December 28, 2015
As the year is coming to a close, there is some quiet time between Christmas and New Year's. Today I decided to create my vision board for the coming year. I spent about three hours looking through old magazines trying to find images or sayings that reflected where I am on my spiritual journey and where I want to be headed.
Designing a vision board is a very contemplative activity, a process that connects us to our deeper selves, our intuition, and the intention for our life. I wanted my vision board to reflect where I wanted my ministry to grow this year. Howard Thurman said "Ask what makes you come alive and go out and do it. Because the world needs people who have come alive." I am most alive when I feel connected to the Divine and share my spiritual journey with others. Spiritual Direction is the way I have chosen to walk with others on their spiritual journeys. If you read my website www.helenrousseau.com , I explain what spiritual direction is. Spiritual direction is NOT about telling people how to live their lives. It has nothing to do with dogma. Each person has their own unique soul path and this must be respected and honored at all times.Spiritual direction is about being a companion to someone who wants to live a deeper spiritual life. It's about listening.
I also want to dive deeper into weaving. I began last December and with the help of all my friends who donated their unused yarn, I've been able to learn this new art medium and develop my creativity. I hope to do more weaving next year and have it become another source of income. I need to seek a mentor to guide me in this art. I have a good book which has been helpful but I want to be more creative.
My other intention for the coming year is to continue to eat greener and cleaner. I'm very attracted to being a vegan and am going in that direction. The health benefits have been proven over and over again.
So with these intentions and my continued practice of mindfulness, I know the year ahead will be very exciting and fulfilling.
Monday, December 28, 2015
Friday, August 21, 2015
August 21, 2015
My own ignorance of all things technical has kept me from writing recently. Mostly I forget to just read the screen and instead expect things to automatically do what they are supposed to do. This is another area where I've decided I need to practice mindfulness. When I took the vow "to be mindful and present with all of who I am" in my first year at ChIME (The Chaplaincy Institute of Maine), I thought it would be a simple practice of paying attention. With ADD and dependence on my mind more than my feelings, mindfulness has been a dedicated teacher and I have been a somewhat lazy student.
Part of me thought that if I just thought to be mindful, I would be. But it is a practice. And like any other skill we want to develop, we must repeat it over and over again, with intention. It is so easy to get tripped up, literally. For me it has been a physical experience. I have had a tendency to trip for a few years, caused by tightness in my lower back. My legs don't always follow my mind. About nine years ago, I could walk only a few hundred feet before getting foot drag in my right foot. Through years of physical therapy, massage, rolfing, yoga and weight training I am now able to walk 2 - 3 miles with no problems.
However, when my mind is out of my body and I'm not focused on what I'm doing, I trip, and it's usually on the road. I've had many falls but have never broken bones. I've been sore and mostly annoyed and angry at my body. When I last when to my osteopath, I desperately wanted him to tell me there was something wrong with my brain, that the connection of body to mind got disconnected somehow and that's why I tripped and fell. He paused for a minute and looked at me and said:
" It's really about mindfulness." That sent me back to meditation on what happens when I trip, where is my mind? How do I get out of the present moment? And so I have learned that my vow to be mindful was a gift I gave myself not only for my spiritual life but the whole connection of body, mind and spirit.
By making a comment, perhaps we can begin a conversation about mindfulness.
My own ignorance of all things technical has kept me from writing recently. Mostly I forget to just read the screen and instead expect things to automatically do what they are supposed to do. This is another area where I've decided I need to practice mindfulness. When I took the vow "to be mindful and present with all of who I am" in my first year at ChIME (The Chaplaincy Institute of Maine), I thought it would be a simple practice of paying attention. With ADD and dependence on my mind more than my feelings, mindfulness has been a dedicated teacher and I have been a somewhat lazy student.
Part of me thought that if I just thought to be mindful, I would be. But it is a practice. And like any other skill we want to develop, we must repeat it over and over again, with intention. It is so easy to get tripped up, literally. For me it has been a physical experience. I have had a tendency to trip for a few years, caused by tightness in my lower back. My legs don't always follow my mind. About nine years ago, I could walk only a few hundred feet before getting foot drag in my right foot. Through years of physical therapy, massage, rolfing, yoga and weight training I am now able to walk 2 - 3 miles with no problems.
However, when my mind is out of my body and I'm not focused on what I'm doing, I trip, and it's usually on the road. I've had many falls but have never broken bones. I've been sore and mostly annoyed and angry at my body. When I last when to my osteopath, I desperately wanted him to tell me there was something wrong with my brain, that the connection of body to mind got disconnected somehow and that's why I tripped and fell. He paused for a minute and looked at me and said:
" It's really about mindfulness." That sent me back to meditation on what happens when I trip, where is my mind? How do I get out of the present moment? And so I have learned that my vow to be mindful was a gift I gave myself not only for my spiritual life but the whole connection of body, mind and spirit.
By making a comment, perhaps we can begin a conversation about mindfulness.
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
July 15, 2015
I haven't posted anything in the past two years. I've been studying and was ordained as an interfaith minister on June 7th 2015. I now want to resume a weekly blog which may sometimes be short or long. For those who are just coming to this sight, you would do well to read my previous blogs from the beginning.
My poem "Where Are You?" is an exploration of my understanding of God/the Divine/the Holy, as it has changed over the years as I have deepened my spiritual life and sought answers to the same questions that many of us deal with.
My two years at the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine, ChIME, were a graced period that allowed me to look at my spiritual journey over the past seventy years, beginning as a Catholic child with 12 years of Catholic education, followed by 30 years as a nun. Now I have come full circle and I am free to trust in my own experience.
In the next few weeks, I intend to share insights and thoughts from my own meditations and readings, insights and challenges.
I'll be pleased if you want to share this journey with me.
Helen
I haven't posted anything in the past two years. I've been studying and was ordained as an interfaith minister on June 7th 2015. I now want to resume a weekly blog which may sometimes be short or long. For those who are just coming to this sight, you would do well to read my previous blogs from the beginning.
My poem "Where Are You?" is an exploration of my understanding of God/the Divine/the Holy, as it has changed over the years as I have deepened my spiritual life and sought answers to the same questions that many of us deal with.
My two years at the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine, ChIME, were a graced period that allowed me to look at my spiritual journey over the past seventy years, beginning as a Catholic child with 12 years of Catholic education, followed by 30 years as a nun. Now I have come full circle and I am free to trust in my own experience.
In the next few weeks, I intend to share insights and thoughts from my own meditations and readings, insights and challenges.
I'll be pleased if you want to share this journey with me.
Helen
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