A simple habit of the daily practice of MEDS can help balance the stressors of your life. MEDS stands for Meditation-Exercise-Diet-Sleep. Some fear meditation, disliking silence, solitude, and being still. Others resist because of anxieties about adequate time or expert technique.
Trappist monk Fr Thomas Keating offered a refreshingly simple process for Meditation through Centering Prayer. Here it is:
Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.
Siting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word.
When engaged with thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.
At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.
That’s it! What Sacred Word? Abba, Jesus, Lord Jesus Christ, Maranatha, Shalom—choose a word or two with few syllables. Then begin. How long? Begin for five minutes a day. Eventually, you may desire to Center Yourself in God’s Presence for two sessions, twenty minutes each. To begin with—five minutes is enough. Thomas Keating speaks of the Divine Therapist who is present to us and within us and often shows up during and after Centering Prayer. The Divine Therapist is referred to in Step #1: “to consent to God’s presence and action within.” Take a deep breath. Let Love infuse and heal you. NOTE: The Divine Therapist charges no fees, does not ask about insurance, nor fuss about missed appointments. Ash Wednesday falls on Feb 26, 2020. How about for the next four weeks you daily take your MEDS, focusing on “M”, Meditation through Centering Prayer.