LISTENING FOR JOY
Listening is a simple action that opens us up to feeling. What are we listening for? To celebrate change and overcome hate, believing that nothing is
Richard J. Marks guides individuals, groups and audiences to develop practical spirituality.
Finding more freedom and joy are the most important goals worth having and practicing.
We can talk about how to begin right now.
Professional writer, spiritual guide, and speaker living in New York City.
by taking personal responsibility for your relationships and by loving yourself.
and develop practical ways to have it working in your life.
by diminishing reactivity and feelings that block love from flowing.
to find genuine new meaning in your words and sounds.
not only with words, but through visuals and music.
who helps the world and inspires others by sharing the best of who you are.
Our authentic selves are self-love; we must love ourselves enough to be who we are. Spiritual integrity involves continually turning towards the discovery that we are conduits of hope, freedom and joy. It involves trusting and listening to what is divine in ourselves. Developing spiritual integrity involves growing beyond feelings of distance and separation. Being sure not to project our understanding of right and wrong onto everyone else’s experience is actually a statement of humility and faith.
Self-healing means growing into higher-centered feeling. Experiencing… feeling … trusting … allowing … and receiving… all these things are parts of self-healing. When you can feel these things in the moment, they lead to real love of self and others. Self-healing as a way of practical spirituality rejects what is low and hurtful; reverses what is not joy. It exchanges denial and hatred for hope and love; it means abandoning our deep distrust, and listening for joy.
This is freedom: seeing how to transition from a life with dwindling hope to a world in which freedom connects with both empathy and power. When they connect, we have hope.
Joy is in us at all times. The first quality of joy is serenity, the peace that comes from listening. The second quality of joy is a vital action: transfiguration. This is the metamorphosis that happens when something changes form into a more beautiful state. Getting joy moving in our bodies, we gain the powers to experience everything as more beautiful.
The spiritual work of transfiguration is metamorphosis, which in humans is essentially the start of change. It means seeing things as more beautiful. But there is something more: it is a promise of what is to come. Our goal is to directly experience it.
Spirit is sentience, awareness, the accessibility of emotion and intellect, and our own unique ability to be conscious of consciousness.
Artwork courtesy of Margaret d’Arsinoë
Listening is a simple action that opens us up to feeling. What are we listening for? To celebrate change and overcome hate, believing that nothing is
There comes a day when it is time to start watching our thoughts and seeing what is in the heart. Ultimately, how we travel inwardly is
To foster the role of strong ethical principles in the development of spiritual leaders and communities, the ASI's Honor Code of Ethics and Good Practices aims to be an evolving force for greater integrity and professionalism within the modern spiritual landscape.
To foster the role of strong ethical principles in the development of spiritual leaders and communities, the ASI's Honor Code of Ethics and Good Practices aims to be an evolving force for greater integrity and professionalism within the modern spiritual landscape.
A word of caution: As important as self-care and self-healing are, they never replace any circumstance where there is urgent need for medical attention, professional therapy, or trained mental care workers.
Please visit my Calendly to view available appointment times, and send me a message to say hello.
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$250 per 60-minute session
For other amounts
Organizations, groups, and individuals are all welcome to send an inquiry to discover where you are and where you want to be.