Prayers for Calm. Becca Anderson

taking a balanced approach to negative emotions so that feelings are neither suppressed nor exaggerated. We cannot ignore our pain and feel compassion for it at the same time. Mindfulness requires that we not “over-identify” with thoughts and feelings so that we are caught up and swept away by negativity.

      —Brené Brown

      — 11 —

      Deep Rest

      May the gentleness of God’s supportive

      and sustaining love

      gather us in her arms this day/night,

      and bless us with sleep that restores both body and soul. Amen.

      —Marchiene Vroon Rienstra

      — 12 —

      Keep Serenity in Your Heart

      While you are proclaiming peace

      with your lips,

      be careful to have it

      even more fully in your heart.

      —St. Francis of Assisi

      — 13 —

      Keep Calm and Carry On

      You can’t calm the storm,

      so stop trying.

      What you can do is calm yourself.

      The storm will pass.

      —Timber Hawkeye

      — 14 —

      Lay Your Burden Down

      Come to me,

      all you who are weary and burdened,

      and I will give you rest.

      Take my yoke upon you

      and learn from me,

      for I am gentle and humble in heart,

      and you will find rest for your souls,

      for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

      —Matthew 11:28–30

      — 15 —

      Finding Courage to Face the Unknown

      Tender and compassionate God, you are our steadfast companion in the joyous times of our lives. When we rejoice, you celebrate with us; when we are anxious and afraid, you offer us a relationship where we can find courage to face the unknown; when we weep with sadness, you are our comforter. Help us believe that you receive us as we are, and help us to entrust ourselves, with all our many struggles and hopes, to your faithful and abiding care. Amen.

      —Unknown

      — 16 —

      Know Thyself

      It’s not that God, the environment, and other people cannot help us to be happy or find satisfaction. It’s just that our happiness, satisfaction, and our understanding, even of God, will be no deeper than our capacity to know ourselves inwardly, to encounter the world from the deep comfort that comes from being at home in one’s own skin, from an intimate familiarity with the ways of one’s own mind and body.

      —Jon Kabat-Zinn

      — 17 —

      Each Day Is a Precious Gift; Use It Well

      This is the beginning of a new day.

      I can waste it or use it for good.

      What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.

      When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever,

      leaving in its place something I have traded for it.

      I want it to be a gain, not a loss;

      good, not evil;