Many of my therapy clients and students have discovered that mindful prayer dramatically alerts the landscape of their daily life. Sometimes many times a day, in the face of discontent and suffering, they pause to listen inwardly, to touch the pain and to reach out toward love and compassion. Although this may seem most natural for people with devotional temperaments, I’ve found that people who have considered themselves “not the praying type” are often surprised by how mindful prayer transfigures their life. Rather than being caught in the suffering of judgment and fear, they find their true home in the tenderness of their hearts.We can also turn to mindful prayer at those times when we get caught n our smaller anxieties about daily life. If we can remember at these moments the aspiration that these circumstances might awaken compassion, our experience shifts. By mindfully feeling our discomfort and calling on compassion, our heart naturally becomes more spacious and relaxed. Our suffering, rather than becoming worthless or an obstacle, becomes the path to inner freedom. ~Tara Brach

where does this land within our lives? aware of  aliveness? truth? hard edges? may we live here….

I live my life in widening circles

That reach out across the world.

I may not ever complete the last one,

But I give myself to it.

~Rilke

the height of a changing sky

We have to face the pain we have been running from.

In fact, we need to learn to rest in it and let its soaring power transform us.

~Charlotte Joko Beck