Your Path to Healthy Living and a Healthy Life

Faith and the Ageless Warrior

     Most of us have faith of some kind, whether it is in the physical world or something spiritual, faith in ourselves, the strength of a friendship, our families, or something greater then ourselves.  It keeps us firmly planted in our reality knowing that there is something or someone else we can rely on.  It's important to have that kind of faith. 

     While at a workshop on A Course In Miracles taught by Marianne Williamson, the topic of faith came up often.  Mainly because in every situation, in every journey, in every relationship and in every endeavour that succeeds or moves in the direction it was intended, faith is displayed.  

     Look outside at a tree.  You have a belief and a faith that come spring there will be new growth.  We also have faith that the ocean tides will continue and that the sun will rise and set.  Yet all of these things could change in an instant, but we still have faith in their constance.

   Exercise for the day:  Find one thing in which you have faith.  It can be an entity, an event, a person or a relationship.  Describe how faith in this thing feels.  What it means to you and how it makes you a better person. 

Faith Realized

     We need faith, it's where we find strength to persevere through tough times.  But faith can also be tenuous, misguided and focused in the wrong direction or for the wrong reasons.  It can be something we cling to for reality's sake only. 

     Clarity is the all important ingredient to discovering true faith.  Train your senses and your mind to discern whether something is worthy of faith by practicing mindfulness.  Meditating and focusing on your centre brings your mindfulness to a sharp focus and allows your intuition the opportunity for true discernment.

     Exercise of the Day: This exercise is adapted from  "Fruitflesh" by Gail Brandeis, a wonderfully sensuous and inspirational book on writing.  Choose something in which you have faith.  This can be God, a relationship, something from nature or an object in the room.  View it with new eyes.  Sense it as though for the first time.  Smell it, taste it, feel it, hear it and intuit it.  Find its centre, what makes it tick, what makes it so faithful to you, why it works.  Record your thoughts in writing or if you prefer, verbally into a tape recorder.  

Mindfulness and Faith       

     Being a high energy person, I have always found meditation challenging.  My mind would create thought after thought, compartmentalizing, analyzing, deleting and storing until my relaxed time was anything but relaxed.  Inevitably meditation would turn into a brainstorming session where ideas would be generated and my creative juices would flow.  Granted, that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when your goal is to practice mindful stillness, brainstorming ideas isn't conducive.  Brainstorming is an internal endeavour and in mindful stillness the goal is external understanding.

     Mindfulness  seeks insight into what is significant by allowing your senses and thoughts to absorb, perceive and be a part of everything around you.  It doesn't shut your senses down and focus attention on one small detail, it allows you to learn by using all your senses and opens you up to a deeper understanding of reality and your place in it.

     I didn't understand this form of meditation until a few years ago while walking in an isolated garden at the north end of Vancouver Island.  Ronning's Garden in Holberg, BC , created by Brent Ronning in 1910, is a fairy land in the middle of a temperate rainforest.  Here, two of the oldest Monkey Puzzle trees in BC provide a constant supply of seedlings to BC residents.  Four and a half acres of cultivated garden surrounded by towering cedar and fir, thickets of salal and Oregon grape and rich green ferns, offered stunning contrasts. 

     The stillness was palpable as the old logging road leading to the garden was deserted.  Only a few chickadees and warblers disturbed the absolute quiet.   While sitting on a bench overlooking a sloping part of the garden I came to a better understanding of mindfulness.  My senses, alive to the smell of fresh loam, the taste of mist on my lips, the sound of the forest, the chilly air and the ancient trees sheltering me under their great branches, tingled.  I began to contemplate the symbiotic relationship that created this forest and how Brent Ronning worked with to create this paradise.  His goal wasn't to change the forest, but to work with its natural swells and curves and come to an understanding of how he could fit into the forest, changing it, but not destroying it.  I contemplated how I could do the same in my world and became mindful of the choices I need to make. 

     Bringing your senses into mindful meditation draws from all the resources you have been blessed with.  Combine that with the inherent knowledge we all have and you tap into the greatest source of insight and knowledge.

     Exercise of the day: Find a quiet spot where you can practice mindful meditation.  Use an object to focus your attention, keeping in mind that the object is to train your mind to focus through practice.  As your mind starts to wander, simply pull it  gently back by acknowledging the distraction and returning your focus back to the original object.  There is no failure here.    Start with two minute sessions, being mindful of everything your mind experiences.  After you finish this session take a moment to reflect on the things that distracted you.  Was it the sound of children in the house?  The TV?  Was it the thoughts of what to cook for dinner or when you should start cooking?  All these are relevant with mindul meditation.  Basically you are observing where your mind goes.  There is no wrong place. 

      Mindful meditation can be used for all experiences of life.  The "object" to focus on does not have to be physical.  It can be a challenge you are facing.  Remember the distractions are your mind's way of working through the problem, no matter how obscure the distractions may be!  Your brain is assimilating the problem and scrolling through its data base of experience and knowledge.  Stay open to all emotions, thoughts and feelings, being mindful of their power to heal.

     Mindfulness teaches us to learn from every experience by using every sense.  It creates a stillness where we can find peace.  It is also a place where we can commune with God or our Higher Power. 

     In the stillness of mindful meditation we can hear what our inner guide or spirit needs us to know.  It creates a conduit to God.  

     In study after study, prayer has been shown to be an incredibly effective tool in healing.  The energy and love generated when the mindful focus is on an individual in need is awesome.  What is even more amazing is the person being prayed for doesn't even have to know they are being blessed with positive energy, they still benefit. 

Exercise of the Day:  During mindful meditation, focus on an individual in physical need.  Send them warmth and light.  Picture the light in their centre, then spreading outwards enveloping them.  Don't worry if your mind wanders.  Listen to where it goes and gently bring it back to focus.  See the light spread throughout their body, healing disease and sadness.  Before you end the meditation, find your own centre and picture healing light moving outwards, covering you with warmth and love.