Our home has more than one “sacred space.” There’s the front room upstairs where my husband Steve props himself on the futon twice a day to receive nourishment and renewal through meditation. There’s the library table in the living room with a photo of our family, an icon and a burner with frankincense that fills our home with its mystical smell.
Then there’s the space I set up every morning after my own 20-minute meditation. I light the little glass lamp, set out breakfast, and add a St. Francis card, a couple of kaleidoscopes, books I’m reading two pages at a time, a book light and the latest “Forward Day by Day” with the page for that day turned back.
After that, I pull out one of the Buddhist meditation cards from the stack. I’ve been using card #41 for awhile. It seems to help these days when I struggle to keep a “wide-open heart and mind.”
Front: “Two activities: one at the beginning, one at the end.” Commentary on the back: “In the morning when you wake up, you reflect on the day ahead and aspire to use it to keep a wide-open heart and mind. At the end of the day, before going to sleep, you think over what you have done. If you fulfilled your aspiration, even once, rejoice in that. If you went against your aspiration, rejoice that you are able to see what you did and are no longer living in ignorance. This way you will be inspired to go forward with increasing clarity, confidence, and compassion in the days that follow.”
— Julie Martin