Body, Mind, Spirit & Service – Love, Fear & Attention

Interfaith Spirit Quest – Topics for discussion: Body, Mind, Spirit & Service – Love, Fear & Attention

Prayer for Spiritual Community: God of all creation, First Source, Force and Center of all things and beings; we yield our hearts and minds to you and we seek unity with the Divine Spirit within that is You, O God. May we feel your love, presence and guidance more fully today and every day, evermore. While we are here in human flesh, may we seek to do your will, may we seek to love others as you have demonstrated your love toward us. Thank you for this day, for keeping us safe and warm, and for providing for our sustenance. We ask for your blessing upon this meal and upon our fellowship here today. At this time, if there are any special prayer requests, aloud or in silent prayer, please mention them now for inclusion in this unbroken, connected chain of prayer….

Your prayers…______________________________________________________________________________________

…_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for hearing our prayer. In thanksgiving and in remembrance of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

~*~

Body & Spirit: Love & Fear: (The following section on Love & Fear is from an article written last year called 'What is Love' written by Rev. Sheila Hansen for Interfaith Spirit Quest – it's an excellent conversation starter!)

What is Love? If you could create love in your life simply by choosing right actions, would you? If you knew that your negative actions and reactions were the cause of your pain and misery, would you stop?

You can learn to recognize thoughts that lead to desirable consequences simply by choosing positive, love centered actions over fear or negative actions and reactions, which only create destructive consequences. In addition to creating love in your life, you will also deepen your relationship with God, because God is Love. If you fully understand who is walking beside you in your earth journey, fear would not be possible. You have extraordinary power, power to choose how you will think or act in any given circumstance. Your thoughts and your actions create your world.

Learn to act and react in loving ways by recognizing the emotions and physical sensations you are experiencing. For example, if you feel anger welling up inside you – react with tenderness. Are your relationships cold and distant? Warm them up by being warm and affectionate. Do you have a tendency to react negatively to almost everything that comes along? Try looking for the positive, bright side of things instead. It really works!

Actions and reactions based on love make you feel warm and beautiful inside. Try it, you'll like it! This is easier said than done, mostly because our previous ways of acting and reacting have turned into habits, and habits are hard to break. This is where you must realize the extraordinary power that is yours, this is the time to be selfish and use this power to make yourself a happier, more loving person. Trust me, the rest of the world will love your for it!

Interfaith Spirit Quest

Following is a list of words about Love and Fear. In the Love column are things we are and do because we are acting out of love. In the Fear column are things we do because we are frightened or feel threatened in some way. Learn how to use these emotions and/or actions to create a more loving life.

Love

(Consequences of love and loving)

 

Happy

Peaceful

Affectionate

Warm

Patient

Kind

Caring

Positive

Spiritual

Beautiful (inside)

Handsome (inside)

Giving

Faithful

Friendly

Truthful

Passion

Joyful

Romantic

Persevering

Pleasant

Tender

Protective

Grateful

Masterful

Creative

Free

~*~

 

Fear

(What we do when frightened or threatened)

 

Depressed

Restless

Distant

Cold

Impatient

Mean

Unsympathetic

Negative

Questioning

Ugly (inside)

Self-absorbed (inside)

Selfish

Cheat

Rude

Liar

Lazy

Vengeful

Jealous

Give up

Hateful

Angry

Obsessive

Sense of entitlement

Addictive

Exploitative

Enslaved

Interfaith Spirit Quest

Discussion: Mind

The quality of one's life depends on the quality of attention. Whatever you pay attention to will grow more important in your life.

— Deepak Chopra in Ageless Body, Timeless Mind

Mind - Attention: The following tips are gleaned from the following sources.

• Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School - by John Medina.
• Spirituality & Practice: Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy — practices that are common in the world's religions.

Brain Rule #4 - Attention: We don't pay attention to boring things, but sometimes we give our attention to things that are non-productive. Multi-tasking is a myth. While we think we can do several things simultaneously, we are really working sequentially – doing one thing at a time. If you really want to get a lot done – eliminate as many interruptions as possible. Turn off the TV, Radio, Email, Cellphones, etc. for a predetermined period of time so you can focus on the most important task of the day.

Everyone has A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Disorder). Generally, we can really only focus intensely for about 10 minutes at a time. So to enhance our focus ability, we need to give ourselves a break – every 10 minutes. Or at least vary your tasks every 10 minutes, even if ever so slightly. Are you preparing a speech? Break it down into 10 minute segments to maintain the attention of your audience.

Our attention is influenced by our memory, what we already know or have learned. We react to new situations from our learned perspective. We can control some of our reactions by getting more information from other sources – other sources besides our own memory. So, in situations where you have a little time to think something through, it pays to give new information some of your attention. We also tend to give our attention to things that we are emotionally connected to, so if you want to improve your memory, create an emotional connection to the things you most want to remember.

Spirituality & Practice: Attention is also known as mindfulness, awareness, concentration, recollection. It is a primary practice, and not just alphabetically. We must stay alert or we risk missing critical elements of the spiritual life — moments of grace, opportunities for gratitude, evidence of our connections to others, signs of the presence of Spirit. The good news is that attention can be practiced anywhere, anytime, in the daily rounds of our lives.

-Effort is its own reward-

Ben Hei Hei – in Wisdom of the Jewish Sages by Rabbi Rami M Shapiro

 

We are here to do,

and through doing to learn;

and through learning to know;

and through knowing to experience wonder;

and through wonder to attain wisdom;

and through wisdom to find simplicity;

and through simplicity to givn attention;

and through attention

to see what needs to be done…

Comments

[body mind spirit]

The mind experiences life through the body, the body cannot live without the mind. It can be seen as a symbiont relationship, a duality (which everything exists as) or as one. But that is more a subjective matter, the fact is they can't live without the other (atleast in this world)