Listening with the “Ear of Your Heart”
Volume 5

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Where charity and love are, God is there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2o27qpvfUc 

+++

The Sacred Art of Listening
By Kay Lindahl
Published by
Skylight Paths Publishing

Reflection 4:
Learning from Experience:
Listening for new possibilities

“Reflection can teach us to be better listeners – to ourselves, to God, and to others…there is something very important about taking time to acknowledge what happens each day… It can take the form of a journal, a walk on the beach, a conversation with a close friend, or some quiet time with myself…

The key is to give ourselves permission to “do nothing” – to value our experience enough to honor it with silence, to daydream without feeling guilty. When we do, we will approach our listening with others renewed, refreshed, and with a sense of awe and wonder. New possibilities will show themselves when we listen this way.”

This is just a small portion of Kay Lindahl’s book. For more information:
The Sacred Art of Listening: Forty Reflections for Cultivating A Spiritual Practice
by Kay Lindahl
Published by Skylight Paths Publishing
Available for your use at the Antioch Center Library or for purchase at your local book store.

Reflective Questions from Kay Lindahl

• What just happened?
• What did I learn from that?
• How did I grow from that?
• How did this impact others in my life?
• How does this relate to patterns in my life?
• What learning can I share with others?

+++

Two Wolves
A Cherokee Legend

© dark_okami stock.adobe.com

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil–he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.”

He continued, “The other is good–he is joy peace, love, hope, serenity, humilty, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you–and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

+++

A Little Bit of Light
by Henri J.M. Nouwen, Return of the Prodigal Son
© estherpoon – stock.adobe.com

“Cynics seek darkness wherever they go. They point always to approaching dangers, impure motives, and hidden schemes. They sneer at enthusiasm, ridicule spiritual fervor, and despise charismatic behavior.

People who have come to know the joy of God do not deny the darkness, but they choose not to live in it. They claim that the light that shines in the darkness can be trusted more than the darkness itsself and that a little bit of light can dispel a lot of darkness. They point each other to flashes of light here and there, and remind each other that they reveal the hidden but real presnce of God.”

++++

Reflections on Healing

“Healing as the Tao Te Ching indicates,
does not come from increasing the amount
of light in our lives but from reaching into
the shadow and drawing up unreconciled elements
of ourselves into the light where they can be healed.”
Greg Johanson & Ron Kurtz

+++

If we could read the secret history of our enemies
we should find in each person’s life sorrow
and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

+++

We will be offering Reflections for Cultivating a Spiritual Practice using the book, “The Sacred Art of Listening” by Kay Lindahl.  These programs will continue to take place from 12:30 to 1:30 pm at the Antioch Center on the following dates:

July 25
August 8, 22
September 5, 19

The programs will be facilitated by our Advisory Board member, Randy Thomas with help from Susan Batterton. We have purchased 2 copies of the book, “The Sacred Art of Listening”, and made them available for you to read at the Antioch Center. Handouts for each session will also be available along with additional supplemental resources.

For those unable to attend the programs, we will send out summaries, such as this one, of each program for your home study.

If you would like copies of the handouts from the series, email us at [email protected].