Читать книгу Prayers for Calm - Becca Anderson - Страница 22

— 1 —

Engage

Respond; don’t react.

Listen; don’t talk.

Think; don’t assume.

—Raji Lukkoor

— 2 —

The Serenity Prayer

God, grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

and wisdom to know the difference.

—Reinhold Niebuhr

— 3 —

One Moment at a Time

Living one day at a time;

enjoying one moment at a time;

accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.

Taking, as He did,

this sinful world as it is,

not as I would have it;

trusting that He will make all things right if

I surrender to His will;

that I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.

—William Hutchison Murray

— 4 —

No Line

When someone is full of Love and Compassion,

he cannot draw a line between

two countries, two faiths, or two religions.

—Amma

— 5 —

Read Your Own Heart Right

We would have inward peace,

Yet will not look within;

We would have misery cease,

Yet will not cease from sin;

Once, read your own heart right

And you will have done with fears;

Man gets no other light

Though he search a thousand years.

—Matthew Arnold, 1852

— 6 —

Quiet Your Mind

When I had no friend, I made

Quiet my friend. When I had no

Enemy, I opposed my body.

When I had no temple, I made

My voice my temple. I have

No priest, my tongue is my choir.

When I have no means, fortune

Is my means. When I have

Nothing, death will be my fortune.

Need is my tactic, detachment

Is my strategy. When I had

No lover, I courted my sleep.

—Robert Pinsky

— 7 —

Songs in the Night

Come, Spirit,

make me docile to your voice.

Help me debate angels.

Let your will be done in me

even if it means

misunderstanding,

rejection,

scandal.

Give me wisdom to find you

in the irrational:

heavens gone awry,

astrologers’ predictions,

Give me such hospitality of heart that

songs in the night.

family,

foreign seers,

poor shepherds and animals

find a home in my presence.

—Benedictine Sisters, Living in Peace

— 8 —

The Healing Power of Beauty

Today, like every other day,

we wake up empty and frightened.

Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading.

Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

—Rumi, 13th century Persian poet

— 9 —

Gifts of Grace

Sometimes we may ask God for success,

and He gives us physical and mental stamina.

We might plead for prosperity,

and we receive enlarged perspective

and increased patience,

or we petition for growth

and are blessed with the gift of grace.

He may bestow upon us conviction and confidence

as we strive to achieve worthy goals.

—David A. Bednar

— 10 —

Try Looking at Things a Different Way

Mindfulness: taking a balanced approach to negative emotions so that feelings are neither suppressed nor exaggerated. We cannot ignore our pain and feel compassion for it at the same time. Mindfulness requires that we not “over-identify” with thoughts and feelings so that we are caught up and swept away by negativity.

—Brené Brown

— 11 —

Deep Rest

May the gentleness of God’s supportive

and sustaining love

gather us in her arms this day/night,

and bless us with sleep that restores both body and soul. Amen.

—Marchiene Vroon Rienstra

— 12 —

Keep Serenity in Your Heart

While you are proclaiming peace

with your lips,

be careful to have it

even more fully in your heart.

—St. Francis of Assisi

— 13 —

Keep Calm and Carry On

You can’t calm the storm,

so stop trying.

What you can do is calm yourself.

The storm will pass.

—Timber Hawkeye

— 14 —

Lay Your Burden Down

Come to me,

all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you

and learn from me,

for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls,

for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

—Matthew 11:28–30

— 15 —

Finding Courage to Face the Unknown

Tender and compassionate God, you are our steadfast companion in the joyous times of our lives. When we rejoice, you celebrate with us; when we are anxious and afraid, you offer us a relationship where we can find courage to face the unknown; when we weep with sadness, you are our comforter. Help us believe that you receive us as we are, and help us to entrust ourselves, with all our many struggles and hopes, to your faithful and abiding care. Amen.

—Unknown

— 16 —

Know Thyself

It’s not that God, the environment, and other people cannot help us to be happy or find satisfaction. It’s just that our happiness, satisfaction, and our understanding, even of God, will be no deeper than our capacity to know ourselves inwardly, to encounter the world from the deep comfort that comes from being at home in one’s own skin, from an intimate familiarity with the ways of one’s own mind and body.

—Jon Kabat-Zinn

— 17 —

Each Day Is a Precious Gift; Use It Well

This is the beginning of a new day.

I can waste it or use it for good.

What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.

When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever,

leaving in its place something I have traded for it.

I want it to be a gain, not a loss;

good, not evil;