walking meditation

Preparing for Morning Meditation Time

/ nagneberg48 / 8 Comments

July 16, 2024

NOTE: If you have already received this post, my apologies. I am trying to fix some technical difficulties.

Some mornings need no preparation.

I make the bed and brush my teeth and head into the snug for my morning meditation time. I read a devotion or two, write in my journal, and sit in the silence, praying with words or simply an open heart. Closing my eyes, I breathe in and out, gently, finding my own rhythm.

Some days I sit there longer than others, but no matter the length of time, I feel more prepared for the day. More open to whatever is planned. And whatever is unplanned. I have learned over the years that if this morning time is absent from my day for more than two or three days, I am not as present to the movement of God in my life or even my own movements. I tend to trip or slip or become fuzzy or light-headed–metaphorically, but sometimes even actually. This morning time is key to my functioning, to my balance, to finding my own rhythm and being able to respond to the rhythms swirling around me.

But some days I need to prepare myself for the ritual preparation for the day. Yesterday was one of those days perhaps because of the upsetting weekend events and the ensuing commentary and knowing that the Republican convention was about to begin.

I knew I needed to calm myself before I could calm myself!

Shouldn’t making my bed and going for a walk be enough? Well, no, for frankly those feel like “shoulds” in my life. I wish I didn’t think about my morning walk in that way, but as long as this heat smolders me, I’m afraid the walk is something to check off my list more than a pleasure. I plod forward and try to remind myself to notice the gardens and wish summer blessings to dog walkers and those dashing to their cars with kids destined for daycare, but I just feel sweaty.

Sometimes I admit there is an unexpected delight. One morning last week I was trudging along, wishing I was on the return route, and I heard a sweet, slightly off tune voice singing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” A little girl, maybe age 4, and her Daddy were walking behind me to the daycare center across from the Catholic church in our neighborhood. She repeated the verse about the cow several times and didn’t always include “E-I-E-I-O,” but no matter, I was honored to be her audience. I felt blessed.

Unfortunately, I experienced no such treat Monday morning and felt only self-righteous about exercising in spite of the heat and the on-again, off-again sprinkles. I was not ready to enter meditation and I knew it. What to do?

I cut daisies for a new bouquet on the dining room table.

I swept the walk and the steps leading to our front door.

I took a shower.

And then I was ready, and I entered the snug and my morning meditation time.

Now I realize that morning meditation time does not require preparation. It is normally a “come as you are” activity, but sometimes I know I will benefit even more from that time if I can bring some small slice of serenity into the space. These brief clearing the space moments are not distractions. They are not ways of putting off what I know I must do, but, instead they are part of a progression, a procession into the meditation time.

Prayers for These Days

Turning to the light
the light turns to us.
Moving toward the source
the source moves us.
Holding on to hope
hope holds on to us.
            Padraig O'Tuoma in Being Here, Prayers for Curiosity, Justice, and Love

Prayer of the Day, Sunday, July 15, 2024
O, God, from you come all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works. 
Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey your commandments; and also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness, through Jesus Christ , our Savior and Lord. Amen.

An Announcement and a Request

I learned last week, thanks to a reader, that my posts are not appearing on my website. Those who subscribe or find me on Facebook or are on my email list receive the posts, but if anyone goes to my website https://livingonlifeslabyrinth, the last post published was on June 13, 2024. I have requested help from WordPress, but that was not helpful, and I have watched some YouTube videos, which also did not solve the problem. I may end up using the Geek Squad at Best Buy, but that involves leaving my laptop with them, and that just isn’t convenient right now.

So here’s my plan: a time-out. I always wonder when these kinds of interruptions and/or technical issues arise if I am getting a message to do something else or not do anything at all. I have been a blogger for 15 years or so and perhaps it is time to end that chapter of my life. I don’t think so, but I need to sit with that question. Summer seems like a good time to do that.

So I am taking a break.

At the same time if anyone in the St Paul area has a suggestion about someone who is in the business of solving all things technical and will make a house call, I am open to recommendations.

May all be well with you and I wish you summer blessings.

An Invitation

What activities prepare you or lead you to times of focused meditation? I would love to know.



Notes about Spiritual Practices

/ nagneberg48 / 8 Comments

May 16, 2023

Every morning our neighbors across the street walk the block and a half to the Catholic Church for mass.

Every morning.

Attending the service is certainly a spiritual practice that no doubt strengthens their faith, but the walk itself is a spiritual practice: a time to prepare for the ritual of worship and prayer; a time to open to the movement and presence of God, a reinforcement of the gifts of contemplation; and perhaps, incentive to be partners in God’s reconciling love for the world.

That’s a lot happening in a short round-trip walk, but when you make room for a spiritual practice in your daily life and commit to a regular practice, God will notice and you will notice God. 

Is there anything I can do to make myself enlightened?
As little as you can do to make the sunrise in the morning.
Then what use are the spiritual exercises you prescribe?
To make sure you are not asleep when the sun begins to rise.
                              Anthony de Mello

I’ve written often in this blog and elsewhere about spiritual practices and the role they play in aiding the discovery of and living as the person God created me to be. That process is an ongoing pilgrimage, and I need spiritual practices to fortify and sustain me in my intentions:

  • To feel God’s presence and support,
  • To feel connected to the whole,
  • To integrate the model of Jesus into my life,
  • To give my life meaning, even as I age,
  • To move from fear to love.

I have core spiritual practices; practices that have been part of my life for a long time, including writing in my journal and starting the day with meditation and prayer time, but at various times in my life, and often with a change of the season, I add in other practices to spark and surprise me as I move through my days. Two examples:

  • Take one photograph on my daily walk. Just one. Right now as spring is bursting how tempting it is to click, click, click on my walk, but confining myself to one photograph only seems to open my eyes even more. When I see something of beauty, of interest I stop and ask myself, “What do you notice? How is this a sign of God? What does this sight awaken in you? What of this moment will you carry with you?” Even when I decide not to take photograph at that moment, the pause, the taking a breath, the observing is a gift that becomes part of who I am and how God is present in my life. And somehow I seem to know when it is time for the one photograph of the day. No doubts. No hesitation. It is time. Do I ever regret not taking a picture of something I’ve seen. Not so far, but that could happen. Instead, that makes me aware of the abundance of wonders all around me, and understanding I can never capture them all. Why not let my one picture of the day symbolize the whole, the all.
  • Adopt a mantra and whisper it throughout the day. Lately, thanks to a meditation in You Are the Beloved, Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living by Henri Nouwen, I recite the words, “I am the glory of God.” I repeat the sentence as I walk up the stairs to the garret or make the bed in the morning or open the refrigerator when it is time to fix dinner. I change the mantra to “You are the glory of God,” as I see my husband working his magic in the garden or I insert the name of a spiritual direction client as I sit in silence before the beginning of a session. Here’s what Nowen writes,

Make that thought the center of your meditation so that it slowly becomes not only a thought but a living reality. You are the place where God chose to dwell, you are the topos tou theou (God’s place) and the spiritual life is nothing more or less than to allow that space to exist where God can dwell, to create the space where his glory can manifest itself. In your meditation you can ask yourself, “Where is the Glory of God? If the glory of God is not there where I am, where else can it be?”

May 10, p. 144
  • Planning the week. On Sunday I turn the page of the notebook I keep on the top of my desk and I write down the schedule for the week. The events, the appointments. Yes, those are on my laptop and phone calendars, but writing them on this clean page is an act of mindfulness, of blessing. I also create my To Do lists for three categories–Writing Tasks, Church Tasks, and Other Tasks. Again, doing this on the Sabbath is an act of mindfulness and blessing. I’ve been blessed with a fresh start, another week to live with intention, but even more than that, with gratitude for this life I am privileged to live.

During the Sunday service one of our members played a gorgeous piano solo. He is a busy physician, husband and father, and I imagine that playing the piano is relaxing for him, but as I listened to him, I had no doubt this was a form of spiritual practice for him, also. All of us listening received the fruits of that spiritual practice.

Practices are a way of embodying the spiritual journey rather than merely thinking about it. Practices help us to bring the reality of what we seek into the physicality and earthiness of our lives.

Christine Valters Paintner

An Invitation

What are your spiritual practices? What is currently part of your life that is actually a spiritual practice without your realizing it? I would love to know.