How to Find Time for Spiritual Practice
Do you struggle to find time to work on inner growth? Here is one approach to make ordinary daily actions part of a practice that will leave you grounded and centered for the day.
Those living in monasteries may have swarths of time to meditate and pray. However, life for the rest of us demands our attention from the moment we awaken to the moment we drop into bed exhausted from a day’s labor.
How do we find time to nurture our spirits and, at the same time, attend to family, job, community?
There is a way to make ordinary events integral to spiritual practice. I offer seven simple steps to get your mind going on variations that will enrich your process of becoming mindful in the present moment.
1. The Practice of Awareness and Presence
Unless you didn’t go to bed last night, I am going to guess the first thing you did this morning was wake up.
For some, that means eyes pop open, and brains begin to churn with ideas for the day.
For others, it may mean a low moan, stretching under the covers and pulling the pillow over your head.
Either way, a shift in consciousness occurs, which is the beginning of awareness we call ‘waking up.’
The first practice is to become aware of precisely what happens when we wake.
I often begin by naming three things about my body, of which I am aware.
For example, what is the position of my feet?
What is the first thing my eyes see?
How do the sheets feel?
This practice brings us from ‘there’ to ‘here,’ and although it seems simple, it is one that can be used anytime throughout the day when we realize that we are not entirely present to ourselves, our work, our family, our life.
I find I need to ‘wake up’ over and over again all day long.
2. The Practice of Grounding and Prayer
Breathing occurs with or without our awareness and continues as long as we are alive.
Because we don’t have to be awake to breathe, we tend to take it for granted.
Breathing is a fundamental spiritual practice practiced for centuries by mystics, gurus, and healers of many religious traditions.
Awareness of each breath from the abdomen through the nostrils is the practice in its purest form.
Doctors, having researched the healing effects of mindful breathing, now prescribe courses in MBSR—mindfulness-based stress reduction.
As a spiritual practice, conscious breathing brings us a sense of groundedness.
And for many, breath is a form of wordless prayer—inhaling strength and love, exhaling fears and sorrows.
3. The Practices of Gratefulness and Forgiveness
It is so easy to jump into a shower to ‘wake up,’ especially if we haven’t taken a few moments to practice presence and grounding when our eyes first open.
We may miss the spiritual practice of reflecting on the water as it washes down over us.
There are many ways to reflect on this experience, but my favorite is to list three things I am grateful for, thinking of them as blessings raining down upon me.
I pick up a bar of soap, iconic of forgiveness, and name three things I have trouble forgiving myself for, and with gentle awareness, I watch those things swirl down the drain.
A shower is refreshing for the body, but it can also be a refreshing practice for the soul.
4. The Practice of Honesty
When I pick up my toothbrush, I like to consider some of the tough questions or challenges I have to chew on in the day ahead.
I know when I have bitten off more than I can swallow, and I know that without my teeth, there are things I just cannot digest well if I don’t take my time to chew thoroughly.
I want to take care of what I have been given to help me cut through the tough stuff.
As I run the floss between each tooth, I ponder what may be sticking in my life that I don’t need and that will weaken my resolve if I don’t remove it.
For as difficult and distasteful as this process can be, I look forward to rinsing away the drivel in my life and savoring the refreshing coolness to follow.
5. The Practice of Wisdom
I don’t know about you, but what I choose to put on is influenced by three criteria…the weather, my intentions for the day, and what is clean and available.
We can’t do a lot about the climate, especially if it is stormy or dry, but we can use wisdom in preparation.
With no spiritual practice in the morning, my first act used to be to grab my cell phone and check the weather forecast.
Now I pause, wet my metaphorical finger and discern the climate in my soul.
Are there winds of change?
Is it a season of dryness?
Where will my inner journey take me this day?
I want to be prepared for whatever happens.
Do I need to put on warm thoughts?
Or take off a cumbersome attitude?
Will I need protection from things that bite like opinions, or insults?
How vulnerable am I feeling, i.e. what do I feel like covering up and what am I willing to explore in myself?
Now, realistically I don’t process each of these questions every morning, but if I remember just one or two of them as I pull on my shoes and socks, I know I will grow spiritually.
6. The Practice of Gratitude
I was maybe six years old when my mother taught me how to crack an egg, letting its gooey contents slide into a bowl without getting any broken shell pieces in the process.—the first steps to breakfast for the family and preparatory steps for ‘breaking the fast’ of the previous night.
We don’t think much about fasting or dietary restrictions in today’s world.
Major religions have guidelines and practices of fasting, dietary exclusions, and ceremonies.
For the majority of people, eating is another thing to rush through and get out of the way.
We aspire to move on to our more important plans for the day.
You may be someone who skips breakfast altogether, and your first meal of the day is brunch or even lunch.
What do you do at that time?
I confess that I often have the newspaper at the breakfast table, and my other meals include a lot of chatter with others.
Unless I am mindful of eating slowly and with intention, my entire diet gets consumed without my knowledge or permission.
So how do we make mealtimes a spiritual practice?
My granddaughters’ family does not engage in any particular religious practices like fasting or prayers before eating.
I started when they were very young by inviting them to take three deep breaths, pause, and then together, we all whisper, “Thank you.”
Meister Eckart said, “If the only thing you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”
Another practice of gratitude is naming all the people responsible for bringing the meal to the table.
As you lift a bite of food to your mouth, can you envision the farmer, the farmer’s wife, the harvester, the factory that makes the harvesting equipment, those who produce the oil that drives the tractor and the trucks that move the product to your grocer…?
I read somewhere that 114 people have worked to bring a simple meal to my table.
Done slowly and mindfully, this is a practice of gratitude that will have you tasting your food at a whole new level and nourishing your soul in the process.
7. The Practice of Humility and Prayer
First of all, I can’t put my dishes in the sink without gratitude for the meal it held and secondly, I acknowledge humility in eating so much.
These feelings, if I am honest, are always there.
A yin/yang of celebration and regret. As I rinse off the evidence of my indulgence, I am humbled and grateful for the grace that surrounds me.
I remember a job I had when I was young in a hot steamy kitchen, loading dishes from a multitude of diners and realize that some people do this for a living every day of their lives.
I suspect if they could do something – anything-else they would. It is hot, exhausting, tedious work.
And yet someone is washing dishes as I type this.
While I scrub grease from pans, I am in solidarity with those who must work at difficult jobs. Furthermore, each fork and glass becomes a prayer for the unemployed and underemployed.
A Complete Morning Practice
I hang up my towel, dry my hands, and continue my journey into the Mystery of what may open ahead. I am…
-Awake to my universe and Present to those who need me.
-Grounded and secure.
-Breathing prayer into the needs of loved ones as well as strangers.
-Clothed in silence in preparation for the possible chaos ahead.
-Nourished with gratitude, and with humility.
-Standing in solidarity with strangers.
How Long Did It Take?
This practice took the same amount of time I once used to just get up and going in the morning. And with it I begin my day with awareness, presence, and prayer.
Who says there isn’t time for contemplation and inner growth?
Has this given you any ideas on how to integrate spiritual practice with your daily life? Please share in the comments below.
PHOTO CREDITS from Unsplash
Clock – Jon Tyson; Waking up – Kinga Cichewicz; Breathe -Robin-Benzrihem; Shower – Chandler-Crittenden; Brush – Pawel Czerwinski; Finger -Random Institute; Gratitude- Howard Rimington; Dishwasher -Ryan Everton
