Prayers for Today: Thursday's Reflection

Has your anxiety increased in the last few days? Are you afraid of what might happen, of the possibility of war? 

 I have noticed a tightness in my stomach.  Instead of breathing deeply and evenly, my breath is shallow. At the same time I have jumped from one activity to another and been unable to focus on the work in front of me. 

I do not watch television during the day, but I do listen to National Public Radio when I fix dinner or do other household tasks or when I am in the car. The last few days, however, I have checked in with news reports more frequently, wanting to know if something major that affects our security has happened. 

What is it I most need to do right now? Yes, I need to express my response to those who represent me in Congress, for example, but first, I need to sit. 

Monday night I met with my spiritual direction peer group. We meet monthly to support each other in our work. The facilitator for the evening opened our session by reading "Blessing of Courage" in Jan Richardson's The Cure for Sorrow. The blessing includes these words:
                      But you will know it
                      by the strength
                      that rises from within you
                      to meet it,
                      by the release
                      of the knot
                      in the center of
                      your chest
                      that suddenly lets go.

I sat in the silence of early morning meditation time and read these words over and over, gradually feeling the knot in my chest unwind. As my breathing found its own rhythm, I grazed in the book, landing on the words my heart needed. 

                     Let there be
                     an opening
                     into the quiet
                     that lies beneath
                     the chaos
                     where you find
                     the peace
                     you did not think
                     possible
                     and see what shimmers
                     within the storm.
                              from "Blessing in the Chaos"

                     So may we know
                     the hope
                     that is not just
                     for someday
                     but for this day--
                     here, now,
                     in this moment
                     that opens to us...

                     not someday
                     but this day,
                     every day,
                     again and
                     again and
                     again.
                                    from "Blessing of Hope"

There will be other days of increased anxiety and of felt fear. I know I can't escape times when I am afraid, whether it is about a personal situation or, as in the recent days, about potential impact on the entire world. 

What is always available to me at those times, however, is to sit, to sit in silence, and to listen for the presence of God within and around me. May it be so. 

An Invitation
When you are afraid or anxious, what do you do to find equanimity?