Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Tools of the Trade: unnecessary but nice



This is where I usually meditate.

The table was made by a local craftsman who used a piece of mahogany my deceased brother Greg gave me over 30 years ago. We call it Greg's memorial table.

In front of the table are my Zafu meditation cushion and a prayer rug made by my husband Bill's father.

On the table are two photos. One of my deceased daughter Francesca, and one of my son Thomas and his little family.

Not shown is a meditation shawl brought back to me from India by a dear Yogi friend.

I have several other places where I can meditate which I shall show in future posts. My husband calls our home, Beryl's Monastery.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Beryl,
Thank you for sharing such a personal space with us. What a beautiful place you have created to meditate and connect with God. It inspires me to carve out a special place (other than my desk) where I too can be with Him. I believe it is so important not only to find that special space but to also be intentional about making the time to be close with God. Sunday worship is a great place to begin each week but in our relationship with Him he calls us to do more...Thanks and blessings to you for encouraging us with this spiritual focus.

connyoly said...

Beryl,
I hope you remember Zeuss, he and I have a morning ritual that we share: he is my shadow, so he is always close at foot(unless he downstairs checking on a guest :)
When I am ready I look him direct in the eyes and say "you ready???" and we both run to my bed, jump on it and I hold him, yep all 60 lbs of him on my lap and I say my morning prayers, he may be the only dog that says morning prayers!!!
I don't know how he would fit under your beautiful table, tho!!!

Beryl Singleton Bissell said...

I love to think of Zeus leaping into bed with you to pray.

We had a beloved fat cat, Ellie, who used to sit on Bill’s lap whenever he meditated. She was not a lap sitter at any other time. When Bill wasn’t home she’d find me an agreeable substitute.

About Me

My photo
Beryl is the author of The Scent of God: A Memoir published by Counterpoint NY in 2006 and A View of the Lake published by Lake Superior Port Cities Inc. in 2001. She’s been living on Lake Superior for seventeen wonderful years, and spent 10 years writing two popular columns for the Cook County News Herald: Newcomer Notes and Putting Down Roots. Beryl is past president of the Schroeder Area Historical Society and a long-time chair of its Oral History and Marketing committees. She is a past board member of the Violence Prevention Center in Grand Marais and committee member for the Grand Marais Art Colony’s first ever annual North Shore Reader and Writers Festival. She’s been published in the Sun Magazine, Minnesota Monthly, Lake Superior Magazine, and The Trenton Times and in the anthologies, Surviving Ophelia published by Perseus Publications in 2001 and The New Writer's Handbook, Vol. 2, published by Scarletta Press in 2008 and was named Best of Minnesota Writers by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. She is currently working on her third memoir: the sequel to The Scent of God.