Spiritual Practice Directory

Deepening in wisdom, compassion, and connectedness can be facilitated by a spiritual discipline. Here are a number of suggestions for spiritual practice. Click the links for more info!

THE BASICS:

Find Your Thing (and then stay with it):
   "Choose Your Spiritual Practice"

The Three Core Daily Practices
In addition to your chosen spiritual practice, every day devote 10-30 mins to each:
   1. "Journal." Your Journal practice might take the form of "Morning Pages." You might also consider incorporating an "Idea Journal" into your Journal practice.
   2. "Study Spiritual Texts"
   3. "Meditate"

Key Supporting Practices: Some particularly key practices/observances that will support your developing spirituality.
    "Justice Making" -- if not your main spiritual practice, it's a crucial part of any spiritual path.
    "Get a Teacher"
    Daily: "Mealtime Practice"
    Daily: "Get Enough Sleep"
    Several Times a Week: "Exercise"
    Weekly: "Keep Sabbath"
    Monthly: "Make Monthly Budgets"
    Continually Come Back To: "Mindfulness," "Be Mindful," and "Cultivate Mindfulness" (one thing, explained in three somewhat different ways by three different authors). Or, if "continually" is just too daunting, then "Create Sacred Moments" by pausing for a mindful moment or two each day.

MIGHT BE YOUR THING: The practices in this category aren't for everyone, but might be just the thing for you -- as your main and central spiritual practice or as a Key Supporting Practice. Just about any activity can be a spiritual practice if you
(1) establish a foundation of spiritual orientation through the three core daily practices (see above: journal, study spiritual texts, and meditate);
(2) engage the activity with mindfulness; (3) engage in the activity with intention of thereby cultivating spiritual qualities; and (4) occasionally engage the activity with a group that gathers expressly to do the activity in a way that cultivates spirituality, with group members sharing spiritual reflections before, during, or after doing the activity together.
   "Mandala Spiritual Practice"
   "Walking as a Spiritual Discipline"
   "Practicing Piano"
   "Art"
   "Martial Arts"
   "Cooking"
   "Quilting"
   "Gardening"
   "Sacred Reading" (see also, "Spiritual Reading")
   "Spiritual Reading" (see also "Sacred Reading")
   "Instagram as Spiritual Practice"
   "Vegetarianism"
   "Sewing/Needlework"
   "Sitting Zen"
   "Yoga"
   "Poetry By Heart"

OCCASIONAL or WORTH A TRY. Some of these are good one-time exercises to do -- and mabye re-do every once in a while -- quarterly or annually, say. Some practices in this category are great for responding to a particular need that may arise in your life. Others are simply enriching occasional enhancements to the spiritual life. Among these practices you may find the one particular practice that becomes "Your Thing" -- your main and central spiritual practice -- or a Key Supporting Practice. Most of these are worth a try one time, even if you never do them again.
   "Grieve Your Losses"
   "Unitask"
   "Failure Gratitude"
   "Create a Home Altar"
   "Integrity Exercises"
   "Take the Resilience Inventory"
   "Heal What You Feel: The Sensation Meditation"
   "Empathize"
   "Once-a-Month Retreat Days"
   "Prayer with Beads"
   "Marital Arts"
   "Assess the Strength of Your Inner Critic"
   "Everyday Relationships"
   "Build Your Joy Collection"
   "Prayer"
   "Simplify" (also a "Slogan" practice)
   "Have a Better Holiday"
   "The Shower-Write Practice" (for times of high anxiety)
   "Get (and Keep) Your Life in Balance"
   "Guided Meditation for Relaxing into Awe"
   "Let Go and Have Faith"
   "Get Into Your Body"
   "Draft Your Obituary"
   "Forgiveness Meditation"
   "The Gratitude Visit"
   "Reward Yourself"
   "Fasting"
   "Find Your Calling"
   "Spiritual Intimacy"
   "Take the Mercy Inventory"
   "The Mirror Exercise"
   "Give Grace a Hand"
   "Consciously Dwell in Mystery"
   "The Year to Live List"
   "Praise"
   "The Magical Playlist"
   "Face the Evil"
   "Succeed at Rejection"
   "Practices for Awe"
   "The Birthday/Funeral Gift"
   "Three Good Things"
   "Whose Am I?"
   "Watch an Inspiring Movie"
   "Create a Pain and Pleasure List"
   "Create With/For Others"
   "Sustainable Liberation"
   "Let Your Precious Go"
   "Bring More Intentionality"
   "Watch Where Your Mind Wanders"
   "Explore Desire Through Renunciation"
   "Get Help with a Resolution"
   "Give Thanks to Someone for Your Resistance"
   "Surrender"
   "Spiritualize One Space in Your Life"
   "Engage Transformative Possibility"
   "Take Down a 'Keep Out' Sign"
   "Embrace Wonder"
   "Renew!"
   "Have A Direct Experience of Transcending Mystery and Wonder"
   "Make One Change"
   "Fall in Love with Someone"

SLOGANS THAT HELP: Advertisers know that slogans work! So let's put them to a positive use. Adopting these slogans as your personal guides and reminders will help bring more peace and more joy into your life. Journaling about how you're trying to implement a given slogan will help integrate it into your life.
   "Aspire Without Attachment"
   "Risk the Dreaded Experience"
   "Take Refuge"
   "Use Your Will"
   "Have Insight"
   "Pause"
   "Enjoy Humility" (includes video: Rick Hanson's TED Talk, "Hardwiring Happiness," 13:46)
   "Be Patient" and "Live in Patience"
   "Smile" (includes video: "Neurology of Awakening," 80 mins)
   "Find Strength"
   "Get Excited"
   "Stay Close to Your Resentment"
   "See the Good in Yourself"
   "Be Grateful" (includes video: David Steindl-Rast's TED Talk, 14:30)
   "Observe, Even If It Costs Your Everything"
   "Morning Orientation, Evening Orientation"
   "No Schadenfreude, Ever"
   "Have Faith"
   "Don't Go So Fast"
   "Take Responsibility For Your Suffering"
   "Be Glad"
   "Remember: Fault-Finding Makes People Worse"
   "Discern"
   "Take More Breaks"
   "No Maligning. No Grudge-Holding."
   "Take Pleasure"
   "Balance"
   "Don't Be So Predictable"
   "Protect Your Brain"
   "Simplify" (also an "Occasional" practice)
   "Nourish Your Brain"
   "Befriend Your Body"
   "Forgive Yourself"
   "Slow Down" (includes video: David Essel on his book, "Slow Down")
   "Relax" (includes two short videos on biology and breathing)
   "Work with Your Biggest Problem First"
   "Have Compassion for Yourself"(includes video: Kristin Neff's TED Talk, 19:01)
   "Don't Take Yourself Seriously"
   "Pay Attention to Blessing" (a.k.a. "Take In the Good"; includes Rick Hansen video. 6:57)
   "Express Love"
   "Thank Without Ceasing"
   "Find Beauty"
   "Let Go"
   "Be For Yourself"
   "Cultivate Self-Acceptance" (includes video: TED talk by Michelle Charfen)
   "Claim Desire"
   "Say Yes"
   "Fill the Hole in Your Heart"
   "Feel Safer"
   "Don't Take It Personally"
   "Respond, Don't React" (includes video: Tara Brach on learning to respond, not react)
   "Relax Anxiety about Imperfection"
   "Don't Throw the Second Dart"
   "Love Your Inner Child"
   "Honor Your Temperament"
   "Notice You're All Right Right Now"
   "Be Generous"
   "When People Annoy, Ask Yourself Two Questions"
   "Confront Your Inner Negative Voice"
   "Dream Big Dreams"
   "Put Out Fires"
   "Don't Be Alarmed"
   "Act!"
   "Tend to the Causes"
   "Accept the Limits of Your Influence"
   "Do What You Can (Unlearn Helplessness)" (includes video: Lance Luria on learned helplessness)
   "Enjoy Your Hands" (includes video: Dacher Keltner on Touch, 7:54)
   "Be Curious"
   "Keep Going"
   "Don't Know"
   "Live in Patience" (See also: "Be Patient")
   "Ask Yourself What's Good?"
   "Ask Yourself About Successes, Gratitudes, Love, Self-Appreciation"
   "Identify Your Emotions"
   "Let Go of White-Centeredness"

TRAINING IN COMPASSION. These are some particular slogans that help. They are from Norman Fischer's adaptation of the Tibetan series of teachings called "Lojong."
   #1. "Maintain Awareness of the Basics"
   #2. "See Everything As a Dream"
   #3. "Examine the Nature of Awareness"
   #4. "Don't Get Stuck on Peace"
   #5. "Rest in the Openness of Mind"
   #6. "Be a Child of Illusion"
   #7. "Send and Receive Compassion"
   #8. "Turn Things Around"
   #9. "Turn All Mishaps Into the Path"
   #10. "No Blaming"
   #11. "Be Grateful to Everyone"
   #12. "Put It in (the Ultimate) Context"
   #13. "Do Good, Avoid Evil, Appreciate Your Lunacy, Pray for Help"
   #14. "Whatever You Meet Is the Path"
#15-19: Grow the Five Virtues:
   ☙   #15. "Determination"
   ☙   #16. "Repetition"
   ☙   #17. "Owning Your Nobility"
   ☙   #18. "Reproaching Your Demons"
   ☙   #19. "Aspiring to the Impossible"
   #20. "Practice for Death as Well as for Life"
   #21. "Unstick from Yourself"
   #22. "Trust In Yourself"
   #23. "Maintain Joy and Humor"
   #24. "Practice When You're Distracted"
   #25. "Come Back to Basics"
   #26. "Abandon Hope"
   #27. "Don't Make Gods Into Demons"
   #28. "Keep a Single Intention"
   #29. "Don't Figure Others Out"
   #30. "Loosen the Grip of Negative Impulses"

ECOSPIRITUAL. These practices are oriented toward developing our spirituality through our connection to our planet home and to our responsibility to care for it.
The Path of Awakening
   "Begin the Ecospiritual Path"
   "Face Ecological Reality"
   "Turn Away from Mindless Living"
   "How Much Is Enough?"
   "Cogs in the Machine"
   "Industrial Civilization and Everyone Else"
The Path of Un-learning
   "The Problems of Progress"
   "Images of Earth"
   "The Right to Life"
   "Rethinking Genesis"
   "The Vending Machine God"
   "Letting Go, Moving Forward"
The Path of Discovery
   "Deep Time Journeys"
   "Across the Wide Universe"
   "Being Animal"
   "Rare, Precious Fluke"
   "Expand Your Reality"
   "Transformation"
The Path of Creation
   "EveryDay Sacred"
   "Face. Embrace. Transcend."
   "Slow Life"
   "Meeting the Soul's Needs"
   "Widening Our Circle"
   "Falling in Love"

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