Living Life as a Prayer

A Guide to Healing and Wholeness

Living Life as a Prayer: a guide to healing and wholeness teaches us how to weave the Sacred into everyday life. The basic premise of the book is that we are the living prayer that is offered to the Universe every moment. Every thought we create, word we speak, feeling we engender and actions we take are parts of that prayer. Prayer is a constant living process. The purpose of this book is to raise our level of conscious awareness and help us become prayers that are consciously constructed. The book is in two parts: (1) Preparing yourself to become a living prayer and (2) Creating the prayer. The first section offers guidelines for healing and clearing our internal pathway in order to connect more deeply to the Divine within. The second section expands the concept of prayer and teaches us a variety of ways to consciously create ourselves living prayers. Philosophical concepts are accompanied by practical techniques and lively stories that illustrate how myself and others have brought these concepts of the sacred into ordinary living. While there is a strong Native American spiritual flavor to the teachings, the material is spiritual not religious. The book offers a cornucopia of illustrative poetry, prayers and stories. These illustrations serve to engage the reader to embrace body and mind as expressions of the Divine in ordinary life. They aid the reader in easily accessing the material discussed in a very down-to-earth, personally captivating way. Practical step-by-step guidelines illuminate techniques, like setting an intention, experiencing and expressing feelings and creating prayers. There are guided visualizations and meditations, which allow the reader to try on new ways of being and acting. Rituals and ceremonies demonstrate ways to pray and are described in detail, as well as guidelines are given on how to create original rituals. The book is comprehensive in its approach and a powerful teaching tool for self-discovery. The engaging stories not only hold the readers interests, but also illustrate important points helping them to understand that to create themselves, as living prayers is quite possible in ordinary life. There are beautiful poems and prayers from a variety of sources. These poems and prayers captivate the spirit and encourage the acceptance of the sacredness of all of life and the importance of living consciously with joy. Abstract concepts are illustrated by stories of ordinary people, who are engaged in healing journeys. These concepts are broken down into specific steps that make them accessible. For example, Chapter One first defines the concept of setting an intention, secondly gives a number of stories that illustrate how this concept has worked in the lives of others and thirdly gives the reader a clearly stated process for creating intentions. The basic philosophy of the book teaches love and respect for all of life. It helps readers to find the Divine Essence within and helps them connect to the greater whole. Each individual is seen as having an important contribution to make to all life everywhere in the Universe. The text is very affirming, uplifting and encouraging. Living Life as a Prayer includes a number of examples of intentions, healing journeys, shifting feelings, prayers, guidance, ceremonies and rituals. These examples are easy to grasp and are often contained in longer story form. There are easy step-by-step guidelines for practicing the theory being discussed. The book includes guided imagery sections, which allow readers hands-on-experiences of the topics being discussed. There are poems as well as prose. These poems are creative expressions that enhance the text and engage both the right and left-brain of the reader. Prayers, coming from a variety of spiritual disciplines, illustrate the basic philosophy of the book, as well as teach people a variety of ways to put their thoughts and feelings into the form of prayers. Mediations and p