Toward inner and outer peace

My soul is buffeted, even tormented and mauled by the thought-beasts that try to drag me into the spaces and places outside of me. These spaces are increasingly crowded by obligations and demands and worries---full of thoughts that want to make me believe I'm always behind, never good enough, always living from a deficit. Unless I make space between the me-who-I-really-am and the mind-made-me, the false self constructed by these thoughts, I'll never live well. The thought-beasts will be always nipping at my heels.

This is no way to live.

Today, I'll pass through the narrow gate of my heart. Throughout the day, I'll pause and breathe my prayers again and again, drawing these maverick thoughts down into my heart. They'll meet Christ there.

Perhaps a few will be still, be silent . . . simply be . . . along with the rest of me.

And those that won't? Well, I'll refuse to follow them. I'll let them go, muttering as they march stubbornly onward.

from my journals, September 25, 2007

Do one thing

Your thoughts distract you. They lure you out of yourself and render you spiritually passive. If you don't stand at the center---your core or heart---and choose which thought to follow and why, you'll find yourself pulled in many directions at once. You'll continue to live a life that's driven by unceasing multitasking, unable to live the focused, meaningful, happy life you seek. It's the same with tasks. Do you scan your email inbox while you're talking on the phone---giving neither task the attention each deserves or requires? Do you jot notes on your to-do list while you're talking with a colleague or friend---your mind flitting to and fro, largely unconscious of what's going on right before you?

Do one thing. Choose to give full attention to a thought, task, or person. Practice watchfulness. Move toward monotasking. Ask yourself, "Am I here, now, present to what is before me?"

When you find you're not, when you become aware that you're multitasking again, simply breathe. Then follow your breath down into your heart.

When you breath---and are aware of your breathing---you come back to the present. And if you join a little prayer to your breath, you become conscious of God again. God is always near you. In fact, God is within you waiting to meet you and guide you.

Breathe and pray, and you're on your way from unceasing multitasking to the unceasing prayer which is the flame of the life you're made for (1 Thessalonians 5.17).

Prayer as Choice

Enter the stillness of interior prayer--in a crowded room or in the silence of your prayer place. Be present here and now. Present to each breath, the name and mercy of Jesus attached to each inhalation, each exhalation. To each thought that passes through the mind; present and poised so that you follow your breath and prayer rather than each maverick thought.

This practice may be new for you. A steady stream of thoughts pass through your mind. They urge you to follow wherever they, undisciplined and self-centered, want to take you. They don't care that you want to go somewhere else, do something else. They don't care that you're trying to pray and meet with God.

You might never before have realized that you have a choice when presented with this stream of thoughts. You have a choice to follow them or not. In fact, it is imperative that you choose, for choosing means that you are living from the center, your true heart, where Christ reigns within you.

Prayer: a few choice words

We've entered a turbulent century, but it's not the first time in history people have faced such difficulty. The 14th century (see this excellent book on the subject) was every bit as challenging and yet it produced some of the most enduring spiritual teaching in history. In this brief video I explore the gifts of the 14th century English Christians who excelled at interior prayer--in particular, the author of The Cloud of Unknowing.

A few choice words are mighty expressions of genuine prayer. Learn to utter simple words and awaken a profound experience of prayer in the midst of your active life.

Beyond the cluttered heart

In the awakened spiritual life, the key is not merely to get rid of the heart's clutter, but to live unattached to it, without identification with all that causes you to love it and want to hold onto it.   You want to get to the place where you no longer feel compelled to have it around, period. This freedom is the fruit of interior prayer, watchfulness, awareness.

Continual, habitual returning to that deep union with Christ within means that you become increasingly non-attached and disidentified with the thought-clutter that once littered your inner life, though you probably could not see it at the time.