I bet you did not know this about me.
When I first started to practice silence it was painful.
I had heard that silence will transform you.
So, I began to sit in silence.
It was brutal!
I set a timer and sat for 1-3 minutes and dreaded it.
I did not know what to do in the silence.
I just knew it will change me.
I then came across Centering Prayer.
I discovered a container for the silence.
I have not looked back.
As much as possible I try to practice centering prayer twice per day.
My first sit in the morning prepares me for the day!
My second sit later in the day recharges and refreshes me.
I need both sits!
They make me whole!
Go Further:
Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening by Cynthia Bourgeault
A Taste of Silence: Centering Prayer and the Contemplative Journey by Carl J Arico
Be Still and Listen: Experience the Presence of God in Your Life by Amos Smith
Healing the Divide: Recovering Christianity’s Mystic Roots by Amos Smith
The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within by Christine Valters Paintner
Answering the Contemplative Call: First Steps on the Mystical Path by Carl McColman
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Contemplative Light offers courses on contemplative practices (Christian Meditation, Centering Prayer, The Examen, Lectio Divina, The Jesus Prayer), the Christian mystics (ancient and current) and spiritual writing. Peruse their wonderful offerings.
A Simple Immediacy: Desert Wisdom for Advent by Cynthia Bourgeault: The Desert Fathers and Mothers of the fourth and fifth centuries are arguably the first Wisdom School in Christian history. At first in trickles and then in waves, they fled into the deserts of Egypt and Syria to escape the increasing imperialization of the Christian Church and to live in a simple immediacy with the Risen Christ. In the process, they generated an extraordinary body of practical teachings on the spiritual practices underlying this life of deeper awareness and mystical union.
Wisdom for Living: The Parables of Jesus by Thomas Keating, Contemplative Outreach: When rightly understood, the parables help us to see how extraordinary a wisdom teacher Jesus really was, and how revolutionary, in the best sense of the word, was the content of what he taught and to which he bore witness by his life and death.
Soulful Aging by Thomas Moore: As everyone knows, we are growing older all the time. But growing older is not the same as aging. Many people seem to grow older without going through the challenging life processes that make you a real person of substance and character. That kind of aging requires saying yes to the opportunities and difficult issues that life presents.
Drawing from the wisdom of monastic life, modern psychology and best practices in personal productivity, the Monk Manual provides a daily system that will help you find clarity, purpose, wisdom, and peace in the moments that make up your life.
