations for good fortune or illness: my cue to remind myself to respect the complexity and mystery of life.

Create additional cues for yourself to bring yourself back at various points during the day to your intention to consciously dwell in mystery.

* * *
For list of all weekly practices: "Practices of the Week Index"

Praise

Practice of the Week
Praise

Category: Occasional: These are practices suggested for "every once in a while." Some of them are responses to a particular need that may arise; others are simply enriching occasional enhancements to the spiritual life. All of them are worth a try at least once. And any of them might become a regular and central part of your spiritual practice.

Step 1. Praise. Let “God” represent whatever most evokes a sense of reverence for you. Now try a practice of praising this God. Sing songs of praise every day. (See Hymns 20-37 in Singing the Living Tradition – or browse around on youtube for “praise songs). Or just spend some time every day whispering praises. It’s not that “God” has any need for your praise – but does the act of praising re-orient you in some way?

Step 2. “Person”-alize It. Expand your imagination! Take some time each day to imagine that various inanimate things were person-like: they had feelings, beliefs, desires, intentions, moods. Imagine this of the sky, of your environs, of various appliances (“the microwave is particularly cheerful this morning, but what is the refrigerator angry about?”), etc. Intuit what they might be wanting. Try this for a week, and be ready to report on what the experience was like.

Step 3. Reflect and Journal. Write responses to the poems and articles in the December issue of On the Journey (CLICK HERE). What do they say to you? What messages hit home? Which points need some expanding upon, and how would you expand upon them? Which parts do you disagree with, and why? Which parts just make no sense?

Step 4. Return to praise -- which an expanded sense of the divinity you are praising!

* * *
For list of all weekly practices: "Practices of the Week Index"

Face the Evil

Practice of the Week
Face the Evil

If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

The challenge, then, is to frankly acknowledge your own moral mistakes, empathize with those of others, and take appropriate action in the world.

A: Face Your Participation in the Sadness of the World

Journal each day for 10 days. At the end of the day, take inventory:

• In what ways were you blind to that which is most life-giving?
• Who or what did you refuse to see?
• How or when did you neglect the magnificence of interconnected living?

Find a “spiritual buddy” and practice your confession. At least once in the middle of the 10 days and once at the end, face your own participation in the sadness of the world by speaking it aloud to someone else. (This may work better if your buddy is also doing this exercise and you can take turns confessing to each other.)

B: Answer Evil with Empathy

Martin Luther King said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” So for this part of the exercise, empathize with people who do things that seem evil to you.

Every day for 10 days, collect or recall a story of a person doing evil. You might recall an infamous person from history who committed atrocities. Or you might leaf through the morning newspaper for accounts of people behaving in ways that strike you as evil. Or google “evil acts.” Begin by sketching in your journal each day one thing that one person did that struck you as evil.

Then: empathize. This is likely to be an exercise of your imagination. Imagine what the purported evil-doer was feeling and needing that produced the “evil” behavior? “Feeling” refers to emotions experienced -- sad, mad, glad, scared, and disgusted are the basic ones (SEE HERE for identifying emotions). “Needing” refers to any universally shared desire, keeping in mind that “universally shared” doesn’t mean “universally indulged or pursued.” Describe those feelings (which you, too, have felt) and those needs (the wants that you, too, are prone to have) that, as best you can guess, account for the behavior in question.

C: Do Something!

Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.” So after spending 10 days on "A" and "B," form a plan of action to reduce the evil in the world. Whether in your personal life, or in a more public sphere, do something beyond what is normal for you – something that lessens the impact of an "evil" in the world.

* * *
For list of all weekly practices: "Practices of the Week Index"

Practices for Awe

Practice of the Week
Practices for Awe

Adapted from On the Journey, 2016 Oct: CLICK HERE

Option A: Photography Assignment: Capture Awe on Your Camera (or phone)

Over the next few weeks, try to capture a handful of pictures of awe in action. This might be snapping a picture of your child’s face mesmerized by a spider web in the woods or a frog jumping across the road. Or maybe your husband’s face as he stares intently and joyfully at your daughter making a save on the volleyball court or singing in her school play. It might also be a picture of the awe-inspiring event itself. Think that perfect sunset or a clear night sky splashed with stars. Or an intimidating wall of clouds rolling in and making way for a storm. Or maybe it’s a picture of your leg and hip, walking again--painlessly--after a hip replacement that has left you more amazed and grateful than you can say. Or maybe it’s just sneaking into your 5-year-old son or grandson’s room and snapping a shot of his face while he sleeps.

After you’ve collected your 5 or 6 favorite pictures, spend some time looking for commonalities. What about them reflect your unique definition of awe? In your journal, write about what your pics have taught you.

Option B: Take a Walk Until the World Lights Up

You might want to start early in the morning or in the evening right after dinner. You could also set aside a Saturday afternoon. Whenever you start, your one rule is that you can’t stop until awe has crossed your path. In a sense, this exercise is an act of faith – faith that awe is scattered all over the place waiting for us to notice it rather than believing that awe is this one rare thing that only shows up a precious few times in our lives.

Come to your group prepared to talk not only about how long a walk you had to go on, but also about how you got yourself into a space to see and notice what was waiting for you.

Option C: A Video Meditation Exercise

This exercise involves a few steps:

Step One: Watch These Four Videos And Choose the One That Most Affects You. Click on the title to go to the Youtube video.

• The Most Astounding Fact
• Existential Bummer
• Awe
• Murmuration

Step Two: Set Aside a Half Hour and Watch the One That You Chose a Few Times. Watch it in the spirit of meditation and reflection. First watch it with openness, turning off your analytical brain. Then watch again with the intention of identifying a phrase or word that sticks out to you. Spend some time trying to figure out why that phrase or word captured your attention. Ask yourself what it might be trying to say to you. Finally, watch it again with the question “What must I do?” in the forefront of your mind.

Step Three: Perform an action or make a change in your life based on your experience of step two. Write in your journal your reflections.

* * *
For list of all weekly practices: "Practices of the Week Index"

Whose Am I?

Practice of the Week
Whose Am I?

adapted from Scott Tayler

'The ancient question, “Who am I?” inevitable leads to a deeper one: “Whose am I?” – because there is not identity outside of relationship. You cannot be a person by yourself. To ask “Whose am I” is to extend the question far beyond the little self-absorbed self, and wonder: Who needs you? Who loves you? To whom are you accountable? To whom do you answer? Whose life is altered by your choices? With whose life, whose lives is your own all bound up, inextricably, in obvious or invisible ways?' (Douglas Steer, Quaker teacher)

Whose are you? What promises, and to whom, are central to who you are? In particular:

• What is your promise to those who have gone before you?
• What is your promise to those who come after you?
• What is your promise to those central to your life right now?
• What is your promise to yourself?

Delve into these question by selecting four photographs -- one to represent each of the above four questions. Select one picture of a person that represents your promises to those that have gone before you, one picture of a person that represents your promises to those who will come after you, one picture of a person that represents your promises to someone central to your life right now, and one picture of yourself. You'll need a hardcopy of these pictures, so print them out if necessary.

Put these four pictures in a place you will see every day for a month. Perhaps tape them to your bathroom mirror or stick them in your wallet. Maybe frame them and place them on your desk or stick them with magnets on your fridge.

Make a conscious effort to reflect on them every day and do at least one thing to further or honor your promise to one of these people.

If you live with a significant other, consider doing this practice as a couple or a family: select photos representing you couple/family's shared promises.

For Journaling

Each day select one of the four promises and reflect on one or more of these questions:
In what ways that you have honored the promise?
In what ways have you broken the promise?
What meaning does the promise have to your life?
How has the content of the promise evolved over time?
What meaning and significance does the promise have in your life?

* * *
For list of all weekly practices: "Practices of the Week Index"

Explore Desire Through Renunciation

Explore Desire Through Renunciation
Practice of the Week

Category: OCCASIONAL or WORTH A TRY. These are practices suggested for "every once in a while," or "give it a try," or "as needed." Some of them may turn out so valuable for you that you stick with them, and they become a Key Supporting Practice. Some of them are responses to a particular need that may arise; others are simply enriching occasional enhancements to the spiritual life. All of them are worth a try at least once.

Lent (which, in 2019, begins Wed Mar 6 and continues, excluding Sundays, through Sat Apr 20) is a tradition that invites us into the spiritual practice of renunciation and self-denial. This week's practice honors that tradition -- but with a twist. For this practice, there's as much over-indulgence as there is self-denial.

The aim is not self-control -- it's self-knowledge. This week's practice will create just enough distance from your desires to understand what is behind and beneath them. What deeper hunger is driving your obsession with food? What deeper struggle is underneath your need to keep everything in the house clean and perfect? Don’t get caught up in resisting the desire. Instead figure out what it is trying to tell you.

Here's Ram Dass, from his book, Paths to God, explaining:

If you want to play a little bit with a renunciation practice, pick some desire that you encounter every day. You decide which one: the desire to eat something or other, the desire for a cigarette, whatever it is you want to play with. Pick something that you usually give in to every day — like, let's say, a cup of coffee in the morning — and for one day, don't do it. Then the next day, do it much more than you usually would — have two cups of coffee. Start to study your reactions. Notice the difference in your feelings toward the desire on the first day and on the second day.

Maybe another time you'll want to take two desires to work with; one day don't satisfy one and doubly satisfy the other, and then flip them around. Try to be very attentive to what's going through your mind about it....Start to relate to your desires as something you can scrutinize rather than as things that totally suck you in all the time, things that consume you. Get into a friendly relationship with your desires. Play with them, instead of being driven by them all the time. Desires get to be fun, really, once we're observing them instead of mechanically reacting to them.

The whole game of renunciation and purification is an experiment — an experiment in how quickly we can extricate ourselves from being attached to our desire systems. Notice that it isn't a question of getting rid of desires — that's a misunderstanding. Trust me, the desires will stay around! We're just loosening their hold on us, getting clear enough of them so we can see them in some sort of context.

Journaling

Write about it in your journal: What goes through your mind when you (a) deny yourself something that you usually do every day? (b) do twice as much of something that you usually do every day? What do you discover about the way your desire works in your life?

* * *

PRACTICES INDEX

Claim Desire

Practice of the Week
Claim Desire

Category: Slogans to Live By: Carry these reminders at all times. These practices don't require setting aside a separate substantial chunk of time -- but they will slow you down a bit (and that's a good thing.) Resolve to get stronger at living by these maxims, day by day. Sometimes make one of them the focus of your daily journaling.

What do you want? What do you desire that has been missing from your day? It's possible to not know. It's possible that there isn't anything other than the alarm clock that pushes you into your day.

This week -- for each of the seven days of the week -- take 10 minutes at the beginning of your day (or at bedtime the night before), to identify one thing you want out of the coming (or next) day. In the midst of all the obligations ahead of you, what one desire do you want to make room for in the day ahead? In selecting a desire for the day, keep in mind these two guidelines:

• Keep it simple. Identify a desire that could really be satisfied in the course of one day. (Rome wasn't built in a day, so don't list "build Rome" as what you want to get out of a day.) Maybe it is nothing more than to feel the sun on your face for five minutes. Maybe it is to connect and cook tonight's meal with your daughter. Maybe it is to read for 30 minutes, or go running, or sit in stillness and silence for 20 minutes.
• Pick something that requires some intentional energy to make happen. Don't pick "brush teeth" if you always and habitually brush your teeth every day. Pick something that hasn't been usual for you -- but maybe you'd like it to become usual.

You can pick the same thing for all seven days, pick something different each day, or anything in between.

For Journaling

Write about what desire you claimed each day, and what effect this had on the excitement with which you woke up each day.

PRACTICES INDEX

Keep Sabbath

Practice of the Week
Keep Sabbath

Category: Supporting Practices: observances that support and expand developing spirituality.

Sabbath is traditionally Sunday (from the Christian tradition) or Friday-sundown to Saturday-sundown (Jewish tradition), but perhaps some other day works better for you. Set aside one 24-hour day every week for a personal retreat. If you can't manage more than half a day, then start with half a day. The important thing is to set aside a specific time each week for stepping back from work, from demands that you produce.

Sabbath time is an alternative to "the reduction of all human life to the requirements of the market" (Walter Brueggemann). It's a time for not going to work, not reading or writing any work-related email, not taking any work-related phone calls, not engaging any work-related projects or planning. Devote the time instead to:

• face-to-face time with family or friends,
• spiritual study or other spiritual practice,
• taking walks in a natural setting,
• playing music (unless you're a professional musician, in which case music is work, not Sabbath),
• other creative pursuit (painting, writing poetry or fiction -- again, as long as it's not your job).

For Unitarian Universalists with a standard Mon-Fri work schedule, Sunday may well work best. Sabbath is not intrinsically about worship, but including Sunday morning worship as a part of your Sabbath day a wonderful practice. (Ministers, on the other hand, often pick another day -- Monday, say -- as their Sabbath, since, for them, Sunday is a work day.)

You may also want to give yourself some prohibitions. Options might include, "no caffeine or alcohol" (allow yourself one day to confront life without mood enhancing substance), "no TV" (allow yourself time away both from work and from mindless distraction), or "no purchase or consumption of animal products" (one day a week of being vegan may help you feel more connected to life). Select rules for yourself that enhance the experience for you and that you feel good about. Whether or not you add any such rules, the main point of Sabbath is to put aside your work, put down the preoccupation with producing, and take a day to "lie fallow" and regenerate.

Take a look at Walter Brueggemann's 2014 book, Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now.

"In our consumer culture we are restless and filled with desires for something more, better or different. The rat race keeps us moving at breakneck speed as we expend ourselves on work and deplete ourselves on draining pleasures such as reality television shows and professional sports." (from a review of Brueggemann's book)

Keeping Sabbath is a counter-cultural act. It means resisting the anxiety, coercion, exclusivism, and rushed multitasking that contemporary life demands. Modern society has elevated striving to such a height that it has become, for us, a spiritual disease. Life is not reducible to production and consumption -- a truth we are apt to forget if we do set aside Sabbath time in our week.

Make these five statements (appropriately adapted, as necessary, to the specifics of your situation) your mantra for your Sabbath times:

• You do not have to do more, sell more, or score more.
• You do not have to control more.
• You do not have to know more.
• You do not have to have your kids in ballet or soccer.
• You do not have to be younger or more beautiful.

For Journaling

Each week for the first 4-6 weeks of keeping Sabbath, write in your journal how you experienced it.

* * *
For list of all weekly practices: "Practices of the Week Index"