Bridge to Stillness

Breathing is the bridge between mind and body, the connection between consciousness and unconsciousness, the movement of spirit in matter. ~ Andrew Weil



Bridges provide passage from one place to another, a connection joining two parts. We most often think of a bridge as a structure spanning the expanse across water or a link that allows us to cross from one side of terrain to another. When we encounter a bridge in our everyday life most of us cross it without a question or hesitation - we assume it's of a sound structure and that we have the rite of safe passage. In meditation we use the metaphor of the breath as a bridge. It's a symbol of crossing from the conscious mental chatter to our spiritual core where stillness lay patiently waiting for us to arrive.

Breath, the essence of life - a completely conscious or unconscious act. For a moment think about a time when you observed yourself or another in a highly emotional state. Was the breathing slow, calm or regular? NOT HARDLY! In a highly charged emotional state our breathing become rapid, intense and very irregular. If we learn to control our breathing we can learn to gain some composure over our volatile emotional states. We aren't always aware of our breathing - it happens whether we pay attention or not! In meditation we can choose to focus on our breathing - in doing so our breathing calms our physical bodies, slows down the incessant mental chatter and becomes the bridge that links us from the external world to the still calmness that is who we fundamentally are.

Here's a simple meditative exercise you can try:
Find a safe and comfortable place - free from distractions.
Sit comfortably, close your eyes and open your mind - relax your mind, relax your body.
Take 3 deep breaths in and out.
Pay attention only to how good it feels to breath. When your attention is drawn away by thoughts bring it back to the breath.
The stillness waits patiently!

Looking for love in all the wrong places...

“Words are the voice of the heart” ~Confucius
Do you ever feel frustrated after having engaged in a conversation with another because you don't feel like you've been heard? Have you listened to others so long and with such intensity that you feel like you've lost yourself? Is there a nagging suspicion resonating deep within that you need to find your voice? Do you ever wonder what all the hype is around "finding your voice"?

Years ago a very talented Brazilian Author by the name of Paulo Coelho published a book titled, "The Alchemist". The core of the book was based on the philosophy that "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." In summary ("spoiler" to follow), the book is about a young Andalusian boy who sets out on a courageous journey to find his "dream". What the young boy, Santiago, discovers on his adventure is "truth lies where your heart belongs"...deep within each of us.

Finding one's voice is much like Santiago's journey. One searches the world over for material possessions - the "right job", the "best house", the "coolest car"... intellectual knowledge - the "most prestigous schools" and hungers for love from "lovers", "friends", "fans"...only to wake up one day feeling empty and exhausted.

Or perhaps your experience has been somewhat opposite of that "journey". You ran away from the acquisition of material possessions, you shunned the pursuit of intellectual knowledge but in a similar fashion still looked outside of yourself for love - with the result being the same...you wake up one day feeling empty and exhausted!

The latter of the two experiences would be where I'd place my personal journey until a devastating mid-life crisis - one so intense that it rocked my world to its very core. What I discovered through much treasure hunting/soul searching and believe me when I say ...I left no stone unturned in the pursuit, is that when you find your heart you find your voice.

It doesn't look like what I thought it would..."drastic understatement". If you had asked me four years ago I would have said, "finding your voice is about becoming a powerhouse with words and knowledge, you speak loud and with authority demanding attention and people will listen"....WRONG! I went through years of feeling like the "Who" in "Whoville" in the book "Horton Hears a Who." And to be honest, the residue of that feeling still lingers strong in the air around me even after I found my voice ...on a mountain top in the wee hours of the night (http://kimberlyhicks.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-voice.html). It's a wonderful journey, one I treasure today...it's filled with love and laughter, a true dark night of the soul and it has come to rest, if only for a brief moment... in an awareness that ones voice resonates the strongest when it's spoken with the conviction of the heart of the individual!

Meditation gives us many gifts, physical, mental and spiritual. Today, I am grateful for the gift of my voice!

The Key...

"The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely” ~ Carl G. Jung

What are several of the obstacles to self love? Self doubt, lack of desire, no vision...(make your own personal list).

Is there a misunderstanding? Self love is not hedonistic, nor narcissistic. Neither is it - a lack of love for the Divine or others.

The key to self love is total and unconditional acceptance of self. There's an old expression, "love yourself warts and all". Acceptance is rooted deeply in reality...the here and now.

How does one arrive at this place of unconditional acceptance of self? The simple answer would be - have a desire. But just sitting around wishing for something isn't going to get you very far - you have to take action! For example, "part of what blocks me from loving myself is an inability to forgive myself for past transgressions." - If that's the case then ask for forgiveness from yourself and the God of your understanding (it's completely an inside job). Another example - one that really hits home with me, a middle aged female, is I struggled with body image...CHANGE your perspective - stop looking in the mirror and judging your insides by the outsides of others...we weren't all born a size 2, nor were we born to go hungry - a goal is to eat healthy and exercise! (come up with the action necessary to move off the line of angst and struggling to a place of surrender and acceptance).

There's an image that we all hold in our minds eye of who and what we are or what we "think" we should be. Self love requires a desire and action. It's comprised of vision, dedication, commitment, TENACITY and is within each and everyone of our reach! Living in the present moment one can not help but be filled with intense gratitude. Lack of self love is part of that "mental image" and not only is affecting us personally - it affects every single person we meet. Science has revealed to us that we are largely a product of what we think. Meditation is a process of stilling the body long enough for the mind to follow. In the stillness we align our will with the will of our Higher Self.

With a daily practice of meditation you come to rest in a place of peace and serenity that overrides all mental suffering! Through grace we all have the ability to love ourselves totally and completely without reservation.

...ACCEPTANCE is the key that unlocks the door to the prison of self...

Love Is...

“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.” ~ Rumi


In meditation the veil of illusion falls away. One achieves a state of pure bliss. There are no words to adequately describe the immediate or residual feelings, no paintings that accurately evoke emotions strong enough to portray such a vast expanse...for much in lost in the translation. Meditation is an experience into the reality of existence...a pure love beyond thought and form.

Mainstream manifestations of the treatise on love would lead one to believe that love is found through the actions of loving another in, perhaps, a romantic way. One can easily access an infinite supply of media - movies, songs, entire lines of retail markets whose livelihood are sustained by selling devices to enhance an individuals chances of gaining and sustaining romantic love. In fact - there's an entire day dedicated to the love of intimate companions - Valentines Day. Although romantic love is of importance for the propagation of the human species (which is an extremely valuable aspiration), a love that aids in our human emotions of companionship and comfort, survival or demise - it is not the type of love that truly allows an individual to have inner peace. If you've ever been involved in a romantic relationship - you know this to be true! In loving another there is inevitably the opposite emotion - in its extreme form there is "hate", in a minor form of opposition "disdain/dislike/discomfort" of or for the other. When in an intimate relationship with another one can be moved from love to hate within a single breath. Divine love...supreme love...ultimate love is true love - everlasting love and is not fleeting or momentary - it, this love, is there waiting patiently and freely for you to call.

There is no illusion, vanity or pride in divine love, no chaos or confusion. Just a pure and simple breadth, width, depth of consciousness. Divine love is that animating part of the individual - a space in which one feels a unity or oneness with the world. Divine, as in transcendence of the ordinary realm of being - a life force that presides within and around us. The belief in such a "power" or energy allows for the individual to let life unfold on the path in which it was intended.

~All You Need is Love~

"All you need is love, love, love is all you need.There's nothing you can know that isn't known.Nothing you can see that isn't shown.Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.It's easy.All you need is love, all you need is love,All you need is love, love, love is all you need." ~ the Beatles

Love of self ignites the light within our being, a deep intrinsic knowing of the ultimate reality of our existence is available to us all. We live in the 21st century, gone are the dark ages - a time marked by religious authority imposing its will on the individual and rational thought replaced personal experience. Today is the time of true enlightenment - a period of knowing - an inner path of awareness.

How does one arrive at this place of awareness? The wisest answer would be - GRACE. Awareness is not arrived at by sheer force of will. It is bestowed upon those who seek it in mind, body and soul. Meditation is a daily path to seek wholeness. Sitting quietly and intently focused upon the breath - a bridge that links consciousness to unconsciousness. Direct experience is the best teacher to come to the awareness of the light within.

Is there a way to measure the light or love? It feels like freedom, peace, serenity - a feather floating along on a gentle breeze. Love is an awakening of all the senses to a place of true oneness.

Self Love

“Love is not a feeling. Love is an action, an activity. . .Genuine love implies commitment and the exercise of wisdom. . . . love as the will to extend oneself for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth.....true love is an act of will that often transcends ephemeral feelings of love or cathexis, it is correct to say, 'Love is as love does'.” M. Scott Peck


If you love yourself - "warts and all" - you color your world from that perspective. As with all virtues - balance is the key. Too much self love becomes narcissism, too little becomes self loathing. Self love is not predicated by a belief in God/Higher Power/Higher Self and is not a moral dilemma, rather it is dependent upon having the "right view". In this case the "right view" is to not identify with the EGO. EGO in its truest form calls for opposing views - love/hate. Self love in its highest form is pure love. For self love to manifest, the individual must die to their infantile EGO state. Daily meditation is a simple way to achieve self love.

A suggested meditation for self love:

1. Find a quiet safe place free from distractions.
2. Set a timer for 11 minutes.
3. Close your eyes and open your mind.
4. Take 3 deep breaths focusing all of your attention on just how good it feels to breathe.
5. Relax your mind, relax your body.
6. As your attention moves inward - be mindful of how you feel. Pay attention to what you are feeling.
7. If distracting thoughts enter your mind...let them go. Bring your attention back to the sensations in your body.
8. Ask yourself - "what keeps me from loving myself?"
9. Sitting comfortably and relaxed - pay attention to what your body is telling you.
10. Try this every day for six weeks...like physical exercise - the subtler bodies take a little practice!

Thoughts Become Things

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. ~Maori Proverb

Habits...some good, some bad take little effort to manifest. Without conscious effort we all become products of our thinking. With awareness brought forth through the process of meditation we gain the ability to not only choose how we think but how we feel.

During the meditative practice, those moments spent in the quiet stillness - we gain fresh insights, new perspectives. For some the insights may come in the form of sensations, a pleasant feeling of stress release. Others may gain a new perspective by the images that flood their minds eye or from the phrases or words that seem to appear in your conscious awareness from sources unknown. With patience, diligence and dedication to your meditative practice the seemingly random nudging from the depths of your being are made conscious.

With conscious awareness, a sense of being grounded in the present moment - here and now we have the ability to choose to take the good and leave the rest behind.

First things First

The greatest explorer on this earth never takes voyages as long as those of the man who descends to the depth of his heart. ~Julien Green








Meditation is the best way I know for one to get their life in order. The practice of meditation takes the practitioner from the incessant mental chatter down into their core. A place of joy, peace and compassion. In this place we open up to new possibilities, our view is changed from self to others. By simply letting go and letting our Higher Power/Higher Self/God take over we are freed from the bondage of self. Life begins to unfold in the order it was intended - without force, without second guessing our choices!

Positive Thinking

"Any thought that is passed on to the subconscious often enough and convincingly enough is finally accepted"~Robert Collier






Do you struggle? Most of us would answer something like - yes, sometimes I struggle to stay focused or no, I don't' really struggle but I do wonder why I can't manifest good things into my life...my life feels like random happenstance. Your answer may lie somewhere in between. We all at one moment or another are faced with difficulties or struggles - whether we perceive them to have arisen in our inner world or to have fallen on us from some external source. With meditation reality doesn't change only our perceptions change. We uncover what lies beneath - the shadows are brought into the light and we then have a true choice...either believe that we can change the way we think or accept our lives for all that they are.

If you can accept your life in this very moment exactly how it is you gain much peace and serenity. From this moment forward you have the power to change anything inside of yourself - how you think, how you feel, how you respond - you have the choice to create a better future for yourself by the simple act of being still. You are what you think - the ideas that you hold about yourself and the world around you are projections of thoughts. Meditation allows you to reset, sort of like being in neutral for a moment until you can get your bearings straight.

Let positive images and thoughts flood your mind today. Studies in neuroscience indicate that we have approximately 90,000 thoughts per day most of which are reruns and that it takes 21 day to change a habit. Studies in meditation find 15 minutes of meditation for 6-8 weeks show dramatic changes in sense of self. Those aren't really big numbers compared to peace, happy, serenity, joy and fulfillment! Be still, think positive thoughts and become the person you were meant to be.

The Dark Stream

"The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner opposite, the world must perforce act out the conflict and be torn into opposing halves."Carl G.Jung


Meditation is a safe and secure way to allow the unconscious parts of one's psyche to rise to the surface. As painful memories arise, images of past hurts or sounds from old wounds, let them go into the thought stream. The stream will flow its natural course into the light. With awareness one becomes integrated - thus whole. This is the goal of true meditation.

Satisfaction

Action itself, so long as I am convinced that it is right action, gives me satisfaction.
Jawaharlal Nehru




When I was a young girl I often complained of boredom. My mothers solution to my angst was for me to go outside and run around the massive oak tree that stood in the center of our front yard! She insisted that I do this no less than twenty five times. Since I was "so" bored - I would skip out the front door, trot across the porch and jump out into the yard breaking into a full run round and round the big oak tree. After a short while the thoughts of boredom left me and were replaced with contentment. It has taken me years to understand the true reason behind my mothers solution.

Today the oak tree has much symbolism for me. What my mother knew that I didn't was that I was bored because I was in my head - letting my thoughts roll round and round. Meditation is my oak tree today...it gets me out of my thoughts. I disengage from the incessant boredom channel often known as my thoughts. Meditation is an action- a reset button for my brain just as running around the oak tree was. During the meditative process I disengage, become the observer finding peace and satisfaction within myself.

Meditation and Stillness

"The still small voice is always there...we choose to pay attention or not." ~ KCH

Meditation is an ancient practice found in all eastern and western spiritual traditions. Websters dictionary defines meditation as a mental exercise for the purpose of reaching a spiritual goal. That definition does not quite get to the heart of the matter. Meditation is a practice in stilling the body long enough for the mind to settle. During the practice thoughts arise and the practitioner lets them go as if observing someone or something passing by. The act is likened to sitting on a river bank and watching the flow of water as it cascades down the rocks, seeps through the tiniest crevice and rolls gently down through the trough it has made for itself. If you follow the river, you would see that it truly never stops. Neither does the mind and its incessant flow. In meditation we learn to disengage, to not become the water that never stops flowing, to not be the thoughts that never cease but rather to know that we are not our thoughts, we are not what's on the surface rather we are what flows deep within the well of our beings.

Deep inside each of us lies a still small voice. In some of us our minds, thus our thoughts, could be likened to a hurricane - as they gain speed on the water and hit land causing mass destruction. Thoughts that are left to run their own course gain speed and momentum - they, our thoughts take on a life of their own. But just as in the eye of a hurricane there is an ever present calm - deep inside of our beings there is also a stillness.

The mind and its habits are strong like the river cascading along its path. Through the practice of meditation we learn to listen to stillness underneath. Our thoughts are like the river in that the majority of the movement happens on the surface. Finding that center, uncovering the stillness can be cultivated. In this place we begin to hear the still small voice that lies beneath the surface. Some call it our God voice. A voice of reason, loving kindness and compassion. In each of us the voice is specific and unique to our being. It's been there all along waiting patiently for us to invite it into our conscious awareness.

Life on life's terms...

If one cannot get one's own way, one must bow to the inevitable. ~ John Ray

Meditation by it's very nature gives the practitioner the ability to stay in the present moment. Living in the now allows for one to listen to the moments between sounds. One could argue that if there is no sound then there is nothing to listen to...but that is not the kind of listening I am speaking of. I don't believe that as long as we are breathing and full of life there can be total silence. In fact, I really don't believe there's ever going to be complete silence.

The listening of which I speak - is holy listening. Listening to that still small voice inside of you...listening to what others don't say instead of what words they use to label thoughts and emotions. Each of us came equipped with our own internal guidance system. Some of us feel called to have our "systems" recalibrate every now and then. We had become "lost" in the sea of others. One of the gifts of meditation is the ability to still the mind and body long enough to get beneath the chaos known as mind to that deep place of stillness. This calm does not go away during the moments we are not practicing formal meditation. The calm grows with each moment of practice ... it begins to fill our being and resonates out during our moments of non practice. If necessary you can even recall the calm.

In the calmness we are better able gain acceptance of the world around us. The chaos is primarily caused from the dualism of labels such as good/bad, love/hate. When you have serenity which is found in calmness you have acceptance. Life is life and for whatever reason...it happens on its own terms.

You are Home

“In order to come home to ourselves without fear of encountering the suffering, we must have a practice of mindfulness and concentration.” ~Thick Nhat Hanh

Meditation gives us many gifts, far too many to name them all. One that comes to mind at the present moment is the gift of arriving home. For many years of my life home was the place where I grew up...my parents house. I'd heard that old saying, "home is where the heart is", but it didn't really resonate with me. And I must admit there are still tugs when I am there; a longing to be young and carefree, the desire to be able to visit often...and the never ceasing "tear" as I leave from my quarterly visits. But home is no longer a place for me go and visit, it is not the physical space that houses my material possessions. Home has become the place I rest inside of myself...I carry my home with me where ever I go.

Thick Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist Monk, has a wonderful meditation on the breath called "Arriving Home." The intent of this practice is to allow us to arrive home into the presence of own selves. When we are there we know peace, we no longer look outside of ourselves for happiness...we yearn no more for memories of a life we chose to leave behind nor do we yearn for our identify to be defined or outlined by others. Some call it, "being comfortable in our skin." But even that line of thinking is a form of attachment. Life is about impermanence. Becoming whole is to become that person you were put here to be. Meditation allows us to stop looking outside of ourselves for answers. For we know at the very core of our beings what the answers are for us. The key that unlocks the door to your home...is the willingness to look deep within...past the darkness into the very core of your beings.

A simple meditative practice for "arriving home" is to find a quiet place free from distractions. Sit comfortably and relax. On the in breath mentally say to yourself "arriving". On the exhalation say to yourself "home".

Listening...

The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says, but rather to what he does not say. ~ Kahlil Gibran

True listening is being present in the silence. It requires patience! If you find it difficult to be still in the pauses...try meditation. Meditation takes you deep within, underneath the chaos, to a place of stillness. The result is the ability to be present throughout your day.

Being...is a way of giving to others. Have you ever met someone who spoke slowly ? Did you judge them for it? Do you always think others are at fault because of the traffic flow? A way to be at peace, to heal yourself and others is presence. Meditation allows for us to awaken to the deep consciousness that is the true essence of our being.

Living in the Present Moment

"Living in the present moment is the only way to develop peace, both in one's self and in the world..." KCH

As a child you accepted the world with open arms. Every experience was new and exciting. Sand between your toes felt wonderful, ocean spray on your skin was life's natural glitter - your imagination ran wild. You smiled, laughed and giggled with seemingly little cause. Resentment, nor anger nor fear lived in you. Life was a journey with each breath. Living fully in the present moment was as easy as ABC and 123. So what happened?

One day you began to look outside of yourself. You began to compare yourself to others and convinced yourself that you never measured up...that's what happens when we compare our insides to the outsides of others. That voice of negativity, the bad wolf, the ego self, the darkness...YOUR MIND...whatever you call it - IT - not you - took over. You began to attract REALLY negative people into your life - who reinforce your unhappiness (because that's how energy works!) There began to be a mental dialogue of negativity in the form of complaints because some perceived need wasn't being met. The word failure replaced the word lessons in your vocabulary. Layer upon layer of wants and desires filled your being. Next thing you know - many years have past since you lived in the present moment. You now reside in memories or projections. You can't remember the last time you smiled, laughed or giggled for no reason. Do you miss you?

There's not much chance that you didn't say no. The child that you were - who was able to live fully in the present moment, the one who accepted everyone unconditionally, who could always feel the ground beneath their feet and the wind in your hair, who smiled, laughed and giggled just because life was so fantastic...lives in the core of your being - just busting at the seams to BE.

I'm not saying all you have to do is want your inner child - your inner core can be reach in one second...spend some time meditating...recalibrate your energy...laugh at the cacophony of frogs outside your window. Smile at a stranger...giggle just because it tickles your insides. And know that it's 100% okay to just be you because that's who you were created to be! It won't be long...and you'll be loving yourself again...because it truly is a choice to live in the here and now.

Peace Like A River

"It is better to experience Meditation than to have someone explain the art to you..."~KCH

Speaking on the subject of meditation is like trying to explain the taste of the sweetness of sugar to one who has never tasted sugar! Experiencing meditation is the best way to understand, to awaken - thus, become enlightened. We live in a world...a community...a space inside of ourselves...that feeds, thrives on WORDS and the thought processes that are crucial to producing them. Thinking is not a state of resting in the present moment, rather it resides in the past or in the future, or worse - in a state of neurosis where you are residing simultaneously in the past and future. Words trigger thoughts and thoughts trigger emotions! So how does one get past thoughts? A simple answer would be let go of the words.

It would seem contradictory to say, "describe how the picture above makes you feel". To feel implies that you are experiencing emotions. The Latin root of the word emotions is "to move through or out of" - meaning emotion is energy in MOTION. If emotions and thoughts (which oscillate in the form of brain waves) are energy, then the question arises how does one stop the energy? You can't stop the energy not even at death as consciousness survives death. But you can find peace - here and now in this moment by changing the words the thoughts will change, the emotions that follows will change and the energy will change. It all seems rather circular doesn't it?

Life is circular! The ego is an illusion of the false self that arises in a linear fashion. All thoughts and emotions rise and fall...begin and end. Breath cycles in and out...in and out...around and around and around. Pure being - true consciousness circulates on the breath. For a moment...focus only on your breath...breathing in and out...gently inhaling and exhaling deeply. Now look at the picture above...and let what arises in you resonate for a moment...

That is the essence of meditation!

~FOCUS~

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly."
-- Buddha

Meditation has been shown to alter brain states. What are the benefits to the practitioner? They are tenfold. In particular the practice of meditation can enable you to live more fully in the present moment. This ability to be here and now comes from the practice of stilling the mind and is a natural result of this practice. Studies show increases in brain states such as narrative versus experiential focus.

Narrative focus is likened to streams of consciousness, the "I" of our history. This is where we take incoming information and filter it through the ego. Ego can be thought of as a reservoir for our past down into a subconscious level. It can also be the repository for our future as in desires and wants.

Experiential focus is a filter of the sense organs...sight, sound, smell, taste and feeling. Sensing the world in this way allows us to be present in this moment. As a result we are non-reactive, non-judgementive and aware. Research conducted on meditators has shown that meditation enhances our ability to focus on the now. Being in the now enhances us by opening up neural pathways.

The difference between narrative and experiential focus is the as vast as making plans to begin a new journey to being on the journey and having joy, happiness and compassion! Both are necessary paths - some of us just need to be in the present moment!

Spiraling Inward

Spirituality can not be defined, but can be described as a journey to the center of the Soul.
- Peter Kemmsies


On our spiritual journey, an inward path, we spiral deeper and deeper into the core of ourselves in hopes of finding God. God has been there all along, patiently waiting for our arrival. We wrestle with fear and doubt, shame and confusion but in the silence we preserver onward...inward. Hopefully as we grow and mature our perceptions change from borrowing the faith of others to finding a spiritual maturity of our own understanding.

Meditation gives us space. Time to pause in order to gain the courage to look deep within ourselves. It can be a very rewarding journey but also the most frightening one of all. To sit in silence, to be in darkness waiting patiently for wisdom...enlightenment - takes diligence.

The funny thing about a spiral is that it always brings us back to the place that we began...

The Wounded Soul

"We all share the wound of fragmentation. And we can all share in the cure of unification. Healing is the unification of all our forces -- the powers of being, feeling, knowing, and seeing."
~ author unknown



We all have them - parts of our self that have fractured or splintered off due to trauma. Some of us have more trauma which equals more splinters. Have you ever been planting something and accidentally gotten a splinter in your finger? When you pull the splinter out the wound heals naturally because that's your bodies response to foreign invasion. What happens when you don't get the splinter out? After days, perhaps weeks, the foreign object goes deep beyond the surface. The sight of origin may have redness and tenderness, it will often become infected requiring medical attention. Splinters in our psyche are much like this. Tender places deep inside of us that can not be seen with the naked eye or under a microscope. Depending on our level of self-awareness we may know that the wounds are there...festering deep inside of us trying to work their way out. Just like a splinter that has lodged in our finger the splinters in our soul will try to find their own way out into the sunlight, even if it means coming out sideways. To the outside observer this sideways behavior often seems incongruent to the situation at hand, but to the reactor the behavior seems just.

Perhaps our souls were wounded in childhood by our perceptions of religious teachings. Maybe we were traumatized by those around us who inflected unjust blows onto our psyches in our most formative years. Whatever the trauma we all have a degree of it. The question is - what do you do about it?

Years ago Albert Einstein while working on one of his famous theories came across what he called, "the spooky effect." He couldn't make sense of something he saw...molecular particles at a distance effecting other particles. In today's modern science this theory is called Quantum Entanglement. In essence what this theory implies is that something is taking place beyond the eyes ability to perceive it, something that defies the bounds of time and space. The implications of this theory are what psychologist call transference and it's happening at a soul level, meaning beyond consciousness and ego defenses.

The reason our psyche splinters is to protect our core. We are born with our core - our soul. At our core we are spiritual beings. This core is the vital animating part - it's what makes us alive. No matter what your religious or spiritual beliefs, whether you are agnostic or atheist...you know there's something that makes you a living breathing entity!

Breath is the bridge that connects life to consciousness. It's our bodies natural way of healing itself. But if the splinters are too deep...we may require assistance from another. Meditation and spiritual direction are wonderful tools for healing our wounded soul. Something happens beyond our ability to see with the naked eye. A process of natural healing deep within! Finally science and spiritual disciplines agree upon a theory of the wounded healer. One never can be sure...who's really helping who!

Spiritual Direction

Spiritual direction is, in reality, nothing more than a way of leading us to see and obey the real Director — ... the Spirit hidden in the depths of our soul. ~ Thomas Merton





Spiritual direction is the ancient practice of companioning another on a spiritual journey. Typically this companioning is done one on one under a formal covenant. We were intended to thrive in loving relationship with God and others. Often in our humanness we become lost. The true self becomes buried underneath the layers of our experiences and covered by the various mask we are often forced to wear. Spiritual formation for some comes quickly...for others it comes slowly over time. Yielding to authentic transformation seems foreign. Do you stop and ask directions when you are on a journey and don't know which fork in the road to take?

What is Meditation?

St. Bernard of Clairvaux: "Meditation is a quest for truth."


Meditation is a spiritual discipline found in all eastern and western spiritual practices. It is an experience into the nature of our own mind. It is a way we connect with ourselves in body, mind and spirit. It's a simple way to focus your natural intelligence. The mind and its habits dampen our potential. Meditation is the key that unlocks the door to the world within. A world where truth blossoms, creativity unfolds and our lives are forever transformed.

Being Human

"Life is not the object of science: we see a little, very little; and what is beyond we can only conjecture. If we enquire of those who have gone before us, we receive small satisfaction; some have travelled life without observation, and some willingly mislead us. The only thought, therefore, on which we can repose with comfort, is that which presents to us the care of Providence, whose eye takes in the whole of things, and under whose direction all involuntary errours will terminate in happiness." ~ Samuel Johnson

Life is a mystery...one that more than like can not or will not be solved. Moment by moment, day by day life unfolds within and around us. With awareness we pause, take inventory, investigate the nature of our situation and set out on a course of action. This is how we grow. In our humanness we are fallible. This fallibility is what causes us to stumble and fall. It's also what causes us to "pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off and start all over again." Can we do this alone with just our frail ego's?

We are not alone in the mystery. Beyond thought and form, beyond images and symbols, beyond the subtle knowing there is a force at work. There are many names for this "force"; God, Higher Power, Yahweh, Vishnu, Allah - but the names all mean the same thing...the only difference is our path. We can find God in the faces of others, see the mystery at work in their lives. Often in nature when we pause and take notice we too can find God there. Meditation is just one path to touch God, it's a journey to our mystical core. If you are struggling to find peace and serenity the ancient practice of meditation by its very nature will guide you inward. The beauty of it is...you will see God in the faces of others and in nature!

Inner Transformation

Fear arises through identification with form, whether it be a material possession, a physical body, a social role, a self-image, a thought, or an emotion. It arises through unawareness of the formless inner dimension of consciousness or spirit, which is the essence of who you are... Eckhart Tolle


Meditation is a spiritual journey. One that by its nature requires us to look inward. In this state of beingness we are no longer comparing or judging. We feel a sense of oneness, unity and peace. Through a natural process of uncovering what lies within we gain more interior space.

When we look inward we are transformed. In looking outward...we fall. Can being still for a defined period of time change your life? Investigate it for yourself!