Thanks for this most important post! This is a thing spoken of by the great mystics - it is one of our callings, contemplation. I can't find the source but one said something like, "Think of your thoughts as bees, bring them all back into the hive and they will make honey" (wisdom). As to how - this is one of the hardest things. Some ideas: make a place somewhere in your house where you always go to (the place itself begins to help with recollectedness), sit comfortably, not too comfortably (for me, cross-legged on a cushion with a wall behind), leave all technology far away, helpful to use an icon and candle, read some Scripture to focus, then a prayer like the Jesus prayer, to stay focussed on Him, repeated for a while, and then silence. If you fall asleep, that's OK, when you awake just return to Jesus, if you get distracted, that's OK, just return to Jesus. Have an alarm so you don't have to worry about the time. Have a piece of paper and pen to write down something you forgot you have to do or an insight so you can leave that to later.
Thanks for this most important post! This is a thing spoken of by the great mystics - it is one of our callings, contemplation. I can't find the source but one said something like, "Think of your thoughts as bees, bring them all back into the hive and they will make honey" (wisdom). As to how - this is one of the hardest things. Some ideas: make a place somewhere in your house where you always go to (the place itself begins to help with recollectedness), sit comfortably, not too comfortably (for me, cross-legged on a cushion with a wall behind), leave all technology far away, helpful to use an icon and candle, read some Scripture to focus, then a prayer like the Jesus prayer, to stay focussed on Him, repeated for a while, and then silence. If you fall asleep, that's OK, when you awake just return to Jesus, if you get distracted, that's OK, just return to Jesus. Have an alarm so you don't have to worry about the time. Have a piece of paper and pen to write down something you forgot you have to do or an insight so you can leave that to later.
Thank you, David. I was hoping you would share from your experience. The visual image of the bees, and all of these ideas are most helpful