Note: allow five minutes for this meditation, which requires the leader to allow time for pauses (it can be tricky to not make these too long or too short, but just right!).
The worship leader is welcome to share this contextual statement:
This meditation is adapted from the Examen, a prayer practice attributed to St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits. This five-hundred-year-old practice has been adapted for UUs as an invitation to be more mindful of how we find, create, and center the presence of Love and connection in our daily lives.
Our meditation begins by getting comfortable in your body and breath: whatever you need to go inward with your body at peace. If you have a regular practice of connecting to the Source, Spirit, or the Sacred, do that now: begin by silently acknowledging that you’d like that Presence to accompany you through this meditation.
[pause]
Take a moment to travel back, in your mind, through the days or the week behind us. Like scenes from a movie (but in any order), replay where you went, what you did, and the people you encountered.
In which moments, in the review of days behind you, did you feel connected or included?
[pause]
When did you feel most alive? When were you connected to your capacity to love?
[pause]
When did you feel most generous or compassionate?
Were there moments when you were filled with gratitude, joy, or love?
[pause]
Let those memories sit in your opening, grateful heart.
[pause]
As you keep replaying the past week, the questions in this practice will shift direction now.
In the days behind you, were there moments when you felt isolated or even rejected?
Do you remember situations or interactions when you shut down, or couldn’t risk connection or vulnerability?
Give yourself compassion—because guilt and shame are far less helpful than compassion—as you recall: in the past days, did you bring more judgement than compassion to an interaction with someone?
Did you do anything you wish you hadn’t done? Or say something you wish you hadn’t said?
[pause]
Don’t try to fix any of these moments; just notice what got in the way of making space within yourself for connection, or love, or the wisest voices within you. Try to keep your heart open as you observe:
What did you need that wasn’t within grasp? Were you able to keep loving yourself through that tension?
[pause]
Place your hand on your heart, if you need to, to remember the power of an open heart as we hold both sets of observations: the moments of connection and love, and those of shutting down or hardening.
We’re making room to hold all of this not to beat ourselves up, but rather to learn. What opens you and orients you towards Love? How and when do you turn away from it?
[pause]
How does your heart respond when its needs aren't met? What reminds you of your capacity to choose Love?
[pause]
Return now to this moment.
As you enter a new week—the days ahead, like blank pages awaiting you and the stories you’ll write—may you use the wisdom from this practice to orient yourself towards connection; towards Love; and towards the forces that invite you to live more freely.