Tag: Meditation

Recalibrating

Why is it so hard to practice spiritual self-care, especially when I know how much better I feel when I take care of myself?

Goddess Inspired

August 20, 2023
1 Comment on Recalibrating

Tagged Meditation, Quiet, Recalibrting, Spiritual Practice

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Recalibrating

For the last several months I have let my meditation practice go. Instead of meditating as soon as I finish my walk, I either start on my tasks for the day or doom-scroll the internet. I convinced myself that I didn’t have time to spend thirty minutes meditating and journaling. As a consequence, I feel blah and uninspired. I haven’t written my blog on a regular basis because I feel disconnected from Source.

What is it about my human nature that prevents me from doing the things that I know are in my best interest – the things that will make me the happiest and healthiest physically, emotionally, and spiritually? Why is it so hard to practice spiritual self-care, especially when I know how much better I feel when I take care of myself?

To me self-care, even spiritual self-care, feels like indulgence, even play. I grew up with the strict admonition that play could only come after all the work had been done. And of course the work is never done. Consequently, I feel guilty for indulging in meditation, journaling, and all those little things that are part of my mental and spiritual health routine. It then becomes very easy to let everything else get in the way of my spiritual practices. There are emails to be written, notes to be transcribed, a house to be cleaned, clothes to be washed – a never ending litany of my to-do list. Because, quite frankly, it is easier to get caught up in the to-do list than it is to just be.

Being still and quiet seems indulgent. It feels like a waste of time. It is non-productive as far as the world is concerned. It seems selfish when there are so many problems in the world. It is the antithesis of what our culture demands. But it is absolutely necessary for my inner peace. And so I am resolving once again to set aside time to spend with myself and with God/dess. For me, it is the key to wholeness.

A Still Presence

I sit in silence waiting for the still presence of the Holy One.
Like the flutter of butterfly wings, almost imperceptible, She comes.
Invisible, yet present, I feel Her in
The wind on my face, the sound of the babbling brook, the call of a bird.

She will not come uninvited.
My stillness is her invitation, my quiet heart her home.
I sit in silence awaiting what She brings to me today.
I am here; She is here.
I am open; She shows me the way.

Barbara Garland
August, 2023

When Does the Spiritual Become Political?

A Meditation for Love

Today I want to offer a guided meditation that helps to not only fill me with peace but is also one way to make difference in a fractured world.

Goddess Inspired

April 8, 2022

Tagged connection, love, Meditation

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A Meditation for Love

As war rages in Ukraine, as party politics continue to divide and polarize the country, and as new COVID 19 variants spread around the world, I, and many people that I know, are feeling a deep sense of unease, even fear. I want to do something concrete to help, but I feel that anything that I do is so small as to be negligible. Today I want to offer a guided meditation that helps to not only fill me with peace but is also one way to make difference in a fractured world.

I use this meditation to ground myself in love and to send out love to the world. It can be used in your daily spiritual practice or when you are feeling particularly fragmented and fearful. You can use it with or without quiet meditation music.

Find a quiet space where you won’t be disturbed. Align yourself in your most comfortable meditation pose. Take some deep cleansing breaths, slowly inhaling and exhaling from your belly. As you breathe, allow any stresses, worries, fears, or discomfort to flow out of your body as you exhale. As you inhale, breathe in the love of the universe. As you concentrate on breathing in and out, let everything fade into the background. There is only this moment and this incoming breath of love and outgoing breath of letting go.

When you are totally relaxed and ready, imagine that your spirit is a white light rising from the top of your head. Allow this light to travel up, up as far as you can imagine, out into the cosmos. In your imagination, float among the stars. Here you are safe and here you are surrounded by and filled with unconditional love. You are wrapped and held in this beautiful, all-encompassing love. Stay in this place as long as you like, soaking up this amazing love. When you are ready, bring your love-filled spirit back down into your body and let it rest in your heart space.

Now imagine that you are sending your roots down deep into the earth, grounding yourself into mother earth herself. Go down, down into the earth’s core where the great mother is waiting to embrace you. As you rush into her arms, feel the unconditional love of the Divine Feminine. Allow her to hold you and rock you in her embrace. Here you are safe and held, loved beyond measure. Again, stay in this space as long as you need to. Then when you are ready, bring your roots back into your body. Allow that love to come back up with you and rest in your heart space.

As the love from the cosmic Source and the love from the Great Mother join together in your heart, feel that love overflow into your body. Feel it travel through your veins and arteries. Feel it in every cell, every organ, every muscle, every nerve, every joint. You are filled to overflowing with so much love that it cannot be contained.

Now allow that love to flow out of you into the world. Allow it to flow to whomever it will – to your loved ones, to those who are bereft, to those who are prisoners, to those who are fighting for their lives. Feel the electric energy of that love as it flows in great ripples out into the world. Allow yourself to be a channel of that love, even when you are not consciously meditating in that love.

When you are ready, you can slowly come back into the space you occupy, refreshed, filled to overflowing with love and ready to radiate that love out into the world.

Carry that love with you throughout your day. Try to be aware of it in every encounter. Allow it to permeate everything you do and connect with everyone you meet.

I truly believe that the only way to change the world is through love. If we can each channel love to everyone we meet, the ripple effects can be enormous. For those in the spiritual path, I believe that we came into this world at this time to be those channels of love. Today, I am sending love to you.

Barbara Garland
April 202

Reclaiming Myself Through Spiritual Practice

To expect to stay centered in this hectic, stressful world without a daily spiritual practice is like expecting to be a musical virtuoso without lessons or practice. It can’t be done. And it is a matter of practicing, practicing, practicing until I know who I truly am – a beautiful Soul on a spiritual journey, becoming, through practice, a spiritual virtuoso.

Goddess Inspired

November 12, 2021

Tagged Journaling, Meditation, Practice, Reclaiming Soul, Spiritual Practice

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Reclaiming Myself Through Spiritual Practice

During the shut-down of 2020 I resolved to develop a morning practice of meditation and journaling. It became an amazing practice that grounded me and inspired me to write these blogs. I loved my mornings of quiet meditation and communion with God/dess. It was a habit that sustained me throughout the uncertainty of the pandemic.

Once things began to open up and go back to “normal,” I began to find excuses for not engaging in my practice. I had early morning Zoom meetings; I was too busy; the meditations on my morning walks would suffice. I gradually let my practice go.

Now I am feeling disjointed, adrift, without an anchor. It is hard to be motivated. I am feeling blocked and uninspired. It is a huge effort to write, and when I do, I am not happy with the results.

Over many years of being on a spiritual path, I have found that my daily practices come and go, depending on the circumstances of my life. Quiet time with myself and Spirit is usually the most difficult to maintain when I need it the most. Those times when life is overwhelmingly busy and stressful are the times when it is the hardest to carve out time for myself.

What I have found over and over again, however, is that without a consistent spiritual practice, my life falls apart. I become more and more stressed, anxious, depressed, angry, or numb. I am unable to focus on things that matter, and I flit from thing to thing. I am more judgmental and less loving. I become less and less the person I want to be.

While a daily meditative time doesn’t change the world, it changes me. It keeps me grounded and centered. The stresses of living are still there, of course, but my reaction to those stressors is different. I am more able to allow the stress to flow through me without holding onto it in my body. I am calmer and less judgmental. I am more in flow rather than in reaction.

I am born to be connected with God/dess, but most of the time I let life get in the way. When I sit in the quiet – meditating, praying, contemplating, emptying, listening – I open the door to communion with that which is greater than myself. I allow life, in all its messiness to flow around me and through me. I am able to stay centered and grounded in the deep abiding love of God/dess. I stay connected with my own Soul.

So once again, I will claim my time with myself and God/dess. I will once again be still and listen; I will write; I will meditate; I will once again allow myself the time and the space to be in tune with my true self. I invite you to join me on this incredible journey.

Barbara Garland
November 2021

Creativity

The more I can act on the creative impulse – whether it is through art or the way I express love – the more I am expressing the impulse of the Divine. I become then, a co-creator of the universe, a partner in the holy dance of creation.

Goddess Inspired

April 22, 2021

Tagged Creativity, Meditation, Perfectionism

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Creativity

I have been thinking a lot lately about the value of creativity in my life. As I have been pursuing writing and painting, I find that I get lost in the process of creation, so much so that I lose track of time and become immersed in the task before me. I totally forget myself. Any worries or stresses from the outside world melt away as I focus on what wants to come forth from my heart or hand.

My question to myself is – can I be in a creative mode in whatever I do? Is creation limited to the arts only, or are there other ways to create? As I ponder this question, it seems that we are called as humans to be continuously creating. My soul wants and needs to express itself. I am called to bring forth my unique self. In a way creation equals life. When I don’t create I become dead inside, lifeless and depressed.

But what is creation and how does it relate to the Being vs Doing that I talked about last week? To create something is defined as 1) to bring something into existence and 2) to produce something through imaginative skill. For me, intuition, dreams, and ideas are the principle means of creation. These thoughts usually pop up when I am in the Being mode. When I am daydreaming, resting, sitting in nature, dreaming – these are the times when ideas surface and when my intuition is most active.

The Doing phase of creation is then to bring those ideas into reality. I write the words on the page, put paint on a canvas, put the notes into a score, add a new spice to a recipe, or apply a new method to something I have done a thousand times. I spend time and effort into birthing something new or producing something from my thoughts.

There are as many ways to create as there are human beings. In the meditative painting course I took, we were all creating a green Tara figure. There were hundreds of participants, and hundreds of green Tara paintings. There were no two paintings that were alike. Each person brought forth her own interpretation and created a unique painting.

Human beings are constantly creating. The difficulty for me lies in the idea that something has to be perfect or even good, in order for it to be creative. In the past, I haven’t considered myself to be creative, because my painting isn’t good, my writing isn’t perfect, or my ideas aren’t accepted. I haven’t considered myself to be creative because my creations aren’t as good as someone else’s creations

But I do paint, I do write, I do have different ideas. Whatever comes from my heart and soul is creative. It doesn’t matter whether it is good or bad. What matters is that it comes forth and in the coming forth, it brings joy into my life. Whether I can actually translate the picture in my head into words on a page or an image on a canvas is irrelevant. What matters is that I am making the effort to birth something new, to express my soul. It is not made to be judged or critiqued. It is made because it is my soul that is calling forth creation.

The picture that I am using today is the second Tara that I created. It is not a fine work of art. It will never hang in a museum. It is flawed and primitive. But it was created by my own hand, and I proudly hung it in my office as a daily inspiration that I am a creative person. I use it as a reminder that creating something is an act of prayer. It is an act of connecting with the Divine to birth something new and unique to my own Soul’s journey. Creation then becomes my sole purpose in life. When I am in a state of creative flow, I am in tune with myself and with the Divine. The more I can act on the creative impulse – whether it is through art or the way I express love – the more I am expressing the impulse of the Divine. I become then, a co-creator of the universe, a partner in the holy dance of creation.

Transfiguring Anger

Today I learned that when I am mindful of and receptive to my anger, I am able to transform and transfigure it into something entirely new. It no longer festers inside me, but rather becomes totally new. It becomes the spark and the impetus for growth and change. It helps me to claim my inner power and BE LOVE.

Goddess Inspired

January 15, 2021

Tagged Anger, Grief, Meditation, Mindfulness, Transfiguration

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After writing last week’s blog on BEING LOVE, I have been struggling with how far short of that ideal I fall. To tell the truth, I have been overwhelmed with anger and grief at the events of the past two weeks. When I wrote last week’s blog, I was trying to bring some love into the situation and diffuse those difficult feelings in my own mind and body.

However, maybe I am short-circuiting a very important part of the process. In my rush to BE LOVE, I am ignoring or pushing away the righteous anger that I am feeling. I am ignoring the anger, which is still there, and trying to go straight to love. The more I reflect on this, the more I realize that this may be a form of spiritual by-passing. In going straight to love, not only am I denying a legitimate emotion, I am allowing that emotion to settle into my body and fester, like an untended wound.

I read a passage this week from Thich Nhat Hanh in which he talked about mindfulness and anger.

He said, “We do not produce mindfulness to chase away or fight our anger, but to take good care of it. This method is non-dualistic and non-violent. It is non-dualistic because it recognizes that mindfulness and anger are both part of ourselves. One energy embraces the other. Don’t be angry at your anger. Don’t try to chase it away or suppress it. Acknowledge that it has arisen and take care of it…. Look deeply at your anger as you would at your own child. Do not reject it or hate it.”

When I read that passage I began to think about how to embrace my anger in order to transform or transfigure it. I began to picture making love to my anger. In my mind, I pictured the Kundalini embrace of the Sacred Masculine and Feminine as they dance the dance of wholeness. I saw how the power of righteous anger can be the impetus to change and growth.

Anger in itself isn’t bad. It is an emotion like any other. However, women in our culture are not allowed to be angry. An angry woman is called a bitch, told she is hormonal, or otherwise denigrated. But angry women get things done. They don’t bypass their anger. They use its power to make change.

Being angry isn’t antithetical to BEING LOVE. In fact, many times our anger comes because we love. Any parent knows that it is because we love our children so deeply that we can become so angry with them.

In meditation this morning I decided to be more mindful of my anger by inviting her to talk to me. In my mind’s eye I saw her standing naked in front of me. She was glowing with red heat, defiant and strong. As I walked around her, I noticed that her other side was gray. She was sobbing, and her grief was inconsolable. Both the anger and the grief were two sides of the same raw feelings. I am angry and grief-stricken by the tremendous loss, death, and destruction in our country and in our world. I am angry and grief-stricken by seeing bastions of democracy tumble, by seeing that the things that I have taken for granted are indeed more fragile than I knew. I am angry and grief-stricken by my own seeming helplessness to effect change.

Somehow I found myself between the two. I heard both the anger and the grief, and I embraced them both and held them gently. Then I found that I was holding a diamond, the most valuable of gems. A diamond is a symbol of union. It is clear, strong, and beautiful. In my spiritual imagination, the union of myself with my anger and my grief transfigured them both into a jewel of great value.

Today, in inviting myself to mindfully embrace my anger, to ask it why it is here, to listen to it, and to hold it gently I have transformed the raw emotion into something entirely different. I have literally and figuratively transfigured those emotions into a rare jewel. While I don’t yet know where this revelation will lead, I think at the least, it will point me to a power within myself that I didn’t know I had. This in turn may lead me to use this power to act in a different way or to try to change things. It may ask me to shine my light on injustice or to be more empathetic. It may open me up to different opportunities to BE LOVE.

Barbara Garland
January, 2021

About

New blogs will be added to this post every Friday.

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womanspiritspeaks48@gmail.com

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About Me

I am a seeker of truth, a truth teller, a lover of the Divine Feminine, an aspiring writer, a mystery, an open book, a work in progress. I have lived a long and varied life, and now in my seventies, I am being called to share some of what I have learned over the years. I hope to share the wisdom of the deep Feminine that is being channeled through me.

If the Goddess has ever whispered to you, I invite you to join me on an incredible journey of love and discovery. May you hear Her wisdom through these words.

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