Episode 284: Prayer & Meditation for the Actor

So today I actually, I've been just so intensely busy with so many different things and I was in New York City today and one of the things I used to do when I was in New York more than I am now is I would go into churches and I just happened to pass by an old church that I usually would go into and I just walked in. And it was quiet, quiet.  And I have been noticing this past, I don't know, week, that my mind has been racing a lot.  Just tons and tons of talk and nothing negative. Just very busy.  And it's disrupted my sleep and it's been so unpleasant.  And then I went into that church and I noticed that in this church when I closed the doors and I sat in one of the pews and I've done this, you know, with other spiritual places of worship.  So I sat in the pew and I just closed my eyes. and it was so wonderful. Because it was so quiet and almost instantaneously it was like my soul was soothed.  My soul was soothed with silence.  And so today, I wanted to do a podcast about prayer and meditation. Now I need to stress that I am not a religious person. My relationship is with the universe. And sometimes I do call the universe God, but for me, it is really a spiritual entity.  I think of it as my higher self. Because I so strongly believe that the universe is a part of me and I am a part of the universe.  So as usual, as per the usual, I am going to be doing a reading out of The Language of Letting Go. I'm gonna alter it slightly for our purposes.  So the first thing that she says is she gives a quote by Emmett Fox The Sermon on the Mount. And it says, “as a matter of fact, prayer is the only real action in the full sense of the word, because prayer is the only thing that changes one's character. A change in character or a change in soul is a real change.” And although I felt that today while I was sitting in silence, because I felt a change in me. And it's a change that I've kept with me for the rest of the day.  And I said to myself, well, why don't you do this more often? But I don't even have to go into a church to do it. I just need to be quiet, which is something that I do. Not for as long as I was in that church. I probably was only there, I don't know, ten minutes. But again, it was very soothing to my soul.  Melody Beattie goes on to say, “Erika Young has said that we are spiritual beings who are human. Prayer or praying and meditating are ways that we can take care of our spirit. Prayer and meditation are disciples suggested by the 11th step of 12 step recovery programs.” And a prayer that I love, that I believe I, I shared with you recently, is I pray for the knowledge of your will for me and the power to carry that out.  I pray for the knowledge of your will for me and the power to carry that out.  And I can say that for my acting career, I can say it for anything, but you can also say it for your acting career, because sometimes we feel so lost and I want that word, I've told you before, it's my favorite word, wisdom to guide us. Prayer and meditation are not necessarily connected to organized religion, prayer and meditation are ways to improve our personal relationship with higher power or the universe to benefit ourselves, our life, our growth.  And again, the, the, the phrases that come up for me are take care of yourself first and the rest will follow.  Take care of yourself first and the rest will follow.  And that means mentally, physically and spiritually. Praying is how we connect with our higher power, our universe.  We don't pray because we have to. We pray because we want to.  It is how we link our soul to our source.  I remember when I was a very young girl, I wrote down on a piece of paper: go back to the source. And at the time, I did not know what that meant. But yet I felt it. I understood it. And it's one of those pieces of paper in your life that you cherish. Because at some young age, I knew there was something bigger than me.  There was something out there that was bigger than me. I don't think I understood that I was a part of it and it was a part of me. But I understood that it existed.  “We're learning to take care of our emotions, our mind, and our physical needs” Again, take care of ourselves first and the rest will follow.  “We're learning to change our behaviors, but we're also learning to take care of our spirit. We're learning to take care of our soul because that is truly where all change begins. Each time we talk to the universe, we are transformed. Each time we connect with our higher power, we are heard, touched, and changed for the best.” It's funny, I can't prove to you that I was changed for the best by just walking into that church today and sitting for ten minutes in silence. But yet, somehow, somehow I was.