After hearing of the shooting tragedy at Newtown Elementary, we at Heart of Business were, like so many others, devastated. None of us could focus on work, so we didn’t. Susan told me she just “went out” for awhile. I was leading a virtual retreat for our Alumni Community, and just spent as much time in Remembrance and grieving as I could, and other team members did similar things.
Events like these are painful beyond words. Our nervous systems literally can’t face that much emotional pain all at once. We have different ways of giving ourselves a break in processing the pain.
There are different teachings that are useful, but I don’t feel like offering a teaching. I find that in these situations just making a prayer is what is most powerful for me. So, with your permission, I’d like to share a prayer I’m making. I’d also love for you to share any prayers or meditations you are offering.
It’s a form called a “petitionary prayer” because it asks for something. It’s true that the Divine lives within our hearts, “Neither My heavens nor My earth contain Me, but the heart of the faithful human contains Me.” (quote attributed to God in the Islamic Sufi tradition).
Yet, when we experience pain and suffering like this, I get caught in the perspective of my ego which is limited, small. From that perspective, it appears that the Divine is outside of me.
Although ultimately not true, it’s a useful practice to make a petitionary prayer from that perspective, which is often followed by an experience of the Divine “coming in.” In reality, the perspective of the ego is washed away by love, and the heart’s larger perspective allows us to feel the presence of the Divine within.
When I pray like this, I talk to God. I feel a bit tender and vulnerable revealing this to you. It’s a very personal prayer, and it is not meant to prescribe how anyone else should pray.
I wanted to take a risk and be vulnerable in this personal way, so that we may all share our personal prayers and inner processes, and so join them as an inspiration to our hearts, and eventually as an ignition to take right action.
May we all be inspired to act from love as we continue our work in helping the world to heal from what our own choices have wrought upon it. Reminding each other to put ourselves fully into the hands of Oneness and to act, as much as possible, only from the love we find there.
Oh Allah, HaShem, Elohim, Beloved,
I am broken, lost, weeping,
Oh Allah, You are the Infinitely Merciful, the Most Tenderly Compassionate,
Everything comes from You and everything returns to You.
In everything that comes and everything that goes, please help my eyes to see only You, my ears to hear only You.
I ask in all of Your Holy Names,
to help me to know Peace and Healing,
Strength and Compassion
Wisdom and Forbearance
Justice and Mercy
Forgiveness and Love
Please help my heart to carry what it is given. Without Your help, there is nothing I can carry.
Please send care and comfort and healing and solace and certainty and peace to the families of all those who have lost loved ones from the violence in this world.
Please nourish them, and care for them, and give to them.
For those lost to violence, please bring them swiftly home to Wholeness, to Your heart.
For those who chose violence over peace, please bring healing to their hearts, please help them to know Love and Compassion and Mercy.
For all those who are crying out and who have no home, no health, no food, no clothing, please house them, and heal them, and feed them and cover them.
For all those who hold an abundance of Your creation, please let them know Safety and fullness and gratitude, and let them know Your Generosity.
And please help us to be Your hands in this world. Please help us to know that our hearts are always cared for, that our every step is guided, that we need do nothing alone.
Help us to know that all choices can come from Your Love and can express Your Mercy and Your Peace.
Help me to look only to You, to take only from You, and to give only to You.
Help each of us to surrender completely, so that the help we are inspired to bring by You comes entirely from You, and is an expression of Love.
Amin. Amen. Omeyn.
How does your heart face these kinds of events? How do you nourish yourself? How do you help yourself move from anger and grief and into loving action? What prayers do you say? Please share in the comments below. By knowing each others prayers, they become One Prayer.
Update: My colleague, mastermind buddy, and fellow teacher Eric Klein of WisdomHeart posted this extremely insightful perspective.
33 Responses
Dear Mark, thank you so much for your prayers…
Here is a prayer that I came across that I was very moved by, and have been sharing with others… it’s by Robert Augustus Masters:
“If allowed to, grief doesn
Thank you, Rosa. Amin.
I received this message yesterday I live in Canada and I want you to know it has effected this country also.
With the evolution of shift of conscious spreading thru out the world it would nice to have a day where the world sets a time where everyone prays for the victims and parents and family members for uplifting spirit to help ease the grief that is so heavy for everyone who has seen this disaster unfold.
President Obama needs angelic guides at work in the white house to help bring conscious agreement from all sides to come to a solution so future families aren’t experiencing this again, the higher power of insite and intuition to help find a resolution for gun control and mental health support for families that know their child or adult is not well.
Twas’ 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38 when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven’s gate. Their smiles were contagious; their laughter filled the air. They could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there. They were filled with such joy; they didn’t know what to say. They remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.
Thank you, Rhonda, for that image. Amin.
…time in nature, rain, snow or shine helps me. moving my body, moving with the grief, not letting it shut me down. when i’m grounded in my body, the emotions can move freely, i can stand up, be still and/or step out with a completely broken heart. i can be kinder at the grocery store, in traffic, with my sweetheart, my children…i can allow the pain of it to break me open further and further~for me, steady connectedness to the earth allows me to bear witness rather than feel it is unbearable…each unbearable place, if i pay attention, breaks open to the next level of being…it is not easy but it is do-able when companioned with the Divine~
Thank you, Meg. Yes, grounding into our bodies. So critical.
Thank you for sharing your Prayer and thoughts. I sit in silence and let the Universal Energy flow knowing that they surround all that are directly and indirectly involved and touched by such events. Many times I am guided to create a healing grid using a combination of a mandala, crystals and energy work with an Intention for the deepest healing available to all and humanity as a whole. It is in that space that I know the Divine sees and knows far beyond what my little self can know.
Jill- beautiful.
Thank you Jill for your creative healing grid and beautiful healing tools for those who are affected with this horrible sad event like the the small young lives souls and their parents and families. I believe your healing grid will help heal the public and world also.
I know a little Hawaiian prayer: I Love You, Am Sorry, Please Forgive Me, Thank You.
Rhonda
Rhonda ~ Thank you for your kind words 😉 I use the Ho’oponopono prayer a lot too. I love what you said here:
“President Obama needs angelic guides at work in the white house to help bring conscious agreement from all sides to come to a solution so future families aren’t experiencing this again, the higher power of insite and intuition to help find a resolution for gun control and mental health support for families that know their child or adult is not well.”
That is so very true and I trust that humanity continues to heal and move towards the realization of Peace On Earth, Goodwill To All.
FYI- that prayer is also a Sufi prayer – asking for the Divine quality of Forgiveness is a very powerful practice of cleansing and exists in many faiths. It’s wonderful to do that as much as you can.
I am so moved by your beautiful offering – your willingness to be vulnerable, to explore, transparently, your own questions. As always, you are a teacher and guide for me. When this happened, I sobbed – I just could not contain it, could not transmute it into light. i was sitting in my car and the news came over the radio and I pulled into a parking lot and with my head on the steering wheel, I sobbed. And almost immediately, I felt my heart turn toward the light. It is something that happens now – after you and I worked together, after you taught me one of the most important lessons of my training: that the heart reflects that toward which it is turned. That teaching was the missing piece I’d been looking for – it slipped into my heart like a key into a lock. What a gift you are.
My prayer, when something like this happens, something that, for a moment, separates me from my connection to the Divine, I turn my awareness in the direction of the light and I wait. I listen. I know that by simply placing my interest, like a request, into the space ‘between’ me and God, I will be heard. I try to be patient. Sometimes, I manage that. Other times, I am busy with deadlines and hurry myself along. But even then, eventually, whether in silence or while I am driving or washing my hair, I feel the click that tells me that the space between us has closed (it was never broken) and I am home.
My prayer is always the same: The love of God surrounds us. The love of God enfolds us. The love of God protects us. Wherever we are, God is. So be it. So it is. I say it three times and I am safe, connected and home.
Amy! Amy! Amin, amin, amin. I sobbed, too. I screamed in grief (no one else was home in the house) so loud my throat is still hoarse, days later. I love your prayer.
Thank you so much dear Mark. Your prayer is beautiful, compassionate and real. Thank for your openness to modelling for us that in vulnerability there is courage and grace. Thank you for your healing words. Thank you for the love that you share so freely. Boundless Peace and Blessings to you, and to all beings in this world. May every one feel the Love that holds them.
Amin, Gail, amin.
Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful prayer. Despite being “off the grid” where newspapers, TV and other media are concerned, tragedies this dark slip through my filter. I allow myself to pray and cry. My ego mind wants to judge, get angry, confused and try to understand. My heart feels compassion for all those involved and needs to feel the support of others. Peace and Light
It’s so true, Megan. We need each other so much.
Mark, deep deep gratitude for the beautiful prayer and your vulnerability. You are a beautiful conduit for God’s love. I was among the fortunate ones to be in on the spiritual retreat with you that day, and I felt (and still feel) so blessed to have been pushed to stay in my heart on that tragic day. I would normally have watched hours of news, soaking in the tragedy and consuming it, as we are wont to do. Because of the retreat experience, I instead was filled with Divine love for days and was able to share that love and hope with others. I prayed deeply both for the victims’ families but also for those who are tragically lost in this world and find themselves in places where they might commit such crimes. I tend to try to find compassion for those people, as a way to stay connected to all of us, not just some of us. We are all worthy of the Divine love.
Holly- we are all worthy. My anger looked for someone to blame for a short while, but prayer brought me back to that place you mentioned, the safety and compassion and love. So critical. We all belong. It’s when someone doesn’t belong that these things happen.
Thank you so much for your prayer, Mark. I am so glad you shared, as it made me feel better using your beautiful words. I prayed earlier today by connecting to God in my mind, then focusing on my heart and feeling it be the center of divine grace. Once I feel it, I see it as a bubble flowing outward to wherever I am directing my prayer – encompassing those with a bubble of divine love, compassion, angelic support, and whatever healing they need. I sent divine grace prayers to those I know who are in sickness, and to the families and communities of Newtown. When I read your words just now, it helped me feel a greater deepness of love/grace. It is nice to read everyones comments, together as we pray, may the world be healed to a lighter, kinder place. Bless you for all your wonderful heart-centered work and sharing. Namaste’
Thank you, Pat. I love hearing of your prayer. And amin, amin, amin.
Ameyn.
Thank you for the prayer, Mark. I am grateful your leadership and company in the world.
Such violence occurs where I live frequently, unfortunately. So my prayers, like yours, have been for all of us to feel The Love as best we can through our varied practices. And to keep reminding each other how worthwhile it is to continue to reach for each other.
Victoria- thank you! And yes, I know where you live it’s a daily occurrence. It was so painful for me to witness that. Prayers for all who suffer this violence without the support of the nation witnessing and responding…
Mark, I am so grateful for what you bring to the business world. Although I have been following you for quite some time, I think that your prayer that speaks for all heart-led business owners is the most powerful thing you have shared.
I sometimes struggle with being set apart from the world immersed in judgment and pain. My goal is to bring peace and love to others and in times like last Friday it feels like I am alone in choosing that focus. I am fully aware that the only power to change such tragedies is one of LOVE.
I appreciate your leadership in willingness to see the needs of both the victims and the people who are so disconnected that they think they must cause pain to others in order to lessen their own pain. I try to remember all the people who struggle with depression and separation right now. Those that find a tragedy that appears separate from them pushes their sadness deeper. A sense of sadness pervades all of society right now. It is imperative that heart-led loving people increase the extension of love to help balance the emotion.
Thanks for your guidance to that place.
Kate-thank you! It is important to keep love and peace in our hearts. I’ve found that others can open up a space to receive that once they are deeply witnessed in the pain they are suffering. It brings us all along, doesn’t it? I personally think that the sadness is a healthy expression of grief- as a culture, I don’t believe we know how to grieve in healthy ways, and the backlog of grief is causing a tremendous amount of externalizing of the pain.
Thank you for not giving us a teaching, in the face of this tragedy! There is a time to give teachings and there is a time to share our brokenness in the face of the Divine Mystery.
I offer a very simple prayer: May this deep suffering I am experiencing right now, this suffering that has been given to me, may it become good medicine, for all those beings I meet in this lifetime.
Shayla- yes, definitely no teaching this week. Amin to your prayer.
A single tear rolled down my cheek as I read your prayer, Mark. Thank you for your generosity to share something so intimate.
For the most part, I haven’t felt any strong emotions the past few days. To be honest, I kind of feel like a fraud. How can’t I feel anything? I’ve found though that I connect better indirectly through people’s responses — so I thank you for sharing that prayer, Mark, because it helps me connect in my heart to something I’ve felt otherwise disconnected to.
The prayer I offer is a Baha’i prayer for the departed. I pray it not only for the spiritual progression of the souls who recently departed this world … but also for the souls of the ‘spiritual teams’ looking after those who are left behind.
I pray that the souls of these spiritual helpers may progress so they can be of even greater service to us here on earth — to the families directly affected, to the community, to everyone who has felt grief and outrage across the world, and to the perpetrator and to his family and his community.
I feel vulnerable sharing this prayer out loud. But I will do so anyway.
“O God! O Thou forgiver of sins, bestower of gifts, dispeller of afflictions. Verily I beseech Thee to forgive the sins of such as have abandoned the physical garment and have ascended to the spiritual world. O Lord! Purify them from trespasses, dispel their sorrows and change their darkness into light. Cause them to enter the garden of happiness, cleanse them with the most pure water, and grant them to behold Thy splendors on the loftiest mount”.
I can see how deeply this tragedy has affected you, Mark. So I just said this prayer another time, this time dedicating it to your spiritual support team, so that they can be of service to you as your heart heals.
Erin- Thank you so much for sharing the prayer- I felt it very powerfully in my heart. Your tear is a beautiful offering.
Dear Mark, thank you so much for your prayers
Hi Sybil,
I’m both touched and upset that it has affected India as well as other countries. I’m touched because those who died belong to all of us, and I hope our hearts can stand together. Upset because there is so much violence all over the world, and the U.S. doesn’t seem to notice so much… Here’s to prayerful change and Divine peace.
Dear Mark, thank you so much for sharing your Prayer and thoughts
Thank you, Helen.