The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth

by Christopher L. Heuertz

When you have an overly emotional experience in daily life, take a moment to be still and silent and follow these steps: 1. Focus on, feel, and sink into the feelings, emotions, thoughts, sensations, and commentaries in your body. Find your tension, tightness, soreness, or pressure and acknowledge it. 2. Welcome God into the feelings, emotions, thoughts, sensations, or commentaries in your body. Pray with your somatic discomfort; ask what it is telling you about your fear or your sense of being out of control or your lack of trust or your anxiety. 3. When the intensity of the body sensation or emotion begins to subside, let go by repeating the following sentences: “I let go of the desire for security/affection/control.” “I let go of the desire to change this feeling/sensation.” As you pray, recognize that God is with you. The purpose of the Welcoming Prayer is to deepen your relationship with God by giving you an opportunity to consent to God’s healing presence and action in the ordinary activities of daily life, thereby equipping you to respond skillfully to life’s circumstances rather than react to them out of fear, shame, or frustration.