Guidance When You Feel Lost
"Sometimes I feel lost," said the boy. "Me too said the mole," but we love you, and love brings you home."-The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse |
Peaceful, Centered + Connected Every couple of years our neighborhood grocery store does a major reset. Last year they moved the bottled water where the disposable plates and cups used to be. Diapers now fill the aisle that used to house school supplies. Even the ice cream has swapped places with the frozen entrees. My normal pattern of shopping becomes disrupted, as does everyone's. At one time I could zip up and down the aisles with my eyes closed or tell my daughter to go to aisle 10 for fruit snacks while I grab bread on aisle two to cut down on our shopping time. The changes always force me to slow down and most of the time I feel lost in a familiar place. The store does something wonderful. They know us shoppers are creatures of habit and so they hang up these laminated sheets that say, "Hey, we know you're used to finding bread here but now...it's over there," and they tell you exactly where you can find the relocated item. They do this with every item they've moved. It's extremely helpful. They also strategically place employees in bright colored shirts that have, "Need help? Ask me!" printed in big bold letters. You approach the aisle feeling lost and they offer guidance. Time goes by and eventually, I become acclimated to the new way of moving through the store, as I imagine most shoppers do. Before too long I'm back to the state of mind that doesn't require me to be too mindful at all...back to being able to move through the store with my eyes closed becoming so familiar with the new layout that I could probably shop in my sleep if I had to, forgetting... guidance is always available even when I can't see it all I have to do is slow down and ask. A New Way to See the Good News A new way to see the Good News is a short passage that may offer a fresh perspective or insight into the ancient collection of poems, letters, and stories known as the Bible. This section is currently dedicated to exploring identity. "My son," the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours..." - Luke 15:31 You know the parable. A son asks for his inheritance before his father dies (a severe cultural offense for the time) and then goes off and blows the inheritance and returns home to a party thrown by the very father he insulted. The big bold heading in my Bible says this is, "The Parable of the Lost Son." A closer look reveals that it is the parable of two lost sons. The father's love turned out to be as far-reaching as the offenses of the party animal. The story turns near the end, when the older brother, who did everything a good son is supposed to do, refuses to join the party. Revealing even though he was at home he was as lost as his younger brother. He's been at the party the whole time, so lost in his acts of goodness he wasn't even aware of the love available to him right where he was - at home. Perhaps if he wanted a party all he had to do was ask. Until next time. Grace + Ease, Tia New Articles, New Course + Connecting One-on-OneI'm excited and humbled to share that invitations to write articles for the Center for Action and Contemplation as well as Contemplative Outreach occurred recently. You can read what I contributed here and here. A Course on Growing Closer to God Through Centering Prayer I'm offering a new course in March sharing the practice and insights that have helped me learn more about identity, ego, the spiritual journey and who we are created to be. You’ll gain insight into the transformation available within the practice known as Centering Prayer, encouraging you to return daily as a pathway to healing, emotional stability, deep connection, and awakening. This course includes a weekly in-depth look at components of the meditation practice, space to meditate and reflect as well as a live interactive classroom where I will reply to questions. ❥ Who Can Benefit:
❥ Course Outline:
Embark on this 7 week exploration of Centering Prayer, and witness the positive impact it can have on your life. Embrace the profound wisdom of this ancient practice and cultivate a more grounded, centered, and connected existence.
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News + New Good Things from Tia Norman The deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond words. It is beyond speech. It is beyond concept. Not that we discover a new unity, but we discover an old unity. My dear brothers and sisters, we are already one. But we imagine we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be, is what we are. -Thomas Merton Peaceful, Centered + Connected When global confusion rises I...
News + New Good Things from Tia Norman "Sometimes silence is not an absence of sound but rather a presence of understanding." - Richard Wagamese Peaceful, Centered + Connected I listened to the eclipse as closely as I watched it. I made good on a promise to my daughter that April 8th would be our eclipse party day. She stayed home from school and was in charge of snacks. The spread included dragonfruit and pomegranate because both seem mysterious and require scientific research to slice and...
News + New Good Things from Tia Norman “When your needs are met, your soul sings.” -Oprah Winfrey Peaceful, Centered + Connected Somewhere along the way, I began denying my own needs and suffocating my voice to meet the limitations of others. This is the space where I am being stretched the most right now. What I am learning is that over time this moves one into an energy of depletion creating a center of desertion of our needs by refusing to recognize them out of fear. In the fear and...