Its that time of the month again – the last Friday of the month when bloggers from around the world post good news to alleviate the darkness of the current situation and the pandemic.

I’ve been keeping an eye open for some good news but I don’t really have any. Everything is not right and well. Yes, many are doing sterling work helping those in need. NGO’s, businesses, NPO’s, individuals, feeding the hungry, keeping them warm, animals too. All efforts are simply amazing and heart warming. All this while the taxpayers’ rands (SA currency) and large donations (eg for PPE) are being diverted to enrich politicians and the politically connected (pandemic of corruption).

I thought long and hard about what to post for this #WATWB post. What is good and helpful? What is good for each of us individually and for the other? What do we desire in this world? What can each of us do that allows healing light to emerge from the darkness. Does the light come from above towards the dark, or does darkness reach towards the light. Maybe both …

Much has been researched about the power of prayer and meditation and its beneficial effects not only on the individual but on the surrounds as well. I remember many years ago when conflict in the Middle East was at an all time high and meditators got together en masse for a lengthy period of time. Conflict was significantly decreased. There is I think an annual day of meditation when meditators around the world come together.

I think of monks and nuns and all those who devote time in prayer. Individuals who offer their prayers to their God, or Force or something that they know is greater than they. I feel sure that the effects and affects of that help in some way to offset the darkness for us all.

I mostly use my old TM mantra which I learned many years ago. When I wake in the morning I sit up and meditate in bed. The time flies by. I don’t concentrate on anything, just awareness of my breath to begin –

There are times when I bring the world to mind and imagine a golden light, sometimes, silver surrounding it.

I find the om mani padme hum chant very peace inducing … it’s a three hour chant which I put on in the background when at my desk. Tibetan singing bells in the background .. and chanting .. Raising the vibrations may be a drop in the ocean – I’m happy to be that drop –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq3eIaKQvfE

The co-hosts for this month are below. Do pop by and say hello. Their stories are sure to lift your spirits.


Eric Lahti – https://ericlahti.wordpress.com

Susan Scott – http://www.gardenofedenblog.com/

Inderpreet Kaur Uppal – http://inderpreetuppal.com/

Shilpa Garg – https://shilpaagarg.com/

Peter Nena – https://drkillpatient01.wordpress.com/

If you’d like to be part of spreading good news Click here and add your name. Post to be short providing a link if it’s easier, 500 words or so, non-political, non religious …

Thank you for reading, have a lovely weekend, and may the Force be with you.

58 Comments on #WATWB meditation and prayer

  1. Nice post Susan, I believe in the power of prayer and there have been many situations, that helped me cope with difficult times and it is only because of prayer… I like the meditation video… you posted… I do meditate focusing on my breath… thanks for sharing.

  2. Everything that is happening in South Africa now is exactly as I expected and predicted in early March, Susan. It is not always nice to be right. I know a lot of professionals who are leaving, gov heavy handed and ill advised handling of this lockdown being the last straw. We always planned to leave at the end of 2021 when Greg finishes matric. It is difficult to move him now and he is flying academically. I have cut myself off from the misery and the poverty among people as there is nothing more I can do to help. At this point, I believe that SA must just follow the economic collapse model of all other African countries until it hits rock bottom. Sorry, this is very negative, but there is no point in hiding from the truth. The economic horror I am seeing daily in my job is hard to bear. If prayer and meditation help you, I say do it. I make cakes and try to stay cheerful.

    • Thanks for coming by Robbie. The covid-19 has no merit to its name except that it has shown all of us even more clearly how deep the rot is. Sometimes things have to hit rock bottom before there is change. Nevertheless I sense a turning tide … from us all, of all stripes and shades. IF the municipal elections are postponed I will bury my head in the sand and bake a cake. ‘Where there is cake, there is hope. And there is always cake’. Dean Koontz

  5. Very thought-provoking questions, Susan. I am also digging deeper to allow the good to surface. Over the years, I have been intrigued by the power of prayer and meditation. Whatever it is to the individual, yet the difference it can make. You brought back a memory of a solstice yoga/meditation class a few years. The om mani padme hum chant is very soothing. Thank you for bringing this into my awareness again.xx

    • Thanks Erica for coming by and sharing your experience of yoga/solstice/meditation – it sounds lovely. Yes, I’m also digging deeper, slowly … (don’t know about surely but trying).
      Funnily enough I came across something in my essay of summiting Mt. KIlimanjaro many years ago and saw these words I’d written on 2nd last page of that essay ‘And meanwhile, life goes on – every day an adventure in its way. In amongst the ordinary and the mundane, life goes on’.
      Be well, keep safe xx

  6. Carolyn Myss says that if the monks ever stopped chanting the world would probably spin off it’s access. I think that’s a fair assumption, Susan. xox

  7. It’s one of the best things we can do. Meditate. Keep a peaceful mind for the sake of the world. Pray for the world. Take care of our little corner of the world. Do small kind things locally when an opportunity comes along. My first teacher and my second teacher, the Dalai Lama, recommended Om Mani Padme Hum. That’s where my mind goes when I need more than following the breathe. Hang in there, Susan. May we all make it through this horror show. Sending love from here to there.

    • Thanks Elaine … I didn’t know that the Dalai Lama recommended the Om Mani Padme Hum, that’s good to know! I’ve got the chant going as I write. It’s so peaceful making. So necessary for the ‘horror show’ as you put it. I hope and pray that our rotten corrupt ANC govt gets shown the back door straight into jail. People of all stripes and shades are so fed up although we’ve been saying enough is enough for a long time already. But now just maybe their eyes will be opened. We also fear elections being postponed …

      thekiffness put up a parody earlier this pm.. you’d enjoy it. Pink Floyd ‘Another Brick in the Wall’. The people have spoken.

      Take care Elaine. Sending love to you from the other side of the wall.

  8. Yes, there is scant good news to be found today–not without serious searching. But then, in the past one might have heard that it’s not what sells papers. Today that aphorism is not doubt update to that’s not what draws clicks or eyeballs (to see the ads).

    I haven’t had the time to go looking myself–so it will be another day or so before my WATWB post comes along.

    Thanks for sharing your own effort to raise your spirits. That, after all, is likely the most effective than waiting for the elevator to magically stop at your floor to take you to a higher plane.

    • Thanks John for coming by, I’ll look out for yours when it comes.
      I like your last sentence … 🙂
      All best and keep safe and I hope to read your book in the not too distant future –

  9. Wonderful advice, Susan. There truly is power in prayer and meditation. While I pray, read a daily devotion, and write gratitudes every day, I have not been in regular with meditation, but feel greater peace when faithfully practicing yoga. Your chanting video reminds me of a yoga teacher who used to have a filled studio end practice with vibrating “ohms” and I always felt that was good for our soul and peace.

    • Thanks Mary. Writing gratitudes, praying and daily devotions is truly wonderful. I remember a long long time ago a friend of mine told me of writing precipitations as a practice and placing them in a drawer. In this instance precipitation is not rain or a chemical reaction but a form of prayer. I’m going to have to ask her again or find my little slips of paper that were directed at that time to a person in need of which need has again arisen this time for another family member.
      My late mother was a hatha yoga teacher and her relaxation at the end of class was always blissful.

  11. Hi Susan – Thank you for your comments on my #WATWB post. I couldn’t locate this post of yours initially. I went over to your other blog, and discovered the book that you had co-authored.
    Sadly news is now dominated by very depressing tidings. But surely there are slivers of sunshine amongst the clouds.
    Since I am in the field of media, I have no way of escaping the news. But I try my best to focus on the brighter side of our everyday lives.
    The power of prayer and meditation have now been widely acknowledged; and it’s gaining acceptance worldover. They are needed now more than ever.
    Take care, and stay safe.
    Pradeep

    • Thanks Pradeep for coming by, and sorry you had difficulty in locating my post. We live for the slivers of sunshine which we hope will become larger. And thank you for your affirmation in the power of prayer and meditation. Every ripple helps.
      You too take care and keep safe. All best wishes, Susan

  12. Hi Susan – it’s true there isn’t a lot of good news out there and tonight I’m feeling heavy with concerns, but your post about meditation has lifted me. I need to try it. Usually I exercise to feel better, but this would be a good thing to add. Hope you are doing well. 🙂

    • Thank you Barbara for coming by and sorry to hear about your heaviness re all that is happening. Exercise – shots of endorphins and serotonins always help. There are many meditations available on the internet. In the last several months I accessed two of Deepak Chopra’s 21 day meditations which were free at the time. Music is also a way of going deeper … All well here thank you and I hope the same with you.

          • Ah yes, I like Motzart. I have a collection on my phone, and I downloaded a CD called Smart Symphonies – I got it in a “new mom” bag at the hospital years ago when one of my kids was born. I always play it when I’m stressed. It’s such a relaxing collection of Brahms, Debussy, Bach, and others.

  13. What a thoughtful post, and thanks for the reminder that meditation helps spiritually in a way that focusing on the physical cannot, although, of course, our efforts to help others and to be kind, like black lives, always matters. And thanks for posting that lovely chant,

    • Thanks for coming by Lizbeth. Yes, meditation & prayers aid in the betterment of all as does actual action in being kind to all. One is silent the other active, now that I see that as I am writing. Have a great weekend 🙂

  14. I don’t have a TM mantra but I do have a centering prayer word that was given to me by a nun. I use it sporadically. You’ve reminded me that I need to get back into the practice of meditation/centering prayer. 🙏🏻

    • Thanks for coming by Ally Bean – I also find that a prayer or meditation is ‘centering’. That word definitely captures the essence of it, so thank you for that too 🙂

  15. This was wonderful Susan. Besides the power of doing physical things for goodness, the power of prayer and meditation is under-rated. And agreed, the Tibetan bells are very soothing. <3

    • Thanks Debby for coming by.. Maybe the power of prayer and meditation and prayer is under-rated because basically it’s free? Yet pretty powerful. I just read your #WATWB and it’s amazing and wonderful!

  16. As you know, Susan, I believe in the power of meditation and prayer. Thanks for reinforcing that here.

    I just visited Debby Gies’ website with the same theme, where she posted a Facebook video about a woman who saves crisp bags as insulation for blankets she makes for the homeless: https://www.facebook.com/Channel4/videos/223054662115261/
    (Hope this is the right link!)

    Thanks for lifting our spirits! ((( )))

    • I know you pray Marian and your lovely scriptures most times added to your posts always lift my heart. They are always worth meditating on. Thank you for coming by. I’m going to pop by Debby Gies’ right now. There’s a special link that the #WATWB community use and there are a few I am still (later) going to comment on, but Debby’s will be right now … 🙂

  17. Thanks for being that drop, or that ray of light. Each adds something, even if we don’t always see it. Butterfly wings and all that. . .

  18. Hi Susan – yes I wonder what to post sometimes … but this is perfect – and I will listen to your ‘Om Mane Padme Hum’ chant later on … thanks for putting the video and thus link up.

    The world is tearing itself apart … we’re all isolated, yet we’re all together … I feel for South Africa and am horrified and fearful for its peoples and beautiful area, with its natural gifts, of southern Africa.

    Apparently World Meditation Day is 21st May … but as you suggest – we need to help ourselves as much as we can … to bring light into the world. Wonderful post – thank you … all the best – Hilary

    • Thanks so much Hilary, I really wondered what to put up. Thanks for saying about May 21st being World Meditation Day. And you’re right we each need to help ourselves and others as a way of allowing light to reach the dark places …all best to you, Susan

    • Thanks Donna, any moment in nature or going about mundane tasks can be a meditation in itself. Preparing a meal, tidying one’s desk … all meaningful ways of getting out of the gloom 🙂

  20. We mostly have stopped viewing the news. However, my joy is that I meet with two of my high school buddies once a week via Zoom. They live about 1,200 miles from me, so meeting otherwise is not possible now. It brings so much joy to laugh and giggle, and simply see and enjoy one another. That truly is a HUGE gift of joy to me.

    • Friendship is connection … glad that you have that Gwynn, it makes all the difference. I feel lighter just reading your comment 🙂

      • It is SO critical to grasp the connection to our friends and family, and to look for the beauty in the world. Small things matter! Appreciate what we have at hand. Look at the lives of our ancestors. They had to appreciate the small things in their lives as they didn’t have all of the commercialism that exists today. Turn off the news! It gives you a whole new world. I have Alexa play music for us every night. <3

        • In full agreement there Gwynn! It’s good to think back to our ancestors and what they endured. And in the more recent past. And to see the beauty in the world. A sunset, sunrise, a flower, a piece of fruit (and your chocolate chip cookies)

  21. Thanks Janet for coming by. This should have gone up only tomorrow but I pushed publish too soon 🙁 ah well. Enjoy the chanting … lovely background sounds.

  22. Thank you, Susan. This is a good reminder that, no matter, we can always find one thing good. I’ve saved the link for a bit later.

    • Thanks Janet for coming by – yes, there is always one good thing. I pushed ‘publish’ too soon, this should have gone up only tomorrow 🙁 ah well ..

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