At precisely 8:30 every morning, my granddaughter says to me, “Just a reminder. Good Morning, I Love You.” Ahhh, what a way to start the day!
Even though the greeting is technology-enabled (she programmed Alexa to make that announcement every morning), her spirit still comes shining through with all its warmth and beauty. It’s hard to be grumpy when your morning begins with a reminder from your granddaughter that she loves you.
In my morning meditation, I reflect upon all the sources of love, wisdom, potency, and joy in my life. They give me the strength to face each day with some level of courage and gratitude. The love I have for, and feel from, my kids and grandkids is the most powerful source of energy for me.
I recently participated in a meditation session led by Alice Rubert, founder of Waterside Wellness. She offered a 20-minute guided meditation for ten local folks in a cozy cottage room in an Elk Rapids art gallery. It was an ideal setting to create a calming space and soothing experience for those of us who were looking for a replenishing retreat from all the madness of the world.
In the guided meditation, Alice invited us to “call in” all the sources of energy we have in our lives and to experience them illuminating our hearts and minds. The shared energy in the room left all of us feeling more at peace and able to face whatever challenges we were encountering in our lives. I feel so grateful to have resources like Waterside Wellness to ease and brighten our paths.
Even though I have practiced meditation for over 25 years, I still found something new and refreshing in the 20-minute session. The ideas of “calling in sources of energy” and “welcoming illumination” inspired me to power charge my own meditation practice. So now, as I reflect upon the sources of love, wisdom, potency, and joy in my life, I also welcome them to illuminate my path. That little change has made a big difference in my practice and, hopefully, in my projects.
The sources of love I “call in” are from people who are no longer physically present: my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Their memories are a blessing.
My sources of wisdom start with Moses, Maimonides and Zoroaster and continue with Chuang Tzu, Lao Tzu, Buddha, Jesus, Hildegard of Bingen, Rumi, Blavatsky, Steiner, Gurdjieff, Camus, Buber, Nouwen, Tillich, Bonhoeffer, Niebuhr, and Buechner. I know, I know . . . . That’s a long list representing many different schools of thought. I’ve explored a lot of ideas in my life—some more enlightening than others.
The sources of potency I “call in” include intellectuals, scientists, existentialists, visionaries, and revolutionary figures through the ages from Socrates to Einstein, Nietzsche, Hannah Arendt, Francis Perkins and more. I won’t burden you with the full list.
Finally, my sources of joy are the artists, musicians, poets, and writers who fill my soul and brighten my day.
Instead of delving more deeply into any of those sources or how I incorporate them in my meditation practice, I simply invite you to ask yourself these questions:
- What/Who are sources of love in my life?
- What/Who are the sources of wisdom in my life?
- What/Who are the sources of potency in my life?
- What/Who are sources of joy in my life?
Whatever/whoever your sources may be, I encourage you to call them into your life and welcome their illumination. You may even want to schedule a guided meditation with a practitioner of your choice. I would love to hear the impact.
My hope is that we can empty ourselves of the anger, fear, tension, and trauma that leave little room for more energizing thoughts and feelings. I’m also hoping we can fill whatever internal space we are able to create with love, wisdom, potency, and joy. And, at a minimum, I’m hoping we can greet our lives, and/or a person we care about, at the beginning of each day, with a simple statement that addresses all the complexities of life in the most meaningful way: “Good Morning, I love you.” May it be so.
