KristaAbbott

The Practice of Meditation: How to Meditate the “Christian Way”

Posted on 02. Jan, 2011 by Krista Abbott.

The Christian Practice of Meditation
This is a completely impromptu post. In fact, I am supposed to be working on some other projects right now, but I felt divinely inspired (from a facebook comment thread about me embarking on a 21 day spiritual focus…thanks David) to get this out to you tonight. I will likely come back around and elaborate on this over the next several weeks, but tonight I am going to introduce you to the practice of meditation and explain how Christians can meditate and not feel “spooked out” by it.

Meditation is growing in popularity across cultural and religious circles. Some of this may be the result of individuals trying to decrease stress levels due to the condition of the world right now. Meditation is a great tool for stress reduction, no doubt about that. But for me, it is much more – it is really a requirement and a necessary practice of my faith – Christianity.

Should Christians Meditate?

I know I may get some push back here from Christians who read this, because most Christians are misinformed about the origins of meditation and get visuals of people sitting in some trance like state with incense burning around them humming some mantra or something. And…all of that is cool if that’s how you choose to meditate – but for me, it is a point of personal deep spiritual connection to God.

Now realize, there is no way for me to lay out every aspect of meditation, why it is important, what the health benefits are, what the spiritual benefits are and why everyone, including Christians, should do it in one blog post. But I can show you in Scripture where meditation is encouraged and at the end I will provide you with some simple steps to get started with a solid silent meditation practice.

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How To Eliminate Negative Thought Patterns

Posted on 01. Jul, 2010 by Krista Abbott.

How Do Thoughts Impact Your Life?

The thought patterns we live with day in and day out have extreme influence into the direction our lives take. Essentially, our thoughts can make us or they can break us. Eliminating negative thoughts and thought patterns is crucial to your success and happiness in life.

Now this concept is nothing new to those who are familiar with the Law of Attraction and the principles that surround it. There are a lot of one liners that originated out of this movement that point to such. Some of these include quotes such as:

“Thoughts become things.”

“What you think about, you bring about.”

These concepts are valid and true. Scripture even supports them when it says:

“As a man thinks in his heart…so is he” (Proverbs 27:3)

So, with this knowledge comes the understanding that the direction of your thoughts lead to the direction of your life. Therefore, it is important that you maintain a complete awareness of what you are thinking. You can do this by…

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Recycled Dreams

Posted on 17. May, 2010 by Krista Abbott.

Have you ever had a dream escape you?
You know, one of those deep desires of your heart that you sought after, and believed for and worked hard for…maybe even you prayed fervently for it – but one disappointment led to another…and another…and another…until one day – you surrendered that dream. You didn’t necessarily give up on it or quit…you just accepted that maybe it wasn’t meant to be, and although disappointed, and heartbroken you moved on with your life and started creating and realizing new dreams for yourself.

I have.

I have lived through the heartache and disappointment of broken dreams, released dreams, and forgotten dreams. I’ve also lived in the excitement and satisfaction that comes with embracing new dreams – realizing them and living them. This seems to make the loss of the broken (or escaped) dreams more bearable. Recently, I’ve been confronted again with one of my lost dreams – a dream that, well frankly, when lost caused me a great deal of heart break and many tears. I had completely released it and moved on, quite successfully, with my life. It was, honestly, at the time, one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make – to release that dream and walk away from it. Events over the past few months have led to new developments that I never expected to occur, and I now find myself face to face with that dream again… Do I embrace this dream once again with the hope of a different outcome this time, or do I play it safe and continue on with my successful life and new dreams?
What did I decide? Well, in a moment of complete transparency and authenticity…

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