Contemplative Practices

... to correctly diagnose disease, or find a cure.  A motor run too hard, too long, is likely to experience catastrophic failure.  A child who never learns to sit quietly in class is less-likely to learn from the teacher’s wisdom for how to be successful in current and later life, in the best sense. A person who does not know how to center their own soul in a rigorously restful and attentive way is more likely to be undone by the swirling chaotic energies of this world in which we live.


Such quiescence and centering is vital to a truly healthy spirituality. Learning to focus one’s soul contemplatively can go a long way toward seeing truthfully in this world, living rightly in one’s personal life, relating faithfully amidst community. In fact, experience has shown that meditation and living mindfully, can help with everything from vocationally-related stress and chronic pain, to the development of wise leadership skills and pragmatically healthy decision-making.  Contemplative practice helps clear out the clutter that keeps us from hearing God and experiencing holiness.  


Many people convince themselves that they are just not the kind of people who can sit still. Sometimes, potential is never reached because people believe a lie that they can never be anything more than they already are, that God is impotent to transform their way of being in the world. Then, these people live accordingly, slowly, into hopelessness, doubt, and a too-small-life.


Take a look at the practices lifted up in the links on the left side of this page. Try them on for size. See if they might, indeed, become the seeds to a more spacious, healthier, empowering transformation of how you live, lead, and understand yourself to be in this world.

A microscope, unfocused, is not likely...

art of stillness (TED talk)


art of stillness (book)


audio prilgrimage w/ Thich Nhat Hanh


a form of body prayer (video)


beach-combing as spiritual practice


born to walk


breath as prayer


centering an anxious soul


inner landscape of beauty

     (the late John O'Donohue)


listening generously

     (Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen)


science of mindfulness

     (Jon Kabat-Zinn interview)


spiritual nomad finds sacred space


the body's grace (m.sanford)


world through the hands


yoga: meditation in action


being still


being present


bell sound meditation (arthur zajonc)


benedict's rules


benedict's rule: instruments of good works


can meditation help control mindless eating?


cave-digger:

     contemplative example of manual labor


centering prayer


center for contemplative mind in society


circles in the sand --

     ephemeral beach labyrinths


contemplation -- one definition


contemplative mind - centering


contemplative mind - contemplation


contemplative mind - meditation


contemplative mind - walking


contemplative prayer


contemplative studies in university setting


cultivating a quiet mind


daily bearings (bubble meditations)


daily discernment exercise

         (examen of consciousness)


d365: daily devotion


daily office


desert breath


details: where god is found


disposition of the heart


doing nothing as spiritual care


"dreaming creation" contemplative photo project


dwelling in the word


ending the day well


explorefaith.org- being still


explorefaith.org- a place to meditate


feast for the soul


40: I gave myself some time away


five-minute refresh meditation


friends of the mystery


gravity glue: a contemplative practice in      

     art, environment, stillness & play


great bell chant (end of suffering)


growing still prayer -- Br. D S-R


grumbling as sin


humility


inside passages: wilderness retreats


intention


invite wonder (poem)


invocation of spirit


joy of quiet


just breathe: mindfulness for children


just breathe theory


lectio divina


listen carefully


listening to God -- an exercise


living spiritually


meditation as wellness tool


meditations cultivating joy, kindness, gratitude


meditation of the heart


meditate with:

     - art

     - music

     - poetry

     - reading


mindful eating


mindfulness prayer


mindfulness practice meditation




(links continued in next column)