Have you ever wondered why those of us on a spiritual path are told to have a “practice”? Imagine if we all joined a spiritual team and got together every day for practice. What would we do? Would we run prayer sprints? Would we stretch our beliefs? Would we scrimmage different religions?
In fact, practice is just as important to becoming a spiritual person as it is to becoming a great soccer player, swimmer or baseball player.
A spiritual practice is much like an athletic practice except the focus lies on connecting with the Divine within and without – becoming more open to spiritual experiences, to connecting with our Higher Self or God, to tapping into the flow of Divine Energy – rather than on becoming a better athlete. Just as the physical athlete must stretch and strengthen his muscles, spiritual athletes must stretch and strengthen their ability to quiet their minds, open to their spiritual nature, sense the part of themselves that is connected to the Divine, and experience a unity with All That Is. Some people have a spiritual or mystical experience without trying. The vast majority of people must exert effort daily to get just a little bit closer to having a vague sense that they’ve had a spiritual experience.
What Does Spiritual Practice Look Like?
Just like those in search of the ultimate peak physical experience, spiritual seekers are forced to practice, practice, practice to experience a peak spiritual experience. What does that practice look like? For some, it involves daily prayer sessions. For others, it means meditating every day, doing good deeds for others, performing God’s commandments, walking in nature, having a conversation with the Divine, journaling, using Tarot cards or a pendulum, contacting spirit guides, or gazing at the ocean. No matter what practice you choose, it almost always involves performing it regularly, such as at least once a day.
Why Is The Repetition So Important?
Why do you have to participate in spiritual practice so often? The answer is simple: habit formation. When your spiritual practice becomes a habit, you can relax and allow it to be part of who you are and what you do. It becomes part of your life. In addition, when you participate in that practice without thinking – because it is a habit – you allow your mind to dwell on something besides what you are doing. Your actions take no thought, which allows you to open your mind to focus upon something else. You then open to the experience of something else. You stop doing and start being. And since your being stems from the Divine Being, you move closer to unity with the Divine. You move closer to having a spiritual experience.
Additionally, when you form a habit – an action that requires little or no thought to accomplish – you can then take what might seem empty, rote action and instill it with meaning. You can think about why you are doing that action – what symbolism it has or what significance it holds for you personally – and the empty action becomes meaning-full. If you also infuse that action with faith and belief (that you can connect with Divine Spirit), you fill your actions with spirit, and they become spirit-full.
What To Do When Practice Feels Like A Struggle
I’ve often struggled with having a spiritual practice. I’m too tired to get up early enough or to stay up late enough to spend time meditating and praying. Or I simply don’t have the time for journaling, going inward, or going to a religious service.
For those, like me, who feel too busy for a lengthy spiritual practice, I recommend small spiritual practices. Try 10 minute of prayer or meditation in the morning. Or light a candle and burn some incense when you get up and offer a prayer of gratitude. Just before you begin your work day, light a candle on your desk, quiet your mind and ask that your work be karma yoga – holy work. Or set your phone or watch to sound an alarm once an hour; when it rings, stop for 30 seconds and clear your mind and allow yourself to be in the moment – since God is in the moment.
Make these, or other short, simple actions, your spiritual practices. You’ll find your day, and your life, significantly enriched, and the experience will motivate you to find time for longer spiritual practices. Or, if you like these short practice periods, add in more of them: a five minute meditation during your lunch break, a 10 minute journaling time before bed or a blessing before and after meals. In this way, your day becomes one spiritual practice after another.
Making Your Whole Day a Spiritual Practice
The ultimate goal of a spiritual practice revolves around having your whole day (week, month, year, life) feel like a spiritual practice or, at least, like an extension of your spiritual practice. You want to have a constant conversation with God or “place God before me always” (Psalms). It is also the underlying reason for the enormous number of mitzvot, or commandments, Jews are asked to remember and to act upon each day. If you try to observe even five or 10 of them each day, you find actions tied into a spiritual practice on an almost constant basis. You praise God for your soul returning to your body and that body working correctly when you awaken. You bless the food you eat, acknowledging that it comes from a Higher Source. You raise your hands after washing them and ask that they be used in God’s service. As you go to sleep at night, you ask that your transgressions and those of others be forgiven. Mitzvot are connectors; each time you perform a commandment, it connects you to a Higher Power. The action reminds you of God and makes the moments sacred.
If you can’t find time every day for spiritual practice, commit to having a practice every week. For Jews – and even for non-Jews – I recommend taking on the Friday night Sabbath candle lighting as a spiritual practice. Or try giving yourself a sanctuary in time – 24 hours that are sacred, a real Sabbath. You then can build on this by developing a daily hour of spiritual practice when you do something you feel connects you to the Divine.
To a great extent, spiritual practice involves remembering God on a minute-by-minute basis. When you remember your Divine Source you allow yourself to be conscious of that Source. And when you are aware of Divinity, you can experience it. Without a spiritual practice, you may go through each day or each week without awareness of God. That lack of awareness makes it almost impossible to experience anything other than your own physical reality let alone your own spirit or the Spirit of the Universe.
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Wonderful blog post as usual.
Renee
Thanks, Renee.