Finding Your Center Now…
“Finding your center is finding your inner sanctuary.” —Deepak Chopra
This past week has been a dance between being present for work and life in Austin and checking in on the latest news about the fires in the Los Angeles area, where I went to college and lived for a time.
Add to that concerns about what the inauguration will bring next week, I find it takes continual pauses for a deep breath in a quiet corner to bring me back to center.
How are you doing right now? Have the fires, the upcoming inauguration, or challenges in your own life captured your imagination and caused you to feel out of balance or distracted? How do you return to your inner center or sanctuary?
In thinking about the need to tap into the inner strength that can be found within, I found wisdom from Ram Dass. He speaks of this center being like a beautiful flower, a place to remember and reconnect with the delight of life:
A place “from which we can appreciate the delight in life.” This center, this sanctuary, this source of inner peace and strength, can also be a place where we can rekindle our childlike wonder of the world, faith in humanity, and hope for the future.
From a formal prayer or meditation practice to a moment in a corner for a deep breath and a body awareness pause, or a short walk in nature, I invite you to join me in pausing often to find your center, its powerful connection to the Divine, and the life-giving refreshment it can offer as we navigate this year’s twists and turns.
May you find your center often in the coming days and may it refresh your spirit and give the gifts of peace, delight, and inner strength to re-engage with life more fully.
Stay Within Your Center…
“I teach people that no matter what the situation is, no matter how chaotic, no matter how much drama is around you, you can heal by your presence if you just stay within your center.”
—Deepak Chopra
A Quiet Center
“A life without a lonely place, that is, without a quiet center, becomes destructive.” —Henri Nouwen
Full Stop
Sometimes
I am seized
by a powerful urge
to hold still—
I mean
really still—
not doing
or accomplishing
anything,
not reading
or watching
anything,
not thinking
or planning
anything,
not letting
my mind
race forward
even as
my body
appears to
hold still—
not doing anything
but simply being
here.
right.
now.
Sometimes
nothing less
than a full stop
will do.
—Kai Siedenburg, Love Poems from the Earth: An Invitation to an Intimate Connection with Naure. (link takes you to her website Our Nature Connection)
May life support you in experiencing any full stops you need.
