Layers of listening- a spiritual practice
“The cure for distraction is attention”
~Pico Iyer”
In busy stressful seasons I often find that even when I carve out intentional time to quiet myself, I have trouble deepening to the level of stillness I desire. I feel cluttered and too full, and come away from the time frustrated instead of replenished. Has this ever happened to you?
On one of these occasions recently, I opened my journal and just began writing. I wrote how I was feeling distracted and unable to focus. I wrote about my current body sensations and edginess. I wrote the names of people I was in prayer for, and questions on my mind from current books I’m reading. But writing didn’t settle my spirit, and I realized that there were multiple voices clamoring for my attention. I felt the Spirit nudging me to name them.
I wrote the question, “What are the voices that are dominant right now?” and listened. The voices that made themselves known were:
what “has” to get done
what I “should” be doing
what I distract myself with (numbing practices)
STATIC
what my deepest self is calling me to…
I wrote beside that bottom layer of voice, “I don’t often get here and today this fact is very apparent. I have been deaf to the innermost place due to busyness, distractions, ‘shoulds’…”
Just the practice of writing these down, naming them, loosened the top layers significantly, and I was able to move forward. But a few days later I decided to create the above art journal page to illustrate this noticing. I used tissue paper and various book pages, created static with ink, then placed a butter yellow circle to indicate that still place I wanted to find and little paper boats to show myself traveling through the layers. It was a cathartic practice, and God was present in the creating.
Sometimes one medium of paying attention, of prayer (because prayer is simply deep attention paid to the inner voice of God and takes many forms), is not enough. Sometimes we may take our prayer to our journal, and then to song, or art materials, or dance, or the labyrinth, or the woods. What are the prayer practices that bring you to a place of stillness when you feel your deepest self is layered beneath the stresses of life?
A practice for you:
Find a quiet place and an hour of time. Take your journal and a pen.
Write the question, “What voices are dominant in me right now?”
Listen to what the voices are saying. Name them by their persistent phrases or feelings. Maybe they even have colors or textures. Write them in descending layers on the page, separated by lines, and include their sources if applicable.
Respond with prayer in words, poetry, images, or movement. Take them to a park or your art space or yoga studio. Find what works best for you to move through to your deepest self.