As I write this, A from Artisan Pianos is tinkering on my beautiful, old piano that I bought for a dollar and a bottle of wine. She’s over 70 years old, and her type won the World’s Fair in France. It feels wonderful to hear her strings get plucked and tightened. It sounds… beautiful. Beautiful and divine.
And that’s what I want to share with you today, connecting with the Divine. I felt like I needed more of that in my life, and so it gave me something to write about and to share. If you feel like you want some insight and tips into deepening your spiritual connection to God, the Divine, deepest Love, whatever that is for you, here are some small yet profound things you can do.
Make an Altar… for yourself or for someone else
Altar building is a way of moving energy physically and intentionally, first with your hands, then with your heart. It’s like writing an energetic letter to the universe. Altars are beautiful, they help create a visceral experience of prayer, and they create a sacred space within your home. They’re wonderful. Use items that have meaning for you and that represent important feelings. And then sit with your altar and feel the feelings that you want. I would ground the altar and use it like a window through which I can pray to a higher being. Now for the really powerful part… if you have permission, create an altar for another person. And then use that altar as a tool to commune with the divine for them. Spend a moment each day if possible, throughout a week, to focus on what they want and need. Ask them to be protected, feel them being happy and healthy, and really sit with it. This is a deeply moving and powerful technique for feeling connected to the Divine. I’m not sure why an altar for someone else feels so much more powerful, but Lynne McTaggert’s book The Power of 8 talks about the strange, powerful energetic shifts that happen to you when you pray for someone else.
Energetically Clean Your Room and House
Like making an altar, you can shift the energy of a space by cleaning and changing it. Then, after physically cleaning and altering it for the better, ground your room by visualizing a cord from the bottom of the room to the center of the Earth. You can also do this for the entire house. Then imagine it being filled with nourishing, golden light that splashes onto the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and fills the entire space. You can do more–you can connect your space via a visualized golden cord to your definition of the Divine and ask for your room to be filled with love and blessings, and positive and loving spiritual beings who are in alignment with the Divine (angels, for example). This feels incredibly good.
Connect to the Divine Regularly with Prayer
Prayer, or simply talking to your higher being, is an act of connecting. You don’t have to say anything specific, just open the door to say what’s on your heart. If you can’t think of anything to say, then simply a thank you for anything that’s going right in your life is wonderful. When to open a conversation? Before sleep, when you sit at your altar, during meditation, or even in your car. Wherever it works best for you.
This is an odd twist but… delve into being truly you with your creative work
You are part of the Divine, and you are meant to be creative in your own, unique way. Try to do the small acts of creative work that make your soul shine. If it’s cooking pastries, then do that. For me, it’s painting, drawing, and psychic work. When you do your creative work, you get lost in a creative place where time and space dim, and you share, with the Divine, in the act of bringing something from non-existence into existence. It’s powerful, and it’s something that we so seldom let ourselves do. So many great thinkers and creators say that they don’t know where their ideas come from, or they credit the delivery of inspiration from a spiritual realm. When you engage in creative work, you get on that phone call to the other side, communing, engaging, creating, and being more fully you, as you are spiritually meant to. It’s powerful.
Intersperse your life with more beauty and joy.
Beauty and joy are the opposite of fear and sadness. Amusement is a powerful spiritual tool, and you can intentionally bring more of it into your life, shifting your mindset, your energetic state, and your life. For me, I do this by listening to Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, and playing gorgeous music. And I look at inspiring and beautiful social media and go for walks in nature, to be fully surrounded by forests. For you, how can you deliberately infuse your life with more joy and beauty, easily and effortlessly? Go ahead, my friend. Now is the time, every time. Blow on your butterfly wings and see what happens.
I try to teach this concept to my son, in a slightly different way, and I’ve been thinking about it over the past few days, as well. Even in the hardest times of our lives, there are points where we can choose to enjoy a part of the experience of living. You can turn on music, wrap yourself in a blanket, talk to someone on the phone. When I was in some incredible emotional turmoil many years ago, a friend came over and made me food for the week, carefully packaging and freezing it, to make sure I would eat. I will always remember that kindness. Even in the hard times, there are glimmers of beauty to feel. And then, there is a sense of God and the sublime in feeling good and immersing yourself in beauty and joy. I’m thinking about this now as I think, as I often do, about my life and the point of it, and living it. What if I chose to live in more deliberate joy? Which is why I’m outside now, in a swing seat, finishing this little letter.
Last tip: Borrow Where Needed and Enjoy
Are there religious theologies and traditions that you can borrow from and make your own? Catholics have prayer beads and saints, and pagans have crystals and spiritual beings. What other practices, from folks who have, in their way, figured it out, that you can adapt and adopt? I miss the Catholic ephemera, and I might be bringing it back in some way in my life. For you, it might be incense, carrying around a talisman, creating a ritual. Just thinking about it might open a door and a revelation for you, so try it if you want, and see what happens.
I am sending you love, hugs, and joy from afar. I hope you all have a beautiful Spring, that you are healthy or healthier than before and I wish you love and ease.
Big hugs,
Paige