RENEWAL | CHALLENGE | KTHT PROMPT
How I Connect to Spirit When Life Gets Tough and That’s The Last Thing on My Mind
Having a ‘Spiritual Emergency Kit’ makes a huge difference
It’s one thing to do my spiritual practices when things are going well.
Prayers flow off my tongue, meditation comes easily, and the Presence of God feels like a soft, warm hum supplying a soothing harmony to my life.
When life gets tough, those are the first things to go.
Ironically. Because when things are tough, that’s when I need these practices the most.
Not just to change the conditions that vex and perplex me, but just doing these practices has a calming effect. So much so that when things go well, and life hums, I wonder how could I possibly have been so upset back then? When I’ve got all this great energy percolating and, to quote a song, everything’s going my way.
The lesson I need to have sink in is: when I’m worried and stressed, the practices need to amp up, not slack off.
But sometimes I get so worked up, and so deep into my anxiety, it’s hard to even remember I have spiritual practices, let alone do them.
Just when I need them the most, they elude me.
Or rather, I don’t have access to the rational part of my mind that tells me to do them. Because I’ve been triggered. And my emotional brain has taken over.
The good old amygdala. I’m in’ freeze, flee, or fight mode. All peripheral vision and thinking temporarily shut down. Adrenaline pumps to my muscles, not my brain.
When I can think logically, I can ask myself, what do I need to take care of myself right now? How can I respond to this stressor instead of reacting?
When that’s not available to me, neither are prayer and meditation–-or so it seems.
That’s when I need to grab my Spiritual Emergency Kit.
Everything in it has to be a no-brainer. Literally. It has to be easy to do and ready to go.
The words have to be simple or rote.
On a rainy day when my car skidded out of control and began hydroplaning, I started chanting. It may not matter what I chanted as long as I was vocalizing to connect spiritually and raise my vibration.
As it turned out, the man I was dating at the time practiced Sokka Gakkai Buddhism and taught me the Lotus Sutra chant, Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. According to their website, To chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo is an act of faith in the Mystic Law and in the magnitude of life’s inherent possibilities.
At that moment when my car was spinning out of control and I was heading either for a concrete embankment or the oncoming fast lane of traffic, I was not thinking about the magnitude of life’s inherent possibilities. I just started chanting. Out loud and desperate.
I literally did not know what else to do.
I’m glad I’d trained myself to do that. The chanting practice works like a fire drill. We do them in times of calm so when an emergency happens, we can do it without having to think about it.
As it turned out, I didn’t hit to concrete embankment but I did hit another car. Fortunately not head-on.
My car was totaled and had to be shoved off the road. But I and the occupants of the car I hit all walked from our vehicles to ride in an ambulance van to the hospital where we got checked out.
I feel horrible for being the cause of that accident. I was not speeding, but I was driving too fast given the wet roadway.
But it could have been a whole lot worse. And the fact that it wasn’t I attribute to my chanting as I was skidding and during the impact.
The other practice I have on auto-pilot is Ho’oponopono.
What is Ho’oponopono?
Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiin indigenous spiritual perspective and practice, modernized and updated by the master teacher, Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona.
The practice is reciting four simple phrases:
I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.
While deceptively simple, the consciousness of this tradition goes deep.
Based on the idea that there is no ‘out there’ out there–it’s all one and therefore in here. With this practice, I’m taking responsibility for what upsets me by healing it in the one place I have control over–within myself.
I chant as long as it takes to create the shift in me so I can recenter myself, and respond rather than react to stressors. Once I do that, the situation that causes my stress often shifts as well.
Is that because they’ve changed? Or I’ve changed?
The good thing is, I’ve done this practice often and long enough for it to be automatic, and part of my Spiritual Emergency Kit.
Between Nam Myoho Ren Gai Kyo and Ho’oponopono, these practices ground me, bringing me back to a place where my conscious mind can make choices.
Then I have access to the choice to pray and/or meditate if I have not been able to do so before.
What do you do to bring yourself back from stress and worry?
Thank you, Diana C., for this great new prompt challenge in which I get to tag at least three people who are then invited to join the challenge: Debbie Walker, Spyder, Art Bram, jules, Ravyne Hawke, Marcus aka Gregory Maidman.
THE BASIC RECOMMENDATIONS
- Use the prompt to write a poem or personal essay.
- *(Tag) Mention at least (3) three of your favorite writers (here at KTHT or elsewhere on Medium) and ask them to participate. Each of those writers will then mention at least (3) three more, and so on.
- You may submit your story to KTHT or to any publication that allows prompts from other publications.
- Regardless of where you submit your piece, You MUST include a link back to this page and (Tag) mention one or all of the KTHT editors — Diana C, Spyder, jules, or me, Ravyne Hawke.
- List the prompt and these rules at the end of your poem or essay so that those you’ve (tagged) mentioned will know the rules.
Marilyn Flower writes humor to laugh the changes she wants to see and make. She’s the author of Creative Blogging: Ninja Writers Guide to Character Development and Bucket Listers, Get Your Brave On. Clowning and improvisation strengthen her resolve during these crazy times. Follow my Sacred Foolishness and Stay in touch!
