Dance of the Spirit

Informationen zum Autor Maria Harris  was a writer, speaker, and advocate for religious education. A former member of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Maria dedicated her life to teaching and leading Catholic parochial schools. In addition to her grade school work, Harris was a very successful teacher of higher education at Immaculate Conception seminary, Andover Newton Theological School, and Fordham University. Klappentext Each woman has a special spiritual destiny, as unique and inalienable as the rhythms that govern her life. Maria Harris teaches women how to dance to the music of their own souls and discover the spiritual steps that can transform their lives.1 Awakening   THE FIRST STEP   A Pause for Centering   Let us begin by being still. Sit back in your spirit; you do that by sitting back in your body. This First Step in the Dance of the Spirit is Awakening, the Awakening of your Spirituality. Let your reflections on Awakening emerge from your inner self. Take time, don’t hurry, and try to spend at least a few moments with each question, and with each of your responses, before going on to the next one.   When in your life do you find you are most awake?   When are you least awake?   Are there moments or times in your life when you feel called to be awake to life in a deeper way than you are now?   To what in your life are you most awake?   To whom?   Are you awake to yourself, to the self you are in the deepest parts of your being?   Are you awake to your inner life, as well as to your outer life?   Are you awake to God? Do you ever feel that God is calling you to a fuller life, addressing you in a special way, speaking your name with love, with tenderness?   Are you awake to the presence of Mystery in your life? To what is real but somehow beyond explaining?   Do you ever feel yourself touched by this Mystery? Do you ever feel yourself reaching out in order to make that touch of Mystery happen more often?   Has an event in your life—of either great joy or great sorrow—ever been the source for your spirit’s awakening?   Were you more awake to your inner life, your spirituality, when you were a child than you are now?   Do you ever wish you could be back in touch with your childhood sense of wonder, of awe, of spirituality?   Are you awake to other people, especially to their losses, their sufferings?   Are you awake to the voices of the earth, to the stars, the wind, the sound of the rain?   Are you awake to the possibility of being happy?     Many of us take our waking slowly. We hold back, not wanting to go into the new day. It asks too much of us; makes too many demands. We are frightened; scared that we may lose the little we already have, the little we can call ours.   Others of us are still children in our waking. We anticipate each day as if it were our first—we feel shiny inside and outside. For us, no limits exist, and even if it is a dreary day, we feel ourselves surrounded by care.   Still others of us, all too often, wake abruptly. We are startled into the new day, shocked into it. Our systems aren’t given time to adjust. We feel cheated—sleep and dreaming have been stolen from us too soon.   And then there are the Awakenings of anticipation. The days of being absolutely convinced that this is the day we start over and begin again. Literally, this is the day that God has made, the dawning of a time to rejoice and be glad. For today is the beginning of possibility, of fullness, and, finally, of happiness.   Whatever the circumstances, this coming out of sleep is familiar to everyone. Less familiar, however, is the symbolism this daily happening holds for a deeper and fuller Awakening. Less familiar, too, is the clue in each daily, bodily awakening which, if followed, can lead into new worl...

Product details

• Authors: Maria Harris
• Publisher: Bantam Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.05.1991
• EAN: 9780553353068
• ISBN: 978-0-553-35306-8
• No. of pages: 240
• Dimensions: 150 mm x 230 mm x 15 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Science fiction, fantasy; Guides > Spirituality > Esoterics