by Mark Olien

Prayer is my core, most basic spiritual practice; it is the foundation for all of my other life disciplines.  Many people either don’t believe in prayer, cannot find a reason to pray, or don’t really know what it is.  Before I can share what prayer means to me, I need to define it, at least describe it as it lives in me.  I thought that something so basic for which, I believe, every human being is hard-wired, would be simple to define.  So I opened my Webster’s Dictionary and this is what I found.

Prayer

1:  an expression addressed to God,

2:  an earnest request,

3:  the act of praying to God, or a god,

4:  a slight chance.

From the same dictionary I would add another more accurate definition, indescribable – too intense or great for description.  I cannot explain prayer with words because it is such a deeply personal experience.   I can however, describe one of the main characteristics, intensity; focused attention.   I have found that this is a common every day experience.

Do you remember when you were so engaged in an activity that nothing distracted you, time passed unnoticed?   OK, watching television may count, but you may recall other times when you were lost in the moment:

• The first time you rode a bicycle by yourself, or leaped from the bunny hill directly to an advanced run.
• Silently watching a particularly beautiful sunrise or sunset, especially with a loved one.
• That moment in the game when you were focused on throwing, catching, hitting, shooting, or kicking the ball.
• Shooting a set of white water rapids, or the first time you stayed up on your water skies.

 When athletes or other performers are asked about a defining or an outstanding moment in their lives, they often cannot find the words to describe thoughts or feelings.  They sometimes say they were in the zone, the flow, or in the moment.  Prayer is like that for me, a peak experience beyond description, a concentration and convergence of my intent, thought, and energy, intensely focused in God.  Prayer, while not always peaceful, is totally and unforgettably consuming.

Next:  Why I Pray

Welcome to Mark Olien, SHIFT’s newest contributor!

God as Intellectual Curiosity     by Mark Olien 

For many years I diligently read about different world religions, people’s varied concepts of God.  I did this so that I could understand how beliefs in a deity shaped their daily behaviors, especially their human interactions.  I have a curiosity about what makes people tick.

Suspecting that I already knew the ultimate truth about this “god thing”, I quickly created a self-centric intellectual understanding of what God was, how he was to be worshipped, and what purpose believing in him served.  I thought that accumulating knowledge about the variety of ways humans conceive of and worship God would bring me closer to union with this source of all life, to the universal consciousness.  Like a sumo wrestler preparing for the championship fight, I wanted to bulk up on this “god stuff”.

My rational approach to “knowing” God served me well for many years.  I was comfortable with my orderly arrangement and believed that my “god knowledge” was everything I needed to be prosperous and happy, to live a meaningful life.  When my wife died this year my myth was abruptly and painfully shattered.  My theoretical understanding of God would serve me no longer.

On that unforgettable day, my heart was laid open to God as I fell to my knees and prayed for strength and guidance.  My long revered intellectual curiosity provided no comfort, no clear understanding of how or why this could happen.  Facts melted away, the logic supporting them swept aside by my despair, replaced by the hollowness of grief and that dreadful silence.  How would I survive?

 

Next: Prayer Is the Answer

 

I notice a big difference in my presence, my sense of gratitude and my connection to God if I start with morning practice.  After all, how you start your day is how your day will go.  Today I took some extra time to add 30 minutes of Yoga to my morning practice.  Now, I am not an expert at Yoga.  You don’t have to be!  I popped in a DVD and started to feel my breath in my body and the connection of body, mind, and heart.  I focused on the alignment of my body and stretched while filling with breath.

None of this is new… many of us have experienced the power of body practices.  Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, Walking, Running,  the list goes on… but for many of us the challenge is in holding firm to the practice.  I personally forget my body.  I take it for granted, but I am working to SHIFT that unhelpful habit.

What structures support your practices?   How have you set up support structures and routines for body practice?  Do you have people who hold you accountable?  How can we SHIFT into our bodies and into the fullness of life?   Take a moment today and express gratitude for your beautiful body, acknowledge the presence of God in you.   Namaste!

A Gratitude Shift

I want to carry gratitude and abundance with me each day in every moment.  I find that I need reminders to shift to an attitude of gratitude so I’ve begun the following morning practice:

I stand looking out a window at the trees and the St. Croix River in the distance.

I take a deep breath…

I spray a mixture of lavender oil, eucalyptus oil and water towards my heart as I say…

I invite abundance and gratitude to be centered in my heart today.

I breathe deeply again as I spray the top of my head saying,

May my mind focus on gratitude and see the abundance in the world today.

I breathe again, smelling the calming scent as I spray my abdomen and legs while I say,

May I  be grounded today in blessings, abundance and gratitude.

I pause, breathe, and notice my connection to God.

Then I continue my morning routine and start my day.

 

Often I’ll catch a whiff of the scent later during my day and I’ll be reminded of my connection to God.  I take another moment to check in on my level of peace, centeredness and gratitude.  Then I get the opportunity to once again, shift.  

My Grandmother is 102.  I visit her for lunch on Fridays and bring her groceries.  Lately she’s been saying, “You know when I was 100,  I was great, but I don’t think people should live much past 100.” My Grandma is ready to die.  I am ready to walk this path with her, but I know I am a novice on death.

I got a call the other night.  “Your Grandma’s not well, she wants you to come quickly!“  I travel the 35 miles thinking of keeping presence at her bedside, thinking of the last breath, thinking of a romantic version of leaving this earth with a sigh.  It’s nothing like that.  Grandma is struggling with her bodily functions.  I get to be present to the real version of living/dying- not being able to go to the bathroom and then much later- the opposite!

Can I be present in the messy aspects of being human?  I’ve had two babies, changed diapers, cleaned up after spit-ups.  Yes, I remember. Shifting to presence. Letting go of fear for this life or its end, that’s something worth practicing.  I tell Grandma, “I love you!” She beams back at me, “I love you too!”

Psalm 57

You are generous to me, dear Lord; you have taught my soul to trust you.  I have crept beside you and found shelter in the shadow of your wings. 

My great joy, Lord, is to praise you; I will sing and awaken the dawn.  Wake up, my soul; wake up, music in the depths of my heart.  I will praise you, Lord to all people and inspire them with my joy.  For your light is higher than the heavens, deeper than the mind can plunge.  You are turth itself, and your grandeur is spread over all the earth.

                                          ~ Adapted from the Hebrew by Stephen Mitchell 

This was my lectio verse from last evening.  Slowly reading…three rounds, sinking into the present and then painting with watercolors.  Shadows under a wing…shelter, comfort and then light spreading out over the world. Dipping into the black, brown and purples then yellow light.  SHIFTing by slowing down, connecting to Presence, then expressing through color.  I call it contemplative art.