Contemplative Spirituality
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Domestic Monastery Part 2: Tailoring the Framework to What Your Life Already Is
It seems I have a choice. Either I can be frustrated that parenting inhibits my desire to do other things that I consider “more spiritual,” or I can accept the current limitations of my life and trust that those very… Continue reading
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Domestic Monastery Part 1: The Framework of Ora Et Labora
The real question is, what is the framework or principles behind the monastic life? What purpose does it serve? And are those principles transferable to another way of life? Continue reading
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Abundance ≠ Comfort
There is a tendency to equate abundance with comfort. When I search for abundance in my life, I often search for moments of gratitude and joy, moments that feel good, moments when I can notice the Divine showing up. But… Continue reading
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Roots
Yet despite my desire to sink in and let go, I cannot. It is like the bright yellow roots I am hacking. I am stuck in this world of resistance even when the thorny branches are gone. I chip away… Continue reading
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I’m a messy, struggling human being who wants to be more enlightened than she actually is
Today I’m exhausted from feeling at war within myself. My husband woke up sick and spent most of the day in bed, which has left me juggling three children alone. My cognitive brain obviously knows none of this is my… Continue reading
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Thin Places: Death and Life Intermingled
Birth is a type of death and death is a type of birth. We tend to think of a life on a linear timeline, birth at one end and death as far from it as possible on the other. But… Continue reading
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Crabapples
Preparing these crabapples for edibility is not the most efficient or classically productive use of my time, yet there is also something about it that feels satisfying. Embodied. It forces me to slow down, inviting me to be fully present… Continue reading
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The Intimate Expression of One’s Own Being
We are inextricably linked and interconnected with everyone around us. Most of us live oblivious to it, our ego teaching us to think in an individualized way. But if we are all made in the image of the Divine, if… Continue reading
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The Streams of My Mother’s Love
Considering God as Father is not wrong or incorrect. But it’s only one view. And there are so many others. I’m not going to argue that God should be translated as “she” with a capital “S” either, as if flipping… Continue reading
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The Kingdom of Heaven: It’s Not What You Think
“The Kingdom of Heaven is really a metaphor for a state of consciousness; it is not a place you go to, but a place you come from. It is a whole new way of looking at the world, a transformed… Continue reading
Danielle Klafter 