Tips to enjoy the taste of ICE CREAM more

[Heavenly food]

THE CHALLENGING STEP FOR YOU TO ENJOY SPIRITUAL LIFE.

>From the earliest days of the Church, Christians have used meditation
as an essential part of prayer along with offering intercessions,
supplications, and praise. From a Christian perspective, meditation
might be thought of as quiet prayer, a prayer without petition, since
"he already knows your needs." (Mt. 6.8) The prayer of quiet brings the
soul into quiet rest, as well as the body. Many meditative practices
have become perfected over centuries by countless believers, especially
those in religious communities.

Meditation is always about Presence, and we have acquired many ways to
not be present. As soon as you begin, trying to simply be present to
God and yourself, you will find yourself thinking about when you need
to do the laundry, feed the cat, or any one of a thousand other
thoughts which take you from Presence into future. The key is to come
back gently. Do not in any way chastise yourself. Simply shrug off the
distraction with an inner smile and return. You may have to do this a
hundred times in a single sitting; no matter. In so doing, over time,
not only will your ability to stay present in meditation increase, but
the gentleness you've cultivated in dealing with yourself will carry
over to a sustained gentleness in how you relate to all people, and
your determination to be present will carry over, into greater focus
and presence in the rest of your life. Similarly, it is also important
to not to judge a sitting. It is not good nor bad, although some will
seem to be easy or "successful," and (many) other sittings may seem be
frustrating because of the difficulty of staying present. But it is in
doing the work that you grow, and the frustrating sitting may have been
much more beneficial for your growth, than the easy one in which
resting in Presence seemed effortless.

Here i am LORD, Tell me how to How to?

Relaxation / Centering methods-This has been called "recollection" in
Christian religious life. With recollection, you re-collect yourself to
be fully present. These are the primary means of "centering down" to
prepare for more deliberate meditation, and yet, they can also be
simple meditative methods in their own right.

* Relax in a tranquil environment: Choose your spot, and savor the
setting. It doesn't matter whether it's a waterfall or another natural
setting, a park, watching a sunset, taking in a work of great art in a
museum, quieting your soul in a church, or any other kind tranquil
environment. Take time to savor peaceful sights, sounds, smells.
* Body scan: I feel.... my head feels...my chest feels... etc. Move
throughout your body, simply noting your physical sensations
* Progressive relaxation: (progressively tensing then relaxing
muscle groups, etc.)
* Focus on the breath Feel the breath going in and coming out of
out the nostrils. Or on the rise and fall of the abdomen or chest in
conjunction with your breathing. (If it's extremely quiet, you may be
able to focus on your pulse.)
* Environment scan: I hear this, I see this, I smell this, I feel
this, etc.
* Focus on a fixed object or sound. Concentrate on something
outside of you: for instance, a flower, painting, candle, crucifix,
icon, or the sound of water, wind, or traffic.

Musical approaches : These usually aren't thought of as as meditative
techniques, but music can be a powerful way of making a meditative
connection to God's Presence.

Listening to meditative music-There's really no need to explain this
one-its about as simple as it gets. Stop worrying, put down your
work, sit down or lie down, and listen-really listen-to relaxing
music. It can be a preparation for entering into

Chant-The earliest Jewish Christians worshipped God with chanted
prayers in the synagogue. The gentle, exultant, undulating sounds of
different styles of chant have been part of Christian worship ever
since. A few forms:

* Ambrosian chant
* Gregorian chant
* psalmody
* Hildegardian chant
* Byzantine chant
* Russian and Greek Orthodox chant.

Most recently, Jacques Berthier of the ecumenical >>Taizé- community
in France has been developing a gorgeous modern style of chant which
has enriched worship in Christian churches and communities throughout
the world.

Singing in the Spirit-In some Pentecostal and Charismatic
congregations, "the Spirit flows" and people begin singing spontaneous
praises, either in tongues or in their own language. When it's done
slowly and softly, it can be a profound meditative experience.

Imagination methods.

These techniques combine elements of the focusing techniques described
above, as a starting point, but they intend to give the meditator an
experience of God or something of God-for instance, a direct
experience of His love, a message from Him, the experience of touching
another in the communion of saints, bringing the Word to life, etc,
through using the imagination as a portal to the sacred.

Visualization-(This is an ingredient in most of the things that
follow. Infinite variations are possible.)
This is using the imagination to aid in a spiritual experience. All of
the following methods use visualization as a key ingredient. Possible
visualizations are virtually inexhaustible. Here a just a few
possibilities:

1. * Imagine yourself in a peaceful scene.
2. * Put yourself in a scene from the Gospels.
3. * Visualize yourself sharing another's suffering.
4. * Imagine yourself as a pebble, dropping into a lake,
representing God.
5. * Imagine yourself with God.
6. * See God within you [perhaps as a fire, a pool of water, or
a golden light]. Or "picture" God within your heart, your blood, your
breath, etc.


Guided meditation-pretty much the same as the above, but with someone
or something guiding you through it, helping you visualize. Guided
meditations are often dynamic, as opposed to the previous meditation
methods. For instance, in a guided meditation, you might progress from
one place to another, or ask a question and listen for an answer. You
might "meet" a person who is there to show you something, or face
something which directs you to make a choice. Guided meditations often
have a purpose in mind, such as inner healing, physical healing, or
seeking God's will, etc.

Kything-this is lovingly experiencing your spiritual connection with
the Lord, or with nature, saints, friends, etc. Often even mental
dialoging or conversation is possible. In their excellent book on the
subject, Kything: The Art of Spiritual Presence, Drs. Berne and Savary
outline three simple steps:

1. Center yourself in God.
2. Lovingly focus on God or the person or thing you want to kythe
with, and
3. Make contact through visualization.

This is an extremely powerful way of sensing your connections to the
Lord and to what is known as the "communion of saints," the fellowship
of all creatures in God. Once contact is established, you might
dialogue with the other. For instance, if you're kything with a holy
person or with Christ, "talk" with him and listen to his responses.
Remember that although imagination is the vehicle, it does not in any
way mean that the contact is not "real."