A few years ago a vagabond healer with flaming red hair wearing a cloak and carrying a staff with a crystal ball on the end came floating through our community. She taught us many things but the two practices that she shared really stuck with me and I find very powerful.
God reminds us everyday with our very own sunset.
The first practice is that every evening during sunset she sings Amazing Grace. We sang as a group together and it was quite moving. This is one of those things that I'm always intending to incorporate into our family routine but getting the kids to sit at the table for dinner has been our main focus thus far so Amazing Grace has fallen way off to the wayside. Writing about it has reminded me of it's importance and in this moment I am re-commiting to myself to sing it every evening at sunset. I will invite my family to join in and set an example instead of enforcing it. I will observe what happens. Here are the lyrics so that you can get started right away. I just bought a version on itunes by The Celtic Woman to listen to as we sing.
http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh378.sht
The other really powerful practice that this woman introduced to me is the Hawaiian prayer called Ho' Oponopono. When I first learned it, I taught it to my family and we would say it over and over on our daily walk. Our son Oliver was about four at the time and Ozzie was 2. Oliver liked it and it seemed to calm him. Ozzie was always happy to participate and he loved listening. Over time I had let that go to the wayside too. Until a few weeks ago Oliver was really upset at his dad about something and kept saying he hated him. My husband was really upset that he kept saying it and I came into the room and asked very gently what was going on. They were both very upset with each other. So I suggested we say a prayer and Oliver was resistent to move past this. I promised it would be short and sweet and we would all say it together. So we said,
"Dear Father,
I'm sorry,
Please forgive me,
I love you and
I thank you."
This prayer immediately calmed the situation and especially my son. He was happy and willing to say it over and over. As a family we said it over and over until we all felt better, we hugged and we were ready for sleep.
Since then, we've started a very short daily qi gong routine and we end with the Ho'Oponopono and a hug. Our kids love to say it and so do I. It's incredibly relieving.
The prayer is about forgiveness, taking responsibility, being grateful and surrendering to the creator.
The following are two great links that give a full explanation of this prayer. You can read about it first or you can choose to practice it and see what manifests in your lives because of it.
http://www.thereisaway.org/Ho%27oponopono_cleaning_meditation.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho%CA%BBoponopono
Peace on your journeys,
Victoria
This short video here is our "blooper".