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Have you ever wondered about the meaning behind the three positions of Muslim prayer? In the youtube video "Steps of Muslim prayer explained" by David Middlecamp, Spiritual Leader (Imam) Mas'ab Abdalla explains it with grace and simplicity.  1. Hands are put up to symbolize putting the world behind, so as to focus fully on God. Imam Abdalla shares "it's hard, but it's a practice we do five times a day". "This first step is standing up, with the mind above the heart; the first step on the journey for a seeker of truth - it is all intellectual; learning the steps of purifying onesself, and how to pray. . ."  2. The second step is done in the bowing state. The mind and heart are now on a level - they are even with one another. Imam Abdalla tells us that this represents the second step of the seeker - and that in this pose the teaching is transferred from solely intellectual in the mind to an experience of the heart.  3. Prostration. In the third and final stage of the seeker, the mind is placed below the heart; it represents the submission of heart to God. In this stage, says Abdalla, "We trust in God. We are loving God whether times are tough or times are prosperous." To see the video of this simple and beautiful explanation offered by Imam Abdalla, please CLICK HERE (or the link above) to watch. If you did your own prayer five times every day, what do you think might unfold? If this information is new to you, thank you for opening your mind and heart to another's way of praying; understanding builds compassion, compassion builds community, community makes our world a better place for everyone. Much Love, Rev. Maya  Image above is from www.learnreligions.com
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 Today I want to share a story that has been going around on social media; it is a letter written by pop star Fiona Apple, about her choice to cancel her South American concert tour. May we all have the respect for our own hearts, loved ones and our personal process that Ms. Apple takes for herself in this lovely example of true self care and care for a being who has been her companion for over a decade. Here is her letter: “It's 6pm on Friday, and I'm writing to a few thousand friends I have not met yet. I'm writing to ask them to change our plans and meet a little while later. Here's the thing. I have a dog, Janet, and she's been ill for about 2 years now, as a tumor has been idling in her chest, growing ever so slowly. She's almost 14 years old now. I got her when she was 4 months old. I was 21 then — an ad0-ult, officially — and she was my kid. She is a pitbull, and was found in Echo Park, with a rope around her neck, and bites all over her ears and face. She was the one the dogfighters use to puff up the confidence of the contenders. She's almost 14 and I've never seen her start a fight, or bite, or even growl, so I can understand why they chose her for that awful role. She's a pacifist. Janet has been the most consistent relationship of my adult life, and that is just a fact. We've lived in numerous houses, and joined a few makeshift families, but it's always really been just the two of us. She slept in bed with me, her head on the pillow, and she accepted my hysterical, tearful face into her chest, with her paws around me, every time I was heartbroken, or spirit-broken, or just lost, and as years went by, she let me take the role of her child, as I fell asleep, with her chin resting above my head. She was under the piano when I wrote songs, barked any time I tried to record anything, and she was in the studio with me, all the time we recorded the last album. The last time I came back from tour, she was spry as ever, and she's used to me being gone for a few weeks, every 6 or 7 years. She has Addison's Disease, which makes it more dangerous for her to travel, since she needs regular injections of Cortisol, because she reacts to stress and excitement without the physiological tools which keep most of us from literally panicking to death. Despite all this, she's effortlessly joyful & playful, and only stopped acting like a puppy about 3 years ago. She is my best friend, and my mother, and my daughter, my benefactor, and she's the one who taught me what love is. I can't come to South America. Not now. When I got back from the last leg of the US tour, there was a big, big difference. She doesn't even want to go for walks anymore. I know that she's not sad about aging or dying. Animals have a survival instinct, but a sense of mortality and vanity, they do not. That's why they are so much more present than people. But I know she is coming close to the time where she will stop being a dog, and start instead to be part of everything. She'll be in the wind, and in the soil, and the snow, and in me, wherever I go. I just can't leave her now, please understand. If I go away again, I'm afraid she'll die and I won't have the honor of singing her to sleep, of escorting her out. Sometimes it takes me 20 minutes just to decide what socks to wear to bed. But this decision is instant. These are the choices we make, which define us. I will not be the woman who puts her career ahead of love & friendship. I am the woman who stays home, baking Tilapia for my dearest, oldest friend. And helps her be comfortable and comforted and safe and important. I need to do my damnedest, to be there for that. Because it will be the most beautiful, the most intense, the most enriching experience of life I've ever known. When she dies. So I am staying home, and I am listening to her snore and wheeze, and I am revelling in the swampiest, most awful breath that ever emanated from an angel. And I'm asking for your blessing. I'll be seeing you. Love, Fiona”  Please visit www.fionaapplestore.com
Or click the image above to support this artist and all around kind human.
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