Welcome Prayer

I  am grateful to be able to share a new teaching on Prayer with the hope that I will indeed make it my program daily practice. 

A key element in "dealing" with my emotions is compassion.  Compassion is also a meditation practice, and it can be broken down into "steps," as part of Welcoming Prayer. Welcoming Prayer is a simple practice, that is comprised of three steps that can take as little as as a couple of  minutes or as long as you like. 

1) Awareness is first. What am I feeling? Where is that feeling in my body? What am I telling myself about it? (At this point I remind myself HALT; and I lean into or sink into the emotion)

2) Acceptance is second:  

I accept that I have an Inner Therapist, a Divine Guide, a Higher Power. I am not alone. The world continues to turn, the birds continue to sing. They are not indifferent to me, we are in this process of life together. This second phase of Welcoming Prayer, is about Accepting my part in the universe, the reality of my pain, and that there is a remedy, and it comes from a spiritual connection with "all that is."

3) Letting Go (and for some of us, Letting God) is the third piece of Welcoming Prayer.  Letting Go is healthy program Action, that allows me to get back into the task at hand. I Let Go of my own way of creating suffering (my negative emotion or self-talk).     

But HOW do I "Let Go?"  

If my thoughts are that I should have security, or that I should have someone like and approve me, or that I should not have a certain emotion....Or that I must have this situation change in order to feel happy, I can tell myself instead, "I am letting go of my expectations for a different outcome."  Or, " I choose to allow the situation to remain as it is, while I go about doing the next right thing."

Or Letting Go can be aided by the Serenity Prayer. When I take the serenity prayer to my softest dearest heart, I will get answers from my Divine Guide, that help me to KNOW what I CAN work on that will really make for progress.  

Let me always remember that in anything I do in program I Let Go of my expectations... whatever I do is not going to immediately fix a problem, but it will help me to see new options, if I am gentle with myself. 

Is this simple?  Is it challenging? Am I worth this work?

I say YES to all three!  I hope you will too and let me know how about your Welcome Prayer experiences...