Tag: spiritual practice

Categories
Blog

I’m sharing 7 Books that helped me craft my spiritual practice

Being called to integrate spiritual practice into your life can be challenging if you do not follow any one traditional spiritual path. Sometimes I yearned for the certainty of an atheist, but despite growing up in an unchurched family, I knew through experience there was something greater than myself before I was five. After decades of searching and trying to fit my beliefs into the ‘too small’ boxes of traditional paths, I gave up and decided to craft my own. Below are 7 books I used to help design my practice.

Everyday Spiritual Practice: Simple Pathways for Enriching Your Life edited by Scott W. Alexander. Learn how to make every day more sacred.

Learning to Dance Inside: Getting to the Heart of Meditation by George Fowler. Discover the benefits of meditation.

Writing to Wake the Soul: Opening the Sacred Conversation Within by Karen Hering. Awaken the ‘still, small voice within’.

Relig-ish: Soulful Living in a Spiritual-But-Not-Religious World by Rachelle Mee-Chapman. Creating your set of eclectic spiritual practices is a way to respond to an expanding world.

Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Busy Lives by Wayne Muller. Learn to create your own Sabbath.

Create Your Personal Sacred Text: Develop and Celebrate Your Spiritual Life by Bobbi L. Parish. A step-by-step guide to writing your own scripture using selections from major sacred tests, secular sources, and your own words.

Forty Days to Begin a Spiritual Life: Today’s Most Inspiring Teachers Help You on Your Way by Maura Shaw and the editors at Skylight Paths. Set your own course of self-examination, reflection, and spiritual transformation.

These aren’t the only books I used, but the most impactful. If you, like me, don’t fit neatly into a prescribed path but feel called, perhaps they can help you start crafting your spiritual practice.

Categories
Blog

Want more spirituality in your daily life? Plan time for these things

If you are ‘spiritual but not religious’, or even if you follow a distinct path, incorporating time for the following things will greatly enhance your connection to the Divine/Nature/All that Is.

Most denominations and paths have a practice or practices designed for their followers. As a practical mystic unattached to one path, it’s been a challenge to design a personal set of practices to deepen my connection to the Universe.

These are the things that I find essential to my daily practice. For each, I take as little or as much time as I feel led to do.

Make time for:

Reading Sacred books: I include the sacred books of many traditions, as well as books that explore other paths of spirituality. I may also read something like Karen Armstrong’s Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life.

Contemplation: I think deeply about what I have read that day. What does it mean to me? Is there a message that personally resonates?

Spiritual Journaling: This is a dedicated notebook where I write about what I am reading and interact with what I am reading and learning. I may also write prayers for those I love, for healing, and sometimes for more understanding.

Prayer: This is deliberate time dedicated to communication and interaction with the Source of All that is. I may give thanks, make a request, or express my awe. In the morning, I like to step outside and give thanks for another day.

Silence: Sometimes I do breathing meditation. More often, I actively listen to and for guidance. It always comes.

Movement: I practice walking meditation, tai chi, and free dance to gratefully stay in touch with my body.

Practicing these actions every day has deepened my spiritual experience. They may do the same for you. Craft and implement your own practice. Spirituality is very personal.