“Life is crazy; Ain’t it baby?” This Iggy Pop (+ Kate Pierson back up vocals) song Candy appeared on the mind screen. I just did an intuitive check in with the group of you, wondering what might be a useful topic for this eZine. I got an image of everyone rushing around, buzzing to get it all in, ricocheting around in the day to day demands of modern life. Time to check in on the morning practice(and evening if you’re really enlightened).
Life in 2010 – ah the madness. The speed of life can be exhilarating, though insane, and probably hard to completely avoid. But it doesn’t have to be a problem, right? You’ve heard for years that some people thrive on stress. It’s certainly a delicate balance to multi-task with grace.
What makes the difference between a cranky ricocheting rabbit and a masterful one? Oh there’s a lot of techniques and strategies to discuss – but a major one is the morning practice. Let’s start there, and talk about logistics, content, and success strategies for pulling off this key element. It’ll make the difference and certainly add to your sense of purpose and your quality of life.
LOGISTICS OF THE SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
I guessing many of you have a morning practice; maybe for years now. Others of you might not, or might not be as consistent with it as you would like (that would be me too). You also might feel the need to revise or revitalize your practice form time to time.
Your practice may be spiritual, it may be for centering or grounding. It may just be a time to “simmer” as writer/psychologist Sam Keen calls it, with your cup of coffee or tea before the day starts. Abraham, the abundance channel, speaks of practices to set your intentions at the outset of the day. Many spiritual traditions recommend this technique and the benefits of it, which include fostering clarity, centeredness, and connection with your small and larger purpose each day.
Making space for your practice logistically requires you to determine what will work for you in a few areas. There’s time: How long of a practice is ideal right now? How long do you want to try this – three weeks is considered minimum to set up a new habit. There’s place – where will you practice? It’s good to have a spot you’ve decided on so you just can simply go there.Then there is your unique goal: What outcome or energy or quality would you like your practice to cultivate?
Then there is tracking how it goes: setting out on a certain design/path, and getting that habit set up, if you’re new to it. You might have a check off grid to mark your progress, and review it weekly to see if your plan needs any tweaking. If you’ve been practicing for a while, tracking might include getting support now and then, as in the Buddhist meditation world, where you would periodically check in with a Meditation Instructor (more experienced person) to ask any questions that make come up.
To summarize, some logistics of spiritual practice to consider would include:
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Time – length of your practice – 10 min? Half hour? (You might find a timer handy)
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Place – nice to create a spot you’ll use daily
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Goal – what is this fostering for you?
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Tracking – how is it going? Set up your goal, and then see how you do – tweak each week
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Morning and evening? Whoa, truly advanced … Resets Rock! (even if brief)
METHODS OF SPIRITUAL PRACTICE – THE FUN STUFF
Once you’ve got the ground laid for your practice via the logistics above, you get to choose what to use in your practice. There’s no shortage of options here. You can meditate – keeping it simple, quiet, and contemplative. You could do a body-based practice, like yoga, dance or t’ ai chi / chi kung. You could just “simmer” and breathe, setting your intention for the day. You could use this time to journal, or to practice embodying your higher qualities or affirmations.
It might be a challenge to keep it simple in our world of endless options. So this is a good thing to nail down somewhat. You’ve set the time, place, etc. – now pick your weapons, I mean tools. These methods hone your intention, your mind, your body, your clarity. You may prefer to have a bit of fun in there too – that’s allowed!
One thing I think of for the methods section, is clarifying what your particular “Ahh” place would be, when your practice really works. For example, when I do certain yoga postures, there are times when I get a kind of tingling “reset” of my whole body-mind. Stillness does this a little more quietly. So what is that place, sort of like erasing the chalk board of your mind, that you like to get to in your practice time? We can call this the reset point or such.
Summarizing the Methods of spiritual practice, here are just a few ideas:
- Choose your method or methods for your practice
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Name the reset point that you’d like to see – maybe not every day, but ideally
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Keep at it for a while to get a rhythm going
SUCCESS STRATEGIES FOR YOUR PRACTICE
Success strategies include some of the things noted above – Tracking your progress by checking in weekly, to tweak your plan or design to make it work better for you. Defining your plan is also key. Another thing to remember is adjusting your schedule to support the practice. (Reminds me of that maxim, whenever you say yes to a new thing, there’s something you have to say no to, to make room for the new.) If you want to get up earlier to make this happen, you’ll have to go to bed earlier. Sad, but true (this is one of my hurdles).
Other success strategies that might work well are enlisting a buddy to do this with. One million spiritual communities can’t be wrong, ha ha, in terms of the power of communities. There could also be a class, or a meditation program in your town/city, that would make it easy to get a nice long sit in, or a yoga class, etc. Community/buddy action not only adds accountability to the mix, it also can add fun.
However you do it, you basically go public on this one – you say out loud, “I’m a gonna meditate every day for 20 minutes for three weeks”. And with a buddy or those you set up accountability with, you report in after a week, on how you did. This isn’t so you get punished if your performance is less than stellar. It’s to push you a bit more on those mornings you might just stay in bed. When you have accountability, it’s more than you, keeping track of the sleep ins.
Other good success strategies include planning rewards for yourself. Some people also like to plan challenges, say putting in some consequences if they don’t meet their goals – that’ll up the ante. A major key is really getting clear why you’re doing this. Is the higher quality you hope to cultivate more calm amidst the chaos? More love? Peace? Purpose? Clarify your intentions and then set your sail for the next 3-6 weeks.
Summarizing success strategies:
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Plan your tracking times, to check in on your progress
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Make the time by adjusting your schedule
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Buddy/community support/classes
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Going public with your plan and enlisting accountability
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Rewards and/or challenges
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Setting out with clarity about the higher quality/reason for your practice
QUALITY OF LIFE TAKES WORK
Shifts happen, but improving quality of life takes intelligent planning, time, and perseverance. Full lives can create a bit of a ricochet element to the days, leaving you scattered and crazed, even lost and despondent when you lose track of your purpose in the fray. Daily spiritual practice can help you ride the roller coaster of life with a smile and your hands in the air. Yeah you’re still spent at day’s end, yet you’re content knowing you’re making progress towards what’s meaningful.
How is your practice going? Would you like to make your plan and name it? Share your experience, your challenges, your wisdom – how about even your plan – below.
Blessings on each and every day,
Denise
Okay – I would like to recommit to my morning practice – minimum 10 min, up to 30 for the full monty (hey that gives me another idea ; ) I’ll check back next week to say how it went.
Denise