Benefits of Daily Meditation

When I make time for daily meditation
I am more focused, calmer, able to clarify my intentions for the day
And stay on track, despite the distractions of daily life
    I am better able to let go and be present
And better able to sleep, trusting even as I sleep, answers can come to me
    in unexpected ways, like dreams, a phone call, a simple knowing about a situation.
Meditation reduces physical as well as emotional pain.  It allows me to be kind to myself
   without the usual judging mind, so my self-talk is more positive.
Meditation is a gentle answering to prayers I don't even have the words to voice.
It can be magical, like this purple snail, or just as reassuring a reason to rejoice
   As this lovely photo of hiking in the Sierras on a glorious summer day.
I helps me feel deep inside that life is indeed precious, and ever changing.

May my heart be Open

    MAY MY HEART BE OPEN BLESSED MOTHER/FATHER GOD  to thy whisperings in the Silence within.  When I weep, and know not why, please comfort me, and let the presence of angels of mercy and protection abide with me.  Teach me the wisdom of patience and faith.  Help me be discerning so my energy is better focused, less scattered.  I feel sad to have missed much of this mediation class; please help me find ways to continue learning from this master teacher.
  I love his understanding of what it is like for beginners.  "We are slightly tickled that meditation is starting to allow us to access more expansiveness in our mind and daily life."  We are learning to just be with ourselves and our experience, whatever shows up.
   Meditation can be like a crack, where we create a more spacious situation around our thoughts and emotions.  We become more available to relate to them fully in our daily lives. This feels encouraging so we want to continue exploring this path to bring more sense of calm and sanity to ourselves, our daily life, and the world around us.  Meditation is a practice, like getting our bodies into shape; it won't happen overnight.  We start off slowly, feeling inspired each time we can do just a bit more.  Like this week, enjoying a yoga class for seniors, realizing all those years of learning yoga in my past are still held in the memory of my body.  I can begin again and rekindle some of my old discipline and passion for yoga.  Session by session in meditation, we begin to build up mental flexibility and openness that make our mind hearty and strong.  We begin with short sessions.  Already I am able to give spaciousness to a dream, and see it is  telling me to keep an open heart, forgive whoever caused this untimely death, and allow my focus to be on peace, not regret or anguish.  Death is not the final curtain, for even I know sometimes people I've loved dearly speak to me in a song, a chant, a fond memory.
   So this new day, may my heart not be so quick to judge, but remain open.  Please, spirit of grace and gentleness, peace and joy, abide with me as I embrace this new day. Shalom!