Tag Archives: Meditation

“World’s happiest man” shares his secret

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A 69-year-old monk who scientists call the ‘world’s happiest man’ says the secret to being happy takes just 15 minutes per day

Another must-read.

This is actually a different approach to meditation than any I have ever used.  I may try it.

Enigmatically, happiness is no laughing matter.  Last week’s article suggested that your happiness is a key to success in life.  It is central to one’s functionality,  the ability to get things done, overcome obstacles, set wise goals and diligently pursue them.  Whether you believe in heaven or hell, wish to serve merely yourself, or instead wish to “serve” God, serve Jesus, or serve humanity — it’s essential to optimize your functionality, your effectiveness in life.

Fortunately, apparently, that can be fun!

Originally posted 2016-02-06.

What you “see” is what you’ll get.

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This story from Ambrose Worrall’s The Gift of Healing[*] illustrates that not all prayer, however well-intentioned, will necessarily bring about the desired results. Some prayer may even interfere with obtaining the desired results.

Ambrose Worrall had been asked to intercede for a six-year old girl named Kay, who had developed encephalitis following measles. At the time he began, she was completely paralysed.

Continue reading What you “see” is what you’ll get. →

2. Meditation

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THE WAY OF PEACE

← 1. About this book Home 3. Application →

Meditation is not the whole of the Way, any more than flour is the whole of cookies. If you want cookies, you must also have butter, sugar, and perhaps eggs, in addition to flour. Flour is essential, however. Likewise as to the Way, meditation is so essential, as to move me to say this: if you have any interest in learning the Way, and do not now have a discipline of meditation, you should start one now — right now — before even reading the rest of this book. Continue reading 2. Meditation →

7. Mooring oneself in What Is

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THE WAY OF PEACE

← 6. Sales pitch Home  8. Heart and soul →

Hold to God’s unchanging hand.

When not at sea, a boat is normally tied, or moored, to a dock.  The waves rise and fall, the winds blow this way and that, but the boat is stable and secured because it is moored.

The storms of life buffet us this way and that, and one can lose oneself in the chaos and confusion.  Managing, coping, requires that one have some mooring somewhere.  Some folk moor themselves in a concept, a dogma, such as Biblical inerrancy or the dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church.  Others moor themselves in the dogmas of an ideology, such as Progressivism or identity politics; or a cause, such as environmentalism; or even a romance (a particularly bad choice).  I propose instead mooring oneself merely in What Is.

Everything else is subject to change or question or dispute.  There is no disputing What Is.  And the underlying principles, the principles that underlie existence itself, never change. Continue reading 7. Mooring oneself in What Is →

Podcast — The fool on the hill

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So, that happened.

The fool on the hill

The Beatles, “The fool on the hill”

The Beatles, “Nowhere man”
Continue reading Podcast — The fool on the hill →

Un[b]locking the spirit

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Pray for yourself first.

When you pray for someone, you become a channel through which the Holy Spirit (or “Life Force”) flows to address that person’s needs.  (See Mark 5:30.)  You may or may not perceive this flow as it happens.

The Spirit must first address any deficiencies in the channel itself, before it can optimally address the other person.  In particular, the Spirit must address any emotional imbalances that may exist in the person who intends to pray.  Without this adjustment, at best the Spirit’s flow will be constricted; at worst, the channel may project his or her own needs (e.g. anxieties, aches and pains) onto the patient.
Continue reading Un[b]locking the spirit →

This Ancient Philosophy Is What We Desperately Need In Our Modern Lives

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Another link from Brian Williard:

This Ancient Philosophy Is What We Desperately Need In Our Modern Lives

Growing up, all the word “Stoic” meant to me was keeping a stiff upper lip in the face of adversity.

Not until 1989, when I was taking the Synoptics course at St. Mary’s Seminary, did I learn — from Sean Freyne’s The World of the New Testament, which I highly recommend for many reasons — that there is a great deal more to it, including much to like.

Stoicism is a life of ordered joy.

As you read this article, please note the many similarities between the approach to life described there, and the things I have said here about presence.

Carolyn Gregoire also wrote the first article I mentioned about emotional intelligence,  “How emotionally intelligent are you?”

———— ♦ ————

And yet another link from Brian Williard:

Google’s ‘Jolly Good Fellow’ On The Power Of Emotional Intelligence

Looks like links to Carolyn Gregoire are becoming pretty common on this blog.

Don’t scoff at the headline.  From the gentleman in question here, Chade-Meng Tan, comes another ringing endorsement of meditation and presence as I have discussed them.  I note that the first exercise described in the article is tantamount to what I call prayer, and practically the same as I proposed in “You don’t need an invitation to love people.”

(Originally posted 2014-06-21.)

A first look at meditation

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Although I constantly refer to “silence” and “presence,” I have put off posting any how-to here about meditation, since there are innumerable resources out there and I don’t want to re-invent the wheel.   I may eventually post a how-to here.

In the meantime, Brian Williard sent me the below link that I can’t ignore.

I’d urge anyone who’s interested in meditation, or in learning how to meditate, to read it.  Actually, I’d encourage anyone who’s not engaged in meditation now, to read it.

Son Meditation in the Midst of Turmoil

Continue reading A first look at meditation →