Madison Meadows Spiritual Blog: A Journey into Mysticism, Dreams, Twin Flames, & Healing

Walking is a wonderful way to calm down when we are upset. When we walk, if we focus all our awareness on walking, we are stopping the thinking, storytelling, blaming, and judging that goes on in our heads and takes us away from the present moment. To stop the incessant thinking in the mind, it helps to focus on the body. When things aren't going well, it's good to stop the thinking in order to prevent the unpleasant, destructive energies from continuing. Stopping does not mean repressing: it means, first of all, calming. If we want the ocean to be calm, we don't throw away its water. Without the water, nothing is left. When we notice the presence of anger, fear, and agitation in us, we don't need to throw them away. We only have to breathe in and out consciously and take a mindful step. Allow yourself to sink deeply into the here and the now, because life is available only in the present moment. This alone is enough to calm the storm. Reference~ How To Walk by Thich...

One of the most ancient formal meditative methods that can transform our inner self is called Tratak. It includes: 1. Developing the ability to focus your attention where you wish, when you wish. 2. Developing the ability to know what your attention is doing at any given moment. 3. Noticing, moment by moment, what is occurring in you and around you. (This is called witnessing or witness consciousness in yogic traditions and mindfulness in Buddhist traditions.) Reference~ Awakening the Chakras, The Seven Energy Centers in Your Daily Life by Victor Daniels

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is discord, union. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, joy. Divine Master, grant that I may not seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Reference~ St. Francis of Assisi

  From Journal Entry 11/11/17 I have been spending a lot of my time on healing my heart. When my husband left in January I felt abandoned. It brought up memories from my childhood of when my father left. I've been dedicated to this process of healing and decided to try a Inner Child Healing Meditation . It ended up being one of the best and most healing experiences I have ever had. The guided meditation I found on Youtube. Below there is a link to the video. The Meditation: I laid in my bed with one hand on my Solar Plexus chakra and the other on my Heart chakra. I focused on my breath: intake 4 counts, out 4 counts. The guided meditation led to the experience of me observing my Inner Child being cradled in my father's arms. I could feel how safe and loved the little girl felt. I cried for her. She felt loved and protected by her father. Then suddenly, she felt fear and abandoned when he left her. I approached my Inner Child as my adult self and comforted her. I told ...

  The mystery of spiritual emptiness may be living in a pilgrim's heart, and yet the knowing of it may not yet be his. Wait for the illuminating openness, as though your chest were filling with Light, as when God said, Did We not expand you? -Rumi   Some of our inner work is going to hurt. Still, we must search for a deeper understanding of our resistance and the power it has to limit our existence. When we experience pressure, the challenge is literally to open ourselves to it and drink it in instead of resisting or fighting it. Our task is to open our heart chakra, to be in touch with the flow of creative energy, and to have the strength and courage to live from it. When you work with the heart chakra in your meditation, release all our wants and needs, all your cares and worries. Your desires and fears are the logs that keep the fire of agitation burning inside you. Let them go- feel them fall away. Instead, sincerely ask to grow, until you feel an inner shift. ...

During the time you are practicing mindfulness, you stop talking- not only the talking outside, but the talking inside.  The talking inside is the thinking, the mental discourse that goes on and on and on inside.  Real silence is the cessation of talking- of both the mouth and of the mind.  This is not the kind of silence that oppresses us.  It is a very elegant kind of silence, a very powerful kind of silence.  It is the silence that heals and nourishes us. Reference~ Your True Home, Thich Nhat Hanh

From time to time, as an integral part of your spiritual practice, meditate on your death.  Ask yourself what you might do to purify your heart more deeply, say what needs to be said to others, and perform more righteous deeds.  Do all of this not with a sense of fear but out of a soul-felt desire to become free and fulfilled.  The Prophet Muhammad has sage advice for all of us: "When you were born, everyone was smiling but you were crying.  Live such a life that when you depart, everyone is weeping but you are smiling." Reference~ Spiritual Gems of Islam by Imam Jamal Rahman

The Outflowing Moon Breath:  Once attention has settled onto breathing, let The I Is An Illusion join with the outbreath.  A subtle wind is visualized moving upward through the body, the heart, and the restless mind, then exhaled.  Feel this breath carrying everything negative and unwanted along with it: illnesses, self-delusions, obsessions, fears, and angers, destructive desires- all the debris mind gathers to fabricate ego.  Give them all up as unsubstantial, gossamer, as smoke and shadow. The Inflowing Sun Breath:  Let each inhalation become a breath of love, and mingled with it is the profound understanding God Alone Is Real.  Breath passes through the nose up to the gnostic eye in your forehead, first spreading light through the brain, then flowing down to the inner heart and merging with the soul.  Truth-yearning arises in the heart, drawing great luminous Presence to itself.  Finally it flows everywhere within, "illuminating all th...

Setting aside time everyday for meditation and prayer opens our minds and hearts to the inner Spirit-Mind.  God instructs in Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God."  In the stillness comes the presence of God and God's blessing. As Elijah explained in 1 Kings 19:12, he searched for God in all powerful forces on earth- lightning, earthquakes, wind, and fire- but found God's presence in a "still, small voice" within. Reference~ Christ the Power and Passion by John Van Auken

For years I have used this meditation to empty myself of my pain. By ridding yourself of pain, you make room for joy. This meditation always brings me to tears, but afterwards I feel a profound connectedness with the Universe. Tonglen is the meditative practice of taking in the suffering of others and sending back love and peace. In order to develop true compassion we must be familiar with suffering. It means we explore what causes heartache or pain to others. This act is not the same as inviting pain into your life- it is the act of trying to feel as he or she does. Tonglen invites his/her pain away, transmutes it into love and tenderness, and sends it back in a warm bath of love. Step 1- Breathe in suffering. The worst thing that ever happened to you. That thing you wish you could take back. Recapitulate it in breaths. Step 2- Now breathe out joy, soothing golden warmth. See joy, feel joy, hear joy. Now do it for other people's suffering. Start with someone you care for. Visualiz...