New Year Meditation: Finding a Still Point

Background: For many of us, there will be two sources of stress and pressure. There will be two drives that we here in the upcoming days.

One pressure will be to end the year on a bang. It’s your last oppurtunity to party like it’s 2022. Indulge yourself. Go wild. Cram all the experiences you can into this little tiny window of time.

A second pressure will be to be turn your attention backwards. Reflect. Assess. Set those goals for the new year– resolve to do better, to be better, stronger. More able.

There is nothing wrong with either of these urges. But we have lived out there almost contradictory demands every New Year’s Eve. Perhaps it is time for you to try something new. The good news is that you have been getting ready for this for your whole life. You have built up the requisite skills with your breath itself.

The Practice:

1. Release your worries and concerns at this time. Sit as straight as you comfortably can.
2. Breathe naturally.
3. As best you can, without bringing any concious change to your breath, notice it: notice it with curiosity, interest and gentleness.
4. You might first notice that there are two obvious parts of the breath- an inhale and an exhale. Notice each of these.
5. Notice how it feels in the mouth, nose, throat, esophagus, and lungs. Feel the breath where it comes in around your nose or lips; feel it where it leaves the body. Note the temperature and volume.
6. When you are ready, see that there are more than just those two parts to the breath. There is a pair of transition times too. A time of emptiness before the inhale, a time of emptiness before the exhale.
7. Compassionately study these pause-times, these empty-times. If you wish, experiment with extending these out by briefly holding the breath. A count of 4 will do.
8. Try to become a scholar of your breath, the world wide expert. Note how each of the breaths has so many things in common with the nearly endless progression of breaths that have come before and will come after.
9. Note how this breath– this very one right now– is different from the breaths which come before, and after. There are some tiny ways that this very brief is unique in your entire life. Go looking for this precious differences.
10. Continue to hold each breath up to your most careful examination for how they are connected and how they are wholly unique. Continue to notice the inhale, the pause, the exhale, the pause.
11. Inhale the things you know that you need during this time of meditation. Exhale the expectations that others have on you for this time of transition. (These expectations might come in the form of parties, or resolutions and goals for the upcoming year.) Continue with this until you are ready for to do the work you hear from your own self it is time to do.
12. When you are ready, identify that there are things which came into your life this year. Inhale, as a recognition to the good and the bad that entered your life this year.
13. Recognize that there are things which left your life this year. When you exhale, breathe out in recognition of that which is no longer yours this year.
14. Continue to breathe in that which you gained and that which you lost this year.
15. Now, view the breath differently. Let the inhale be your past, and the exhale be your future. This precious moment right now is the pause in between.
16. Let your hopes be the inhale, and your fears be the exhale. The reality you live is the pause between.
17. Let the things you cannot change be your inhale; let the things you can change be your exhale. Let the wisdom to know the difference be the pause in between.
18. Let this year be an inhalation. Let the coming year be your exhalation. Breathe as many breaths as you need to feel this transition in your body.
19. Remind yourself of the pause between the inhale and exhale, even as you continue for the year which is ending and exhale for the year which is beginning, see that this place you are now is the quiet, liminal space between the two.
20. Rest in that quiet space between.
21. Release this practice when you are ready. Recognize that you can return to it for any time of transition.

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Building a Spiritual Practice Through a Time of Transition Email 3

Today, we look at the 2nd descriptor of this email exploration: Deconstruction. ‘Deconstruction’ was originally coined by post-modern philosophy.  Given where it comes from, it’s not surprising that this is a complicated term, especially out of context. Roughly speaking, ‘deconstruction’ means getting at the real essence of a thing.  Part of the process is to get past what we told ourselves ‘X’ meant, and what needs we thought it was fulfilling.   Therefore, a chef might ‘deconstruct’ a dish by considering what is non-negotiable about it.  She might then ditch all the other traditional parts of this dish which are not part of that essence.  They can then serve up something which is simultaneously new and familiar. This term is attractive to many who are in a spiritual transition.  It implies an interesting in finding the true essence of the faith, and uncovering what hidden needs and wants were being satisfied by practicing the faith in a certain way.  In my own life, for example, I once believed that the hard work I did for a certain church was for God’s glory.  As I have deconstructed these beliefs, I become increasingly clear on the idea that much of this hard work was really for the attention and acclaim of other people. Transitions in general and deconstruction in particular leave us in a space of wondering who we are and who God is.  Today’s practice owns these questions head-on. Background: It is said that St. Francis past an entire night asking 2 simple questions: “Who am I, God?”  and “Who are you, God?”  It is not known what his method was; the correlation of the two questions to the two parts of breath is purely speculation on my part. The Exercise Sit up as straight as you comfortably can.  Release your worries and obligations for the duration of your spiritual exercises today. As you inhale, ask the question, “Who are you God?” With your next inhale, ask the question, “Who am I God?” Continue this pattern.  When other thoughts or concerns arise, release them by returning to these questions and your breath. When your time is nearing completion, dismiss the questions.  Enjoy a time of wordless communion. When you are ready, explore your feelings about the questions and consider whether or not you have anything that looks like answers to these two important questions. Today’s practice can be considered a breath prayer.  A breath prayer, as I am using the term, is a spiritual practice which puts a special focus on the breath, particular with the intent of connecting specific phrases or words with the inhale, the exhale, or both.  If you are interested in more breath prayers at The Faith-ing Project Website, click here.  There are several small guides available from The Faith-ing Proejct focused on various aspects of spiritual practice.  One of them is a book devoted to breath prayers like this one.  It is available as an e-book or paperback. For more information, click here. The Faith-ing Project Main Page The Faith-ing Project Main Page

Building a Spiritual Practice Through Transitions Email #2

This email exploration is focused on three interconnected ideas: Transitions, Deconstruction, and Liminal Space.  These three ideas grow increasingly specific and increasingly complex.  Over these next three emails we will consider each of them.
Transitions happen every day, of course.  Compared to deconstruction or liminal space, they are fairly straight foreward.  Nonetheless, they are not easy.  The transitions that we are hoping for in life are not the ones we notice much.  Generally speaking, the transitions which cause us stress bring with them a host of unwanted emotions.
This is why we are beginning with 2 different forms of The Welcoming Prayer.   There are many forces which conspire to “teach” us to live in denial of the feelings we carry.  We hope that ignoring these feelings makes them go away.  The reality is that the opposite is true: Naming and owning them can go a long way toward evaporating many of our most intense and unwanted feelings.

Create a safe, quiet environment for yourself.  Turn down your phone and consider lighting a candle. Breathe deeply in through the nose and out through the mouth. Take a mental inventory of where you are, right now.  List the feelings you are experiencing.  Do your best to engage this with a nonjudgemental attitude.  Your feelings are neither good nor bad.  They simply are.   Choose the feeling which seems to be the most impactful.  Think, or say “Welcome ___________”  (E.G. ‘Welcome, Fear.  Welcome, sadness.  Welcome, anxiety.  Etc.) Breathe once. Say, or think “I let go of my desire for security and survival.’ Breathe again. Say, or think, ‘I let go of my desire for esteem and affection.’ Breathe again. Say, or think ‘I let go of my desire for power and control.’ Breathe. Say, or think, ‘I let go of my desire to change the situation.’ If you wish, you can repeat this process for a second, troubling emotion.

We have recently made our entire audio file library available to everyone.  There are numerous exercises on this page, including an audio file of the welcoming prayer we have been practicing these last couple days.  You can find The Welcoming Prayer and other audio files here. One of the figures who has been pivotal on my spiritual journey is father Richard Rohr. He has written many amazing books.   The organization he began is The Center for Action and Contemplation.  They feature a powerful daily email, classes, podcasts, and more.  Check out the CAC here.

Building a Spiritual Practice Through Transition, Email #1

Thanks for joining The Faith-ing Project’s September Email Exploration.  You probably know that this time around, the focus is on building a spiritual practice through times of transition, deconstruction and liminal spaces.  These emails will launch every other day at 5 PM US Eastern Standard Time.
They will consist of 3 parts.  This introductory section will introduce ideas relevant to building a spiritual practice of related to the topics of transition, deconstruction and liminal space.
The middle section will consist of the day’s suggested spiritual practice.
The bottom section will feature announcement and updates about other exciting events, generally those related to The Faith-ing Project.
Many of the positive outcomes connected to a spiritual practice will come up when they are practiced at least once a day.  On the “off days” when no email arrives, it is highly recommended that you give a second try to the most recent spiritual practice.
It’s exciting to have you on this journey!  Thanks for taking it with us.  There are lots of ways to connect with me and I love hearing from participants.  If you would like to share observations, please reply to this email, click the links at the bottom of this page, or send a message to otherjeffcampbell7@gmail.com

Background: This prayer become popular in the centering prayer movement.  It was originally written by Mary Mrozowski.  It is a method of recognizing, then releasing difficult emotions.

This is an important place to begin during times of transition.  It is inevitable that lots of feelings, many difficult to manage, pop up in the midst of change.  For this reason, our next exercise will be a similiar practice, designed to identify and welcome the feelings that pop up for us.

It is always advisable to read through the practice before beginning them.  Notice that on step 5 today you will have a choice to make about the specific words that you use.  Choosing which one you are going to use in advance will be helpful.

36 A

The Exercise:

1.  Create a safe, quiet environment for yourself.  Turn down your phone and consider lighting a candle.
2. Breathe deeply in through the nose and out through the mouth.
3. Take a mental inventory of where you are, right now.  List the feelings you are experiencing.  Do your best to engage this with a nonjudgemental attitude.  Your feelings are neither good nor bad.  They simply are.  
4. Choose the feeling which seems to be the most impactful.  Think, or say “Welcome ___________”  (E.G. ‘Welcome, Fear.  Welcome, sadness.  Welcome, anxiety.  Etc.)
5. Say, or think, ‘I let go of my desire to change this feeling.’  or ‘I let go of my ___________’  or ‘God, I give you my _____________’
6. Progress on to the next emotion, repeating steps 4 and 5.
7. When you have worked through these emotions, spend a moment doing a mental inventory, assessing whether you feel differently.

The exercise to be introduced Wednesday is an alternative Welcoming Prayer.  It is exercise 36-B.    If you would like to try it in advance of that email you can find it here.  

Did you know that the Faith-ing Project is more than just a web page describing spiritual practices?  In addition to four books, a facebook page, and regular email explorations, on the webstie, you can find tips for building your spiritual practice, audio files of many spiritual practices, links to influential and thought provoking sites, and more!