Mindfulness

Finding Our Way to Peace

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 3 Comments

We are conditioned in this world to look outside of ourselves for the things we need. In some cases, this is rightly so – food, clothing, and shelter for example. But for the things we need most – contentment, joy, love, and peace – we can only find these within.

Finding our way to peace is solely an inside job. Whereas we may be freer to access the peace that resides within us through a change in the external circumstances of our lives, it is only from within that we can find and deepen that peace. It is also in cultivating our own inner peace that we are able to access the inner resources we need to discern our readiness and make external change when called for.

While peace may only be found within, we continue to seek outside for that peace. We wait and hope for the world and the people around us to change so that we might know peace. We cast our gaze outward for evidence of the manifestation of our prayers for peace. We sit in expectation for the day in which our prayers for peace will be made real.

But the truth remains – those who do not know inner peace cannot be a part of manifesting peace on earth. Conflict and war exist because human beings are not at peace. If human beings knew peace within themselves, then there would no longer be hardship, hunger, poverty, homelessness, or war and the needs of every human being would be met – not just so they might survive, but so they might thrive.

Our own search for peace, however, does not depend on any other human knowing peace. Neither can any other human being infringe on our ability to dwell within (or at least return to) that deep well of inner peace. Our peace is independent of any one else’s peace or lack thereof. We are the sole creator of our own peace.

Creating that peace, however, doesn’t happen overnight. Neither is it a simple task. In order to know the peace that dwells within and to know it even more deeply, we must embark on a deep and arduous journey of inner work.

First, we must create the space in our lives through which we might glimpse this peace. For me, this is my daily spiritual practice. We must create the time and space for our practice and remain diligent and persistent in it.

Then we need Grace. I cannot say how it will happen for you, but for me, Grace arrived in the midst of my practice and showed me a glimpse into my Union with Source. In this experience, everything fell away except for the light of this Union. In this I experienced contentment beyond understanding. This moment of Grace was but a moment, but through that one encounter I have remained motivated to keep going.

The “going” is the arduous part of the journey. The journey becomes our practice and life itself shows us all the places within where we have forgotten Union with Source (what I call “Love”). All comes up for review. The review is ongoing and never-ending. Over and over and in increasingly subtle ways, we come up against all the places where we have forgotten that we are Love – forgetfulness brought forth through our conditioning, past wounds, traumas, etc. In becoming aware of these wounds, we are given an opportunity to heal them. In acknowledging the wounds and inviting their healing, we are again met with Grace, for we are not healing our own wounds, they are being healed for us. Our simple task is to say yes to the healing.

Healing the wounds may be simple, but showing up again and again for them to be healed is not. Our egos and our need to control (a function of the ego) get in the way. We often become impatient with the journey and wonder if it will ever end. It will not – but we must remain diligent, disciplined, and persistent in our task. Yes, we can quit, but as many have discovered, the Universe finds ways to drag us back to the task.

When we are called to know peace, we don’t really have a choice but to continue the search. We continue day in and day out, no matter our mood.  We become angry, frustrated, disheartened, and despairing, but we continue. We continue because our soul will not give us rest, for the rest we ultimately seek can only be found within and the world provides an infinite number of distractions – including the desire for peace in our world.

Human beings will never know peace until we find our own peace within – and that peace begins with me.

Now say this to yourself: “That Peace Begins with Me,” then find and be that peace.

The journey toward peace begins with a single step: starting and maintaining a spiritual practice.

In this course, you will learn what a spiritual practice is, dispel myths around meditation, and be instructed in a myriad of spiritual practices so that you might find the one or two that speak to you and begin your practice.

Learn more and enroll here.

Don’t Miss Our Archives

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Again, welcome to new subscribers. As a new arrival to this community, I wanted to give you the opportunity to get caught up on some topics that might be important to you! Click on the links below for topical articles and lessons.

Mary Magdalene

Modern Monasticism

Jesus in the Modern World

Scripture through an Informed Lens

Mindfulness

Self-Actualization

Raised Catholic

Thank you for allowing yourself to receive the nourishment and support through these “musings.” I appreciate your presence here and your contribution to the ongoing unfolding of human evolution!

With love,

Lauri

Moving Gently

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Often, when I reflect on what I want out of my life, the phrase moving gently surfaces. The idea of moving gently is so contrary to the way I have formerly moved and to the way in which we are often conditioned in this society that it has taken me time and much practice to realize this gentle movement in my life. Now, when I am able to sink into this gentle movement it feels natural, nourishing, and life-giving. In the times when life throws me back into situations where gentle is either not possible or difficult to attain, I feel violated and as if my life force is being sucked out of my being. This contrast encourages me to choose gentle movement wherever I am able and to free myself of those things that don’t allow for gentle.

Moving gently brings up images for me of the Bronte sisters and Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women – Victorian women (albeit privileged) who lived in a time when quiet reading, long walks in the moors, the needle arts, and writing were honored as time well-spent. Moving gently also brings up thoughts of medieval nuns like Hildegard of Bingen whose lives were defined by prayer, tending their gardens, providing counsel, caring for the sick, and completing the daily tasks of running a monastery.

These images provide but a glimpse of all the aforementioned lives required, but it is the energy-sense of these images, much more than the literal truth of them that provides food for thought and seeds for discernment.

Moving gently is about having a felt-sense of gentle and choosing this wherever possible in ones life. It is about measuring each experience and encounter and comparing it to what gentle feels like. Then it is about choosing what measures up and discarding the rest. As it turns out, choosing to move gently has application in all areas of my life. Here are some real-life examples:

Exercise: I used to be a gym rat, spending hours a week forcing my body into a size six form through vigorous exercise and weight lifting. Now, I relish in the gentle movements of yoga and Chi Qong. I’m no longer a size six (thank you menopause), but I feel good in my body.

The Drive to Succeed: I spent the vast majority of my life driving, striving, and forcing myself into the western world’s definition of success. I drove myself to be number one in my class. I sought positions that dangled the money carrot. I followed all the rules of SEO marketing and professional networking to try to be a success in my own business. Now, I do none of these. Instead, I listen deeply to my soul and when I feel called to work, I do.  When things come to me that feel life-giving, I receive them. I create what I want to create and leave the rest to God. Somehow it always works out – often by the skin of my teeth, but it works out.

Popularity and People-Pleasing: (puke emoji). I used to believe it was my job to make other people happy. Formerly, I worked hard at being friendly, outgoing, welcoming, and approachable. I wanted people to like me, and I would change and adapt in the hopes of getting other people’s approval. No more. Now, I am me. If people don’t like me, that’s more a reflection of them than it is of me. Instead of wanting to be popular, I now prefer to be unknown and unseen. In my mind, I like to think of my invisibility as the Diana Prince to the Wonder Woman hidden underneath. I no longer need to wave the banner of my magic to get people’s attention. If my gifts are meant for them, they will find me.

The Use of My Time: Formerly, my time was put toward efforts that I hoped would produce popularity, money, fame, even power. Now, my time is spent gently. If I have nothing “to do,” I spend my time in prayer and contemplation. I seek out opportunities for learning. I read and study. I read for enjoyment. I move my body gently. I feed my body simply. I enjoy quietude. I listen to music. I spend time with friends. I work with clients when the opportunities present themselves. I moderate student discussion in my online classes. I facilitate a weekly meditation circle. I tend to the responsibilities of my “chop wood and carry water” job. I pay my bills. I carry my love out into the world. I no longer engage in debate. I have freed myself from trying to convince anyone of anything. I have released resentment. I have let go of my need to fix, change, or save the world and the people within it.

I’m not saying it’s perfect. But identifying my soul’s need to move gently and going about the process of making this choice, I feel more peaceful and content than I have ever felt in my life. Oh yes, I sometimes stray from this and my battle armor is always close at hand, but at least I know what my soul prefers and that the freedom to choose gentle is almost always there.

How Are We to Pray?

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Once upon a time there was a kind and gentle Middle Eastern man who came to know the breadth and depth of love and the peace that reigned there. He then sought to help his friends know love and peace in the same way. His method was simple:

“Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret … When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (MT 6: 6-8)”

His philosophy was true:

“The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is within and among you. (LK 17: 20-21)”

Prayer, as he understood it, was simply a path to inner peace through which one might remember their original nature as One within themselves, with each other, with God and with all of creation. Prayer, in this way, was sufficient unto itself and all that one needed to access the kingdom so many others had said had to be earned through the fulfillment of the law. This kingdom is already within us and part of our original nature. This man simply sought to help us remember.

This remembering, however, threatened the institutions that ruled over his lands – both the religious and political. Those who gained power through threats and intimidation and who favored a God whose love had to be earned and which could be taken away. These institutions had set themselves up as the intermediaries between human beings and God/Love, growing wealthy over the sacrifices they required of the people so they might earn their way into the kingdom of Love. The idea that the kingdom was already within people, meant no intermediary was necessary, no sacrifice expected and there was no infringement of the law that could separate the people from God’s Love. The institutions killed the man for teaching the way of Love.

The Love could not be destroyed, but where one institution was destroyed, another rose up in its place.  Soon the world was filled with outside perceived authorities who claimed to know the way of this gentle Middle Eastern man.  These institutions set forth doctrine and dogma, rooted not in Love, but in Fear. Then they created rituals, rules, and formulas for what they called prayer – all required to earn God’s Love and to find their way into God’s kingdom. Further, they set prayer as a bargaining tool, suggesting that if one prayed hard enough, and in the required way, using the proper formulas set forth by the institution, then God might be convinced to interceded on their behalf – bringing them riches, fame, wealth, power, and might even be convinced to interfere with the freewill or fate of another. If they prayed in the right way, God might heal them of sickness, raise them from the dead, or rescue them from the brink that they had chosen for themselves.

You see, it served these institutions to paint God in this light. Defying their own scripture which clearly proclaims:

 “I desire mercy, not sacrifice. (MT 9:13, Hos 6:6)”

these institutions created their own god, one who was made in man’s image: fickle, jealous, wrathful, vengeful, punitive, judgmental, one whose love had to be earned and whose love could be taken away. In their desire for power and wealth, they forgot what the kind and gentle man taught of the unconditional Love that is God. They forgot the words of the teacher who taught people how to remember the peace of that Love and that there was nothing they need do to earn that Love, that it could never be taken away and that there was never anything to ask of that Love for Love is the very nature of who we are, and when we become anxious and afraid, we need only turn within, close the door, and remember that Love in prayer.  

Breathe

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Breathe deep and exhale.

Breathe as you’ve never breathed before.

Breathe into your soul’s longing

and

let

it

go.

Breathe into your worries and

set

them

free.

Breathe into your shattered and broken heart

that

it

may

find

comfort.

Breathe into your mind that

it

may

find

ease.

Breathe into this moment and receive it –

with open arms free of judgment

and the temptation to define.

Breathe all the way to the

soles

of

your

feet

That roots might sprout deeply into the earth

anchoring you in quietude and peace.

copyright Lauri Ann Lumby

A Day in the Life

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Yesterday, while working with a client, the topic of monastic living came up. One question that emerged in the conversation was “What does living monastically look like?”  It’s a practical question – and the answer is “it depends.” I can only speak for myself, but in conversations with other friends who have embraced a similar calling/lifestyle, I imagine the answers are somewhat similar. But first, we have to define the question.

The question “what does monastic living look like,” is really a question that means “what do you do all day?”  As we live in an action-oriented world where our perceived value is defined by what we do, this is the most frequent inquiry about monastic living. Again, the answer is “it depends.” On some days there is a lot of doing. On other days, there is little to no doing. Let me give you an example from this very week.

Monday of this week was a day defined by doing. My day looked somewhat like this:

6am wake up.

6-7 am meditation practice

7-8 am check emails, finish some work tasks.

8- 8:20am get ready for yoga class

8:20 leave for yoga.

8:45 – 9:45 yoga class

10 am – shower, etc.

11am lunch

1130 am – 7pm work. Strapped to my computer doing office manager tasks for the ballet studio I work for with a dinner break squeezed in.

7-9 pm – enjoyment.  Reading. Sitting in quiet. Watching TV.

9pm. Bed

Monday was a day of a lot of doing. Tuesday, in contrast, what an entire day of NOTHING. I did my normal morning routine (minus the yoga). I put in a couple hours of admin work. I had brunch with my son. I took a nap. I read a little.  I sat in silence. I may have watched a bit of TV.  But, essentially nothing. After all the energy output on Monday, I didn’t have anything to put into Tuesday, so I didn’t.

Then Wednesday came and it was a busy day with clients, admin work, and then more nothing.

In my experience, monastic living is less about what we do and how we be. For me, the center of it all is my daily practice, and the rest unfolds from there. On some days I have things planned/scheduled, but beyond that, I take each day as it shows up with the energy that I have available to me in that moment. As a recovering compulsive planner and over-doer, my life is now more about allowing what needs to present itself to present, and then stepping into what is asked of me. When nothing is presenting, I remain with the no-thing, not pushing or forcing some sort of doing (aka productivity) out of the no-thing. Much of monastic living is about learning to live in this now moment and allowing ease. The rest seems to take care of itself.

Corporate Client Testimonials

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

I have been profoundly honored to be invited to present for a wide variety of corporate gatherings. This coming week, I have two such events. On Thursday I will be presenting on Mary Magdalene for the Healer’s Playgroup out of the Twin Cities, MN, and on Saturday, I’m presenting: Supporting Resilience in Teens: Mental Health and Wellness for Dancers for the Wisconsin Dance Council annual conference. I’m grateful for these and other organizations who understand the value of personal development and are committed to bringing these resources to their employees, members, and clients.

It was so exciting to have Lauri, with 30 years of expertise in the field of human development, visit our craft-centered writing group, Much Ado About Writing. Her in-depth knowledge of enneagram types was the perfect complement to our discussions of characterization, and her presentation summarizing each of the types – their main traits, fears, and compulsions – had us all seeing the characters in our works-in-progress (and ourselves) in a new light. If you are looking to inject fresh energy and perspective into your writing group’s discussions of craft while deepening your understanding of human temperaments and interpersonal relationships, invite Lauri to come chat with your group about her work!

  • Kate Penndorf and Valerie Heller, Much Ado About Writing

Lauri Lumby partnered with my company Nutritional Healing to offer her Authentic Freedom education to clients of all backgrounds and needs. We offered a half-day workshop focused on ‘the mindful body’ for self-development that helped our clients learn how to bring awareness and joy back to eating. Lauri helped attendees focus on saying goodbye to things such as emotional eating, self-medicating, limiting beliefs, low self-esteem, and other bad habits. My clients also learned how mindless munching and emotional eating doesn’t serve us, and what steps we can take to become aware of what our body truly needs and become more body-aware with each bite we take.

Additionally, Lauri helped my clients beat stress and prevent any moments of emotional eating during one of the toughest times of year – the holidays. Lauri taught attendees how to acknowledge and recognize any triggers as they show up during the holidays, and how/why we often turn to food and alcohol to numb these feelings. From there, my clients were taught basic practices for dealing with these triggers.

I would recommend the work of Lauri Lumby on an individual basis as well as in a corporate setting to make an impact in helping individuals do the deep work we all need for true healing!

  • Kimberly Stoeger, Nutritional Healing

Ms. Lumby has been a returning implementer for Currie Management Consultants. Inc.  We’ve been in business over four decades as consultants to industrial equipment manufacturers, dealers and distributors.  We have included Enneagram work as part of our ongoing Leadership and Executive Development work.  The Enneagram, and Lauri’s work, have become essential parts of our programs.  Lauri engages our clients extremely well, delivers with precision, and her impeccable work ethic is highly professional.  She is a respected colleague of ours and our hope is that this relationship grows and continues into the future.  Experts like Lauri are necessary for developing strong corporate culture, and for building teams of effective leaders and executives that work with purpose and intention.

  • Robin P. Currie, Currie Management Consultants, Inc.

Lauri Ann Lumby designs workshops and tools to meet the individual needs of businesses and their employees.

Topics of interest include:

  • Team building with the Enneagram.
  • Stress-relief and self-care through Mindfulness.
  • Change-management and the role of grief.
  • Managing conflict in the workplace.
Learn more HERE