A Healthy Habit with No Excuse

 

 

 

 

"May the stars carry your sadness away,

May the flowers fill your heart with beauty,

May hope forever wipe away your tears,

And above all,

May silence make you strong."

 

Chief Dan George 

 

When we go through life on automatic pilot, we may not even be aware of our disconnection from our feelings and senses.  As we breeze through our busy days, we may briefly take notice we are not clearly present.  As this passing awareness is explored, we realize we are not grounded or centered.

 

The word centered is frequently linked to the word prayer as in Centering Prayer.  Centering prayer assists a person in focusing inward, identifying with attitude, perspective, and actions in alignment with the Divine.  The word grounding refers to sinking our energy into the earth and pulling earth energy back up into us to stabilize ourselves. 

 

There are many ways for us to 'pull our parts together' so we can approach our day full bodied.  If we do not make effort to be one with ourselves, we enter life fragmented, distracted, and missing the expansive version of daily living. 

 

The automatic response to focusing usually is:  "I don't have enough time" or "I wish I had the time."  We do have the time, we just don't provide ourselves with it.  We need to give ourselves permission to light a tea light every morning while we shower or dress.  We can be mindful at bedtime to gather our spiritual thoughts together in preparation for peaceful sleep. 

 

We can all create a practice requiring just a few seconds to gather kind thoughts around us.  A wise woman I have known for years tells me every morning when she inserts her key to lock her door, she asks God to protect her children.  When I worked down town and parked underground, I would resist taking the elevator.  As I climbed the stairs every morning, I would pray for my children and grandchildren. 

 

It is remarkably easy to create a healthy habit of centering or grounding or focusing.  If we put our mind to it, we can easily determine what might resonate with us personally.  We do not have to provide ourselves with lengths of time, even though that would be ideal.  Grab a few seconds every morning, providing a passing moment of bliss, joy, thanksgiving, gratitude, forgiveness, or whatever comes to mind.   There really is no excuse not to.  Not one.