A Wild and Wandering Journey

By S.J. Cunningham

When we offer words of devotion, gratitude, and supplication for and about our journey in life, we are connecting with our source and aligning our purpose with that of the universe. But words without a targeted energy of intention can evaporate into the air, as if they'd never been spoken at all. It's important to be aware of and ask for what we want in our roles as conscious creators in and of the world. 

 

A Wild and Wandering Journey provides daily devotions and meditations on a number of common subjects and themes that meet us along our individual paths. This book also provides guidance and space for creating devotions, meditations, or poems unique to your own life's circumstances. Self care, self love, and self improvement are important to a healthy, rich and happy life. Whether you're looking for new age religion, prayers, meditations, spiritualty, personal transformation, or creativity to support your spiritual journey and growth, A Wild and Wandering Journey can help you identify and overcome negative thoughts and help you toward a more fulfilling life.

 

We all have the ability to create, affect, and offer healing for our own lives through the power of focused intention. May these words be inspiration for you to take the first steps in positively affecting your wild and wandering experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S.J. Cunningham
• Release date: Mar 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9781736813652

S.J. Cunningham

S.J. Cunningham is originally from the beautiful hills of Western Pennsylvania. She has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and a master’s degree in the Writing of Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. She is the author of two award-winning speculative fiction novels: All This Was Mission and The Book of Grace. A Wild and Wandering Journey: Daily Devotions and Meditations of Intention for Life’s Fragile Moments is her first work in the non-fiction spirituality genre.   S.J. Cunningham currently resides in Melbourne, Florida near the Atlantic Ocean where she writes, teaches, and provides communications consulting services. Visit her at www.sjcunningham.net to learn more and connect.

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Contents

Introduction

Acceptance

Accomplishment

Adventure

Anger

Appreciation

Awakening

Chaos

Conflict

Connection to Spirit

Creativity

Darkness

Decisions

Disappointment

Doubt

Envy

Faith

Fate

Fear

Forgiveness

Friendship

Grace

Gratitude

Greed

Grief

Guilt

Healing

Impermanence

Injustice

Judgment

Lack

Letting Go

Light

Loneliness

Longing

Loss

Love

Passage of Time

Peace

Purpose

Redemption

Reflection

Resentment

Sacrifice

Seeking

Self-Identity

Self-Image/Self-Esteem

Shame

Solitude

Survival

Truth

Vision

Vulnerability

Weakness and Temptation

Wisdom

Introduction

A goal without a plan is just a wish.

—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Oftentimes, when we pray, meditate, or speak mantras or aspirations in order to focus our minds or plead for our lives to improve, we utter (or think) the words without having a clear purpose or intention supporting those words. But just as French writer and poet Antoine de Saint-Exupéry posited in the quote above, stating a goal without a plan is much like speaking the words without the intent. And offering words or supplications without intent creates only an unfocused wish for what you would like to occur in your life.

If we truly want our words and thoughts to manifest into tangible situations, objects, or change, we must speak them into existence through our focused intentions. As you speak, you create. But creation must take place using specific intent, be that through prayers, affirmations, chants, invocations, obsecration, meditation, supplication, rituals, spells, or positive and focused thinking.

No matter your religious or spiritual affiliation, realization of change or creation using any of the aforementioned practices also requires you to retain a persistent and continuous focus on the why behind your ask. Without the what and why, it is nearly impossible to realize the how which will lead to the when, where, and/or the who necessary to bring change into your life.

This book is meant to help you discover the intent behind your hopes, entreaties, and desires by encouraging you to think purposefully about your intent or your why. Through your focused intention, manifestation and change will more easily occur.

We all tend to go through a journey of self-discovery along our paths. Though our experiences may be vastly different, the underlying themes that we encounter during our passage will likely follow some similarities. This book attempts to organize some of the most common of life’s themes, trials, tribulations, joys, and exaltations, while providing a structure by which readers can use intent to address some of these common ideas, peaks, and valleys that we all experience. No matter what religion, spiritual practice, or form of worship, appreciation, gratitude, or entreaty you choose to employ, the suggested words included herein are meant to be guidelines for your own private practice.

In an effort to ensure that this book feels accessible to readers of all spiritual paths, we use the term devotions for our daily words of intent. Devotions, while used in religions tradition, are defined in this context as focused intentions of love, entreaty, and enthusiasm for our individual spiritual practices. The word devotion itself is powerful, defined as a commitment through love and loyalty. You may also substitute the word meditation for devotion.

Whichever term you choose and on whatever subject you decide to focus your devotions, you will likely have an ask or an interest specific to your own journey of self-discovery or change. In addition to the included devotions, meditations, and contemplations, each section also offers a structure for you to create your own intentional passage that best fits your personal needs or situation.

You may also note that multiple topics and themes may pertain to an individual need or subject of interest. Our trials, tribulations, hopes, and dreams tend to be very fluid. Choose the words that most closely align with your emotions and heart. Or use these words as inspiration to create your own words of intent or purpose. And remember to breathe through any negativity and pain, or uncomfortable and heavy thoughts, feelings, visions, and emotions. Our breath is the great cleanser of our souls.

We all have the ability to create, affect, and offer healing for our own lives. I hope these words are inspiration for you to take the first steps in positively affecting your journey through the power of focused intention.

Note that this text is not meant to be used as a substitute for the care of a licensed doctor or therapist, but only as a supplement to soothe your soul as you travel the arduous, painful, terrifying, beautiful, miraculous, sacred journey of the one fragile and tender life we’ve been given. If feelings of negativity and hopelessness are leading you to thoughts of self-harm, talk to a trusted friend or confidant. If you are in immediate crisis, 988 has been designated as the new three-digit dialing code that will route callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the United States. The International Association for Suicide Prevention lists resources that connect people to helplines in over 50 countries. This crisis and mental health support can be found by visiting https://www.iasp.info/crisis-centres-helplines/.

Peace, love, joy, and abundance to you forever and always, in your journey.

Acceptance

Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is, and that there’s got to be a way through it.

—Michael J. Fox

Morning Devotion for Acceptance

Intent: To accept with love and grace, where I am along my life’s journey, knowing that I have the ability to make changes and start each day with a new perspective.

The way things are for me now,

In this moment,

Is neither good nor bad.

The souls that I encounter

Are neither virtuous nor evil.

Every moment exists to be observed on its own,

Separate, Isolated, Impenetrable.

My role is to take these disparate moments

And see them through the veil of love and joy,

Leading them by the hand to the next moment

Where the experience continues.

I translate these moments in the language of my heart,

Where my truth, purpose, passion, and character reside.

Evening Devotion for Acceptance

Intent: To recognize that acceptance is not agreement or acquiescence; rather, acceptance is a calm, quiet pool inside of myself from which change can emerge.

In the core of my essence

Lies a quiet place.

A sacred space.

Still and calm and pure.

The vibration remaining when a music note ends,

The lingering energy from a loving encounter.

It exists without question and rests without judgement.

It quivers with potential,

Ready to burst forth in sound,

Poised to spring into action,

Primed to create a work of art

From the stuff of my soul.

Creating Your Own Devotion of Acceptance

Intent: To quietly and humbly accept my current circumstances in life without judgment so that I may release any resistance in the creation of a new and better situation for myself.

Identify without judgment of yourself or others, where you are in life and the circumstances surrounding your experiences.

Recognize that no matter where you are currently, the very next moment, hour, day, week, offers the potential for change.

Acknowledge that you are the creator of your own life and that you not only have the ability to make new decisions, but you also have the ability to interpret your current situation.

Find the place deep inside of you where you can sit in stillness and reflect on where you are.

Allow a feeling of appreciation for your life, its many twists and turns, and the blessings that greet you each day.

Gently release any thoughts of dissatisfaction with your current circumstances, knowing that you can choose to see the next moments as a new adventure for change and creativity.

Acknowledge that with acceptance of your current circumstances comes a period of rest. Allow this calm stillness in your life and do not judge a lack of movement or change negatively.

Visualize the way that you’d like your life to turn out. Think of specifics—your dream