CULTIVATING RECEPTIVITY
THIS WEEK: Seasonal Shifts, Owl Returns, and Jim Finley's Personal Practice that turned my compulsive reading habits into contemplative receptivity.
Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
—Mary Oliver
Happy September, friends!
For me, just saying the word “September” inspires visions of cozy flannel shirts, fields of wild sunflowers, green aspen leaves transforming into shimmering gold, and the crisp cool feel of mountain air kissing my face. Although the Autumn equinox isn’t until Sept 22, I already feel a shift in the season.
I feel an internal shift as well.
A shift as silent and potent as the flight of sister owls who returned last week to the tree just beyond my backyard fence.
As I sat in the soft light at dusk, I was able to witness two separate silent flights.
If you’ve ever observed the near soundless flight of an owl directly above you and quite near, wings moving in what feels like slow motion, you know the wonder and awe of that grace-filled moment. Everything stops and all you can do is be present to it.
Like the owl’s flight, there is a power and potency to the silence we carry within ourselves, and there is a wisdom in that silence that has much to teach us if we will just slow down and pay attention.
CULTIVATING RECEPTIVITY THROUGH CONTEMPLATIVE READING:
Last week, my beloved teacher Jim Finley - author, depth psychologist, contemplative and mystic, shared his process for slowing down and partnering with the spirit of a text in the art of contemplative study.
I have such incredible respect for this gentle giant of the mystical heart, who speaks softly, laughs frequently, and rarely fails to bring me to tears through his tender presence and powerful teachings. He embodies love like few I’ve ever met. Last week, Jim shared his personal approach to reading and studying the mystics with our class. It immediately resonated and I thought, “If this is what Jim does, I definitely want to give it a try!”
So over the past week, I have begun to put this simple process into practice. It has already made such a difference in how I relate to what I read. And beyond that, how I relate to myself and others. Like you, I yearn to sink into the wisdom of my heart and be able to embody it. This process has helped me feel more present and embodied when I read for heart instruction and thus more able to retain key messages, which in today’s world of constant distraction and increasing difficulty focusing, well, is really saying something. Of course, I wanted to pass this process along to you.
James Finley’s Contemplative Reading Approach
Here is Jim’s simple and beautiful approach to entering into a relationship with a sacred text and reading contemplatively.
Choose your sacred text. (I’m currently working with The Cloud of Unknowing.)
Read 2-3 paragraphs with great care. (Jim says it was written with great care so it’s only fair we read it that way. Love that.)
Create a short outline of key points or themes. (Don’t get hung up here. Stay with me.)
Next, draw three boxes. Label them:
How have I experienced this? ( Or how am I experiencing this?)
If I were to say this in my own words, how would I say it?
What is the text asking of me?
Fill in the boxes. Do not rush. Some might remain empty for now. That’s ok. In this way, you are not simply reading, you are beginning to engage in a contemplative way with the spirit of the text itself.
After this process, do your meditative sit.
Tomorrow, read the next paragraph or two and repeat.
It’s an entirely different approach and intention for reading the text. It’s more of a conversation than a lecture. And wouldn’t we rather be in the conversation? We become partners in an ongoing, deepening conversation.
Can you imagine taking months to read a book in this way? A year? Imagine bragging to your friends, “ Hey! I read ONE book this year!” Can you imagine the looks you’d receive? It makes me laugh to even type that. This is a counter-cultural approach to be sure. The opposite of speed reading, cramming information, or reading multiple books at once ( raises hand - guilty!) By slowing down and allowing insights and questions to arise and then engaging the questions in this way, we are beginning a long, heart-centered conversation with the writer and the spirit of the text itself. We get to know each other heart to heart.
Contemplation cultivates receptivity.
This is a slow, gentle path toward a more holistic, integrated, and embodied relationship to a text. As Jim says, reading in this way allows“…the meanings to begin to sink into your soul.“
Just to be clear, this doesn't mean I am not reading anything else, but for the purpose of study, I am only reading ONE AT A TIME in this contemplative way. Already I am far less compelled to have a stack of books that I am trying to study from at once. I’m curious to watch how it may affect my reading habits in general. I’ll get back to you.
I wonder what gifts this process might hold for you? I wonder what it might shift? What meanings might sink into your soul?
3 THINGS WORTH SHARING
For many, poetry is a great way to begin to read contemplatively. Here are two poetry portals for you.
“Find that far inward symmetry
to all outward appearances,
apprentice yourself to yourself,
begin to welcome back all you sent away,
be a new annunciation,
make yourself a door through which
to be hospitable, even to the stranger in you.”-David Whyte
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep. -- RUMI
I tend to have multiple projects simmering on my creative stovetop, and meetings or calls on most weekdays. But not on Wednesdays. On Wednesdays, I wander. This past week, I discovered Pinewood Reservoir. Are you able to set aside a portion of a day at least once a week simply for your soul’s nourishment?
This tiny bird building a remarkable nest made time stop for me and filled my heart with sweetness and wonder.
Hey friend, can you slow down just a bit this week? What might be cultivated in you?
xoxo Mary
Let me know in the comments if you have a process similar to Jim’s or if you think you might want to try this process for yourself! Have a poem to share? Please do!
Can't wait to try this style of reading. Thank you for sharing!!