Listening in order to love well

Since my last post, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be true to my inner voice—the Christ voice, that “still small voice” is, I believe, available to one and all, for “in Him, we live, move, and have our being”. My Christian faith guides how I understand this interior presence, but I understand that not all have faith, so a simpler way of framing it is to say that each person has the ability to listen to and follow Truth along the path that will bring peace and harmony within and without. This path leads to fullness of life, regardless of circumstance. (After thinking further about this, I do have questions about mental health. Is it even possible for those with severe mental illness, or even mild to moderate, to hear this voice? I wonder about our local homeless man. I see him often, walking up and down the main avenue in his tattered clothing. At times, I’ve given him money and heard his jumbled speech. I cannot climb inside his mind and spirit to find out if he is comforted and carried by Christ. I can only trust my own experience. In my teens and early twenties, I struggled with mental illness. There were some very difficult days and months when the hardest part was feeling so very alone, in pain and darkness. Yet, in the quiet, saner moments, there was a Presence that carried me, gave me hope, and assured me I was loved and worth loving.) 

Back to every day life outside of extreme circumstances. Lately, work has been very difficult. Tuning in to the voice of Truth is of utmost importance. But it’s not easy. My days are pretty much filled entirely with work related thoughts. Thus, my need to pare back and find quiet to listen. I want to remember what matters most. To me, this life is primarily about love. I want to love well, to use my time and abilities to that end. My work is all about helping and loving my students and coworkers well. When chaos reigns at work or in society at large, I have to work against various survival instincts that may hinder my ability to love well. If I don’t set aside time daily to be still, to listen, to reflect, I find myself getting stressed, angry, defensive, etc.

So listening…these are some daily practices that I find helpful. First, getting outside as much as possible. I’ve pretty much abandoned my weekday exercise routine that was primarily focused on my physical fitness. I just don’t have the time or energy to maintain a running workout. It ends up adding stress.  So as often as I can, I have been coming home early enough to take Teddy for a walk in the field. This allows me to get exercise while also resting my mind and connecting with nature. Quality time with Teddy is an added benefit. :-) 

This walk helps me to begin to disengage with whatever has gone on during the day. My second activity that I try to do each night after supper is centering prayer. I use the Perfect Zen app. I like the gentle bowl chimes that go off every 5 minutes during my 20 minute sit. I start off with a simple prayer related to the day, then I turn my mind to a simple word (like ‘rest’) that helps me to let go of all other thoughts. Thoughts come and go, but I keep returning to the word ‘rest’ (or whatever word I’ve chosen) and eventually I’m able to let go of “sticky” thoughts from the day. I’ve been doing this for several months and I have found it to be very helpful with maintaining balance.

Finally, the rest of the evening is spent with my hobbies…birding (I like to read books or articles, look at twitter bird pics, etc.), reading (spiritual, good novels, other engaging non-fiction), and knitting, to name a few.