Hello friends,
This is Mark Ludman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighborhood monk in dogs.
Welcome back to another installment of our meditation series on finding the calm beneath the storms.
Over the past several days we've been learning to descend beneath the surface,
To notice the waves,
To let go of striving,
To rest in the deeper current and to recognize the quiet presence of Christ within.
And today we explore something very gentle and very important,
Learning to remain.
We begin,
As always,
By allowing ourselves to settle.
Allow your body to become still,
Your shoulders soften,
Let your hands rest gently.
Take a slow breath in and gently out.
And again,
Breathing in and breathing out.
And just allow your breathing now to rest naturally.
And as you sit here,
Imagine yourself once more beneath the surface of the water.
The waves are still above,
Thoughts may still move,
But here in the deeper water there is a stillness,
A steadiness,
A sense of being held.
And in the book of Isaiah,
We hear these words,
In quietness and trust shall be your strength.
Let those words settle gently within you,
Quietness and trust.
One of the most natural things the mind does in stillness is begin to move again.
Have you noticed?
A thought appears,
A plan starts to form,
Something tries to pull your attention back to the surface.
And this is completely normal.
So today,
Instead of trying to stop the movement of the mind,
We're going to practice something else.
When you notice the movement,
Simply remain.
Bring your attention to your breathing,
Breathing in and out.
And as you continue to breathe,
Let the breath anchor you gently in this moment.
And if a thought arises,
Notice it.
But then instead of following it,
Gently return back to the breath,
Back to stillness,
And back to presence.
Just remain.
And you might gently choose a word which we might call an anchor to help you stay.
Just a simple word like here or rest.
Whatever it is,
Just let it be a nice gentle word,
Almost like a whisper in the background of your awareness.
Now,
Today we're going to share a longer period of quiet together.
This is simply a time to remain,
To rest in the deeper water,
To allow trust to grow.
And if the mind wanders,
Gently return again and again.
No frustration,
No judgment,
Just returning back to the breath,
Back to your word,
Back to that presence,
Back to that stillness.
Here.
Rest.
Stillness.
Presence.
And the interesting thing is,
Is that the more you take time to be in this space of here,
Of rest,
Of stillness and of presence,
What often felt unfamiliar begins to feel more natural.
The quietness and the stillness becomes less like a feeling of emptiness and more like a feeling of presence.
This is how trust grows.
Not all at once,
But slowly,
Gently,
Through that gentle act of returning and remaining.
And now begin to bring your awareness back to your breathing.
Notice the body again,
The space around you.
Take one slightly deep breath and begin to bring yourself back.
And as you move through your day,
Remember this,
You don't need to rush back to the surface.
The deeper place is always here.
Each time you return,
It becomes a little more familiar,
A little more like home.
And so as you go,
May grace,
Peace and love go with you,
Today and every day.
Amen.
Until the next time,
Peace be with you.
