Getting Through the Day, Revisited .......3/21/13

      Good evening everyone,

I'm bumping this up. It was written nearly two years ago,  March 26th, 2011.  Let me know what you think.

           The following spiritual disciplines help us get through the day, especially those that are challenging and stressful.

1.  Meditation.

    This spiritual exercise slows us down.  It permits us to slip away from the frenetic white noise of the busyness of life. Meditation enables us to still our minds and wrap them around the events transpiring in our day, week or month.

     Seeking God's will in the midst of all that confronts us, is what we are doing. Praying for God's grace to carry out His will, not
ours, is the next step.  Spirituality is humbling. Yet, nothing is as satisfying as our enjoying a deep relationship with a loving, kind, gracious God. For those who may not know He is loving, forgiving and kind, I have two words for you: He is.

2. Prayer.

    "Prayer is," as Victor Hugo said, "no matter what position our body is in, our soul is on its knees."  This means we can pray while driving and keep our eyes open. We are as strong spiritually as we are in our prayer.  If we are weak in this area we will are also weak spiritually.

3.  Palms Down Exercise.

     Try sitting, with our forearms resting on our thighs, our hands extended beyond our knees, facing downwards. Releasing to God whatever concerns us, is our focus.  It can go something like this:

         Lord, I release to you my worries, my anxiety, my pain, be it mental, physical, emotional or in any other form. I give to you my past history and the pain it contains.  Father, I release my resentments, fears,  and doubts to You.  You can do for me what I can't do for myself.  I turn these issues over into your loving care.

4.  Palms up exercise.  It looks like this:

With your hands cupped upwards, receive from your Higher Power the gifts He has for you.  You use a prayer similar to the following:

        Dear God, I receive from You your power, strength, perseverance, poise, peace and prosperity. I receive the emotional safety, tranquility, hope, and harmony that you alone provide. I receive the joy, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control you want me to enjoy. I receive the fantastic community, fellowship and celebration of life I enjoy with my family, loved ones and friends.

    You get the idea. We give thanks for knowing a God greater than ourselves. He  restores us when we're frazzled.  The sanity and serenity we seek is available, when we draw close to Him.

  It's key remembering there is only one God and we are not it. 

5.  Inspirational Literature

      Reading inspiring literature helps.  I believe in God.  But, I've found that positive, uplifting literature is also a power greater than myself.

      Our best thinking and actions brought us the problems facing us today. We're likely to encounter frustration, anger, anxiety and resentment, when we're not exercising restorative principles above those weak areas in our personality. Principles make it possible for us to respond to the challenges we face, including anger, being overwhelmed, etc.

     Literature can offer healthier, wiser perspective.  Reading material that helps us expand beyond our old methods of coping makes us wiser.  Applying it enables us to be more emotionally mature, where we respond and not react to the drama life throws at us. When this is the case, we discover that literature can be a power greater than ourselves.

6.  Friends.

      Our  needs are God's way of extruding us into relationship with emotionally healthy others.  Character discernment allows us to invite others into our life who help us become better persons because of their presence. Though not perfect, these friends are "good enough" in  their own character that the net effect of their presence in my life is positive.  They are accepting, honest, and present, and they help me bear good fruit in my life.  (Thoughts from by Henry Cloud's and John Townsend's, Safe People.)

     Calling a friend when we are at wit's end can be a sanity saver. It's good knowing that "two are better than one, for they have a rich reward for their labor."   Ecclesiastes 4:9

7. Gratitudes.
     I have a hard copy of my gratitudes. I use one of those marbled, spreckly composition books with a black spine. I keep my daily record of thanks in it. I try writing at least three.  At last count I have over 41,000 gratitudes in the several notebooks I've filled up. They help change the direction of my thinking.

               The optimist sees the opportunity in every problem.  

               The pessimist sees the problem in every opportunity. 

               It is only the optimist who soars and it is the pessi-

               mist who will try to clip his wings, to prevent him

                from flying.

    There are more things that help me to get through the day. I'll see about sharing them in another posting.

How About You? 
1. What spiritual practices do you have, that I didn't mention?