Stirring the Waters. Janell Moon

      INTRODUCTION: The Hand of Promise

      A young mother came to me for hypnotherapy saying she wanted to develop a closer connection to her spiritual self. As I usually do, I began by asking her a few questions. To the question when in her life does she feel a presence of “something more,” she said it was when she was tending her child in the middle of the night. To the question what did it feel like, she said it was a time when the outside world took on less importance and the connection between her daughter and herself felt soft and glowing. With this feeling, everything counted, she told me, her heart was open to the sky, the books in the room, people sleeping across the ocean. All she needed was a gentle reminder from me to continue using love to have more of that spirit feeling.

      This book is written to help you stay close to that feeling, to be sheltered by what’s true and real for you. In it, we’ll use writing to develop our spiritual practice, to access that sense that we are connected to something greater than ourselves. Some call it their muse, higher power, goddess, god, the spirit. Just use whatever word or name feels right to you.

      Spirituality is many things, and we each must decide what it means to us. Perhaps you feel that religion is a set of acquired opinions and not the sacred truth, and have left religion behind to embrace a more loving presence. Maybe you practice within a religious tradition but are also developing a spirituality that feels closer to your daily life. There are no hard-and-fast rules here. Only this: Spirituality is a way of living that seeks to satisfy a longing that draws us to life.

      To search for our own way can be a long, slow process, but what I’ve found repeatedly, over many years and with my many clients and students, is that writing can be your spiritual practice. It can help you become more open, develop faith to be comfortable with the unknown, and be better able to answer the question: Who am I and what am I doing here? Whatever you determine spirituality is for you, writing will help you find your way.

      As a child, I used writing and creativity to save my young life from the problems in the family. I loved the bright colors of chalk murals, but even more I loved the chalk dust as it floated to the sill. I loved to paint and watch trees grow on the page under my brush. I’d write stories that felt more real than the life I lived and was sorry when they were finished. I was in love with the act of doing art. When the fort I was building was finished, I was eager to begin another.

      As I got older, I realized that writing and painting gave me a sense of re-creating myself. To be creating something, to make something new, to be at the beginning of something, was to feel alive and generous and loving. I didn’t yet call it a god force, because I didn’t believe God was in my life. When I was five years old, our Sunday school teacher showed us a poster of Jesus surrounded by island children. Jesus was reaching out to them.

Скачать книгу