You can read a hundred books on mysticism and never get close to being one if you’re not willing to sit alone in solitude for a few minutes every day. Mysticism belongs to the body. You can’t get there by thinking about it. You have to sit your body down and not think about it. That’s why the mystic Meister Eckhart called the process “one of subtraction, not addition.”
The only effort is the effort of being there, every day, with no judgment, no expectation, no disappointments if nothing seems to happen. Be a finder, not a seeker. Sit there long enough to feel Light make its way into your bones and marrow. A fish doesn’t seek water. A bird doesn’t seek air. A mystic doesn’t seek God. We’re already swimming in the sea of God, already “one with” the Unfolding Creation around and within us.

~Jan Phillips

seeking. longing. befriending.

inquiry for today~ how is it possible to lose ground so many times?

sudden clarity

Everyone loses inspiration at times and discouragement or restlessness sets in. Restlessness is a mindfulness bell waking me up again. There is a rhythm to this in meditation practice, as in life.  See for yourself: as the breath flows in and out, lungs expand and contract. The heart pumps steadily while valves open and close. In meditation, too, awareness opens and closes, expands and contracts. The beautiful truth is that each time you notice feeling contracted, dull or disconnected, this very noticing is mindfulness, a gate swinging open into clear awareness.

~Trudy Goodman