Sacred Sunday - part doux

The second Sunday that I have spend as "Sacred Sunday" and again, my cup has been filled.  Really a very simple day but so touching and with a sense of discovery about myself.

Here's a quick recap:

- Awake at 11:00am

- Started re-reading "An Unmistakable Touch of Grace" by Cheryl Richardson (one of my favorite authors!)

- Started reading "The Seeker's Guide" by Elizabeth Lesser

- Talked to my good friend (and crocheted while we chatted)

- Spent some quality time on the Internet and found "Drop a Love Bomb"

- I dropped a Love Bomb and was so touched by the recipient's story--I feel that I was a part of a wonderful energy that brought a sense of connectedness to someone who really needed it.

- Wrote on and updated my blog

- Emptied about 100 e-mails from the inbox - forwarded, actioned, and deleted.  First time I've had 20 e-mails in my inbox in about a year!

- Listened to some beautiful meditative music while I crocheted (if I haven't mentioned it--and I know I have ;o)--I LOVE to crochet and spend some time most days doing it)

- Talked to another good friend

- Ate well--"good" foods

- Cuddled with my dog for a while

- Cuddled with each of my cats for a bit

Sounds pretty simple but it has been a really good day.  Below are some of the "gems" I read in each of the books I mentioned above:

The Unmistakable Touch of Grace - Introduction

- Every event we experience and every person we meet has intentionally been put in our path to help raise our level of consciousness. 

- No amount of money, popularity, or success can give us the happiness and peace we all long for.  This comes from the daily rituals and practices that keep us connected to our spiritual core.

- The more I surrender my will to the Divine, the less I've had to worry about how to achieve anything.  Instead, the path finds me.  Grace leads me to the exact events and experiences I need at exactly the right time.

- The difficulties I faced in my relationships with men were exactly what I needed to build the solid core of self esteem and inner strength that I would rely on to face the challenges of life.

- I am open and receptive to the power of grace in my life now.  I ask to be shown clear examples of how this energy is operating in my life.  (repeat daily--many times)

The Seeker's Guide - Chapter 2

- The first step on the spiritual path is to find a satisfying definition of the word, one that is as free from our conditioning as possible...Deconstructing the word "spiritual" is a freeing and an enlightened task, and once we start searching for the word's meaning, we find simple hints all along the way.

- Do not be idolatrous or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology.  All systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth. - Thich Nhat Hanh

- Spirituality is a long, slow process--a patient growing into wisdom.

- Inviting spirituality into your life is like packing for an adventure.  As you search for your own definition, here are some of the most important things to pack:  an openness to things you may have been conditioned to reject, a comfortableness with the unknown, and fearlessness.

- Children learn because they have no shame about being bare beginners.

- Be patient to all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them.  And the point is, to live everything.  Live the questions now.  Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.  Resolve to be always beginning--to be a beginner!"  - Rainer Maria Rilke

- I have found that no matter where my searching has taken me, it always leads me back to my need to face my own true nature...

- Opening up to the secret of our human nature, revealing to ourselves and to each other our deep and soulful longings, our fear and sadness, our joy and wonder, is the critical step on the spiritual path.  It is the step that makes the difference between living our own, real spirituality and just acquiring someone else's beliefs.  (con't next Sunday)

Here's what came to me while reading these books and spending conscious time today...

- I am at a stage of cocooning and that is okay--it's what I need to do right now.

- I want to be a "teacher" someday but right now I am a learner--at different stages in my life I have been a teacher but I feel I'm moving on to another stage and am learning.  This is also great!

- Contemplations on my "purpose" - I love research, history (how we got to where we are), archeology (research)...where this leads I don't know now, but it's nice to have this in writing.  A starting point maybe.

- I'm just on my path...and this is good!

- I've made the right choice to follow my own "Sacred Sunday's".

Thanks!!