Daily Nourishment for September 14, 2024: Running on Empty with Guidance from Emily Hartford
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 50 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15 minutes
Pause.
Raise your shoulders up toward your ears and squeeze. Take them backward. And then drop them. Match these movements with your breath - Raise your shoulders (inhale), Back (hold breath), Drop (exhale). Repeat this pattern for six breaths, each one slower than the last.
Prompt.
Read this poem - “Running on Empty” from Let the Spirit Breathe by Danny A. Belrose:
My mind is empty this morning
as I contemplate this psalm.
How odd to be concerned
about an empty mind.
Emptiness is a major achievement
in this day and age when a mind must be
full to the brim, crowded with yesterdays,
todays and tomorrows.
Always on the run, Lord.
Running desperately to catch up or keep up,
Scrambling a step ahead of the competition.
Running through moments of leisure,
propped up in front of the TV,
peering at the internet, pouring through a
novel, thumbing magazines.
Always on the run - running on empty.
Desperately filling space.
Anything to occupy a mind.
One must not sit idle.
Perish the thought a mind should be empty.
Perish the thought?
Good God, it’s only when we do perish our thoughts
we find a moment’s peace;
a quiet time, an empty time,
a time to just “be.”
Help me, God, to not fear emptiness.
Help me to stop running -
to stop filing every moment and
allow moments to fill me!
Help me find you in the quiet.
Help me celebrate the past, live the present,
and anticipate the future as friend.
Mute the voices vying in my head.
Take me to a safer place
where quiet can be fed.
Grant me pause.
Stop my feverish searching.
Allow me to be found by you.
Practice.
Read the poem again, this time paying attention to what stands out to you. Where is your attention drawn?
As you take six more deep breaths, mull this portion of the poem over in your mind and heart. Write for five minutes on what this poem is inviting you toward today.
Want More?
Re-read and return to a few of Emily’s Daily Nourishment offerings:
Taking Care with Guidance from Emily Hartford
We Walk Sightless Among Miracles with Guidance from Emily Hartford
Take an Imaginary Voyage with Guidance from Emily Hartford
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—The September Co-Writing calendar is live.
—Spiritual Direction for Writers® + Enneagram for Creativity Gathering will take place on Friday, September 27th and Saturday, September 28th. You can register here. All registered participants will have access to recordings.
—The Great Belonging Project is live here and The Great Belonging Project October Refresh will take place Oct 1-Oct 31. The Great Belonging Project October Refresh is open for registration with Early Bird pricing of $10.
This week’s throwback Daily Nourishment Pauses, Prompts, and Practices were originally provided by Emily Hartford before we began sharing Daily Nourishment on the website.
A full-time mum living in Kansas, Emily Hartford is also a Babywearing and Birth Educator, photographer, and swing dancer. Growing up in rural Illinois, Emily began creating when she was in junior high school, sharing joyful space with women from her community in their crafting, knitting and quilting groups. These formative skills and relationships inspire Emily’s creations today.
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