God Doesn't Go Away When We Are Not Praying

Even though the meditator may leave the meditation, the meditation will not leave the meditator."
-Dudjom Rinpoche

"Carry your meditation as the eternal present and saturate your everyday life with it. "
-N. Senzaki

“At the beginning of my spiritual practice in the monastery, I used the hours set aside for private prayer to simply think about God. I wanted God’s reality to imprint itself on my mind and emotions. I felt this was far more useful than any particular prayer practice or theological study. This method is short and sure. It allows me to exercise my knowledge and love for God, so that I am able to take my awareness of the Divine Presence with me, so that I never need to leave it.”

“For me, prayer is nothing more than a sense of God’s presence, an overwhelming awareness of Divine love. This awareness continues uninterrupted, both in prayer times and throughout the day. Why should we see any difference? God doesn’t go away because we are not praying. That is why I continue to walk constantly with God, giving God all my strength."
— Brother Lawrence: A Christian Zen Master by Brother Lawrence


Emphasize the exhaling breath. And you can use it for many changes in the mind. If you are suffering from constipation, forget intaking. Just exhale and do not inhale. Let the body do the work of inhaling; you just do the work of exhaling. You force the breath out and do not inhale. The body will inhale by itself; you need not worry about it, you are not going to die. The body will take breath in, you just throw it out and let the body take it in. Your constipation will go.
If you are suffering from heart disease, just exhale, do not inhale. Then you will not suffer from heart disease. If while just going upwards on a staircase, or anywhere, you feel tired – very much tired, suffocated, breathless – simply do this: just exhale, do not inhale. Then you can climb up any amount of steps and you will not be tired. What happens? When you go with an emphasis on exhaling, you are ready to let go, you are ready to die. You are not afraid of death; that makes you open. Otherwise you are closed – fear closes you.
-Osho. The Book of Secrets (p. 511). Osho International

"Silently intone a word ending in “ah.” Then in the “hh,” effortlessly, the spontaneity.  Emphasis should be given to the ending “ah.” Why? Because the moment this sound “ah” is intoned, your breath goes out. You may not have observed it, but now you can observe: whenever your breath goes out you are more silent, and whenever your breath comes in you are more tense."
-Osho. The Book of Secrets (pp. 508-509). Osho International

Today's Practice:
"God doesn't go away because we are not praying."  This means that just because we forget to feel Love, that doesn't mean It isn't (t)here.  When anger comes in the front door and is given our full attention, Love doesn't go out the back door.  It's still (t)here.   Do as Osho recommends and silently intone the 'ah' sound.  Inwardly say a word that ends with 'ah', like:

Issa (Jesus in Arabic), Yeshua (Jesus in Hebrew), Buddha, Rama, Krishna, Jah, Allah, or Jehovah

Coincidence, or nah?  Nah.  Nahhhhh.  :)  Pick a name of God and repeat it inside, focusing on the relaxation inducing, 'ahhhhh' at the end.  Recognize that God is easy to feel in the 'ah', but that It was there during the inhale, too... and between breaths, and before you took your first one.  God is, and you are That.  Stay aware of this constantly, today.  Uninterrupted awareness of the presence of God, today.  That's our Work.  And our Joy. 

I Love you, 
Nik
nikki@curlynikki.com 

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