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Life is beginning to settle down around here. It shouldn’t be too much longer before we’ll be back on our usual twice a week posting schedule again.

Before I get into today’s article about meditation, I do want to remind you about the super special for this month only (May, 2007) at the Spiritual Cinema Circle. The feature film is “Illusion” starring Kirk Douglas. If you sign up for your membership this month (May, 2007), you’ll get “Illusion” starring Kirk Douglas plus 3 terrific short films. You’ll also get, as a free BONUS, the “Soulmate Collection” featuring 6 heartwarming short films about true love. You’ll get all 10 films and all you have to do is cover the cost of the shipping ($6.95 domestic, $9.95 International). Now that’s a deal — but it’s only for this month. Here’s where to get yours: Spiritual Cinema Circle – Just Click Here! Or, the banner over on the left will take you to the same place. Either way — just do it today. The month is almost over!

As many of you know, I believe in meditation as part of my daily life. I practice mine for an hour every day. There are some days where I will meditate more than once. I don’t do this every time, but most of the time I use incense sticks while I meditate.

When I light the incense stick and focus on it, I find that I’m moving into a wonderful, mystical space that is both physical and spiritual at the same time. When you stop to think about it, an incense stick has many similarities to us. Like us, the incense stick is earthbound with an ember that burns for only a finite time, but the diaphanous spirit it releases is unbound by time or space. Rather than shutting down our senses to focus on an inner realm, incense involves our senses as we follow whirling smoke upward and outward while we take its scent into us, filling us as we breathe.

I think of meditation as a journey. It’s similar in some ways to the journey of the incense stick. The journey starts with a flame, and then a glowing ember releases smoke to rise above us in an ethereal dance. Ashes fall below, purified by the fire. As Pema Chodron points out in the quote above, we can use this to imagine the ashes as the negative thoughts of ignorance being changed from darkness into the beauty of warm enlightenment and a beautifully scented spun-silver plume, lighter than air. We can watch as our atmosphere is altered to become reminiscent of the heavens and lifts our thoughts: Embers become shooting stars, and the silver ribbon of smoke becomes unraveled clouds. Altered senses may guide our inspired thoughts to travel along new, perhaps undiscovered, pathways.

It starts to become possible to imagine our own self being represented by the incense stick. Our inner fire is releasing out into the world. We are expanding to mingle with the breath of all other beings as we come to realize that we’re part of everything. We can also see in the swirling smoke our life’s path, not a straight line but a twirling, meandering ballet that moves us ever onward and upward. We may leave a bit of ourselves behind as we bounce off of our surroundings, working through them, but no matter what we do, we cannot avoid our final destination: oneness with all that is.

Remember, we are spiritual beings enjoying a physical experience on this planet. This way of relating the incense stick to ourselves can help us to remember the beauty and wonder of our existence. Everything — heaven and earth — the physical and the spiritual parts of us — all of this is available to us in every moment.

I hope you’ll all try meditation — and when you do, add the wonderment of incense sticks to your practice.

Remember, that if you have one of the “readers” — like My Yahoo, My MSN, or the Google Reader, or any of the others, you can get our blog sent to you automatically, whenever I post to it. Just click one of the buttons over on the left side to add it to your reader.

And, as I always say in closing — remember these words …

You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

~~~ DBL-R
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