January Reflections – Coming Home

Wrapped in the arms of silence
Opening into my spacious heart
Allowing my soul to be
I come home.

Atum O’Kane

These four simple lines offer a comforting practice that furthers your spiritual development. Solemnly repeat each line several times during your quiet time and allow the meaning to sink into your heart.  You can also say this mantra during your day when you work, clean, shower, or other times when you mind isn’t engaged. After a while, this practice issues in a deeper peace and security than you’ve ever experienced before. You can completely let go and merge with a greater reality that surrounds you. Let’s explore the meaning of each line as a way to get the most from this practice.

Wrapped in the Arms of Silence

Take a moment to imagine yourself wrapped in someone’s arms. What do you feel? Is it comfort, relaxation, safety, reassurance, solace, or all of the above? Would you agree that it’s one of the best human experiences possible? This delicious feeling began early in life when you were held and nurtured as an infant. Later, you experienced this same feeling with more consciousness when sinking into the arms of a loved one.

These experiences prepared you for something more—a deeper sense of security and solace without dependence on any single person. Imagine yourself wrapped in the arms of silence. It helps if you are able to actually sit in silence and let it soak into your being. How does this feel? As you work with this practice, concentrate on what surrounds and holds you. Is it an indescribable presence, universal love or sense of vastness? Such a realization may take time but keep imagining yourself wrapped in the arms of the silent All.

Opening into my Spacious Heart

Opening is powerful word. In this context it denotes a doorway into your expanded heart. Your heart widens when you view a beautiful scene in nature, look fondly on a loved one, or learn of a heroic deed. When you repeat “opening, opening,” your heart expands even more, leading you to greater awareness of who you really are.

“If the heart is large enough, there’s nothing it cannot accommodate,” HIK claims. This means the spacious heart can hold both the joyful and sorrowful happenings in your life and the world. That’s a tall order but one worth pursuing. Start small by imagining your present challenges on one side of the heart and your joys on the other and see what happens. Be careful your ego doesn’t jump in and try to change things. Simply allow both sides to be. Then widen your heart further to include the vicissitudes of your family and friends, followed by the country and world. This practice brings you to a higher consciousness, often called the witness. At this level, you feel a profound compassion for your struggles and everyone else on this earth plane.  Would there be any conflicts if everyone’s heart expanded to this extent?

When working with those with a Buddhist or non-dual orientation, I change the words in the second line to “Opening into spaciousness.” Here the concentration is on space, often imagined as blue sky. Space by definition accommodates everything. It does not judge but accepts all. Eventually you realize you are this space, this All.

Allowing My Soul to Be

This third line allows the seeker in you to rest. You don’t have to strive for recognition, illumination, or any other desired goal. You can accept where you are at this moment in time. Meditation and quiet time help your soul to be. In letting go of physical and mental activity, your deeper self can surface. If the sun doesn’t go down, the stars don’t appear. If your life is too busy, you’ll have difficulty accessing the deeper you.  Peace and compassion flood your being when you allow your soul to be.

I like to substitute “all” for “your soul.” Allowing all to be helps me better accept happenings in my own life and world events. This doesn’t mean I stick my head in the sand, but it puts me in a more peaceful place from which to determine what action or non-action I need to take.

I Come Home

Coming home as depicted in this line goes beyond your experiences of being held in the arms of a caretaker or lover, wonderful as they are. It’s wider and more solid. Come home to uninterrupted peace. Come home to infinite and unconditional love. Come home to fullness and joy, to your royal nature. Take a moment to let this sink it. What a relief.

This practice deepens when you add head movements to these words.

Wrapped in the arms of silence
(head circles around until it reaches its zenith)
Opening to my spacious heart
(head comes down towards the chest)
 Allowing my soul to be
(head lifts up to starting position)
 I come home
(head remains still)

You’re welcome to work with this practice and if you do, notice the effect it has on you. As you continue with the practice, its meaning starts to permeate your whole life. You’re able to live in the world with more love and equanimity because your heart is large enough to accept it all. Others feel safe in your presence and trust you more. Eventually, this coming home practice takes you to the place of your deepest longing, experienced as an indescribable presence, immense vastness, and unconditional love.

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