Expressing Peace. Keeping Busy. 64.
The Flow
www.iciclearts.blogspot.com
It’s maybe even more than just keeping busy.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, said “…happiness does not simply happen to us. It’s something that we make happen, and it results from doing our best.”
Csikszentmihalyi refers to more than just keeping busy. During his flow, people experience deep enjoyment, creativity and a total involvement with life. Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced “chick sent me high”, btw) sees happiness as the emotional/psychological product of the flow.
I would say it’s peace and Peace. When we keep busy we are likely to experience peace. When we attach our awareness to the human moment peace we experience, we are likely to connect it to spiritual Peace.
Keeping busy means being focused. That means paying attention to whatever the present task is. The more attentive, even intensive, we are to what we’re doing, the more likely we are to enter the flow.
That’s when we have a steady supply of all types of energy. That’s when we are not concerned with how much time we’ve spent or how much time we have left. That’s when we realize our creative juices are flowing, too. Ideas pop in our heads; maybe not rocket science ideas, maybe just a better way to arrange the cups in the dishwasher.
While we are immersed in all of that — indeed, while we are creating flow that surrounds us — nothing else matters. As we engage our body, mind, and emotions so fully in keeping busy, none of the Day -to-Day Concerns or the Big World Worries plague us. What better real-time, real-life description of peace?
I invite you to reflect on an instance when you were busy, perhaps truly in the flow. Reflect on what it was like: how it felt, where it took you, what it meant to you afterward.
Why not put those reflections into praying?
Creator of Flow,
when I am so involved in doing that I lose track,
I must know peace.
When I know peace and realize the freedom
from all the bothers I create,
I can know Peace.
Aware when I am so engaged
that nothing matters and
aware when nothing matters
is to be at peace,
I am aware of the Peace of which you made me matter.
Creator, keeping busy is a blessing
filled with quiet moments of peace.
Thank you, GOD.
And so it is. Amen. Amen.
Enjoy Peace. Express Peace.
In: Energy, Happiness, Peace, Peacefulness, Prayer, Work · Tagged with: creativity, Joy, Peace, Prayer, praying
Expressing Peace. Numbers. 63.
Numbers
Numbers amaze me. Not good in math, just awed by the beautiful mystery of numbers. As I entered the title above and the number 63, I delighted again to the wonder of multiples of 9. In multiple of 9, the individual digits add up to …. 9.
There are countless other interesting facts like that. Peace comes to us from infinite sources. Numbers can provide peace, whether we’re math whizzes or not.
I’ll bet you have a favorite number. I’ll bet your reason for that number being your favorite is unique to you. I’ll bet, too, that what you and your favorite number have something in common with me and mine. Peace.
Think about it. When you’re going to an address that is or contains your favorite number, don’t you enjoy a gladness and an easiness that add up to peace? When your favorite number is in the amount you owe the cashier or, even better, the amount of change you receive, don’t you notice a conscious pleasant feeling, and would you call it “peace”? How about your number at the deli stand or the number left on your rear-view mirror when your car is serviced? If it’s your favorite number, is there a moment of feel good?
My favorite number is 8. All because of its symmetry and its endlessness. I also like that it’s the infinity symbol standing up! (Remember “Ben Casey”?) I see the number 8 or hear someone say “eight” or realize something about 8, and I have a delightful awareness of peace.
Suggestion: recognize the peace you feel from something as simple, perhaps even as unimportant, as a number–even your favorite number.
Sweet Spirit,
I enjoy the number 8.
More than 7 and 12 and 5
and for my own reasons.
Reasons that only matter as they let me
know a number as “my favorite”.
Reasons that only matter as they let me
draw peace, however minor and however momentary,
from the double curve of a figure.
What matters is that you created me from Peace,
That heightens my consciousness of the blessing
of peace of any kind, in any form, from any thing.
Mine is an 8.
Thank you , Spirit.
And so it is. Amen. Amen.
Enjoy Peace. Express Peace.
In: Happiness, Inner Peace, Peace, Peacefulness, Prayer · Tagged with: Peace, Prayer, praying
Expressing Peace. Blessings. 62.
Blessings
signsbyandrea.com
How blessed are you? How many blessings happen to you every day?
I recently read that the degree you feel blessed determines how much you allow good things to flow to you. The more blessed you feel, the more good things are likely to happen.
I would call that a peace-maker.
Aren’t these pretty common causes of not feeling peaceful:
- the feeling that we don’t have enough?
- the feeling that we’re not getting what we want?
- the feeling that too much bad and not enough good comes into our lives?
- and more feelings like those?
Let me ask you some questions. And let me encourage you to give yourself a moment to answer, really answer, each question. Take a deep, slow breath and think about your answer. Then move on to the next question. Total time: perhaps 10 minutes.
How blessed do you feel?
Is waking up every day a blessing?
Do you “count your blessings” at bedtime?
How many times a day do you tell someone about one of your blessings?
How many times do you actually call them “blessings”?
What triggers do you have to keep you from taking your blessings for granted?
What is your biggest blessing right now?
What are some “small” blessing you experience frequently?
How can you keep your mind on “I am blessed”?
How blessed do you feel right now?
Thank you for answering those questions. Thank you for blessing me with your Being.
Bountiful Blessing Giver,
every blessing brings us Peace
for every blessing shows and tells us
you are Omnipresence.
We are blessed by the peace we bring ourselves
when we realize our blessings, savor our blessings,
and thank you for them.
What wonder and how wonderful to know
our blessings have no degree of greatness.
The blink of an eye, the birth of a baby,
a shooting star, thunder pealing, field horses working
blessings all, surrounded by infinitely more.
This life is a blessing and the eternal being
of which it’s not even an instant a blessing, too.
We thank you, GOD. We love you and your blessings.
And so it is. Amen. Amen.
Enjoy Peace. Express Peace.
In: Commitment, Inner Peace, Peace, Peacefulness, Prayer, Prosperity · Tagged with: Peace, Prayer, praying, spiritual simplicity
Expressing Peace. Exercise. 61.
Exercise to Peace
Exercising is a sure-fire way to bring peace.
Exercise – from the most simple to the most rigorous – allows you to concentrate on some activity. That concentration allows your mind, your emotions, and your body to let go of whatever it was holding on to. That letting go lets in peace.
Consider taking a walk. Consider focusing on each step, letting your mind release the worry or the challenge or the stress it was carrying. Focus instead on each step.
Consider dancing (with or without a partner). Listen to the music. Allow the music to draw any “other thinking” from you. Allow your feet and hands, your legs and arms, to respond to the music and its rhythm. Your attention is all on the music, your movement, and their coordination.
Consider working out with weights. Feel the bar in your hand. Notice the weight and your muscle’s reaction. As you slowly lift or push or pull the weight, concentrate. Concentrate not on the weight but on your muscle and its action, its strength.
Consider the almost limitless ways you can exercise your way to peace: yoga, jump rope, swimming, water-walking, jogging, juggling, stretching, pilates, cycling, tai chi, karate, kayaking…..and many, many more.
Lots of benefits, yet the greatest one is the peace that comes to your body, mind, and spirit. Exercise has physically additive effects: muscles, strength, endurance, cardiopulmonary fitness.
Exercise also has the peace-giving effect that comes from exertion, satisfaction, accomplishment.
Powerful Exerciser,
you energize us with life
and love and joy.
You free us to be our individual selves
and create our own realities.
We sometimes wind realities too tight
and need your gift of exercise.
We sometimes want to let our muscles spend and gain
as our minds release and float,
as our emotions settle and rest.
Our breath is deep and full,
our gratitude is, too.
Remind us, Spirit, not to be still,
move and shake and jump and swing
that our bodies, minds and spirits
know the peace from being alive.
And so it is. Amen. Amen.
Enjoy Peace. Exercise Peace.
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