Christine Valters Paintner's Blog, page 133

April 28: Fullness – Pilgrimage of Resurrection(A Creative Journey through the Easter Season)

Word for Today: Fullness

God does not call us to one particular path that we scrutinize and discover. God calls us to the fullness of living which can be manifested in a multitude of ways.

—Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within

Reflective Question: Can you learn to trust yourself enough to hear the voice of the Divine calling you to what is truly life-giving?

 

 

Next steps:

Let the word, quote, and question inspire your creative practice (Download the list of daily words here.) Use the hashtag  #soulofapilgrim when sharing on social media.
Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group to share your art and writing with others.
Name your commitment to creative practice in the comments at this post (and enter the drawing to win a free copy of The Soul of a Pilgrim.)
Share this post with others and invite them to participate (they can sign up here)
Order a copy of Christine's newest book  The Soul of a Pilgrim

Walk the Ancient Paths: Join us on pilgrimage to sacred landscapes>>

April 27: Momentum – Pilgrimage of Resurrection(A Creative Journey through the Easter Season)

Word for Today: Momentum

On a true pilgrimage, we soon discover that the journey has its own rhythm and momentum. We realize, if our hearts are listening, that there are secret destinations that reveal themselves as our path unfolds.

—Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within

Reflective Question: As you set out upon your pilgrimage, can you leave behind your maps and guides, your desire to know beforehand which path to follow, and loosen your grip on plans and certainties?

Next steps:

Let the word, quote, and question inspire your creative practice (Download the list of daily words here.) Use the hashtag  #soulofapilgrim when sharing on social media.
Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group to share your art and writing with others.
Name your commitment to creative practice in the comments at this post (and enter the drawing to win a free copy of The Soul of a Pilgrim.)
Share this post with others and invite them to participate (they can sign up here)
Order a copy of Christine's newest book  The Soul of a Pilgrim

Walk the Ancient Paths: Join us on pilgrimage to sacred landscapes>>

Wandering for the Love of God: Shepherd – Pilgrimage of Resurrection through Creative Practice (a love note)

This is the fourth in a series of eight reflections over the season of Easter on making a pilgrimage of resurrection.

Word for Today: Shepherd

In the gospel reading for this fourth Sunday of Easter, Jesus offers us the image of the good shepherd. Living in Ireland, flocks of sheep are very much a part of the landscape and integral to the farming economy. The “good shepherd” is described as the one who cares deeply for the flock, who is personally invested in the thriving of each and every one. The shepherd is the one who guides to safe pastures.

In the tradition of Celtic monasticism, a very unique practice of pilgrimage arose called peregrinatio. The Irish monks would set sail in a small boat called a coracle, without oar or rudder, and let the winds and current of divine love carry them to the “place of their resurrection.” The river or sea would bring them to a place of rest that they had not chosen themselves. The impulse for the journey was always love. It was a practice of profound trust in the One who guides and shepherds us to the place of new life.

This metaphor for journeying was a powerful one that shaped much of their vision of the way of the Christian spiritual life. Peregrinatio was the call to wander for the love of God. It is a word without precise definition in English and is a very particular kind of pilgrimage rooted in a willingness to yield to holy direction. This wandering was an invitation into letting go of our own agendas and discovering where God was leading.

In this profound practice, God becomes both destination and way, companion and guiding force. God is in the call to the journey, unfolding of the journey, and greets us at the end of the journey.

In 2012, my husband John and I felt a call to a life pilgrimage and sold everything we owned to follow the currents of the Spirit’s guiding. We first spent six months in Vienna, Austria, a place of personal ancestral significance, then close to a month in the little village of Kinvara on the west coast of Ireland. Ultimately our coracle carried us to the city of Galway where we have lived for more than two years now and are finding resurrection in our midst. When people ask why we moved to Ireland, and Galway in particular, all we can say is that we had a sense that Ireland was inviting us to dwell in her landscape without fully knowing why. At the time it felt like a surprise shift in our direction, but I can look back and see clearly the movement of the Spirit at work calling us to a place where our souls and our work could be nourished in ways I couldn’t have imagined. This is why the first impulse is always love. At the time it felt like another great journey of trust and yielding to the currents carrying us forward. Now that we have rooted ourselves in Galway, we feel something very powerful at work that we continue to discover unfolding.

One of my favorite lines of poetry comes from Antonia Machado: “wanderer, there is no road / the way is made by walking.” The scriptures speak of a “way”, but it is not the path of our expectations. It is not the 10-step plan for inner peace. Instead this way calls us to a deeper and more radical trust and to realize that the way is made by walking. Each step is shaped by listening to how the divine presence calls us forward, the direction we take, the choices we make, by how much control we are willing to yield.

Barbara Brown Taylor has a wonderful chapter in her book An Altar in the World about “getting lost.” What would it mean to wander and allow yourself to feel the vulnerability of being a bit lost or disoriented? What new awareness might break in from this softened place? What might happen if we began each day of our pilgrimage with a meditation: while lying in bed in the morning before rising, imagine each part of your body softening, releasing into the currents of the seas or floating on the wind. Then soften your will and see what images rise up from this place. What is the holy direction you feel rise up in you?

The Celts also had a profound practice of blessing each moment. Journeys had their own prayers and blessings. Bless the earth beneath my foot, bless the path I travel, and bless the holy desire which carries me forward. Bless that which I have my heart set on in love and hope, bless the Source of these sacred longings.

Allow your pilgrimage of resurrection to continue to unfold. Let creativity be the practice which carries you on the currents of divine love. Let the one who shepherds us guide you.

At Abbey of the Arts, we are inviting the community to make a commitment to practice creativity daily in celebration of my new book being released in May 2015 The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within (Ave Maria Press). Please join us (details available at this post).

With great and growing love,

Christine

Christine Valters Paintner, PhD

Click here to read this post at Patheos and share with others>

April 25: Challenge – Pilgrimage of Resurrection(A Creative Journey through the Easter Season)

Saturday , April 25, 2015 : Challenge

You have responded to the call of pilgrimage in your life and taken a journey out into the wilderness. You will face temptation. The challenge is whether you can stay awake and present enough to notice when this is happening.

—Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within

Reflective Question: What is your favorite form of self-numbing that takes your awareness away from what is happening both within and without? Can you fast from this for the season ahead to stay present to how God is moving through you?

Next steps:

Let the word, quote, and question inspire your creative practice (Download the list of daily words here.) Use the hashtag  #soulofapilgrim when sharing on social media.
Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group to share your art and writing with others.
Name your commitment to creative practice in the comments at this post (and enter the drawing to win a free copy of The Soul of a Pilgrim.)
Share this post with others and invite them to participate (they can sign up here)
Order a copy of Christine's newest book  The Soul of a Pilgrim

Walk the Ancient Paths: Join us on pilgrimage to sacred landscapes>>

April 24: Borderlands – Pilgrimage of Resurrection(A Creative Journey through the Easter Season)

Word for Today: Borderlands

Thresholds, liminal space, being on the edge, living in the borderlands when we have a spirituality that is committed to exploring these rich places, is the opposite of comfortable, safe, secure, boundaries, rigid, and unquestioned.

—Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within

 Reflective Question: Can you acknowledge that you simply don’t know what is to come? Can you allow yourself to surrender to something bigger and more meaningful, even as it calls us away from familiar patterns that are loved?

Next steps:

Let the word, quote, and question inspire your creative practice (Download the list of daily words here.) Use the hashtag  #soulofapilgrim when sharing on social media.
Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group to share your art and writing with others.
Name your commitment to creative practice in the comments at this post (and enter the drawing to win a free copy of The Soul of a Pilgrim.)
Share this post with others and invite them to participate (they can sign up here)
Order a copy of Christine's newest book  The Soul of a Pilgrim

Walk the Ancient Paths: Join us on pilgrimage to sacred landscapes>>

Monk in the World guest post: Elle Bieling

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Elle Bieling's reflection on the gift of yin yoga (one of my favorite practices!) and the holiness of the body:

‘Our own theological Church, as we know, has scorned and vilified the body till it has seemed almost a reproach and a shame to have one, yet at the same time has credited it with power to drag the soul to perdition.’ ~ Eliza Farnham (1815-1864)

I don't recall when I first discovered there was a wisdom contained within my physical being. I was raised in a strict Protestant home, where the body was seen as evil, needing to be beaten into submission. The evil of the "sins of the flesh" were ingrained into me. What could be more unholy than the "flesh?"

Yet, intuitively, I always knew that when I included my body in my life's experiences, that my life became richer and fuller. Involving my body imprinted most of my experiences more deeply within me. My body was a living, breathing paradox.

Now I believe, that when Christ became flesh it was to help me understand myself as whole being, inclusive of my physicality. If the Christ indeed understood what it felt like to take on human flesh, certainly then, this can also be viewed as a holy thing? Maybe my body could be a temple after all? Maybe God wasn't external but a part of me and my flesh?

Within my house of human flesh, my temple, is indeed where I turn to find God. I graciously accept my fragile, yet resilient house as a dwelling for my soul. The "energy" that my house contains is there for me to tap into when I need to find Presence. When I access my physical home for wisdom, this is where I personally find God.

The God-given-energy in our bodies is known across cultures. This "breath of life," "wind" or "spirit" is known as Ruah in Hebrew, Pneuma in Greek, Mana in Polynesian, Qi (or Chi) in China and Prana in India and Tibet. Where did we lose this concept?

Now I hold the truth, that just by being alive, and through my breath, I am the embodiment of Spirit! For me, this is a powerful thing. This Spirit within me, within my breath, has become my most beloved of tools to find God.

I often invite my body to be included in my soul's experience. I invite the hate I sometimes feel for my physical ailments and symptoms to be included into my soul's journey. I invite my dislike of my physical appearance to also be included as I work with the body that I have been given. Through the neutrality of my conscious breathing, I invite the release of judgement and the need to change anything.

I invite my body to open to possibilities. My body and my breath help to lead my mind and my soul into places that my mind alone cannot take me, or is too afraid to take me.

Within the rhythm of a contemplative walk, my body lulls my spirit into a calmness that I am unable to achieve with physical stillness. I sense God in my breath and in the movement of my arms and legs. I sense God in the beauty that is all around me, whenever I wander into the out-of-doors. I breath into this Peace and find the stillness within the action, as my breath slows but my body continues its rhythmic movement. As John Muir, the great naturalist says, and I love to quote, "I go out to go in."

I use long-held Yin Yoga poses to access my current state of awareness (or unawareness). If I notice that I need to surrender to what is, I use a forward folding pose, that invites relaxation and the letting go of all effort, to achieve a sweet, long surrender.  Emphasizing my exhale, I release all to which I am clinging.

If I sense that I am unable to see clearly from another's perspective, I use a heart-opening pose to invite in Love and Compassion, to help me release the judgement of others and the judgement of myself for judging. With my chest, arms and heart wide open, I inhale Ruah deeply, down and into the core of my belly, and invite in the Spirit of all Love.

If I feel off kilter, I use a balance pose to find a single point for focus and grounding and to find stability once again. I use my breath If I am fearful or feeling unsupported and I use a restorative pose that fully supports me and comforts me.

But my deepest openings come when I invite my body to help me access my hidden, strongest emotions. For this I use the long and deep, hip opening poses and hold them in the edgy and uncomfortable Yin Yoga fashion. I truly come home to my body when I invite the opening of this most emotional of places – the very core of my being. For me personally, the core of my body through the hips and belly are the true storehouse of everything that I am. When I let down my guarding in this area, transformation happens. I allow my body and my breath to lead me through the process of letting go of it all.

As I hold a shape, I contemplate my many inconsistencies, denials and paradoxes. I see both light and dark, yin and yang, feminine and masculine. I breathe even more deeply.  I remain silent and still, listening to the journey of my soul. I allow myself to be human. I allow the rawness and the glory. Sometimes I cry. Sometimes I smile. When the Spirit touches me through this deep release, magic happens. In this silent space, healing happens. The tingling in my body tells me that my body is holy.

Without this holy tool, I would be lost. I am my body, and my body is me and my body is Spirit.

Elle Bieling is a Writer, Registered Nurse, Certified Yin Yoga Teacher and Holistic Health Coach. You can find her at www.BodyWindow.com and www.PilgrimageTraveler.com

April 23: Possibility – Pilgrimage of Resurrection(A Creative Journey through the Easter Season)

Word for Today: Possibility

When we embark on an intentional journey like a pilgrimage, we are making a commitment to live in the space of threshold. Threshold is the liminal place, the place of not knowing how things will turn out. I believe it is the place of possibility.

—Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within

Reflective Question: As you continue on your inner pilgrimage, what are the thresholds of your own life? Which thresholds are calling you to cross but feel difficult to face or challenging to imagine?

Next steps:

Let the word, quote, and question inspire your creative practice (Download the list of daily words here.) Use the hashtag  #soulofapilgrim when sharing on social media.
Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group to share your art and writing with others.
Name your commitment to creative practice in the comments at this post (and enter the drawing to win a free copy of The Soul of a Pilgrim.)
Share this post with others and invite them to participate (they can sign up here)
Order a copy of Christine's newest book  The Soul of a Pilgrim

Walk the Ancient Paths: Join us on pilgrimage to sacred landscapes>>

April 22: Stillness – Pilgrimage of Resurrection(A Creative Journey through the Easter Season)

Word for Today: Stillness

The Desert Mothers and Fathers valued their monastic cell as a vitally important place. As with all things, they view their cells as a way to experience stillness and as a place to quiet their inner life.

—Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within

Reflective Question: Can you stay present to the storm of your emotional life, all those feelings, thoughts and voices you do daily battle with? Can you make space to feel your grief and to welcome in your feelings of helplessness, your rage at injustice?

Next steps:

Let the word, quote, and question inspire your creative practice (Download the list of daily words here.) Use the hashtag  #soulofapilgrim when sharing on social media.
Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group to share your art and writing with others.
Name your commitment to creative practice in the comments at this post (and enter the drawing to win a free copy of The Soul of a Pilgrim.)
Share this post with others and invite them to participate (they can sign up here)
Order a copy of Christine's newest book  The Soul of a Pilgrim

Walk the Ancient Paths: Join us on pilgrimage to sacred landscapes>>

April 21: Mystery – Pilgrimage of Resurrection(A Creative Journey through the Easter Season)

Word for Today: Mystery

When you explore thresholds, it’s about resting into mystery. Learn to live in the liminal space where the old is released but the new hasn’t come into being.

—Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within

Reflective Question: How do you respond when you find yourself in this mysterious space of unknowing? Do you try to analyze, order and make sense of the experience? Or do you surrender into the mystery, living in God’s time, rather than your own?

Next steps:

Let the word, quote, and question inspire your creative practice (Download the list of daily words here.) Use the hashtag  #soulofapilgrim when sharing on social media.
Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group to share your art and writing with others.
Name your commitment to creative practice in the comments at this post (and enter the drawing to win a free copy of The Soul of a Pilgrim.)
Share this post with others and invite them to participate (they can sign up here)
Order a copy of Christine's newest book  The Soul of a Pilgrim

Walk the Ancient Paths: Join us on pilgrimage to sacred landscapes>>

April 20: Threshold – Pilgrimage of Resurrection(A Creative Journey through the Easter Season)

Monday , April 20, 2015 : Threshold

[The Desert Mothers and Fathers] journey into the desert was the crossing of a threshold towards an intentional awareness of God’s presence and recognizing that worldly pleasures bring little long-term satisfaction. The aim was to experience God in each moment and activity.

—Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within

Reflective Question: What can you do to simplify your life so that each moment offers a window on to the Divine?

Next steps:

Let the word, quote, and question inspire your creative practice (Download the list of daily words here.) Use the hashtag  #soulofapilgrim when sharing on social media.
Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group to share your art and writing with others.
Name your commitment to creative practice in the comments at this post (and enter the drawing to win a free copy of The Soul of a Pilgrim.)
Share this post with others and invite them to participate (they can sign up here)
Order a copy of Christine's newest book  The Soul of a Pilgrim

Walk the Ancient Paths: Join us on pilgrimage to sacred landscapes>>