“I don’t have the patience for silent prayer.”
I get it.
We have busy lives.
There is too much on our plate.
How will we get done the things we need to do today?
Sitting quietly for 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes is hard!
All kinds of thoughts come up that we don’t want to think about.
When we do things we don’t have to feel these thoughts.
I say persevere.
Start small, 5 minutes.
Work your way up to 20 minutes.
Patience in silent prayer will teach you patience in life.
We learn to patiently take daily action on our goals.
We learn to be patient with ourselves.
We learn to patiently wait when someone needs space.
We learn when no action is the best action.
We even learn that sometimes we are not the right person to take that action and someone else is.
The patience in silent prayer seems to give us back time.
We learn what to focus on and what to let go.
We find we are more productive.
The patience in silent prayer teaches you how to be patient with life.
Go Further:
Open Mind, Open Heart 20th Anniversary Edition by Thomas Keating and Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening were the first two books I read as I began my Centering Prayer practice.
Be Still and Listen: Experience the Presence of God in Your Life by Amos Smith
The Heart of Centering Prayer: Nondual Christianity in Theory and Practice by Cynthia Bourgeault
An Ocean of Light: Contemplation, Transformation, and Liberation by Martin Laird
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I am currently reading an Invitation to Love 20th Anniversary Edition: The Way of Christian Contemplation by Thomas Keating.
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The Wisdom Jesus by Cynthia Bourgeault: Jesus first and foremost is a Wisdom teacher, grounded in the universal traditions of spiritual transformation, and the first teacher of non-dual consciousness the West had ever seen. Almost two thousand years ahead of his time, he stands in the lineage of the great Jewish prophets, the master “cardiologist” entrusted with implementing the promise made to the prophet Ezekiel: “I will take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Centering Prayer by Cynthia Bourgeault: Centering Prayer is a simple, no-frills form of meditation in the Christian tradition. Since it was first developed by Christian contemplative monks in the 1970s, it has allowed tens of thousands of practitioners worldwide to “return home,” developing an authentically Christian meditation practice which not only delivers the healing and quieting of the mind typical of all meditation paths, but also reconnects directly to Christianity’s hidden treasury of mystical and transformational wisdom.
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