Spiritual Disciplines -or- Participating in the Sacred of Everyday Life

[holyhelianthus]

I don't know if I quite worded the title right so I'm sorry if I am misleading/confusing anyone!

I want (what I think is defined as) more spiritual discipline in my life. What I am saying is I want to align everyday with God and walking a righteous and deeply spiritual path. What I mean by spiritual discipline is praying often (even having set times like when I wake up and when I go to bed, etc), reading sacred texts, meditations, observance of commandments and other rules, etc. Though I do pray (but not as often as I should) and I do follow the "rules" I do so half-heartedly, IMO. I don't shop on the Sabbath because I am not suppose to which is all well and good but at the same time I am not utilizing the Sabbath. I am failing to see and even participate in the sacredness every moment has to offer.

Anyone else feel this way? This really transcends religious lines, IMO, as every religion/faith has it's version of spiritual disciplines so I am not just asking for LDS or Christian takes or "yeah that"s! So if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions or would like to join me in doing better in this area please feel free to post!

[Arduinna]

Yes. I just seem to not be very good at it. : I start but I haven't been able to keep it up enough for it to become habit. I'd like to commit to praying the rosary everyday and reading the daily mass readings, and remember to give up meat on Fridays. I'm sure it would help if I had someplace to be accountable and keep track.

[MyLittleWonders]

Me too. I'm not of any one religious tradition (metaphysical Earth-based Pagan mostly), though I pull mostly from Christianity in my expression it seems simply because that is the tradition with which I have the most experience. I have a deep desire to create spiritual disciplines in my life, but not the discipline needed to make them. I would love to start my morning with prayer, take time during the day to read inspirational books, and make some time for meditation. But, it just doesn't seem to ever happen. The only thing with which I'm consistent is using one of my malas for affirmations when I'm going to bed. Maybe it'd help if I were able to have some time in the morning before my boys woke; that doesn't seem to happen.

[Belleweather]

I would say that you should start with one thing. Since you're already observing the sabbath, maybe you could think of something else that you can add to your sabbath observance. Like, maybe volunteering, reading holy texts, taking a walk to enjoy creation, etc. It's been really important to me to build observance one bit at a time and wait until we're totally good at the first thing I've tried before I add something else.

[LionTigerBear]

I am hungering for this kind of daily spiritual commune too and I am not there yet-- but kind of working on it. Thank you for starting this thread. You're the best. :

[holyhelianthus]

Woo Hoo!! So glad I am not alone.

What are your thoughts for what a good spiritual day would look like for you?
I want to pray first thing in the morning and also read my scriptures. Also meditation would be nice in the morning- just stilling my mind or maybe saying a few mantras. To me a calm still mind helps me to keep the stress down which helps me to hear the Spirit. I'd then go about my day communing with the Lord when I feel the need but always acknowledging His presence. Then in the afternoon I want to pause again to pray and also to read something inspirational- a talk, or from my church's magazine, or from a book, etc. Then in the evening before be prayer again, scriptures as well and journaling (maybe not so spiritual but, then again, maybe it is! )

Then their is the Sabbath. Ours always seems to get away from us. We go to church and then come home and veg. I would like to have personal scripture study and also family spiritual time. I need to find/think up some fun spiritual activities.

I'd also like to have some sort of couple's scripture study for DH and I.

And then their is family spiritual stuff. Scripture study, inspiration words, prayer...

I think the only way I am going to be able to accomplish all this is to make a plan, then a lose schedule, and then put it into action.

[LionTigerBear]

Originally Posted by magstphil

Woo Hoo!! So glad I am not alone.

What are your thoughts for what a good spiritual day would look like for you?

That's funny, this is exactly what I was thinking about last night and this morning. I want to be more spiritual-- what does that look like to me?

I am still working it out. I definitely want to dedicate an early morning spiritual start to my day-- with prayer, maybe meditation, scripture reading, something like that. I've started putting the boys to bed at night by singing spiritual songs and hymns to them, and that is very centering and calming and I will keep that as a sort of bedtime ritual. I would like to remember to pray over my food-- to bless it-- more often, I don't always remember now.

One thing that I struggle with is I have a hard time feeling spiritual or centered when I'm with my boys-being-boys. I think of being spiritual as being calm, quiet, and in a listening state, and they are always so GO GO GO and destructive and loud and messy. It's very stressful. Sigh.

And I'm with my boys ALL. The. Time. I think I often kind of "shut off" during the day, tune out, and just try to survive and get through the day with all of the upset and stimulation. Well, especially now when I am tired and pregnant.

As for scripture study, it's out of the question right now, as my brain is too fried, but I would like to get into to doing prayers with my husband again, and family prayers again. As far as couple's prayer, though, I dislike always being the one to remember and then feel like I'm being a mom or something when it's always my idea because it always feels like an inopportune time to pray together and so it's just a chore to get through before bed. I'd rather have it be his idea at least sometimes. This is a big reason I stopped doing this.

Sorry that was so rambling. I'm so tired today.

[LionTigerBear]

P.S. and don't get me started on the Sabbath. I have a lot of issues with that right now. Our present routine is not working for us there. I hate Sundays right now.

[Wolfcat]

Perhaps we could turn this thread into a step-by-step support group. That is, we all agree to do one thing to improve our daily spiritual living. We can talk about how to find the time, remember the commitment, etc. Since it is extremely unlikely that we are all the same (or even similar) religions, the specifics would remain unimportant.

WDYT??

[Arduinna]

Originally Posted by LionTigerBear

P.S. and don't get me started on the Sabbath. I have a lot of issues with that right now. Our present routine is not working for us there. I hate Sundays right now.

I don't really like Sundays either, I prefer going to mass on weekdays :

[AngelBee]

:

[LionTigerBear]

Originally Posted by Arduinna

I don't really like Sundays either, I prefer going to mass on weekdays :

You know, at first I was thinkig it might be nice if I could do some of my church meetings on other days besides Sunday (we're not Catholic but just hypothetically) and realized that it wouldn't really help-- we have NO extra time. At all. We don't just have not enough extra time, we don't have enough time for just relaxing. So that's kind of the problem. Sundays are supposed to be our day of rest and every week without fail we wind up catching up on fifteen loads of laundry or giving the apartment a much needed scrub-down or SOMETHING. And it really needs to be done SOMETIME, and often times Sunday is the only day that DH doesn't have scheduled from pre-dawn until midnight (not exaggerating there) and so he's actually here to help me out with stuff. I'm really not sure what to do about this.

I often long for a simpler life, a slower rhythm, more time to relax and savor things and enjoy the simple things in life and so on. But I just don't see how it's possible at the moment. DH has to work long hours right now. That's not really negotiable, and at least we know it's a short term thing (sometime next year he will switch to having more "normal" hours). The other big time-sucker is DH's college class, but he's so close to completing his degree, and he's already down to doing one class at a time (6 hours of class on Saturdays plus homework). I do kind of wish he would put off finishing his degree for now, but I completely understand why it's important for him and I definitely wouldn't want to talk him out of it. I respect his decision there.

This busy life kind of barely works when I'm not pregnant, and we had two cars working. I could handle it just fine. Now we are down to one working car and I have almost zero energy and this arrangement is not working, although we are plugging away together, doing our best.

So here we are with no time and this hectic life. Blah.

I guess the time I need to pray and meditate and so forth the most, is when I don't have the "time" to, right? It's not so much the time, I guess, spirituality doesn't really take much time at all-- it's more that my brain is always fried and my nerves are usually frazzled and I feel very off-center.

[LionTigerBear]

I had another idea too-- an area that I think affects spirituality to some degree, at least for me, is food. I loved reading "Full Moon Feast" and thinking about the spiritual, nurturing aspects of food. Sicne then we've been cutting the budget and gone back to eating a lot of cheaper quality food to save money, but I wonder if this has contributed to everything feeling more hectic. I've been doing less cooking, too, since I've been pregnant.

I'd like to gradually switch to eating more "real" and local food again, to feel more tuned in to the earth again. Once I get past this pregnancy I plan to start cooking more again, too. (but not yet, pregnancy really wipes me out.) I think this is just one important aspect of feeling grounded and centered.

[TopazBlueMama]

Discipline is the right word! That is what I need to focus more on. Doing all those things that I know bring me peace in my heart, not letting the things of the world get in the way. Putting first things first. It DOES take discipline, and added maturity to not give in to the will of the flesh.

[holyhelianthus]

Originally Posted by Wolfcat

Perhaps we could turn this thread into a step-by-step support group. That is, we all agree to do one thing to improve our daily spiritual living. We can talk about how to find the time, remember the commitment, etc. Since it is extremely unlikely that we are all the same (or even similar) religions, the specifics would remain unimportant.

WDYT??

This sounds great! How could we go about this with so many different faiths?

[holyhelianthus]

Originally Posted by TopazBlueMama

Discipline is the right word! That is what I need to focus more on. Doing all those things that I know bring me peace in my heart, not letting the things of the world get in the way. Putting first things first. It DOES take discipline, and added maturity to not give in to the will of the flesh.

My ideal tactic may not work for me but I do like the idea of loosely scheduling my day in the spiritual sense (ie- wake up and pray, read scriptures, meditate. After lunch pray again... etc) and then focus on maintaining that schedule. But maybe I do need baby steps! Maybe that approach will just push me away.

Arduinna~ I love that you can go to mass on Wednesday! LTB, Topaz, and my issue is that we hold the Sabbath (Sunday) much like the Jews hold Shabbat (Am I spelling this right?) but to a lesser extent. On Sunday we are not to shop, eat out, plus some families don't even swim or play sports (as a family). We also have been asked not to play sports even for school or go to parties, etc.

Ooops! Phone call! I'll bbl to finish my thought.

[TopazBlueMama]

What I want to focus on is DOING. DAily work and service are spiritual, and I want to get disciplined enough that when an idea pops into my head I will go and DO, instead of just thinking, "I don't FEEL like it...maybe later." kwim?
And I've felt for a while now that if I would do 2 simple things--early to bed, and early to rise, then things would fall into place much better. But. Well, I'm sure you all know how hard it is to change! lol I just need to decide to do it.

[Arduinna]

Originally Posted by magstphil

This sounds great! How could we go about this with so many different faiths?

I think the easiest way would be for each person to decide their own goal and then we can all just support each other in maintaining it. People can check in at will and post their progress and get support.

[Arduinna]

Originally Posted by magstphil

Arduinna~ I love that you can go to mass on Wednesday! LTB, Topaz, and my issue is that we hold the Sabbath (Sunday) much like the Jews hold Shabbat (Am I spelling this right?) but to a lesser extent. On Sunday we are not to shop, eat out, plus some families don't even swim or play sports (as a family). We also have been asked not to play sports even for school or go to parties, etc.

We have a Sunday obligation to go to mass ( along with other specific special days through the year), and it's a sin to not go unless there is a good reason, so going during the week ( assuming that day isn't a Holy Day of Obligation) is just a bonus. We can't use it as a substitute for missing Sunday. I just prefer going on weekdays. We are also supposed to refrain from unnecessary work on Sundays.

[NicaG]

Originally Posted by LionTigerBear

That's funny, this is exactly what I was thinking about last night and this morning. I want to be more spiritual-- what does that look like to me?

I am still working it out. I definitely want to dedicate an early morning spiritual start to my day-- with prayer, maybe meditation, scripture reading, something like that. I've started putting the boys to bed at night by singing spiritual songs and hymns to them, and that is very centering and calming and I will keep that as a sort of bedtime ritual. I would like to remember to pray over my food-- to bless it-- more often, I don't always remember now.

One thing that I struggle with is I have a hard time feeling spiritual or centered when I'm with my boys-being-boys. I think of being spiritual as being calm, quiet, and in a listening state, and they are always so GO GO GO and destructive and loud and messy. It's very stressful. Sigh.

And I'm with my boys ALL. The. Time. I think I often kind of "shut off" during the day, tune out, and just try to survive and get through the day with all of the upset and stimulation. Well, especially now when I am tired and pregnant.

As for scripture study, it's out of the question right now, as my brain is too fried, but I would like to get into to doing prayers with my husband again, and family prayers again. As far as couple's prayer, though, I dislike always being the one to remember and then feel like I'm being a mom or something when it's always my idea because it always feels like an inopportune time to pray together and so it's just a chore to get through before bed. I'd rather have it be his idea at least sometimes. This is a big reason I stopped doing this.

Sorry that was so rambling. I'm so tired today.

Ha ha, I feel like I could have written your post! Although I only have one boy and an infant...but it's always go go go and no time to stop and be contemplative, and it's almost impossible to find the right time for family prayers or prayers with dh. And I agree, Sundays can be just one more stress, not really a very spiritual time. For us it's juggling the 3.5 year old and the crying infant during the service, and it feels like a major accomplishment if we can just make it through, let alone derive any spiritual meaning from it. Ack!

I do like this idea of a sort of spiritual discipline support thread...I would love to figure out something to devote to this. I remember when I was single and lived alone and I used to devote regular time to meditation, it was very good for my spiritual life. I miss that!