Spiritual practices to encourage gratitude and contentment

Blessings, 
For the months of August and September, our weekly inspirational messages will be taken from this new resource.  It is an invitation to a gentle approach to deepening our contentment, gratitude, and compassion in everyday life.
Author, Rob Fennell, writes: “Spirituality is a deep, sustaining resource for human beings. It helps us to be healthy and well—for ourselves and for others. Spirituality empowers us to be our best selves, to care for the planet, to strive for a more loving and just society. Spirituality connects us with the Source of Life… It is my sincere hope that as we are transformed, our world will also be transformed. We have more than enough hatred, violence, and destruction. We need to find another way forward as a human family, for our own sake and for the sake of our planet.”
We will start this on Wednesday, but for today – I invite you to sit in the moment.  If we are honest, many of us feel like we don’t have time for anything. We can barely do what we need to do. To pause with anything new during the day is like being robbed of our precious time. Taken by the ultrafast speed of life, we go through the days by checking off our lists of activities, paying meaningful attention to almost none of them. Only rarely are we fully present somewhere. We end up distracted, irritated, tired, and anxious.
But, let us imagine a friend’s hand gently taps at our shoulder saying: Do you think you can stop now for 5 minutes? Can you pay attention to where you are? What if you pause right here? Can you breathe before you go to this meeting? Oh you have found a seat in the bus, can you now pay attention to everything around you? Oh look, there are children nearby, can you listen to their laughter? Get yourself out of the house and look up! Can you believe the stars are up there looking at you?
In the days ahead, these simple spiritual practices will just require you to stop and give 5 minutes of your time.  It’s not complicated. I will send them to you 3 times a week, and you can choose if you do it in the morning, mid day or evening.  But today – just pause, be still, and make a promise to yourself that you will commit the time – I am tapping you on the shoulder!
Peace,  Rev. Gail

---