A Joyful Practice

Just Enough Time To Create… & Shine! (the “missing” compilation post) October 14, 2026

“Nine days and nine nights of blessings and happiness if you are celebrating Sharada Navaratri!” Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating the Protection of Our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary and/or  creating friendship, peace, freedom, understanding, and wisdom.

Stay safe! Live well! Hydrate and nourish your heart, body, and mind.

This “missing” compilation post for Wednesday, October 14^th, includes new content and excerpts. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra         (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.

In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).

Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.

Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.

“You rule the earth, breathe life
into the five elements.
All creation throbs with the Unstruck Sound.
Immeasurable, who can take Your measure?”

— Poem 113, as printed in I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Dĕd by Lal Dĕd (Translated from the Kashmiri with an Introduction and Notes by Ranjit Hoskote)

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”, or words to that affect, are familiar to pretty much everyone who grew up in a community rooted in one or more of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, or Islām). Those words are a common English translation for Beresh’t-Genesis 1:1, the beginning of the Torah (or Hebrew Bible) and the beginning of the Christian Old Testament. While the words are different in the Qur’ān, this is still the beginning of the creation story, according to the Abrahamic religions.

Every culture on the planet has a creation story. These stories almost always involve a force above and beyond that creates… everything, including time. Go a little deeper into those stories and their supporting theology and you will find the belief that everything that is created contains some trace of it’s Creator, some element or attribute of the Divine — including the ability to create.

“[Kushmanda] also lives in our hearts. The fact that she is smiling reminds us that we too are our most creative when we are smiling and feeling positive, courageous (a quality of heart), and strong.”

— quoted from the “Knowing Kushmanda” section of “Chapter 4 — The Art of Loving Your True Self” in The Way of the Goddess: Daily Rituals to Awaken Your Inner Warrior and Discover Your True Self by Ananta Ripa Ajmera

EXCERPT (REMIX): The following description for the fourth day of Navaratri is a revised and expanded excerpt. Some links have been updated/added.

Today was the fourth day of Sharada Navaratri. Some might think of Navaratri, the “nine nights” and days of celebration in the Hindu tradition, as being very different from their own religious celebrations — because it is a celebration that focuses on Durga, the divine mother, in various manifestations. However, Hinduism is not the only religion where the feminine aspects of the Divine are celebrated. It’s not even the only religion that celebrated the Divine feminine today, since some Christians in Orthodox traditions were celebrating the Protection of Our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary.

Furthermore, Navaratri is not the only religion in which an observation related to a woman, as the Divine, is associated with a period of nine days/nights. To my knowledge, however, Navaratri is unique in that it celebrates many different aspects of a single woman during the same timeframe. Each night/day is associated with a different manifestation of Durga/Parvati, the mother goddess, and is part of nine-part story cycle/journey that ends with a demon-king being destroyed.

This fourth day is dedicated to the Goddess Kushmanda who, it is said, “created the world with her divine smile” — a smile that also powers the sun. She is recognized as Shakti (the creative force) and associated with good health (specifically with improving health), wealth, and strength. She is like the aspects of the Virgin Mary that are remembered on Candlemas.

“The fact that this goddess, like Chandraghanta, rides a lion shows that the power of love is just as potent as the fire of transformation. It reminds us that the ability to love comes from inner strength. When we feel clouded by fear, anger, and grief, it can be difficult to imagine one day having the strength to love again. But Kushmanda is here to remind us that, no matter how brokenhearted we may feel at time, the power of love lives within us, and we can tap into it and become our creative best at any time.”

— quoted from the “Knowing Kushmanda” section of “Chapter 4 — The Art of Loving Your True Self” in The Way of the Goddess: Daily Rituals to Awaken Your Inner Warrior and Discover Your True Self by Ananta Ripa Ajmera

According to Kohelet — Ecclesiastes (3:1), “Everything has an appointed season, and there is a time for every matter under the heaven.” Since today (October 14^th) was the last “deleted” day when papal-governed countries switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar back in 1582, why not think of today as a season to create change?

We can not only ask ourselves “How can I spend my time?”; we can also ask “What can I create during this time?”.

Asking and answering these questions leads us to the fourth step in our Navaratri journey: Create a plan that allows you to shine!

On a certain level, the aforementioned questions were being actively asked and answered when the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, more commonly known as the Second Vatican Council or Vatican II, started it’s second working day, today in 1962.

These were also the questions, on a certain level, that e e cummings (born today in 1894) asked himself as he figured out the way he wanted to show up in the world.

Click on the excerpt title below for a post about e e cummings.

FTWMI: A More Loving Time

“i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes”

— quoted from “i thank You God for most this amazing” by e e cummings (b. 1894)

Wednesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “10142025 ‘i carry your heart’ [the celebrations remix]”]

“i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)“

— quoted from “[i carry your heart with me(I carry it in)]” by e e cummings

If you are struggling, thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.

White Flag is an app, which I have not researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.

If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or need a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).

“At this point, and only at this point, surrender becomes a matter of personal experience—a state of gratitude powerful enough to fill your mind and consume all the afflictions that once used to agitate it.”

— quoted from the Yoga International commentary on Yoga Sūtra 1.25 by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD

### AUM ###