Tracy Smith – Jackson Community Church

Reflections on inner demons, hungry ghosts. Calling on saints, angels & bodhisattvas. Themes from Mark 1.

By jacksonnhccPosted on January 25, 2018Posted in Adult, Home, Weekly MeditationsTagged Abraham Lincoln, Allen Frances, angel, barbara brown taylor, Bodhisattva, Buddhoist, christian, Christian Wiman, Eleanor Longden, eminem, fox mulder x-files, Frederick Buechner, gospel, hungry ghosts, Imagine Dragons, inner demons, Jacques Reda, Julia Brennan, Kamau Brathwaite, Kathryn Matthews, Kosho Uchiyama, Kumina, Lama Tsultrim Allione, Mark 1, monster, Nadia Bolz-Weber, nine inch nails, Patheos, rihanna, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, rumi, saint, talmud, Thich That Hahn, Thomas Troeger, Tracy Smith, voices

Your body is woven from the light of heaven. Are you aware that its purity and swiftness is the envy of angels and its courage keeps even devils away. — attributed to Rumi

Lord, the demons still are thriving in the gray cells of the mind:
tyrant voices, shrill and driving, twisted thoughts that grip and bind,
doubts that stir the heart to panic, fears distorting reason’s sight,
guilt that makes our loving frantic, dreams that cloud the soul with fright.
… Clear our thought and calm our feeling; still the fractured, warring soul.
By the power of your healing make us faithful, true, and whole.
— Thomas Troeger (excerpt from hymn ‘Silence, frenzied, unclean spirit’)

RESOURCES for MINDUL and POSITIVE RESPONSE

We consider mindful, spiritual and positive psychology approaches to issues with which we wrestle. These issues may be known in Biblical texts as ‘unclean spirits’ and also referred to in our culture as as inner demons or in Buddhist canon as hungry ghosts. We offer below some resources to reinforce the practice of calling on God, love, compassion, acceptance … maybe through simple exercises and spiritual practices, or with the belief in God, Christ, Spirit, angels, saints, and bodhisattvas as well as self and other people in community.

OptionB.org, Lee Daniel Kravetz: Guide to Grounded Hope
Lama Tsultrim Allione, How to Feed your Demons
Thich Nhat Hahn, 5 Practices for Nurturing Happiness and Dharma Talk on ‘Transforming Negative Habit Energies’
Plum Village (Thich Nhat Hahn’s community), Being Mindful in Daily Life
Center for Action and Contemplation, Fr Richard Rohr, Daily Meditations (must sign up for these)
Steve Goodheart, Skillful Ways to Deal with your Demons
Good Therapy, Core Mindfulness: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Positive Psychology Program: 1 2 Positive Psychology Interventions and 3 Ways to Find the One You Need11
Positive Psychology Program: 22 Mindfulness Exercises, Techniques and Activities
Psychology Today, Inner selves: Calming the Demons
Psychology Today: What Is Positive Psychology and What Is It Not?
Ignatian Spirituality, The Daily Examen

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