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What is Spiritual Practice?

And why is it so important? Spiritual practice is the way we live out our faith, beliefs and principles in our day to day life. These might include prayer, meditation, mindful movement, study, service to others, creativity, loving kindness and other practices.

When I find myself going off track in life it is usually because I have not been paying attention to my spiritual practice. I’ll skip yoga or qi gong, just this once. Or I meditated yesterday. Do I really have to do it everyday? Or why do I have to keep helping others, when I end up feeling used? Why do I have to take care of my body temple when others neglect theirs? Or do I really need to study this stuff, shouldn’t I have it all down by now? Well obviously not.

Living in a “senior” community surrounded by sickness, death and negativity, the most important and at the same time the most difficult practice for me is releasing all that is not for my higher good and clearning, balancing and protecting my energy. This has to be done everyday. If I don’t I find myself in a big mess.

Having grown up in a Protestant traditon that emphasizes personal salvation, I know that many times we were told that our “works” would not gain our salvation, that it was only through belief in Jesus. This leads some to live as though what we do during our time here on earth doesn’t matter. But I believe that Jesus came to be the great example, not the great exception. His spritiual practice can be seen throughout the New Testament.

Now I know that if we take on too many practices at once they can become a burden and drop off along the way. The purpose of spiritual practice is for it to become not just our way of life but life itself.

Join me this month as we explore spiritual practice.

The April Wrap-up

As we come to the end of April I hope you have been inspired to see the connection between creativity and Spirit in your daily life. We end the month with Living in the House of the Souls Belonging with Jan Garrett and JD Martin. They may be found online at https://www.garrett-martin.com/index.html

While we Have the Gift of Life…

While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die – whether it is our spirit, our creativity or our glorious uniqueness.— Gilda Radner

An Arbor Day Special

“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth.” ― Herman Hesse

I love this quote. I am not ashamed to admit I am a tree talker. I actually put my arms around trees and give them a hug. They comfort me and sometimes I comfort them.

When a major storm that might or might not have been a tornado came through our area the resort property we live on lost many trees that came up from their roots. Others were severly injured. The trees cried in fear and sadness. The power of their grief was overwhelming.

But that storm taught me about the persistance of life. After awhile new life started growing out of stumps of trees that were cut down due to damage. Those growing stumps gave me hope, but property management removed those stumps and now grinds the stumps of all trees that are removed.

After the storm, people became afraid of trees falling on their homes, wanting them removed. Eventually crews came in and spent a week cutting down trees. The trees were screaming. It was horrible.

Trees have much too teach us. Let’s show them some love. Have you hugged your tree today?

Today is Arbor Day, the tree planters holiday. How about celebrating by planting a tree?

Do you have a story about your favorite tree you would like to share?

The Friday Affirmation

I find inspiration everywhere I look.

The Ultimate Intimacy

“Creativity constitutes the ultimate intimacy for it is the place where the Divine and the human are most destined to interact.” —Matthew Fox

Not Just Sitting and Meditation

“Spiritual practice is not just sitting and meditation. Practice is looking, thinking, touching, drinking, eating and talking. Every act, every breath, and every step can be practice and can help us to become more ourselves.“ — Nhat Hanh

Discovery of New Mysteries

“And so there comes a time — I believe we are in such a time — when a civilization has to be renewed by the discovery of new mysteries, by the undemocratic but sovereign power of the imagination, the power that makes all things new.”
— Norman O. Brown

Loving Abandonment to God

“When we pray “Let your kingdom come,” we aren’t asking God to bring history to an end and whisk us to realms of glory, or to wave a magic wand and solve all the problems we face in our life. Rather, we are making a radical commitment to live our life in the world (“on earth”) in such loving abandonment to God that the values and principles, the perspectives and dynamics of God’s realm of life and wholeness become incarnate in and through our being and doing. Here too we are utterly incapable of actualizing the kingdom in this way. We can, however, through loving abandonment, allow God to incarnate kingdom life in and through us in the circumstances of our daily life.”

― M. Robert Mulholland Jr., The Deeper Journey: The Spirituality of Discovering Your True Self