SEASON TWO - EPISODE 25: RECONNECT WITH ED CYZEWSKI

Is it possible to be less anxious?

Can social media be a tool we use rather than a tool that uses us?

How can prayer calm our minds and help us discover the Love of the Divine?

These are just some of the topics I address in this episode with Ed Cysewski.

Ed is a writer, editor, and author of multiple books. He blogs a lot on prayer and writing.

Two of his books we talk about in this episode are: Flee, Be Silent, Pray: Ancient Prayers for Anxious Christians and Reconnect: Spiritual Restoration from Digital Distraction. Both of these are great resources for those individuals who grew up in an evangelical world, are searching for spiritual practices that can enable them to encounter God, and for practical advice on how to disconnect from the distractions of our digital devices and discover spiritual renewal.

You can follow Ed on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Be sure to subscribe to Ed’s newsletter to receive free content. If you like this episode, be sure to SHARE it and REVIEW it on Apple Podcasts.

As you seek to reconnect with the Divine by protecting your time, maintaining one-on-one interactions, and finding silence in your day….may you have peace, may you have calm, may you have happiness.

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SEASON TWO - EPISODE FIVE: CENTERING PRAYER

Nothing can make me fall asleep quicker than being forced to do Centering Prayer for 20 minutes after lunch, during prime nap time, when you’re in graduate school and constantly exhausted. Yet, the first time I tried Centering Prayer, this is what happened. After 20 minutes, I awoke to drool streaming down my chin.

After this experience, I didn’t try this ancient practice again. It wasn’t until over a decade later that I tried Centering Prayer and this time I found it had become a profound practice for my soul that leads me into greater peace and calm, centers my soul, and allows me the space to listen for God. It’s been a game changer in my spiritual life. It was revived my soul and lead me into deeper awareness.

At it’s basic, Centering prayer is a type of silent prayer in which we center ourselves upon God’s presence.

This is why it is also one of the most difficult spiritual practices. It’s a practice where I can’t do anything, really. I don’t check things off my list. Instead, it forces me to be rather than to do. In Centering Prayer, I just am as I am. It’s just me and my thoughts, which can become quite noisy when sitting in silence.

But this is also why Centering Prayer is an essential practice.

Instead of me trying to achieve or do something, Centering Prayer becomes about me being present, as I am, to the Divine One who is always present to me. It becomes this centered place where I’m not working on my own soul, but God is working on my own soul. Through it, God does a transforming work in me and I am simply opening myself up to the One who does such good work.

Centering prayer allows us to be in union with God, to be aware of God, and to be as close to God as your very breath. It is a holy act, where we don't have to worry about doing, but instead settle into simply being.

Catholic Priest, Basil Pennington gives the following framework for Centering Prayer:

Be With God.
Stay With God.
Return to God.

In this episode, I share more about Centering Prayer, but I also give instructions on how to do a sit as well as end the episode with silence to experience Centering Prayer. As I mention in the podcast, a few resources I recommend are: Centering Prayer, by Basil Pennington; Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, by Cynthia Bourgeault; and Centering Prayer in Daily Life and Ministry.

As you learn to center yourself through silent prayer, as you learn to be with God, stay with God, and return to God, may you have peace, may you have calm, and may you have happiness.

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