I know a woman who doesn’t choose to believe in god, but she believes in the power of prayer, so she calls herself a praiest (not an atheist or a diest..).  I’ve got to agree with her.  I don’t believe it makes any difference to what we think we pray “to.”  I believe it is the vibrations of the words that aligns this dear obtuse body and jumpy child-like mind into harmony with the timeless heart and soul.

Even the chanting of “ooooohhhhhhmmmm” can bring my body back to a comforting “hhhhhoooommmmmmeeee.”  My constant declarations “I’m safe. I’m safe. I’m safe.” or “I love you. I love you. I love you,” (spoken to me and to nature, a tree, a god, the cosmos) both help to calm my anxiety and fears.

I heard a prayer from a huge hollowed out cedar tree yesterday–that despite it’s wide empty trunk that I could stand inside, there was thriving growth at the top.  The words I heard were “Be empty and grow.”

Be empty and grow.  Not unlike another chant I’ve heard: Be still and know.  Today I choose to practice being–merely being–empty and still, opening my heart to knowing my growth.