life as prayer ;)

How do you pray? Andrea asks. A lovely SuperHero post about praying. Here's my favorite bit:

But back to that line about daring to pray. I've never identified with a particular religion, but prayer in some form has always resonated for me. I think I've been praying for a long time and calling it other things. 'Manifesting', 'asking the universe for help', 'sending out good energy'. All the lists I've ever written that have gone into magic boxes are prayers. All of those paintings done in a fury of emotion, all of those mornings spent writing, all of those drawings-- deep prayers. Or the time I wrote that letter, the one that was so difficult to write, and afterwards I dropped it into the fire. A prayer of letting go.

There is a line in a Rumi poem that I've always loved, "There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."

Perhaps you pick up a musical instrument or sing in the shower, maybe you take your dog to the puppy park and bask in the joy of unconditional dog love, maybe you hike in the woods, practice yoga or volunteer at the soup kitchen. Maybe you salsa dance into the wee hours of the night.

This is all worship. This is all prayer. Laughter is prayer and also tears. I think prayer is about honoring life, about being alive, about worshiping our own aliveness in the world & feeling a connection to spirit and to others.

Your Inspiring Self
Also in my inbox is the latest eletter from SARK about you and your inspiring self! To remind you and me that each of us, we are all love-worthy ;)! And in this way we are better able to love others and their inspiring selves.

For your tiny and large kindnesses, for your glad heart and
your confused tears, for your stumbling and yearning. For
your endearing soul and rare insights, for your impossible
moods and hopeless moments. For your rage and despair
and explorations in shadows and darkness, for your
resistance and conflict and refusal to feel good, or do good
things. For your selflessness and especially for your
selfishness. For your pathetic vulnerable times and for all
your splendidly human moments. For your incandescent
spirit and ingenious escapes. For your will and suffering.
For everything that you’ve tried to hide. For your failings and
attempts and for all that you have lost and found. For your
regrets and loneliness and for every fear that has ever
stalked you. For your neurotic bumbling. For radiant
knowledge and countless expressions of love. You are
inspiring to me because you are exquisitely YOU.

Isn’t it funny that what we most try to hide or conceal is what
others find most inspiring or endearing about us?

I want to encourage you to know that you are inspiring to me
and others. I invite you to revel in your inspiring self!
Especially when you feel the least inspiring.

Your Inspiring Susan
(AKA SARK, Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy)


As for me, I have lately been conscious to rephrase my life as prayer. Not to get bogged down in complaints, and the Stuff That Go Wrong, and to stop Trying Too Hard on Stuff That Refuse to Cooperate (hehehe!), to fill those with love, and transform to prayer instead.

And to say no, and let go of those I cannot do :P (who am I kidding anyway? I am just a flower ;)) ).

Have a blessed weekend!