Tag Archives: spiritual practice

Exercise 76: Resting in Peace

Background: In mourning the loss of the lovely Thich Nhat Hanh, I came across the following facebook post: “As Elizabeth rests in peace, I become a man of Peace. As Thay rests in Peace, I become a man of Peace. As Desmond Tutu rests in Peace, I become a man of Peace. As Jesus is the Prince of Peace, I become in Christ, a man of Peace. Let Peace walk before me. Let Peace come behind me, on the right and on the left, above and below, let there be Peace on Earth this night, and let it begin with me.”

The writer of those words is Bob Holmes. The Elizabeth mentioned at the beginning is the beloved wife who died one year ago. He also goes by the identifier “Contemplative Monk” on social media I was deeply moved by his way of expressing these ideas. It suggests to me that we might borrow some of the peace that our loved ones are resting in, that we might draw from it. I also connect with the idea that one of the ways are loved ones live on is through the ways their lives and deaths shape and challenge us.

In the process of asking Bob for his permission to use this as a template for a spiritual practice, I’ve got to know him a little better. I’ve always really enjoyed his content. It was exciting to know that there’s a good man behind the great thoughts. You ought to check it out here.

This practice will ask you to generate a mental (or physical) list of people who have died that impacted you. It might be someone you know. It might be someone famous. It could be ancestor, a historical or religious figure. Please show healthy discretion around engaging this practice. Faithing death is an important task that most of us recieve very little preperation for. I encourage you to challenge yourself, some, but beware of being too ambitious with trying to contend with deaths that are too new and raw in this way.

The Practice.

Release your concenrns and worries for this time.
Take three deep inhalations and exhalations.
Spend some time bringing to mind the people close to you that have died. If you’re likely to forget names after thinking about them, it might be wise to right some down. Don’t rush this process.
Inhale. Exhale.
With your next inhale think, “As ____________ rests in peace….”
exhale and think “I become a person of peace.”
Repeat steps 4 through 7 either with the same person or the next person on your list.
Sit with whatever feelings or sensations are with you right now. It might be feelings that considering the death of these people brings up. It might be feelings about death. It might be feelings of peace. It might be something else. It might be nothing at all. Consider releasing these feelings with your exhalations. Or discussing them with God. Or simply naming them and holding them close to your heart.

Enneagram Type 2: Sample Practice

Enneagram Type 1: Sample Practice

2 Replies

Exercise C: A Discussion with the Inner Critic

Type one’s often face an inner critic. A personality-within-a-personality that offers a never ending diatribe about all the things that they are doing wrong. Sometimes, it is helpful to meet this creation head on.

There are many ways and approaches to disarming the inner critic. One is to name it something ridiculous and personify it in a manner that is outragous. A second is to be more humane with it. On this account, we recognize that it once did us good.

The Exercise

Find an empty chair. Bring it near you.

Close your eyes and take three deep breaths.

Consider your inner critic and consider the power it has over your life. Ask yourself which approach would work best for taming it.

Now, personify your inner critic. See her or him sitting in the chair. Imagine the color of the critic’s hair. The timbre of their voice. See the clothes your critic is wearing.

Sit in silence with the critic for a time.

Tell the critic that it is no longer doing what it set out to do. Explain that it has worn out its welcome.

Dismiss the critic. Let it disapear.

Spend some quiet time alone.

For more practices curated especially for Enneagram type 1, see Contemplating The Enneagram, available in May 2020.

Building a Spiritual Practice Through Transitions Email #2

Building a Spiritual Practice Through Transition, Email #1

You Are Welcome Here.

2 Replies

The goal of The Faith-ing Project is to enrich your spiritual life. Our hope is that this might be a gymnasium for the soul; a library for the spirit; and a toy store for the psyche.

8573107-everythingeverywhereallatonceevelynandjobutupakiakajoyreality-bendingif

I’ve begun a series of reflections on contemplative themes in popular culture. ‘Mystic at the Movies’ begins with a multi-part deep dive into Academy Award Nominee ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once.’ You can read the first installment here.

I recently collaborated with the wonderful Auden Campbell to create a poem and video acccompanied by music. You can find it here.

To watch a delightful conversation I had the pleasure of participating in, click here.

These last months have been both strange and fruitful for me. I find myself exploring and considering the spiritual world from angles I’d never even considered. And when I think about a rather cruel boy scout ritual called ‘Snipe Hunting’ I see that this is a unique lens to explore the journey as a whole and these latest changes in particular. For now, Snipe Hunting is a podcast. I suspect it will become my next book.

Snipe Hunting

You can listen to ‘Snipe Hunting’ here.

You can access a growing catalog of new audio meditations that have been lushly produced and musically accompanied here.

My latest book release is ‘Words Made Flesh.’

There is this disconnect. We know that The Bible is important, but it sometimes can feel so distant from us. It does not need to be this way.

Four spiritual practices can help to bring these words to life. Prayer and journaling rooted in the scriptures can begin this process. The time honored practices of Lectio Divinia and Holy Imagining take it even deeper. When we put these to work we find that eternal truths come to life in a whole new way, deeply embedded in the workings of our own lived realities.

Words Made Flesh uses the four Gospels as a case study. The four practices are applied to the story of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection. As practices and events are explored in a chronological and systematic manner, we come to appreciate Christ’s life in a whole new way, even as we learn these new practices.

‘Words Made Flesh’ is now available. You can preview the introduction here. You can order it here.

If you’re interested in books more focused on spiritual practice without the exploration of deconstruction, take a look at the faith-ing project guides. Samples of some of the Faith-ing Project guides can be found here. If you would like to go straight to ordering the books at amazon, click here.

You can find general information about building a spiritual practice here.

It’s such an honor to be involved with projects that I would listen to even if I wasn’t a participant. The ‘Be Still App’ is a prime example. They are an amazing resource and feature several meditations from this page and my books. Find out more here.

Our audiofiles have been supplemented with videos. Click here to see our audio file page.

Spiritual Exercises By Category

If you do not find what you are looking for here, click this link. Many of our resources, including audio files, strategies for bringing the practices home, contemplations built around the work of famous authors, and contemporary traditions can be found there.