finding sacred moments

finding sacred moments in your life discuseed by elizabeth sterling on the mindful connection.

(these are just my notes, i recommend listening to the webcast over at the mindful connection.)

sacred moments

right now

just as you are

there are sacred moments you are meant to experience

to be the changing one to see in the world

- weave sacred moments throughout your day

- shifting an attitude or how you approach a problem

tools for finding sacred moments 

tools to bring connectedness and wholeness into your life

1. mirrors in our lives - opportunity for us to start looking at the world around us a little differently and open our awareness to the idea or the role that we have in co-creating the world in which we live and we realize that we have help in doing this

- use people in your life as mirrors and messengers

- we co-create the world in which we live

- who we are, what we need and where we might want to go > everyone is our guide

- children are great guides, they tell it to us straight

- if you recognize something in someone it is a reflection 

- example, you come across someone hostile person, acknowledge that what i see in this person is a reflection of some small thing in me that i can choose to release at that moment by engaging with that person in a more positive way or taking a few breaths to release that energy. it can have a profound impact, you do not know that type of impact that might have in the world

- will you look at the sign or listen to the message?

- if we start approaching the people in our lives that way, we become empowered and begin to make positive changes in ourselves that ripple out into the world

2. spiral of gratitude - a cycle for manifesting intention in small steps in using gratitude to see as a way to see that sacred is always revealing itself in our lives and that it is always there

- step 1. put out intentions, dreams or desire for change in our life

- step 2. we have to become aware and alert, looking for signs, guidance, opportunities are going to start coming our way that are going to help us on our path to this bigger dream that we have

- step 3. give thanks for each one of the signs or opportunities

3. keeping your vessel open - gentle reminded that we are given a lot of opportunity to make conscious choices everyday and a lot of times the choices are in unexpected ways and unexpected packages. if you could allow yourself to be open

- step 1. expect unexpected

- step 2. remove stagnation, stagnant chi from our energy system, ie. house organized or not organized, hanging onto stuff that we do not need anymore, even emotional things or routines not serving us any longer. shaking things up can be a good thing

- step 3. get out of the rut of habitual choices with simple changes. view all of our choices and everything we do as a conscious choice. a powerful way to create new opportunities for us

4. grounding and maintaining a balance - requires time and dedication

- step 1. seek our balance in nature

- step 2. using mundane activities as opportunities for mindfulness, repetitive activities, opportunity for mindfulness, focus attentively on task at hand, perform task with sense of purposefulness and mindfulness, like hanging laundry, weeding, washing dishes, folding laundry

- step 3. meditation, focus on breath, walking mediation with baby, walking mindfully focus on each step
- step 4. mind/ body practices. yoga, qigong, tai chi

9 sacred moment practices
1. tree of gratitude, root of tree as breath. be grateful for breath. limbs of tree reaching out for the light
2. breath prayers and mantras. choose a couple of words to focus on. love and gratitude. love and peace, ommm chante ommm, ahhh
3. savor sipping = a practice of sipping a beverage mindfully. with each sip give thanks to people, plants, animals that made the beverage possible. use tool of gratitude to make it a more mindful experience. fosters a great sense of connectedness to the world in which we living in
4. mindful cooking and eating. take time to prepare the meal from local growers or grow yourself. interact with growers and give thanks and visualize people, plants, animals and send them a little blessing
5. listening to gratitude's voice.
6. shifting our focus. so much beauty, joy, magic all around us. children can be wonderful to look at the world differently if we open up to them. view our intention as seeds we plant
7. use power of written and spoken words. expose ourselves to more life enriching words
8. meridan tapping, emotional accupuncture. emotional freedom technique. tap gratitudes
9. mandalas = universal symbols of wholeness. they can help us to create sacred spaces in our lives.

*workshops beginning on summer solstice. sign up on the threading light blog

websites mentioned:

so wabu sabi
threading light