Lent Fasting and Feasting Meditation ~ Wednesday in Holy Week

Lent Fasting and Feasting Meditation

I came across this beautiful meditation and wanted to share it with all of you. It would make an inspirational meditation during Holy Week. I also heard that with the world social distancing, for love of our neighbors, many of us will not be going to Church on Palm Sunday, which also means we will not be receiving palms. Instead, with full love in our hearts, I invite you to join in, if it is possible for you to do so, to put greens on the door of your home. These greens can be greens from the forest: pine, evergreen, fur tree branches for those of us in northern climates; palm branches for those of you in southern states and Hawaii, and any other greens from trees and/or bushes. God is not prejudiced about kind nor color. He loves us all!

Lent can be more than a time of fasting; it can be a season of feasting. We can use Lent to fast from certain things and to feast on others. It is a season in which we can:

Fast from judging others; feast on Christ Jesus dwelling in them.

Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of life.

Fast from apparant darkness; feast on the reality of light.

Fast from thoughts and reality of illness for a moment; feast on the healing power of God.

Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that encourage.

Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.

Fast from anger; feast on patience.

Fast from pessimism; feast on optomism.

Fast from worry; feast on divine order.

Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.

Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.

Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayers.

Fast from hostility; feast on kindness.

Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.

Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.

Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal truth.

Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.

Fast from facts that depress; feast on thoughts that uplift.

Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiam.

Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.

Fast from shadows of sorrow; feast on the sunlight of contentment.

Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence. ~ author unknown

I would like to point out that I am not proposing ignorance, like an ostrich with its head

I do not see any COVID-19, prejudice, poll tampering, voter fraud, ballot counting fraud, or bad news of any kind. Nope, I don’t see a thing.

stuck in the sand, or living blissfully in denial, as if there is no need to know what is going on in the world or in our environment or neighborhoods. Ignorance is not bliss.

What I am proposing is balance in mind, body and spirit. Our minds can do more than worry. Our bodies can do more than get out of shape. Our spirits can do more than be filled with self-delusion.

If we all get back to the virtues, we will witness the world becoming more fully human, as the Good God intended us to be.

 

God Bless

Lent Fasting and Feasting Meditation

Lent Fasting and Feasting Meditation

I came across this beautiful meditation and wanted to share it with all of you. It would make an inspirational meditation during Holy Week. I also heard that with the world social distancing, for love of our neighbors, many of us will not be going to Church on Palm Sunday, which also means we will not be receiving palms. Instead, with full love in our hearts, I invite you to join in, if it is possible for you to do so, to put greens on the door of your home. These greens can be greens from the forest: pine, evergreen, fur tree branches for those of us in northern climates; palm branches for those of you in southern states and Hawaii, and any other greens from trees and/or bushes. God is not prejudiced about kind nor color. He loves us all!

Lent can be more than a time of fasting; it can be a season of feasting. We can use Lent to fast from certain things and to feast on others. It is a season in which we can:

Fast from judging others; feast on Christ Jesus dwelling in them.

Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of life.

Fast from apparant darkness; feast on the reality of light.

Fast from thoughts and reality of illness for a moment; feast on the healing power of God.

Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that encourage.

Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.

Fast from anger; feast on patience.

Fast from pessimism; feast on optomism.

Fast from worry; feast on divine order.

Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.

Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.

Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayers.

Fast from hostility; feast on kindness.

Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.

Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.

Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal truth.

Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.

Fast from facts that depress; feast on thoughts that uplift.

Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiam.

Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.

Fast from shadows of sorrow; feast on the sunlight of contentment.

Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence. ~ author unknown

 

I would like to point out that I am not proposing ignorance, like an ostrich with its head

I do not see any COVID-19, prejudice, poll tampering, voter fraud, ballot counting fraud, or bad news of any kind. Nope, I don’t see a thing.

stuck in the sand, or living blissfully in denial, as if there is no need to know what is going on in the world or in our environment or neighborhoods. Ignorance is not bliss.

What I am proposing is balance in mind, body and spirit. Our minds can do more than worry. Our bodies can do more than get out of shape. Our spirits can do more than be filled with self-delusion.

If we all get back to the virtues, we will witness the world becoming more fully human, as the Good God intended us to be.

 

God Bless

 

Release Negativity and Fear ~ Reclaim Personal Power

Spiritual psychology inspires us to learn through wisdom. Some of us learn better than others, while others

My chi has a headache and it’s all her fault!

choose to take the scenic route of experience. Eventually we learn, even if it is via the hard way. Discussions about negativity and fear always have to do with our personal power. It is in the misuse of personal power where negativity and fear are born.

We do not stop losing our personal power by refusing to recognize our fear, by anesthetizing ourselves to what we feel. Denying we have given away our power keeps our dysfunction going in repetitive cycles.

Without realizing it, we can turn to using psychological crutches that cripple us emotionally and spiritually. We freely give it away. How do we give away our personal power?

We give away our personal power every time we lose power to rage against an injustice, when you are threatened by another person or people, or distance ourselves from others our of resentment or bitterness or a sense of disappointment, unworthiness or superiority. We even give away our personal power when we long for something or someone, like through grieving and envy. Beneath all these emotions is fear, fear, fear.

Perhaps the biggest drain on personal power escaping from us is through the act of complaining, trying to make someone else responsible for our own actions, and setting up expectations that someone else should fix the problems we find ourselves in. Examining our motives will shed a light on our real intentions.

We also lose personal power through the emotion of regret where we cling to negativity. Regret keeps us stuck in yesterday, spreads the blanket of gloom and doom over our present, and forecasts dark days ahead things that usually never even happen. How many times have we anxiously worried about situations that never happened? It is such a colossal waste of time and energy.

Love, compassion, empathy and forgiveness are the marks of a truly empowered person. Authentic humility is such an attractive quality, a fulcrum spiritual gem that balances the heart, mind and soul with peace that knows no bounds.

It is not about bully strength seeking to manipulate others. Manipulators drain their own energies, misguidedly thinking they have power. Notice the bouts of exhaustion followed by this tactical approach. Both the manipulator and the manipulated suffer.

The answer lies not in denying our emotions, but in facing our self destructing habits. Once recognized, it is only then that we can take responsibility for our selves, and begin the road to recovery. The first step is to forgive ourselves and others. Hanging on to bitterness is a psychological trip that will keep us in the past on an endless loop of energy loss. After forgiving, oh yes we CAN forgive, we can move on to infusing genuine Love, compassion, and empathy into the void fear and its well of negativity left behind. The more we are filled with Love, and remain in this Love, the more we are graced by God, gifted by Holy Spirit, through the model of all LOVE, Jesus Christ.

This is the road to spiritual health.