juliaharis.com

September 6, 2019

Another Sunflower

Reflection, click link to listen:

Meditation, click link for this week’s meditation:

Thomas Moore, ‘Care of the Soul Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition’

Resources:

Care of the Soul Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life

A Personal Spirituality Finding Your Own Way to a Meaningful Life

August 31, 2019August 31, 2019

zen things

[Please note: WordPress tells me I need to update my PHP thing-a-ma-jiggy. The site may have a few hiccups over the next couple of weeks as I address the update. Thanks.]

This week’s entry:

zen things:

—Do one thing at a time.

—Do it slowly and deliberately.

—Do it completely.

—Do less.

—Put space between things.

—Develop rituals.

—Designate time for certain things.

—Devote time to sitting.

—Smile and serve others.

—Make cleaning and cooking become meditation.

—Think about what is necessary.

—Live simply.

****

Today’s reflection, click to listen:

Today’s meditation, click to listen:

August 24, 2019

Don’t Go Back To Sleep

The Infinity Of The Terrestrial Temple 2019 © Julia Haris

Click this link for this week’s audio reflection and meditation:

“The Prophet,” Kahlil Gibran

From “A Year With Rumi” by Coleman Banks, Harper Collins eBooks

“A Year With Rumi: Daily Readings”

August 17, 2019

Yesterday gave me blueberry picking in the morning, and an afternoon hike in a local preservation land trust. The photos are a sample of the spiritual interlude that I shared with a friend — berry picking, good conversation, and a hike whose end was a breathtaking view of the Maine woodlands. (Her hand is in the final photo, holding lichen.)

I was surprised to learn that folks don’t know that I’ve been embedding audios in these posts for the past few months; so let me clarify.

Instead of writing my entries, I’ve been sending my weekly posts out with audio embeds. If you see a link that says “MP3,” that means you can click the link in the email and it will take you to an audio player. If you click the “MP3” on the site, you listen directly from the audio player on the site.

These MP3’s contain a recorded entry, and there is either a brief meditation at the end of the entry, or the meditation is posted separately.

The MP3 audios have taught me a lot about recording. If you listen to them, I would appreciate any feedback you have. Thank you.

Here is this week’s audio portion:

August 10, 2019

Genuine Self

The Garden’s Wild Edges 2019 © Julia Haris

Genuine Self, reflection and meditation:

Toni Morrison:

“There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence.”

Carlos Santana in the New York Times:

“You buy expensive, flashy cars, and you waste a lot of time in the mirror changing clothes. It becomes like what happened to Prince and Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. You create this mask — it’s called persona, like Batman and Bruce Wayne — that is draining to maintain. That’s why I made a change to drop that and become a person rather than a personality.”

Listening For The Genuine: The Center For Action And Contemplation, meditation excerpt:

“Howard Thurman (1900–1981), a mystic who sought to make peace between religions and founded the first major interracial, interfaith church in the United States, urged people to “listen for the sound of the genuine.” Read these excerpts from one of Thurman’s talks several times to fully appreciate it:

There is something in everyone of you that waits, listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself and if you can not hear it, you will never find whatever it is for which you are searching and if you hear it and then do not follow it, it was better that you had never been born. . . .

Sometimes there is so much traffic going on in your minds, so many different kinds of signals . . . and you are buffeted by these and in the midst of all of this you have got to find out what your name is. Who are you? . . .

Now there is something in everybody that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in other people. . . . I must wait and listen for the sound of the genuine in you. . . .

Now if I hear the sound of the genuine in me and if you hear the sound of the genuine in you it is possible for me to go down in me and come up in you. So that when I look at myself through your eyes having made that pilgrimage, I see in me what you see in me and the wall that separates and divides will disappear and we will become one because the sound of the genuine makes the same music. [3]

. . . [3] Howard Thurman, “The Sound of the Genuine,” Baccalaureate Address, Spelman College (May 4, 1980). Text edited by Jo Moore Stewart, Spelman Messenger, vol. 96, no. 4 (Summer 1980), 14-15. Digital version available at http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/scmessenger/546/.”

from “A Year With Rumi: Daily Readings” by Coleman Banks, Harper Collins Publishers

August 3, 2019

State Of The Heart, State Of The Union

State Of The Heart, State Of The Union audio entry:

State Of The Heart meditation:

Metta Prayer

My heart fills with with loving kindness. I love myself. May I be happy. May I be well. May I be peaceful. May I be free.
May all beings in my vicinity be happy. May they be well. May they be peaceful. May they be free.
May all beings in my city be happy. May they be well. May they be peaceful. May they be free.
May all beings in my state be happy. May they be well. May they be peaceful. May they be free.
May all beings in my country be happy. May they be well. May they be peaceful. May they be free.
May all beings on my continent be happy. May they be well. May they be peaceful. May they be free.
May all beings in my hemisphere be happy. May they be well. May they be peaceful. May they be free.
May all beings on planet Earth be happy. May they be well. May they be peaceful. May they be free.
May my parents be happy. May they be well. May they be peaceful. May they be free.
May all my friends be happy. May they be well. May they be peaceful. May they be free.
May all my enemies be happy. May they be well. May they be peaceful. May they be free.
May all beings in the Universe be happy. May they be well. May they be peaceful. May they be free.
If I have hurt anyone, knowingly or unknowingly in thought, word or deed, I ask for their forgiveness.
If anyone has hurt me, knowingly or unknowingly in thought, word or deed, I extend my forgiveness.