Virtual Pause

May 19, 2025Gratitude works. It changes our body – our physiology. Itchanges our mind - our approach and attitude. It changes our heart – from onethat is closed to one that is open. It taps into our souls and transcendsnegativity, division, and isolation. Today we will slowly walk through eachstake of our tent, giving gratitude for all parts of ourselves and gratitudefor all parts of life itself. One day in summerWhen everythingHas already been more than enoughThe wild beds startExploding open along the bermOf the sea; day after dayYou sit near them; day after dayThe honey keeps on comingIn the red cups and the beesLike amber drops rollIn the petals; there is no end, Believe me! To the inventions of summerTo the happiness your body Is willing to bearThe Roses, Mary Oliver

May 12, 2025I am frustrated and fascinated by how my ego, my false self,is dealing with the major transitions I am facing right now in my life. I am continuingto learn, through a translation of the Psalms by Nan Merrill, through MichaelSinger, and many other spiritual and psychological teachers, that when the egois uncomfortable, it builds walls of illusion. The ego is driven strictly by fearof not being ok, not being in control, loved, or safe, so it builds stories ofhow it can be okay. We build a house of illusions, and, as Michael Singerstates, it's a house of horrors.Today we will hopefully experience a moment where our trueselves can be at peace and commune with God, with love. Then we will see whathappens as we allow a thought or fear to surface, and how we end up back in ourhouse of illusions once again. We will settle and let go so that we can takethis thought or fear back out of the house and into the open air. For our listening portion today, I pulled together a few phrasesfrom various Psalms as translated by Nan Merrill in the book, Psalms forPraying,“Distracted by greed and arrogancewe do not hear the Beloved's Voice whispering in the silence:‘Awaken all of you living in darkness! We are all One in Love Consciousness.You live in my Heart even as I dwell in yours.'”– Psalm 2“Now, I shall forgive all illusions that my ego tries tobuild.” “Rise up, Love! Set me Free!”- Psalm 3The Michael Singer podcast I quote:  https://open.spotify.com/episode/0qqZhl8ALcFVdpxLDctIFPPhoto by Lena Polishko on Unsplash

April 14, 2025It is tough right now to see all that is happening in our world.Many emotions come up for me that can be paralyzing – keeping me from positivelycontributing my gifts. Yet I can't have my eyes closed and live simply byungrounded hope, because that is denial. I need to live with my eyes open tothe reality of what is happening and my heart open towards community, compassionand comfort.Today we will be practicing Tonglen, which is “giving and receiving”.In this Buddhist practice we identify a feeling/emotion that we areexperiencing and imagine others experiencing the same feeling, even people wedon't know or don't necessarily agree with. Then we send out comfort, love, andlight.For our listening portion today:I amdetermined to cultivate only thoughts that increase trust and loveTo use myhands to perform only deeds that build communityTo speakonly words of harmony and aid.Thich NhatHanhI reference theauthor/scientist Margaret Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science; RestoringSanity: Practices to Awaken Generosity, Creativity, and Kindness in Ourselvesand Our Organizations; and Who Do We Choose to Be

April 7, 2025I am findingit very difficult to quiet my mind these days. There is too much noise –locally, nationally, and globally. Yet I know that if I don't find a way toquiet my mind, even for a moment, I will push myself into the world with fearand control, or hide away from it, and not be a place of refuge and safety forothers. Today we willdo a simple pause focusing on being still, allowing ourselves to touch, evenfor a moment, that place of beauty, stillness and hope in us, so we can bringit out to the world. I referenceRichard Rohr's meditation about apatheia, or dispassion or indifference, andyou can find it here.  https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-change-in-consciousness/

March 24, 2025There aretimes I behave in ways I am not proud of and feel very incongruent to my soul. Thechaos of the world and the chaos into my head leaks into my thoughts andbehaviors. Coming back to stability may happen as an interior shift in us, oras an external shift in circumstances. The common theme is surrender, so we canopen up our lungs and our hearts for the breath of God, the breath of thespirit. YHWH There was a moment when Moses had the nerve toask God what his name is. God was gracious enough to answer, and the name hegave is recorded in the original Hebrew as YHWH.Over time we'vearbitrarily added an “a” andan “e” inthere to get YaHWeH, presumably because we have a preference for vowels. But scholars and Rabbi's have noted that theletters YHWH represent breathing sounds, or aspirated consonants. Whenpronounced without intervening vowels, it actually sounds like breathing. YH (inhale): WH (exhale). So a baby's first cry, his firstbreath, speaks the name of God. A deep sigh calls His name – or a groan or gasp that is too heavy for merewords. Even an atheist would speak His name, unaware that their very breath is givingconstant acknowledgment to God. Likewise, a person leaves this earth with their last breath, when God'sname is no longer filing their lungs. So when I can't utter anything else, is mycry calling out His name?Being alive means I speak His name constantly.  So, is it heard the loudest when I'm the quietest?In sadness, we breathe heavy sighs. In joy, our lungs feel almost like they will burst. In fear we hold our breath and have to be told to breathe slowly to help uscalm down. When we're about to do something hard, we take a deepbreath to find our courage.  When I think about it, breathing is giving him praise. Even in the hardestmoments! This is so beautiful and fills me with emotion every time I grasp the thought.God chose to give himself a name that we can'thelp but speak every moment we're alive. All of us, always, everywhere. Waking, sleeping, breathing, with the name of God on our lips.- Unknown Author 

March 3, 2025I am findingmyself stuck and experiencing physical stress responses to triggers, with no evidencethat warrants such a reaction. Trauma that I experienced decades ago issneaking up now in surprising ways. I feel I am being invited into deeper healingthat helps release and reprogram the trauma I experienced. Today I willintroduce a new modality that helps calm the nervous system down through soundsand frequencies. The poems and narratives I am reading arefrom Ranier Maria Rilke, Jan Richardson, Alexandra Vasiliu, and Mary Oliver. Thanks toDr. Carol Lewis and the UF Mindfulness Center for leading us through thismodality through the UF Mindfulness 360 Series.  https://www.ufmindfulness.org/workshop-programsPhoto by Touann Gatouillat Vergos on Unsplash

Letting of of non-essentials in life seems like a no-brainer if we see them simply as things that are unhealthy for us or are distractions. But our nonessentials can be anything, even good things, that we are entangled in and that keep us from our center. In today's episode, we will identify those nonessentials and let them go so that we can experience "supreme life" and "deepest peace." Our listening portion today: "Everything that is non-essential in s must fall away like ashes in a furnace, in order that the pure gold of our being, thus refined, may shine in the light of grace....For peace begins only in death, with inexpressible bliss of supreme life, which is supreme wakefulness, supreme activity, and supreme intensity, and at the same time deepest calm, deepest peace, and deepest security."Hanns Georg von Heintschell-Heinegg, From Dying we Live: The final Messages and Records of the Resistance.An Austrian poet and theology student who was put to death for his outspoken resistance to the Nazi regime.

February 3rd, 2025 When we hide, grasp, push, shove, dominate, escape, or demonstrate other un-grounded behaviors, we are more than likely acting out of a place of self-protection, pushing down a weakness or limitation we have that we can't bear for the world, or ourselves, to see. This limitation can create a shadow side in us, and the work we do to cover it up and protect an image of ourselves can be exhausting and destructive. In today's Pause, we will identify a limitation in ourselves, see how we have acted to protect it, embrace it with compassion, and let it get untangled from our grip. From that place we will be able to be vulnerable, open, and at rest, live transformed, and be guided on how to move into the world. “Our creations come not when we're out in the world, gathering impressions, but when we're sitting still, turning those impressions into sentences. Our job, you could say, is to turn, through stillness, a life of movement into art.” The Art of Stillness, Pico Iyer Photo by Andrey Grinkevich on Unsplash

January 27, 2025 Most of us, if not all of us, are currently experiencing something in our lives that we want to change. Whether in us, our families, our communities, our nation, or our world.  We have learned that the way for things to change is to fight – to fortify whatever is weak in our lives; or we hide – shrinking back in fear and feeling overcome by despair. This is our ego at play – and positive change can't come from ego. We can't be guided simply by our own needs towards a better outcome. In this episode we will learn what “letting go” and “releasing” means, and spending time in quiet Centering Prayer to release these old habits and ways of ego-doing, so we can just be. From this place of being, we will notice what is stirring in us – our way forward – to bring the hope and healing we desire.

January 13, 2025 I noticed the other day the intense feeling that I suddenly got throughout my body when I was having a conversation with someone. That sense of flight or fight was real. My reaction to it was to protect – and that looked like judgment, anger, hiding, superiority, etc. But the situation didn't warrant my reaction. What was really going on? When we are confronted with a situation that triggers us, our immediate reaction is often fight or flight or freeze. It can feel like a crack has opened in our lives that is dark. Yet if we stay in that darkness, we are unable to see what is really going on in us. We have to let the dark crack be filled by light as we stabilize our bodies and get our minds quiet, giving some breathing room for what is really going on in us. Then we will be able to see what we are gripping onto, what we are trying to control or hide from, and let properly put those things where they belong – out of our hands. Our listening portion today is from the bible, 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (cowardice, fear), but a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” photo credit: Joe Gardner on unsplash

January 6, 2025 As I have reflected on last year, I realized that my intense external chaos bled into my internal state of being. I ended up being in my head, not in my body or heart. Like a whirling dervish, instead of both feet flying around through the chaos of life, we need to keep one foot solidly stable and grounded as we navigate through life. As we embark on the new year, today's pause will be about reflecting on what has consumed our minds (worry and problem-solving) and be present. We will let go of needing approval from the world and remember how God has shown up in our lives and loved us, even through the most difficult of circumstances. And we will trust the process of our lives and experience peace. Listening portion by Eckhart Tolle: “You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.” Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash

December 16, 2024 How often do we find ourselves in a storm of life and we think we can actually calm the chaos of the situation? We want to control the person, circumstances, or outcome, yet instead of having the power to do so, we find ourselves agitated, depleted, and critical because we simply can't change it. In today's episode, we will look at those situations in our lives where we are trying to control the storm (or perpetuate it) and imagine going inside of our tents – where our souls can find stillness and peace - and allow that peace to flow out to the world. Our listening portion today: “…Our soul is so centered in God that it is free to leave itself behind and become absorbed in the presence of the promised Prince of Peace. From this inward stillness flows the outward peace for which the world long.” Magnificat Meditation, December 14, 2024

December 4, 2024 With so much going on around this season, and my own personal transition period moving quickly into empty nesting, I am finding myself overwhelmed and anxious. I realized it is because I am focusing on my plans and goals and to dos, and those are ever-changing and often out of my control. Yet when I focus on the why – the bigger picture and purpose for my life, and the how – the way I go about living and moving in that why, the less anxious and more free I feel. Today we will bring attention to what we are paying attention to and when our “what” is in our way and blinds us, and move past the “what” of to-dos and expectations and plans, and surrender into the “why” and “how” of our lives. Reading today by Thomas Merton A Prayer My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I can not know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude.

November 18, 2024 When we have to make an important decision, it is sometimes difficult to discern the direction to go. It may be a decision to take a job or what college to go to, or it may be how to deal with a challenging person or situation in your life. Often, we have our own agenda and may look for affirmation from God for the decision we want. But that is not seeking God's path for our lives, it's only fortifying our own. In today's pause we will look at a decision you are needing to make in your life and recognize which one God may be pulling you toward. The listening portion today is from Proverbs 3:6 – and different translations of it. “In all of your ways, be mindful of God, and God will make straight your paths.” Magnificat “Submit to God…” New International Version “Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go, God is the one who will keep you on track.” The Message “Seek God's will in all you do.” New Living Translation “Give God the credit for everything you accomplish, God will smooth and straighten the road that lies ahead.” The Voice “In all of your ways know and acknowledge and recognize God.” Amplified Version “Trust in the Lord with all your heart,     and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him,     and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes;     fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh     and refreshment to your bones.” ESV

November 11, 2024 My Camino de Santiago journey continues with a story about me and a lemon and an old Spanish man….and how, without realizing it, I stole from him. We steal, everyday, without knowing. We steal time, attention, etc. from ourselves and others.  What underlies this sometimes subtle behavior of ours? Scarcity? Fear? Need for attention? Today we will dig a bit and try and let go of that inner need so we can stay in our lane and not experience the negative effects that stealing can have on us and others. For our listening portion today, we will here from St. Augustine… “Once for all, then, a short precept is given you: love, and do what you will: Whether you hold your peace, Through love hold your peace Whether you cry out, through love cry out; Whether you correct, through love correct; Whether you spare, through love do you spare: Let the root of love be within, Of this root can nothing spring but what is good.

November 4, 2024 I have realized lately that for good reason I have built a wall of self-protection around my heart in a certain situation in my life. Yet my ah-ha happened last week when I realized that the feelings I have behind those walls and the reason I built them – fear, insecurity, doubt, pain – have transferred into other areas of my life. They have infested and infected relationships, opportunities, and dreams. This doesn't serve me or anyone around me well. So we are going to pause it out – letting go of the stuff that rises up in our mode of self-protection and allowing the love, peace, joy, creativity, hope, etc. to transcend other areas of our lives, breaking down the self-protective walls. “To love a person is to learn the song of their heart and sing it to them when they've forgotten.” Anne Garborg

October 21, 2024 Are you allowing yourself to dream? Or are you, as Paulo Coelho says in the book The Pilgrimage, killing your dreams by not having enough time, by not asking enough of life, by wanting things to be comfortable? Dreaming for me has been a way for me to escape the mundane and ordinariness of life. My dreams have suffered and not been met at times as well. But without dreaming, we lose hope. And we lose our connection to love. Today we will identify what keeps us from dreaming, and pull in the grounding that is required for our dreams to be ones that are coming from our true self, not our ego.

October 14, 2024 In this week's episode I begin to talk about my experience on the Camino de Santiago in Spain and some of the aha's I discovered along the way! The biggest and most surprising was joy! We will walk through what joy is and reflect on what keeps us from experiencing joy in our lives. Our listening portion: Dear Child of God, you are loved with a love that nothing can shake, a love that loved you long before you were created, a love that will be there long after everything has disappeared. You are precious, with a preciousness that is totally quite immeasurable. And God wants you to be like God. Filled with life and goodness and laughter—and joy.  God, who is forever pouring out God's whole being from all eternity, wants you to flourish. God wants you to be filled with joy and excitement and ever longing to be able to find what is so beautiful in God's creation: the compassion of so many, the caring, the sharing. And God says, Please, my child, help me. Help me to spread love and laughter and joy and compassion. And you know what, my child? As you do this—hey, presto—you discover joy. Joy, which you had not sought, comes as the gift, as almost the reward for this non-self-regarding caring for others.  Archbishop Desmund Tutu, The Book of Joy

September 30th, 2024 Off I go tomorrow to start my pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago. I reflected this week how much I am leaning on “so that” in order to trust that I am supposed to take this journey. “I am going, so that I can get a glimpse of what is next in my life, so that I can be prepared for a season of empty nesting, so that I can get clarity on my work, so that…..” What if we switched it from “so that”, to “because”. “I am going because there is a gift just for me. I am going because I want to commune with God. I am going because….” In this episode we will address our “so that's” and let them go, and trust that being and communing is enough. Because…” Our listening portion today: I deserve to be sustained, not because of what I've done But because God is who God is I deserve to sink into your love I deserve to commune with you Because you are… Creator, friend, teacher, Yahweh, alpha, omega, everything Because you are… Wind, rain fire, passion, movement, stillness, healer, north star, guide, comforter, almighty, hope Because you are… Love, I am…. Rooted, passionate, free, vast, shining, peaceful, joyful, gentle, patient… Because You Are, I am. Photo credit: Les routes sans fin(s) on Unsplash

September 23rd, 2024 In a week, I am embarking on a pilgrimage called the Camino de Santiago in Spain. I am learning that the journey doesn't start when I get there - I am being prepared for it now. In a desire to be open to what the pilgrimage has in store for me, I am finding that I am holding things in which I need to let go. In today's episode we will talk about those things we hold onto, and using David Whyte's poem, give them their fair honor in our lives, seeing how they have shaped us in our pasts. As we look towards the journey ahead, we will see how our way is the authentic way we want to live. The road seen, then not seen, the hillside hiding then revealing the way you should take, the road dropping away from you as if leaving you to walk on thin air, then catching you, holding you up, when you thought you would fall, and the way forward always in the end the way that you followed, the way that carried you into your future, that brought you to this place, no matter that it sometimes took your promise from you, no matter that it had to break your heart along the way: the sense of having walked from far inside yourself out into the revelation, to have risked yourself for something that seemed to stand both inside you and far beyond you, that called you back to the only road in the end you could follow, walking as you did, in your rags of love and speaking in the voice that by night became a prayer for safe arrival, so that one day you realized that what you wanted had already happened long ago and in the dwelling place you had lived in before you began, and that every step along the way, you had carried the heart and the mind and the promise that first set you off and drew you on and that you were more marvelous in your simple wish to find a way than the gilded roofs of any destination you could reach: as if, all along, you had thought the end point might be a city with golden towers, and cheering crowds, and turning the corner at what you thought was the end of the road, you found just a simple reflection, and a clear revelation beneath the face looking back and beneath it another invitation, all in one glimpse: like a person and a place you had sought forever, like a broad field of freedom that beckoned you beyond; like another life, and the road still stretching on. from David Whyte's collection, Pilgrim ©2012 Many Rivers Press

September 9, 2024 When our minds are in the forefront, which is how all usually live our lives, our bodies are running around fulfilling the mind's agenda, our hearts are in self-protective mode, and our minds tell our soul that it doesn't even exist. We may take a break from all of that periodically, like in a Pause, but it's just a break – it doesn't awaken our souls enough to transcend to the rest of our lives. Instead of focusing on what we are doing in the world (mind in charge), let's look at the space surrounding our doing. In this episode, we will put our minds in the back seat, and awaken our souls, so that our heart can open, our minds can be the support for our soul and heart, and our body can be the presence needed in the world. In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die And where you invest your love, you invest your life In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die And where you invest your love, you invest your life Awake my soul Awake my soul Awake my soul For you were made to meet your maker Awake My Soul, Mumford and Sons

July 29, 2024 In this episode I reflect upon how I can see pausing, or being still, has had a long-term shift in me. I am in a place right now where I am trying to support someone in crisis. I am seeing how just being there for them, just showing up, is actually all they need from me. For our pause practice today, we will identify someone in our life who needs a pause, a breath, healing, some hope. And then we will go through our pause connecting ourselves to the earth, to God, and to them, through surrender, love, and trust. By being present. I mention these words from Ullie Kay Poetry today “The best medicine you can bring for sadness is not joy. It is not telling them that they need to move on or get over it or realize how much worse things could be. No. The medicine for a spirit in mourning is tenderness, and warmth, and compassion, and connection, and presence. Sit with someone in their grief and let them cry their ugly tears. Do not shine and scurry grief away. They must walk through it. This is love. To abandon all that we think we know and be so full of grace that we are invited in to partake in someone else's darkest moments. What an honor it is to simply be a light. The antidote for sadness is love. It is always love.”

July 1, 2024 Even when we find ourselves grounded and feeling stable, it doesn't take long for our thoughts to be distracted and we are back into the chaos.  Richard Rohr says that “silence precedes, undergirds, and grounds everything. We cannot just think of it as an accident, or as something unnecessary. Unless we learn how to live there, go there, abide in this different phenomenon, the rest of things—words, events, relationships, identities—become rather superficial, without depth or context. They lose meaning, so we end up searching for more events and situations which must increasingly contain ever-higher stimulation, more excitement, and more color to add vital signs to our inherently bored and boring existence.” In this episode, we will experience some silence and try to observe the chaos in our lives from a still, silent center. Then we will see where it is that we want to jump back into the chaos and try and let go and stay in our stability, choosing silence. Listening portion is from 1 Kings 11, The Message Version. Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.” A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn't to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn't in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn't in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper. https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-gift-of-silence/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

June 10, 2024 “All men seek peace first of all with themselves. That is necessary because we do not naturally find rest even in our being. We have to learn to commune with ourselves before we can communicate with other men and with God. A man who is not at peace with himself necessarily projects his interior fighting into the society of those he lives with, and spreads a contagion of conflict all around him. Even when he tries to do good to others his efforts are hopeless, since he does not know how to do good to himself. In moments of wildest idealism he may take int into his head to make other people happy: and in doing so he will overwhelm them with his own unhappiness. He seeks to find himself somehow in the work of making others happy. Therefore, he throws himself into the work As a result he gets out of the work all that he puts into it: his own confusion, his own disintegration, his own unhappiness.” Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island Sometimes we feel like we are floating comfortably on a raft down a calm river, at peace and at home with ourselves. Other times we feel like we are in class IV rapids, grasping at little inner tubes as they float by, trying to survive, pulling in lifelines where we can. Today we will get ourselves back on the raft through our pause, and then discern the stake of the tent that we need to strengthen to be able to come back to peace and rest. Photo by Vicko Mozara on Unsplash --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

June 10, 2024 There are times in our lives where we feel that we may not where we are going. We may be in a space of waiting, or not fully immersed into one thing. We may feel lost or purposelessness in the ordinary. Letting go of needing to know where we are going, being seen a certain way, and feeling a sense of security, allows us to be content in the place where God has us. When I am among the trees, Especially the willows and the honey locust, Equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, They give off such hints of gladness. I would almost say that they save me, and daily. I am so distant from the hope of myself, In which I have goodness, and discernment, And never hurry through the world But walk slowly, and bow often. Around me the trees stir in their leaves And call out, “Stay awhile.” The light flows from their branches. And they call again, “It's simple,” they say, “and you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled With light, and to shine.” Mary Oliver, When I am Among the Trees Photo credit: Alex Winn, Australian hike --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

June 3, 2024 Today we are going to do a longer pause – taking more time to settle our bodies, quiet our minds, open our hearts, and connect to our source. So if you can spread out we will be on our feet doing some movements. “Awaken us to the Oneness of all things, to the beauty and truth of Unity. May we become aware of the interdependence of all living things, and come to know You in everything, and all things in You. For as we attune to your Presence within us, we know not separation, and joy becomes our dwelling place.” Excerpted from Psalm 106, Nan Merrill, Psalms for Praying --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

May 20, 2024 Sometimes when we are in flux – uncertainty – in one or more aspects of our lives, we begin to try and control something to alleviate the discomfort that flux brings. And that control brings chaos in our lives and the lives of others. That is the flux factor – the unintended consequences of our behaviors when we are feeling out of control. In today's episode, we will identify where we are “fluxing” and how we are responding to it, and then, through a Pause, try to settle ourselves and let go of the need to feel “ok”. In our spirit section I read from Rainer Maria Rilke, “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves…Live the questions ow. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

April 28, 2024 Looking at an oak covered with moss this weekend, I realized that my current situation is like the clump of moss in the tree. And I am trying to solve the problem by staying inside the moss. As Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.” Today we are going to shake off the moss and let ourselves be free from it, reaching up to the sun-lit, silent sky for insight and solutions. Here I am, trapped again fixing the quandary by piling on more dirt in the trenches I've carved out for myself. Suffocating under the dirt I cling to, I fling blinding myself with my own chaos. It's not in there, the answer, the validation, the path you look for It's not in there, the healing and insight you seek. Shake it off, Shake off the dirt the moss that clints to you and reach for the silent sun-lit sky Be   then Free    then See For my designs for your life are immeasurable, unspeakable. Be Free See. -Angie Winn   --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

April 15, 2024 Sometimes we need a little help loving others and loving ourselves! Today I will guide us through an adaptation of a Loving-Kindness Meditation from John Kabat-Zinn to help us experience a sense of love for ourselves and our community. I will then follow it up with this encouragement from Ephesians 3:17-19 “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,  may have power, together with all God's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” https://www.mindful.org/this-loving-kindness-meditation-is-a-radical-act-of-love/ photo credit: elena-mozhvilo on unsplash --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

April 8, 2024 From James Finley, writer of April 8th, 2024 Daily Meditation CAC.org. “The essential, that which is given to us in the metaphorical fire of this quiet oneness, never imposes itself on us, while the unessential is constantly imposing itself on us. We begin to wonder, “How can I learn not to get so caught up in the complexities of the day-to-day that I keep losing my sense of connectedness with this depth, this fire, which alone is ultimately real?” It doesn't lie in our power to make these insights happen, but here's the key. We can freely choose to assume the stance that offers the least resistance to being overtaken by the fire that we cannot make happen. This is our daily rendezvous, and the key is that it's personal. We have to find those acts, those persons, those modes of service, those moments of creative unfolding, those moments where we feel something is being asked of us….   Therefore, we want to set aside a quiet time of availability to this. We have to stay with it. We have to be patient and be calm. We have to be receptively open to this way of being. And at the end of each rendezvous with the deeper place, we ask for the grace not to break the thread of that sensitivity as we go through the rest of our day. Although the thread breaks many times from our end, it never breaks from God's end….  “   Listening to our Souls through these lines of Pinegrove's Iodine:   I'm spiraled up inside My iridescent mind is reaching up for something pure and or actual. Photo by amirali mirhashemian on Unsplash --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

April 1, 2024 When we exert our “will”, pull up our boot straps, and keep going and pushing, we often become depleted and depressed. Perhaps we are trying to make a path for ourselves that is not intended for us. Often when we let go of what we think we should be and do, then an authentic gift shows up in us that we never knew we had. In this episode, we will identify those places in our lives where we are trying really hard, and discern if this is where we are supposed to be, let go, and see what gift is actually trying to be birthed. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard you hearts and your minds.” Philippians 4: 6-7   Poem:   A god can do it. But tell me how a person can flow like that through the slender lyre. Our mind is split. At the crossroads in our heart stands no temple for Apollo. Song, as you teach us, is not a grasping not a seeking for some final consummation. To sing is to be. Easy for a god. But when do we simply be? When do we become one with earth and stars? It is not achieved, young friend, by being in love, however vibrant that makes your voice. Learn to forget you sang like that. It passes. Truly to sing takes another kind of breath. A breath in the void. A shudder in God. A wind. Rainer Maria Rilke --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

March 25, 2024 I am realizing how much I hold on to my self-concept, which makes it so that I am resistant to saying yes to something new. In this episode, we will identify how we are fortifying our self-concept and resisting, and then let go so we can say yes to the adventure that awaits for us. The Healing Time Finally on my way to yes I bump into All the places where I said no To my life All the untended wounds The red and purple scars Those hieroglyphs of pain Carved into my skin, my bones, Those coded messages That send me down The wrong street Again and again Where I find them The old wounds The old misdirections And I left them one by one close to my heart and I say holy, holy. Pesha Gertler photo credit:  Drahomír Hugo Posteby-Mach --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

March 4, 2024 Do you feel like you have some stirrings to do something – maybe noticing the shifts and changes in your soul or in your life, and wondering if you should pursue them? If we want to move throughout life with stability – peace, wholeness, and integration – we have to do some from a place of stillness. In today's episode we will examine our stirrings to do, from a place of being still. You are not dead yet, it's not too late To open your depths by plunging into them And drink in the life That reveals itself quietly there. -Rainer Maria Rilke, The Book of a Monastic Life, I, 14 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

February 26, 2024 Today I will lead us on a journey where we begin with identifying what is occupying our thoughts (to do list, worries, etc.), and moving out of our minds, through our surroundings, and in a different environment. We will notice what we experience in that environment, and then bring that experience back down to our list of what is in our mind, and see how the perspective changes. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

February 12, 2024 Let's stop the noise and the requests and trying to figure it all out in our heads, leaving our prayers to be ineffective incessant babbling. Let's take just half an hour and let go, and experience the gifts and surprising answers in the midst of silence. “Deafened by the voice of desire You are unaware the Beloved lives In the core of your heart. Stop the noise and You will hear Her voice In the silence.” Rumi: Hidden Music --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

February 5, 2024 What does it look like to live out of the fullness we were designed for? In today's Pause, we will identify that seed or blossoming thing in us that is uniquely ours. We will look at what obstacles keep it from blossoming into its fullness and let go. We will see how our fullness will only be realized when it helps remove obstacles so that someone else may experience their fullness as well. “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6: 37-38 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

January 29, 2024 If we are honest with ourselves, we deeply desire to figure out how to be okay. We want to design our lives so that nothing bothers us, but everything is structured so that we will be okay. We wander, we strive, we perpetuate our chaos trying to find our way to be okay. Instead, we have to let go, open up, and release our obsessions with making everything okay, so that we can just BE okay. Today, instead of finding the solutions, we will let it all go, so we can experience okay-ness, experience stability and peace. Listen portion today: “We don't have to attain nirvana, because we ourselves are always dwelling in nirvana. The water does not have to look for water. It already is water. We are one with the ground of being.” ­-Thich Nhat Hanh (quoted from The Art of Being, Dennis Merritt Jones) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

January 22, 2024 Have you ever experienced an actual snownado? It's terrifying to watch – and you have no choice but to be in the midst of it. How often during chaos we resist, fight, or try to control the circumstances. Yet if we sit in the snownado and actually look up toward the light, the chaos can be used for a purpose. As Dr. Otis Moss III states, we can turn chaotic energy to purpose, we can consecrate our chaos. (Otis Moss III, Dancing in the Darkness Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times; CAC Meditation, 1/22/2024.) Listen portion today: “In the beginning God created the heaves and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light, “ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light form the darkness.” Genesis 1: 1-4, NIV --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

January 8, 2024 Instead of setting rigid “goals”, what is being cultivated in you?  In today's pause, grab a piece of paper and some markers, as I lead you through drawing a tree. We will review last year's fruit we produced and look at the branches that needed to be lobbed off. We will look towards 2024 as ways to firmly plant our roots into deep soil and cultivate the values and virtues that come up for us. “May you be rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians 3:17)… like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither (Psalm 1).” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

December 18, 2023 We so often build our house in vain or toil in labor, yet as the Psalm 127 continues God “pours gifts on his beloved while they slumber.” In this episode we will identify what we are building or toiling after, and then focus on releasing why we are doing this, so we can “surrender and slumber” and hear the divine guidance as we move throughout the world, moving with and as love. Photo Credit: Lanju Fotografie unsplash --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

December 4, 2023 In this season of holiday craze, I am finding myself from time to time throwing an Angie tantrum. I easily blame my frustration and irritability on the chaos around me. Yet when I actually take the time to be still, I see that there is yearning underneath the chaos. In this episode, we will spend some time getting quiet and identifying what our souls are longing for. Listening passage: ” Better is one hand full of quietness than two hands full of toil and a stiving after wind.” Ecclesiastes 4:6 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

November 27, 2023 Thanksgiving Holiday can bring about joy and absolute stress and strain as we navigate family, locations, busyness, and chaos. These things can embed themselves in us, shaping the way we think and interact and move in the world. Sometimes these things are conscious, yet often times they are trapped in us unconsciously. In today's episode, we are going to get the turkey out! Releasing those things in us that we need to let go. Listening passage: I am not my thoughts, emotions, sense perceptions, and experiences. I am not the content of my life. I am Life. I am the space in which all things happen. I am consciousness. I am the Now. I Am. -Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks, 2003 Photo credit: Anuj Yadav --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

November 13, 2023 I continuously find myself in situations where the core of my beliefs and how I experience God is triggered. Yet by practicing this contemplative life, we are surrendering to the flow and allowing our ego to lessen and the self-protective mechanisms to rest. In today's pause, we will go through a visualization where we identify a place where we are being triggered and self-protecting, and allow those soldiers to let go and take a nap. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

November 6, 2023 Our lives are the context by which we can heal and grow. We often focus on the circumstance, yet there is something deep underneath that needs addressing. Today we will talk about how to look underneath that hood, underneath the circumstance, so we can find healing and freedom. “I'm so done running from freedom Double down on everything that I believe in I was too scared to see my whole vision I put myself up in my self built prison No one had the key but myself and my feelings The pain never leaves till it's all done teaching But it all brought me here after a thousand seasons So thank you for a million reasons” …they're just a way to the way to the way inside Way to the Way, Kevin Paris https://open.spotify.com/track/2LU6SdGdA3faORkSDY6tw6?si=93dd191397c3493f https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-cm7Q3693g Art on episode cover- from Kevin Paris' Way to the Way song --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message

October 16, 2023 Sometimes challenges come up in life and although they effect us, it is like when our bike moves to a different gear. Takes some time to adjust, but then we find our rhythm and cadence again. And then there are other situations, past wounds, and relationships, that somehow get such a grip on us that our chain falls off! In this episode, we will identify those things we grab onto that change our entire being, and let them go. Listening portion today: Settle Quiet down Be still Open up Release Let go And let in --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/support

October 9, 2023 We can get ourselves in a dark forest, sit on the floor, and gather some really wet, unusable twigs and try to start a fire. That's our mind solving all of our problems with all of our own faculties and resources. In this pause, we will GET OUT of that forest floor, allowing the flame of the Spirit to bring us up to the top of the mountain where we can clearly see and experience freedom. Listening portion today: I waited patiently for the Lord He inclined and heard my cry He brought me out of the pit Out of the miry clay I will sing, sing a new song You set my feet upon a rock And made my footsteps firm I will sing, sing a new song. Psalm 40, as sung by U2 “40” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/support

September 25, 2023 There is a small seed in us that was planted inside of us and leads us to doing good in the world. But that small seed can lose it's ability to grow if we allow the voices of others to tell us it's not good enough, or the distractions of life to choke it out.  We have to “take care how we listen.” In this episode we will identify the voices and circumstances that drown out this seed in us, and keep us from listening to the still small voice of God in us. I will quote Luke 8:15-18, and Henri Nouwen form Finding My Way Home. “Don't be afraid. Something is happening to you. Pay attention.” photo credit: Jeremy Bishop Unsplash --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/support

September 18, 2023 We cling to or resist external circumstances, others' perspectives, outside voices, just to be okay. We believe if we cling onto something in our minds, we will eventually become more of that thing (like praise), and if we resist something in our minds, we will become less of that thing (like criticism). We believe by clinging or resisting, we will be okay. The opposite is true. We become disconnected and disengaged. And our inner place of peace gets covered up. In this episode, we will identify the clinging and resisting and let these things “pass through”. It doesn't have to be The blue iris, it could be Weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; Just pay attention, then patch A few words together and don't try To make them elaborate, this isn't A contest but the doorway into thanks, and a silence in which Another voice may speak. Praying, Mary Oliver --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/support

September 11th, 2023 When we come out of a crisis or stressful situation, we often feel either wired or tired. In today's pause we will try to get back to that place of balance – in between the frenetic frenzy and the hiding sloth.  We will dig a little deeper into what's going on in our bodies, minds, and hearts, so we can clear the clutter and connect to our source. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/support

August 28, 2023 Sometimes life is so challenging that we can't articulate what is going on inside of us. Our minds can't quiet and our soul feels completely buried. Staying in our heads doesn't help at all, we need a deeper soul connection. In today's episode we will imagine our selves as the earth, wind, fire and water. We will experience the characteristics of each, and identify where we uniquely reflect in those elements. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/support

August 14, 2023 I have felt like I have been whipped around in the strong waves of the ocean lately, and it has been so challenging that even trying to shove my way to the surface to breathe doesn't seem to work. But, as I reflect, there have been these moments of grace when breath was given to me. Today we will look back at where and how we have been given little lifelines, little gulps of air, in the midst of our storms, and experience a sense of gratitude. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your torrents, and all your waves and breakers sweep over me. By day may God send God's mercy, and by night may God's righteousness be with me I will pray to the God of my life.  Psalm 42 Photo credit: Photo by César Couto on Unsplash --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angie-winn/support