Archive for the ‘Forgiveness’ Category
A Meditation on Mandela
Thursday, December 12th, 2013
Join Hands
Join Hearts
Listen to one another
Stand up and speak up
Be peace in words + deeds
Forgive the past
Create a world of harmony
Open the prison of your mind
Expect to work hard
And laugh (at yourself)
Make something happen
Change your world ─ for the better
Walk your journey with an open heart.
Innocence
Thursday, June 14th, 2012
Innocence has reappeared in my meditations the past few weeks. The word keeps showing up. While in Peru on my first day, we visited the Saint Frances Monastery in Lima to see a famous painting of the Last Supper. I had flown all night and felt myself start to drift when I heard the tour guide say, “Notice what is different about this painting of the Last Supper. You can find children in the painting and that represents innocence.”
Perhaps the journey is not about releasing guilt. Perhaps the journey is welcoming innocence.
I am listening to innocence…
Breathing into innocence…
Mary Anne
Occupy Forgiveness
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
The peace you are seeking is seeking you. The forgiveness you are waiting for is waiting for you. ~Enlightened One
This week I picked up an old favorite to re-read — Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist, was imprisoned in Auschwitz and Dachau, and he writes eloquently about his harrowing experiences in the death camps. It was through unimaginable suffering that Frankl was able to find meaning not only in his life, but to fully understand how others find meaning in theirs. He writes in his book, “When we are no longer able to change a situation…we are challenged to change ourselves.”
How can we change ourselves? Viktor Frankl writes, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” I have been choosing an attitude of “Occupy Forgiveness” for a few months. Forgiveness has taught me to live in the present and leave the past behind. When I find myself seeking peace, I have noticed that peace is seeking me.
Are there people and situations in your life you are still carrying around with anger, disappointment, and sadness? Please join me on a journey of peace in an upcoming telecourse on Forgiveness. Resting in Radical Forgiveness telecourse starts Monday, November 7 at 8PM (ET). Peace, Mary Anne
Cultivate More Good
Friday, July 8th, 2011
I spent the holiday weekend reading Noah Levine’s new book, The Heart of the Revolution. It’s an incredible book about challenging ourselves to do the hard work of opening our minds and hearts to more compassion, more forgiveness, and more love. Levine refers to the spiritual 1%ers who are the ones willing to put in the effort of meditation and mindfulness. In one chapter, he uses a phrase cultivate the good. It became a mantra for the rest of the day and the weekend.
How do I cultivate the good? How can I cultivate more good? I sat in meditation and asked for a deeper understanding of cultivating the good. After 15 minutes, I wrote the following:
Cultivating the good starts with living your soul moments rather than your survival moments. It’s recognizing all the good in yourself and sharing it with the world. It’s stretching beyond all doubt and fear into the place of joy. You are bigger than any one moment. It’s releasing doubt. Anger is merely fear and fear is merely doubt. When did you stop believing love? Take a deeper look inside. What is your loving heart saying to you? Can you meet yourself with kindness?
Cultivate the good – grow a garden of love in your heart and remember to water it daily. Cultivate more good. Cultivate more love.
Today, I will meet myself with more kindness and cultivate the good.
Mary Anne