Braving the Hot Mess Synergy of the Spirit, Mind and Body - Blog

I Want To Share Something Important With You

6/19/2018

I just want to take a moment to say something, to acknowledge something...you are AMAZING, you are an INCREDIBLE person, you are ENOUGH, yes you truly are! YOU are kind and caring and lovable and generous. You are a REFLECTION of our creator. Yes, each and every one of you is truly AWESOME!

No matter how you feel at this moment, or what is going on in your life, just pause and take a moment to let those words sink in...to FEEL them. Maybe put your hand over your heart-center and take a nice deep breath in and out and feel the words in your heart.

Remember that we are good, that we are a spirit having a human experience, that we need to be gentle with ourselves and with the other kind, loving, gentle souls that we interact with in this lifetime. We are ALL one. We are ALL here learning.

You, at your core, are deeply good. You don't need to operate from a place of fear. You are bigger than that, your light is brighter than that, you are more powerful than that, you KNOW within you a better way, it's called LOVE.

Don't be quick to judge...be quick to listen, to empathize, to be compassionate, to apologize, to forgive, to love.

Don't be quick to be right...be quick to understand, to hear another perspective, to be open to a different way, a different thought, a new direction, to love.

Don't be quick to bully, to manipulate, to control, to compete...be quick to collaborate, to compromise, to respect, to partner, to love.

You don't need to be those things, you are okay, you are safe, you are enough. Take the time to pause, to connect to your higher wisdom. Be gentle with yourself and be gentle with others. You may not know the state of their life and the impact, either positive or negative, that you may have on them.

Create a ripple, but let it be a positive ripple. One that emanates outward and creates more beauty, more love, more empathy, more compassion, more forgiveness along the way. There is enough harshness in this world already, spread more softness. You can never be too soft, too loving. Harshness creates more harshness.

Spread more of who you are into the world this week. Open your heart wide-open and share with the world your incredible spirit. Be gentle with yourself and be gentle with those other incredible spirits whose lives you will touch this week. Your heart, not your mind, is your greatest source of intelligence. Operate from your heart.

Go ahead and shine your big, beautiful, bright light. Be the reflection of God's light and love as you journey through this week.

Living A Heart-Centered Life

6/12/2018

Did you know that scientist have discovered that our heart is a "little" brain? Our heart contains sensory neurites that cause it to function as a second brain. Our heart contains memory of our experiences and carries it's own intelligence. Growing evidence suggests that the heart and brain work together.

As Gregg Braden states in his book, Resilience From The Heart, "A growing body of scientific evidence now suggests that the pumping of the heart, as important as it is, may pale in comparison with the additional functions that have been recently discovered. In other words, while the heart indeed pumps blood powerfully and efficiently through the body, the pumping may not be its primary purpose."

Our heart constantly sends signals to our brain, however our brain sends much fewer signals back to our heart. By harmonizing our heart and our brain (heart-brain coherence) we can tap into deep intuition, heart-based intelligence and wisdom.

Signals generated from our heart to our brain determines what chemicals our brain tells our body to produce in response. Our body can produce stress induced chemicals or chemicals that promote feeling good, health, well-being and social connection.

Signals generated by the heart have the capacity to affect not only ourselves, but others around us as well. Our heart creates an energetic field which travels out from our body impacting the outside world.

For me, living a heart-centered life means tapping into this "little" second brain, this heart-based wisdom and intelligence. It means working to set aside my ego and approach life from my heart-center, which is a place of love and compassion. To be heart-centered is synonymous with tapping into our higher-self. Living from this state of being is optimal for health, healing, wisdom and intuition.

To stay heart-centered is an actual physical practice, and like all things by practicing we get better at it. We build strength and stamina. The practice includes pulling your awareness, from your head center (or your ego) to your heart center (or your higher-self).

The heart center is the area behind the sternum/breastbone, up to the top of the sternum (just below the Adam's apple) and back to between the shoulder blades. This whole area is considered your heart center.

Where you touch your awareness goes. Simply by placing my hand over my heart center for a few moments brings my focus and attention to my heart, which automatically creates a natural shift in my thoughts, feelings and energy. Where attention goes, energy flows. Go ahead and give it a try and see how it feels.

Now that your hand is over your heart center, steady or slow your breathing and bring into your heart space feelings of care, gratitude, compassion, or love for someone or something. Conjuring up these feelings, embracing them, savoring or sustaining them in your heart space while placing your hand over your heart center is key.

Next, if you would like, ask your heart a question. Maybe there is a decision you are trying to make but can't decide what you should do, ask your heart for the answer. Instead of making a list of pros and cons or using our brain's intellect, our heart-based intelligence knows what is in our highest and best good.

The wisdom of your heart already exists within you. It can be trusted and relied on to guide your life. It holds the key to your deepest truths. I invite you to practice using your heart-center more to guide you through life versus relying on your brain power. The wisdom carried in its guidance will best serve your highest and best good.

Gregg Braden, author of Resilience From The Heart, offers the following steps for accessing your heart’s intelligence:

Step 1: Focus Your Heart
Action: Allow your awareness to move from your mind to the area of your heart.
Result: This sends a signal to your heart that a shift has taken place—you are no longer engaged in the world around you and are now becoming aware of the world within you.

Step 2: Slow Your Breathing
Action: Begin to breathe a little more slowly than usual, allowing five to six seconds for your inhale and exhale.
Result: This simple step sends a second signal to your body that you are safe and in a place that supports your process. Deep, slow breathing has long been known to stimulate a relaxation response of the nervous system (the parasympathetic response).

Step 3: Feel a Rejuvenating Feeling
Action: To the best of your ability, feel a genuine sense of caring, appreciation, gratitude, or compassion for anything or anyone.
Result: The key to success here is for your feeling to be as sincere and heartfelt as possible. As described previously, it’s the quality of this feeling that fine-tunes and optimizes the coherence between your heart and your brain. While everyone is capable of this experience, it’s one of those processes that you may need to experiment with to find what works best for you.

Step 4: Ask Your Heart Intelligence a Question
Action: The previous three steps create the harmony between your brain and your heart that enables you to tap into your heart’s wisdom. As you continue to breathe and hold the focus in your heart, this is the time to ask your question.
Result: Heart intelligence generally works best when the questions are brief and to the point. Remember, your heart doesn’t need a preface or the history of a situation before the question. Ask your question silently as a single concise sentence and then allow your heart’s wisdom to respond in a way that works for you.

Step 5: Listen
Action: Become aware of how your body feels immediately as you are asking your question. Make a note of any sensations such as warmth, tingling, ringing of the ears, and emotions that may arise. Everyone learns and experiences uniquely. There is no correct or incorrect way of receiving your heart’s wisdom. The key here is to know what works best for you.
Result: For people who are already attuned to their bodies’ and their hearts’ intelligence, this step is the easiest part of the process. For those who may have less experience in listening to their bodies, this is an exercise in awareness.

Miracles

6/5/2018

I'm sure we've all at one time or another asked for a miracle. I always considered miracles to be something extraordinary, something that required divine intervention. Wikipedia defines miracles this way, "A miracle is an event not explicable by natural or scientific laws. Such an event may be attributed to a supernatural being (especially a deity), magic, a miracle worker, a saint or a religious leader."

My view on miracles has shifted as I've been reading and studying the book A Course In Miracles (ACIM). Chapter 1 covers 50 principles of miracles. I want to share one of the principles for you to ponder. It has been thought-provoking for me and created a shift in my thinking. The other principles are equally thought-provoking and intriguing. If you are looking for a challenging and life-changing spiritual book to read and study this is a great one!

Principle 12 - "Miracles are thoughts. Thoughts can represent the lower or bodily level of experience, or the higher or spiritual level of experience. One makes the physical, and the other creates the spiritual."

So, what does that mean? According to ACIM teacher Kenneth Wapnick it can be interpreted to mean this, "A miracle is a change from the ego's thought to the Holy Spirit's thought. Miracles are thoughts because everything is thought. Nothing has existence outside our minds. The miracle is the thought that corrects or undoes the ego's thought of separation."

He goes on to explain, "There are two kinds of thoughts: the ego thoughts, and basically it is those ego thoughts that made up this world, and the Holy Spirit's thoughts. The ego's thoughts reinforces separation. Thoughts that are right-minded come from the Holy Spirit, which undo the separation of the ego. It is basically saying that there are two ways of being in this world...one is the ego's and one is the Holy Spirit's."

We are conditioned in our society to think thoughts of the ego. Thoughts of separation, of survival of the fittest. This conditioning may seem like it serves us in the short-term, but it is not in alignment with who we are and how we were created. Ultimately, it creates more challenge by steering us away from love and from the message of God.

The thought system of the ego is a thought system based on fear. And when fear dominates we end up with distress and dis-ease. It's amazing how much work our ego will go through to try to convince us that we need to protect ourselves, to be fearful, justifying its position repeatedly in our minds.

We don't have to be totally free of all thoughts of the ego and separation, but we must be willing to surrender our thoughts and turn them over to the Holy Spirit in order to open our minds to the miracle. Even if we are only able to briefly open our minds, in that moment the miracle can occur. If we then revert to our habitual ego-minded way of thinking and our judgments, the miracle will be retained in our memory, and therefore we do not completely revert to the old identification with the ego’s thought system of separation. Each time we allow a miracle, we loosen the chains of the ego with which we have bound ourselves.

I find this to be an intriguing way to look at miracles. I write and teach a lot about how important our thoughts are and the difference between thoughts based on love and thoughts based on fear. I just never thought of it in terms of being a miracle. Like I wrote in last week's blog post, always do your best, no more and no less. Each time we allow for the shift in our thought and open our minds to the miracle we are taking a step forward toward loosening the grip of the ego.

Always Do Your Best, No More And No Less

5/29/2018

Ever feel like your best just isn't good enough? Like you are working hard learning, growing, practicing, serving and yet it feels like no matter how hard you try you just can't please anyone, including yourself? In the back of my mind plays the motto don't just give 100%, give 110%. Do you ever have those moments, those days, those weeks? I sure do, if I'm not careful, it can leave me feeling depleted and defeated.

I recently read The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. It's an inspiring read, I highly recommend it. The fourth agreement is, "Always do your best. Under any circumstance, always do your best, no more and no less. But keep in mind that your best is never going to be the same from one moment to the next. Everything is alive and changing all the time, so your best will sometimes be high quality, and other times it will not be as good."

Sometimes it's the smallest little shifts in thinking that can make a big difference in our perspective, our expectation and our mindset. This simple little thought motivates me and yet also allows me to not be so hard on myself. It gives me permission to always do my best, with the recognition that my best is always shifting and changing each and every moment. If I'm sick my best is different than when I am healthy. If I am well rested my best is different than when I am drained and tired.

Even when it comes to a practice like meditating, recognizing that on some days my best is 5 minutes and on other days it might be 20 minutes. This little perspective shift gives me permission to do my best, no matter what that is at this moment, no more and no less.

It helps me to remember that we can always choose again. Every moment of every day we can choose again. We can choose to be happy, we can choose our reaction, we can choose our habits, we can choose to live in the present, and we can choose to do our best, no more and no less. No one moment defines us, a series of small moments creates our legacy. We get to choose each and every moment to do our best in this moment in time.

Don Miguel Ruiz goes on to say, "If you do your best always, over and over again, you will become a master of transformation. Practice makes the master. By doing your best you become a master. Everything you have ever learned, you learned through repetition. You learned to write, to drive, and even to walk by repetition. You are a master of speaking your language because you practiced. Action is what makes the difference."

If you keep putting one foot in front of the other, take small steps in the right direction, and always do your best, no more and no less, you will be amazed at what you are able to accomplish!

Hi-Lo-Hero

5/22/2018

I love to share with others about the importance of having a gratitude practice. Gratitude and savoring are the easiest and most effective ways to shift our brain's natural tendency toward negativity bias to one of positivity and ultimately to happiness.

Our brains are 3-5 times more sensitive to negative information, we naturally look at life through the lens of lack. What's going wrong? What don't I have? Where are the threats? This "caveman brain" sensitivity toward "where are the threats", makes it necessary for us to we retrain and rewire our brain to look for the positive, the good things that are happening in our life and in the world.

A key way to retrain our brain to look for the positive is through the practice of gratitude and savoring. Gratitude is the gateway to happiness. It's a game-changer. Gratitude changes the lens through which we see the world from one of lack to one of abundance. It allows us to savor the goodness and the experience.

Research in the area of positive psychology indicates that focusing, in detail, on 3 new things that you are grateful for each day is part of the key to retraining our brain and living a life full of happiness. This can be done out loud, silently in your mind or by writing it down in a gratitude journal.

I also love the idea of sharing gratitude at the dinner table with friends and family. It's a great way to inspire the practice in others and to connect with others and bond over the good stuff. One way to consider doing this is to play a game called the Hi-Lo-Hero game.

The Hi-Lo-Hero game is played by going around the dinner table and each person shares the high point of the day, then the low point of the day. Sharing the low point helps to acknowledge that life can be challenging. It helps to identify specifically how someone is feeling about the experience that happened. Next share the hero moment. The hero moment is a time during the day where you did something kind, loving or helpful for someone else.

The Hi-Lo-Hero game allows for the sharing of both gratitude and savoring. Two key habits for happiness. It also pulls into play 2 other habits for happiness, random acts of kindness and being generous, of service to someone, by focusing on a moment where we were a hero. Hero moments can be both big or very small gestures. It can be smiling at a stranger or at someone who seems to be struggling. It can be holding open a door or sitting at the lunch table with someone who is alone. It reminds us to daily incorporate moments of loving kindness or service and generosity into our day.

Sharing of the low moments, the struggle, is being honest. It gives us the opportunity to support and encourage each other and the opportunity to strategize and brainstorm.

I invite you to try playing the Hi-Lo-Hero game with your family and friends. It's a great way to build connection and to savor the goodness in our lives. Ultimately, retraining our brains toward happiness.

Tips For Dealing With Challenges

5/15/2018

Have you been listening to the amazing free interviews offered as part of the Hay House World Summit? It's offered from May 5th to May 20th this year and there are some awesome free movies and interviews. I'm trying to get through as many as I can!

The other day I listened to an interview with Sonia Choquette and Pam Grout and they had some nice suggestions on dealing with life challenges that I want to share with you.

Ask For Guidance And Sleep On It
When you are facing a challenge and you are looking for solutions, Sonia's advice is to take some time before you go to bed to write down all of your fears and concerns regarding the issue. Just acknowledge them. Then write down what you would like guidance on.

Next ask your higher self, "While I sleep and rest my mind and emotions, please make it clear to me and give me the guidance that I need." First thing in the morning, before your mind gets busy and cluttered say, "And my guidance says..." The guidance will just pop out. You can say it out loud or you can write it down. Trust it, don't filter it, don't justify it, don't even think about it, just say it before your brain has a chance to color it with fear. This can take some practice. It takes trust to capture the guidance that you are being given.

You may also have dreamt about the guidance/solution. If you can remember your dream, capture it right away by writing it down. Again don't worry about it making sense right away, simply write down what you remember. Write down everything you can remember, even the feelings that you were having at different parts in the dream. Our dreams are often symbolic and cannot always be taken completely literal. Once you have written it down, you can play with analyzing what it's message was to you. It often helps me to do this with another person, talking it through out loud.

Ask For Help And Turn It Over
Pam offered up this advice for times when we are struggling with a challenge, she suggest that we ask for help and then turn it over. She suggests that we constantly all day, every day, ask for help and then turn it over. By doing this we are opening ourselves up for Spirit to step in and provide creative solutions and to lift the burden from us.

This is especially useful when it comes to forgiveness. When we are struggling with forgiveness it can be a challenge to know how to be able to forgive. How many times do we stop and ask for help, ask for guidance, or ask for it to be lifted from us? It helps to open the door by asking for help and then turning it over.

These are techniques that I practice and they are really helpful in navigating through life's challenges. The techniques get stronger the more you practice them and have faith and trust in them. Give them a try and let me know how it goes!

Who Has Loved You Into Being?

5/8/2018

One of my facebook friends posted a video clip of Mr. Roger's acceptance speech for the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmy's. The theme of his speech focused on who has loved you into being? It was a touching tribute to everyone who helped him throughout his life.

This week we celebrate Mother's Day. Some of us have mothers who are still here on earth and some of us don't. Some of us have mothers who we love and adore and some of us have challenging relationships with our mothers. Some of us maybe never really had a mother figure in our life.

All of us though have special ones who have loved us into being. These are people who have helped you become who you are. People who cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life. People who have stood by your side. People who have mentored you. People who have taught you. People who sacrificed for you. All of those individuals whose lives have made a difference in you becoming who are are today.

In Mr. Rogers acceptance speech he asked the audience to take 10 seconds of silence to reflect on who loved you into being. After the 10 seconds of silence Mr. Rogers went on to say, "Whomever you've been thinking about, how pleased they must be to know the difference you feel that they have made."

I love the idea of taking to time reflect on who has loved you into being. This week, in the spirit of Mother's Day, I invite you to take it a step further and let a few of those special people know their impact on your life. Reach out and let them know. Express your love and gratitude for what their presence in your life has meant to you. Send them a note, pick up the phone and call, or stop by for a visit. How good would it make you and the other person feel if you did?

Love, connection and gratitude are what it's all about. They are key to leading a happy and joyful life. Holding up those that have loved you into being and loving them right back with some extra helpings of gratitude on the side.

Do You Listen To Your Intuition?

5/1/2018

When you think of intuition what comes to mind? How would you define it or describe it? Do you actively use it and pay attention to it?

Intuition is defined in the dictionary as the ability to acquire knowledge without proof, evidence, or conscious reasoning, or without understanding how the knowledge was acquired. Instinctive knowledge or belief. A hunch, a gut feeling. The subtle knowing without having any idea why you know it. It’s a knowing without knowing. Your own natural internal guidance system.

Author Gary Zukav in his book, The Seat of The Soul, defines it this way, "Intuition is perception beyond the physical senses that is meant to assist you." He goes on to explain that, “Intuition is a walkie-talkie between the personality and the soul.” Whatever your soul’s purpose is, your intuition is there to help you stay on track.

Have you ever had a moment where you felt as though something wasn't right? Perhaps stepping into a parking lot late at night, or feeling negative around someone without knowing why? Have you shrugged it off, dismissing it as nonsense? Intuition gives us the ability to know something without analytic reasoning, bridging the gap between the conscious and non-conscious parts of our mind.

As a culture, we have been conditioned to believe that rationality and logic should prevail when making decisions about anything from crucial life to business decisions to where to eat for lunch. But what about that "inner voice", that gut feeling, that little something instinctual from within that tells us how we feel underneath those layers of reason and logic?

Our intuition is always there, whether we’re aware of it or not. It’s a muscle that gets stronger and better through exercise and practice.

One way to determine whether you are following your intuition is to assess whether you are reaching for things or moving toward things. If for example, an idea, concept, thought won't leave you alone and it makes you feel energized, amplified, expansive than this is an indication that the idea resonates with you. When it resonates with you, you feel amplified. If on the other hand, you feel like you really need to push through, to struggle, to work hard and the thought of that feels draining and depleting than your intuition is telling you the opposite.

People often wonder how to tell the difference between their intuition and fear. Marie Forleo recommends something that I agree with, she says to listen to your body. The body is a good receiver of intuition if we pay attention. Does something in your gut contract slightly or expand and come alive? Do you feel expansion or contraction?

Sometimes these sensations can be strong and sometimes they are very subtle, but they are there if we pay attention. I will often feel the physical sensation of tingles as an indication from my body that something is in alignment with me.

In a lot of cases, I rely on whether the piece of information resonates with me or not. Does it feel like truth to me? Does it strike a cord deep within me? It takes practice to notice and trust our intuition, but it's always there working to connect us to our higher self.

There are many ways to tap into your intuition, to develop and strengthen it so it's a useful tool in your toolbox. If you are interested in learning more about how to develop your intuition consider joining me and my sister for the Circle of Intuitive Development beginning on May 29th. Details can be found under "Tracy's Upcoming Events" tab and at perennial-yoga.com/may-29-june-26---circle-of-intuitive-development.

A Tool For Shifting Your Energy

4/24/2018

Reminders are great aren't they? I've found it useful to re-read books, re-listen to a podcast or video, or hear a lecture on a topic that I've heard before. It can serve as a great reminder. Sometimes our brain is focused on certain pieces the first time and then picks up new pieces when repeated.

Lately, I've taken a few classes that served as great reminders for me. Sometimes it can be easy to forget, fall off the bandwagon or get complacent. This week I want to re-discover a tool that I have used for many years and have found to be a useful one. This is a repeat of one of my early posts. I hope it serves as either a great reminder or as a new tool for your toolbox.

What is your typical response when you become frustrated, angered or upset? Maybe you are having a disagreement with your spouse or coworker, or you are 'having one of those days' with your kids, or your family member is pushing one of your buttons. It's easy to get sucked into the hot mess, engage and probably make it worse. Sure, you might start out trying to be reasonable, but if your buttons are being pushed it can be hard to maintain composure. Even if we do, we usually walk away stewing and fretting about it in an unproductive way. I've learned several amazing tools that have helped me to handle situations like these with a lot more grace. I want to share one of them with you today.

This is a tool is simple, easy and works fast. Whenever you are confronted with a situation that is challenging and runs the risk of getting the better of you, repeat to yourself out loud or silently, "the God in me is loving the God in ____" and insert the name of the person(s) impacted. Repeat this over and over for a few minutes until you feel the shift happening inside of you. Even if you have to grit your teeth and choke it out at first, do it anyway. You will be surprised how after saying it a few times, your own thoughts and energy will begin to shift.

Now the super cool thing about this tool is that it not only begins to shift you, it also starts shifting the other person, and they are not even consciously aware that you are doing it. You will notice that they tend to calm down and that their energy becomes more positive and calm. This tool is amazing and so easy to do! Remember how thoughts become things and impact our environment and what comes back at us? Well, this is another powerful example of how this can work.

Here is how Spiritual teacher Pamla Ashlay-McPherson describes this tool, "People address each other from the part of themselves that has been programmed by this earth life; they forget they are spirit first encased in a body and when we address each other from our spirit to their spirit we speak greater truths. So next time someone is yelling or upset; be still, and in your head repeat over and over, 'the God in me is loving the God in you' and they will stop; as it will bring them to a greater truth without realizing it."

Next time you are in a challenging situation that threatens your ability to stay in a calm and loving place use this tool, repeat...the God in me is loving the God in you...and feel and watch what happens.

Please let me know how you like this post in the comments below. I would also love to hear your experience once you put this tool into action!

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." The quote is by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French philosopher and Jesuit priest.

The Practice That Has Changed My Life

4/17/2018

If I had to pick one practice that has impacted my life the most, it would have to be my prayer practice. Starting and ending my day in prayerful meditation has been life altering. Within my prayer practice I have woven together several of the tools that bring about more joy, peace and happiness. This prayer practice has become my anchor and it has significantly changed my life.

My daily prayer practice includes prayer, affirmations, gratitude, intention setting and meditation. All of the heavy hitters for supporting my day and my life.

For me, prayer is how I connect to God, to Spirit, to my higher-self. It's how I remember, it's my centering force and my guiding light. It's remembering who I am, what my intention is, that I am loved and supported, and all of the blessings that are in my life. Prayer helps to foster my relationship with God.

One of the things that helps me the most is the practice of presence that prayer brings. Prayer pulls me back into the moment and into relationship with myself and with God.

In case it is helpful to you, here is my current personal prayer practice. It is ever evolving, shifting and changing, but this is what it looks like at the moment. This is my "formal" practice, prayer and gratitude are also a spontaneous occurrence throughout my day.

Morning practice (5 to 15 minutes)
I sit down on my meditation pillow and put on some soft mediation music. I start off by saying, "Good morning God, good morning Soul, who am I?" I answer this with several affirming "I am" statements. I am a child of God, I am light, I am love, I am compassionate, I am forgiving, I am grateful, I am enough, I am healthy and well, I am strong, I am creative, I am a servant of God, I am a vessel for God, etc. Doing this helps me to center, to remember, to bring my awareness to my intention.

I then ask, "Where would you have me go? What would you have me do? What would you have me say and to whom?" This opens me up for guidance to seep in.

I then move into gratitude, "I am grateful for the blessings of today. I am grateful for..." and I list as many things that come to mind that I am grateful for.

Next, I further establish my intention for my interactions for the day. I set the intention for each of my interactions to be kind and loving. That God's will be done, that loving thoughts prevail. I briefly work through all of the people that I know I will have interactions with throughout the day and set my intention for loving kindness.

Lastly, I offer up any special requests on behalf of myself and others and end by sending out loving energy toward those who I sense could use some additional loving, positive, healing energy on that day.

At the end, I sit in silence and further meditate for whatever length of time feels right to me on that day. A few times each week I sit in meditation for a longer period of time (up to an hour).

Bedtime practice (2-5 minutes)
When I lay my head down on my pillow at night, I turn my focus to gratitude and then to protection. This practice has been extremely helpful to my ability to swiftly drift off to sleep. This is huge for me, because for a fair chunk of my adult life I suffered from insomnia. "God thank you for the blessings of the day. I am grateful for..." and I list as many things as come to mind that occurred during the day and in my life that I am grateful for.

I end my prayer by asking God to shine his loving and protecting light over me, my loved ones and the whole universe. I then visualize the image of loving light surrounding all of us. It's comforting and it brings my heart peace. That's it and then I drift off to sleep all happy and peaceful.

I am not suggesting that this is how you should pray. Praying is a personal practice and I don't proclaim that my way is the best, or the right way, it's simply what I've found to work for me. If something in there helps to serve you then I am glad to have shared it with you :)