Not joyful, but meditative, which is always healing when joy is harder to find

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Wednesday morning, I dropped off my sons at their kindergarten and daycare, and was on my way home to make myself a set of prayer/meditation beads.  I wanted them in preparation for trying a Sufi Remembrance Practice that I'd just read about.  I was intrigued by the article I read, written by an American cardiologist who has found this practice to be remarkably healing for his heart patients.  I'd pulled out my stash of beads and was considering how I wanted to lay them out, when something drew me to my computer to check my e-mail.  What I read was a shock.

A dear old friend from farwaway e-mailed me to tell me that her new love had been murdered on Saturday. She gave me just enough details to have a sense of how this event rocked her world, and told me she was going off to the funeral and would call me ... eventually.

I knew, in that moment, that I was interrupted in making the beads because I needed to make them for and send them to Ann.  My practice of the moment in making the beads was to imbue them with the loving attention that I wanted to give her, to help her heal her newly broken heart.  As I worked, I focused on my Reiki symbols to add to the intrinsic power of the stones.  I warmed my hands and my heart with the deep love that I have for this woman, my friend.  I put as much healing and loving energy into the strand of beads as I could.  I thought of the history she and I share, helping each other heal our hearts, how often we shared tears as well as laughter.  I prayed a lot as I worked.

Early this morning, I tested the beads in meditation, making sure I had sufficient slack in them for their intended use.  Running them one by one through the fingertips of my right hand, I held my left hand over my heart and tuned into my breathing, as instructed by the article.  The Sufi practice focuses on inhaling the healing energy of Love or Spirit and, as you exhale, speaking the name of Allah and focusing the vibration of the word into your heart.  (The instructions said that if you weren't comfortable speaking "Allah" than you can sigh "Ahhhhhhh" instead.)  Ideally, one should use the beads to count 500 breaths, but one round (of 111 beads) was all I could manage before my sons woke up and I needed to shift into Mama Mode.  Still, it was a remarkably calming, quieting experience, one I hope to build upon after I send this package to my dear Ann and make my own set of beads.

My friend's experience reminded me again of the value of This Moment, even as we build dreams for the future.  Her experience tells me to be careful not to delay Joy, to treasure my moments with my sons and my True Love, as well as the quiet moments of meditation when I connect with Spirit, and to speak often of my gratitude for all of them.

Comments

[hej]

A bit late, but I had to look up the Sufi thing that you keep mentioning. So is that a muslim tradition, or just arabic? I didn't think you were into monotheistic religion.

[hej]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that this journal makes me curious about the book you're writing.

[Joys!]

As I understand it, Sufi is a subset of the Muslim religion.  And no, I'm not into following any one monotheistic religion as much as I'm curious about all sorts of different ways to connect with the Divine Energy.  So it fits.

If you want to PM me your address, I can send you a copy of the article so you can try it for yourself.  Come to think of it, it might be helpful to you, too.


And about the book ... once I finally and truly commit to get back on the horse and continuing it, I'll give you a preview.

Thanks for the comments.

[hej]

That makes sense. And I look forward to it.