The Power of Sacred Questions

Hi there.

This is davidji.

And today I wanted to share with you some beautiful practice that I've been using for many,

Many years,

And it has helped my meditations go deeper and deeper and deeper.

And I refer to this as the sacred questions,

Asking the sacred questions.

So what does that even mean?

When I sit down to settle in for my meditation,

And remember,

Of course,

Comfort is queen.

Always keep moving towards comfort whenever you're meditating.

Why?

Because probably if you're comfortable,

Higher likelihood you'll show up again and do it.

And if you're not comfortable,

Maybe you won't.

But what I do to help me settle in,

First I sit down and I do some of my rituals,

My morning routines in that practice,

Closing my eyes,

Watching my breath,

Settling in,

And settling in,

And then I ask up to three sacred questions.

Typically,

The first question is,

Who am I?

Or who am I when I'm at my best?

And I'll ask that question over and over and over.

I don't have prepared answers and sometimes answers don't come.

But I keep asking that question.

Who am I?

Who am I?

Who am I?

And it may sound kooky,

But what happens in that process is two very,

Very important things.

Number one,

I'm establishing a dialogue with something bigger than me.

I'm sitting down to connect to the stillness and silence that rests within.

And oh,

By the way,

Now I'm establishing a dialogue with that thing that's bigger than me.

Call it God,

Call it source,

Call it the universe,

Call it spirit,

Whatever that is.

Maybe it's just your highest expression.

Who am I?

Beyond all my labels,

Beyond all my typical conditioned identities,

Just keep asking that question.

And sometimes,

Like I said,

I'll make it,

Who am I when I'm at my best?

And I just allow all the ways I show up when I'm truly at my best.

Maybe I was patient.

Maybe I was kind.

Maybe I was more thoughtful.

Maybe I allowed somebody's words to actually land inside of me before I even thought of responding.

Maybe I just let someone cut in front of me while I was driving.

You know,

Who am I when I'm at my best?

And I do that for about one minute.

The second question I ask is,

What am I grateful for?

Who am I grateful for?

And of course,

All the animals in my life,

All the people in my life,

All the situations and circumstances in my life,

And I would encourage you to just let your gratitude list unfold.

There's probably so many things,

So many gifts that you've received.

And so what are you grateful for?

And I ask that question for about a minute and just let the answers come.

I just let that gratitude list unfold.

And again,

It's a minute minimum.

Sometimes it goes a little bit longer,

But no more than two minutes for these questions.

And after I've asked those two questions,

Then typically I ask the third question,

Which is,

And I rest my hand on my heart because that helps dial me in.

What does my heart truly long for?

What does my heart truly long for?

That's a pretty powerful question.

And again,

I don't force answers.

I let my heart speak.

You know,

When we can yoga chitta vritti nirodha,

We can quiet the fluctuations of the mind,

We can listen to the whispers in our heart.

And so it's a beautiful practice.

I've been doing this for many,

Many years.

And I do that again for about a minute,

Two minutes.

And then based on the answers to those three sacred questions,

Who am I?

What am I grateful for?

And again,

What does my heart truly long for?

I allow that to inform my next step in the meditation,

Which is typically,

Oh,

What's my intention?

What seed am I planting based on what answers came?

And again,

Sometimes there'll be no answers,

But I allow the answers to those three questions to inform my next step,

Which is always to set intentions.

And I make those intention settings a state of mind,

A state of being,

A quality or trait or a characteristic that I truly would like to embrace or amplify or awaken.

Maybe they've been dormant inside of me just for today.

I don't make it what's the stuff that I want.

I don't make it what's that,

You know,

I want this or that in the future.

Who's the me who's going to show up today?

And so I would encourage you to integrate those sacred questions and intention setting practice into your own practice.

This is how we truly manifest.

It's one of the secrets to manifesting.

This is how we truly connect at a deeper level,

Because another thing that goes on during that period of time,

These act almost as mantras.

They slow us down.

They slow us down and asking the three most profound questions you could ever ask yourself.

Who am I?

What am I grateful for?

And what does my heart truly long for?

Wipes away all the other stuff,

All the minutia and all the mundane,

All the email questions and other life questions.

These are the deep,

Deep questions.

And when we can connect to the answers to those or just that practice,

Whether that's three minutes or six minutes and then go into intention settings,

Whatever we do next unfolds with such beautiful grace and ease.

And that's why by the time I'm actually getting to my mantra or getting to whatever the practice is,

Whether that's a body scan or whether that's mindfulness or whether that's a guided visualization or whether that's some kind of embodiment or a meta practice or any of those,

By the time I get there,

I am so relaxed.

I'm so much calmer and I'm so much more still.

So I would suggest these for you.

From the sweet spot of the universe,

This is David G.

Wishing you a beautiful day,

An amazing day,

And see if you can integrate these tips,

Tools and techniques into your practice.

So grateful for you and for Inside Timer.

Sending you love.

Keep meditating and I'll see you in the gap.

Namaste.

Namaste.