Collecting Sacred Moments

Most of us get occasionally frazzled, overwhelmed, or drained; some of us may feel as though we’ve lost touch with ourselves in some very real and dismaying way. Contact with our “larger self” provides just the antidote we all need.

This wonderful handbook—not, as the author points out, a self-help book, but a self-acceptance book—gives us a useful pointer for recovering a sense of appreciation for your life. Here is a wise and helpful way to begin:

When we can take the perspective of our Larger Self, we can see what is sacred to us, in our life, and in the people all around us. In fact, it is just when life seems most difficult that it can help most to remember ourselves by doing what the author calls “collecting sacred moments,” the luminous moments that shine through the ordinariness of life. These help us by reminding us that we are more than the person struggling to get through the day.

Sacred moments don’t have to be huge or dramatic. When the author asked one client to recall a sacred moment from the previous week, she said, “The first thing I think of was waking up real early last Thursday. I was all alone, and I could be still, and drink my cup of coffee and look out the window at the trees. That was a sacred moment for me.” She also remembered another, during the pre-dinner hour when her children, like most others, are apt to be cranky, but instead her husband took the time to roughhouse and laugh with them.

Sacred moments don’t have to be perfect. Another woman remembered forty-five minutes stuck in a traffic jam with her husband as sacred because they used the time for a good talk instead of getting tense or fighting.

Sacred moments show us what we value. When we remember them and string them together, they become a sacred retelling of the life we are living.

Appreciation is an important aspect of the Larger Self. As Brenner says, “I’ve found that the conscious act of appreciation has tremendous benefits. In fact, appreciation appreciates. That is, whatever you appreciate gets larger and becomes more manifest in your life, giving you even more to appreciate. Finding what there is to appreciate is like watering a seed that will grow and improve your life. It helps you to stay connected to yourself. It helps you to keep the bud of your spirit open, without shriveling into resignation.”

Read more: Spirit, Inspiration, Self-Help

Inspired by I Know I'm in There Somewhere, by Helene G. Brenner (Gotham Books, 2003).

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Clare R.

4:32PM PST on Nov 13, 2011

Each of us identifies sacred moments differently; but just to recognize, enjoy, and nourish them is the best way to face the rest of life.

send a green star

Past Member .

10:02PM PDT on May 22, 2011

Thankyou :)

Jon H.

9:41AM PDT on May 21, 2011

Thanks. A little late foe that is their is going to be a Rapture. lol

Camila K.

7:53PM PDT on May 20, 2011

I am finding myself more and more to seek beauty when things begin to get me down. There is beauty everywhere---if you look up at the sky, every cloud; every branch and the way it sits on the blue of the sky; every child; every pebble; every drop of rain---each is a moment of gratitude for showing beauty to me, and is a sacred moment.

4:57PM PDT on Mar 30, 2011

My sacred moments is the happiness of spending time with my kids or just to call friends or family memebers just to say I love you. So when is the last time you told your kids, friends or parents out of the blue you love them. That is always so heart warming.

KS G.

8:23PM PST on Dec 6, 2010

Thanks for the article.

Mari '.

3:15AM PDT on Nov 2, 2010

Sitting in the forest

Zarka M.

11:32PM PDT on Nov 1, 2010

I agree with you completely. Sacred moments don't have to be something amazing, it could be something that gives you a bigger picture of things.

Janice P.

4:51AM PDT on Oct 20, 2010

My time spend hiking in the woods always feel sacred. One time, I hiked to the top of the bluffs early in the morning right after the first deep snowfall of the winter. I was the first one - the only one - up there. Only my tracks appeared in the newly-fallen snow. The air was so crisp and cold. As I looked own upon the town, the tops of the trees, the river that runs through the state park, I winessed the most wondrous sight. Everything was covered with the pristine whiteness of the snow, making it like an ethereal scene from some imaginary postcard. It was so beautiful that it took my breath away.

Most of my sacred moments, however, were spent with my parents, although I did not always realize them as such at the time. The most sacred moment - and the most painful - of my life was being with my beloved mother as she took her final breath. It is a memory that will be sacred to me until I take my last breath and reunite with her.

Bryony K.

6:53AM PDT on Sep 24, 2010

Ta! Last sunday my bestfriend came back from Camp America, she'd been gone for 3 months! (we come from England) On the tuesday we went to aquacise (doing aerobic excersises in a swimming pool to music - big giggles!) like we always do n it was like she'd never been away, except that we talked a lot about America. While semi-paying attention and doing these ridiculous movements, splashing around, we talked non-stop and were in fits of giggles, laughing the whole time. That was a sacred hour, i think!

After that, my boyfriend picked me up and we went for a quick, cheap coffee. Had a great time tho, talked about mostly nonsense n laughed n went home in a really good mood...and the rest, needless to say...is history!

Then yesterday I spent my lunch break on the phone to my Granma - we had a proper good old southampton (england) gals chat n planned a sleepover on the weekend! (we do quite often!) n a 'mooch' round the charity shops. It was so good just to speak with her.

I guess when u think about it, ur life can be full of more sacred moments thn u think! Thanks for this :)