Being a writer, I’m too much in my head. I try to write from the heart, but using words is what the brain does, not what my heart does. I like what Steve Jobs had to say about following the heart: “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” Steve Job’s quote goes straight to the heart of authenticity, but it also sheds some light on what faith is all about. If you follow your heart and are faithful to your own voice, you’re living on faith and connected with the universe, the Oneness, God. The ancient Indian sage Patanjali advised that if we can stand in our truth and speak the truth, we’re acknowledging our beliefs at that particular moment in time. I find that by slowing down and doing the necessary soul searching, answers come to us and are true. But, oh, the possibilities. They are endless. Especially if you follow your heart.
Tag Archives | spirituality
Log Post 22, Week 22 – Letting Go
Check out the new cover! I decided, after 22 weeks, to redesign the book, inside and out, and now it’s a special gift or coffee table book. And on Day 22 in the book, I focused on Faith. Khalil Gibran said “Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.” If only we had the faith that everything would turn out all right. Isn’t it what a woman wants her lover to tell her, a child wants to hear from her mother, a parishioner wants to hear from her priest? During Lent, I try harder than usual to find peace, love, meaning, oneness, in an attempt to conquer worry. On my desk in the office, I keep a small magnet decorated with green foliage, trees, and flowers as the background on which I pasted the words “You don’t have to spend another moment wondering and worrying.” It seems to me that if we trust the universe and live in the moment, there can be no worrying. Worry is about something in the past or something in the future, both of which are out of control. We just need to open up our hearts to the present moment with complete abandonment, in faith, for worry to be conquered and no longer part of our lives.
Log Post 20, Week 20–Sacred Nature
Many apologies for posting on Sunday this time—life gets in the way, and we have to respect that (besides, I wondered if more people pay attention on Mondays than on Fridays). In the 20th chapter of 30 Perfect Days, called “Sacred Nature,” I quote Margaret Atwood, who said that at the end of the day in the spring, we should smell like mud. Now that the snow is starting to melt and I might just see crocuses in a few days, I can think about immersing in the outdoors. I would rather walk in the woods than go to church, but it’s a really good day when I can do both. I know God’s with us as we walk and talk and experience the outdoors. What does the longing to live in the woods, away from civilization, mean? In Thoreau’s Walden, Thoreau journals about living by one’s self and being with God and Nature at Walden Pond. I still remember the solitude, reflection, ease of day that Cynthia Huntington wrote about in The Salt House: A Summer on the Dunes of Cape Cod – I must have read that book 20 years ago, and I don’t own it. I once read a book about storms in the Outer Banks written by Henry Beston called The Outermost House, where a man tried to be faithful in telling his experience of living within nature. Annie Dillard writes about hiking through the woods and noticing the daily changes in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. These memoirs are slow, meandering, and thoughtful, and I like them just the way they are—poetry in nature put on paper. What are your favorite outdoor spaces, your sacred spaces? Do you experience God in your sacred space? For more on the book, go to https://www.claudiajtaller.com/30-perfect-days-finding-abundance-in-everyday-life/.
30 Perfect Days Log 13 — Meditative Sleep
The Dalai Lama said “Sleep is the best meditation,” which I find interesting. But only if you get enough sleep are you able to concentrate, to meditate, to get rid of what yogis call “monkey brain.” We lose ourselves and go into the subconscious, the place where our minds let go of all the chatter to dream and we let go of worldly cares when we’re sleeping. When one’s tired, it’s time to go with the flow with the people you encounter and let others take over. The river becomes less muddy. For those of us who can’t find sleep, getting up and doing something—a warm shower or bath, a glass of wine or cup of chamomile tea, a good book, or an old movie—helps. Sometimes we need to take care of a nagging chore, one we’ve been putting off. But sometimes when I wake up at four in the morning, it’s simply time to get going, to go with the flow. Going with the flow is also a form of meditation.