Each day I consciously and intentionally practice. I have multiple practices I have learned, developed, and engaged over the years (and that I teach!). I have shaped many practices so that they really work for me. I have a formal, spiritual practice I engage for 90 minutes each morning - a blend of yoga, aikido, breath work, deep relaxation, affirmations, meditation, and more.
It's important to note I wasn't automatically doing this every morning for 90 minutes. It took several years for me to evolve to a place where NOT doing it was more difficult than doing it. It's now a habit that my body wants to engage - I'm very present to the power and benefits of my practice and really miss them when I don't. Over the past couple of years, what's been happening for me is MY LIFE is becoming my practice. Yes, I still have my focused routines, but as I have become more and more aware in each and every moment, each moment becomes an opportunity for practice. It's WAY COOL.
Did you know that you already have a "practice" that you're doing each and every day? People often say to me "I don't have time to practice, I'm way too busy." You know what I say to them? You already are practicing. For starters you're practicing being way too busy. We are beings of choice, and as much as we might like to place that "burden" on someone else, we ARE choosing how we spend each moment of every day.
Someone once said "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice." To practice or not to practice is NOT the choice. The choice is WHAT to practice. Most people make this choice unconsciously. And I'll be the first to admit it really takes something to "wake yourself up" moment by moment and become conscious of the choices you are making. It's a practice :)
What you are already doing each and every day IS your practice. And we become what we practice! The question is WHAT IS IT you are practicing? Think about that for a moment. Are you practicing being too busy, tired, broke, irritable, stingy, fearful, worried, and concerned? Or are you practicing being peaceful, present, joyful, inspired, rested, optimistic, abundant, friendly, curious and open? Believe it or not, this IS a choice you're making and a practice you're engaging. And the more you practice something, the better you get at it, for better or worse!
I cannot overemphasize how important it is to consciously choose a long-term practice for your personal transformation. Great Spirit really wants to express itself through us, but we've got to cultivate our container for that amazing energy to come through! We have to do OUR part - it's a partnership. And it's through our practices, day in and day out, that we can best cultivate our container (or channel) for the fullest expression of Life Force Energy.
Note, the practice of maximizing your ability to partner with Life Force Energy is not done overnight. It is in a long-term practice that your true transformation and evolution will be most powerfully facilitated - you have the time to experience what does and doesn't work for you. You find out what is and is not efficient for you, and then you are able to tune and optimize.
As you may or may not fully realize, regardless of our hopes and fantasies for overnight miracle cures and magic, transformation tends to happen over time. You want to be on a path of regular practice that marks your way, guides and supports you, and keeps you and your evolution on track. It's like creating a groove in a piece of wood with a rock, or perhaps on a piece of glass with a diamond - the first time you practice you just scratch the surface of the wood or glass. But, then each time you practice, over and over again, you deepen that groove. You deepen your capacity to experience what you prefer.
In my system, we practice connecting to Source and Heart Wisdom. We practice seeing the good in everything, going with the flow, transcending subconscious limiting beliefs, embracing the contraction and low energy times in life, and joyfully expressing and creating authentic life purpose. All of these, over time with practice, eventually make up the natural path for divine energy flow in your life.
For your practice to have deep transformational value it must happen independent of what is going on in your life. Very often what happens is we get all excited to start something new, then when the newness wears off and the reality of the path sets in, we bail. This is, typically, homeostasis at work. Homeostasis is the tendency of life to maintain the status quo. Although a good and natural phenomenon, we must gently negotiate with this tendency in order to evolve and transform into the fullness of our vision. One very powerful way to do this is to commit to your practice - no matter what. Just remove your ability to question "whether you will do it or not." You will. If life rules you, you will soon stop your practice. However, if you engage your practice independent of the conditions in your life, or ideally along with the circumstances and conditions of your life, you can persist.
Also, don't be afraid to try out different practices and do what works for you. I've engaged many different forms and my transformational practice continues to evolve even today. As I learn new things, I embrace what works for me, and let go of what never did, or no longer does. Something may work for you and be very powerful at one stage of your life, but then you grow beyond it and are ready for something else. Don't feel like you have to select something and stay with it forever. Be free to evolve and engage and create what works for you.
A formal spiritual practice engaged each day is one of the best ways to efficiently cultivate our Partnership with Source and those characteristics of life we most deeply want to be and experience. However, we can begin consciously practicing in small ways wherever we are right now. The most important thing is to consciously create and engage a transformational practice.
Try this:
Look in your life and identify what you are practicing right now. Just make a list of the things you see you are practicing each day. The path of practice starts with waking up to where you are right now. It doesn't matter if you believe you have a choice to do these things or not - just write down what you see you are being and doing each day. Are you peacefully productive each day, or often running and rushing from thing to thing? Are you waking up with joyful anticipation of the day, or a sense of dread? Do you smile and make eye contact with people you see, or do you look away and avoid them? All these things are a practice and create our experience of being alive.
Now, consciously choose at least one, and maybe several, NEW practices you are going to engage each day. Choose practices that will cultivate the experiences in life you wish to be, do, and have. Perhaps you'll practice having moments of peacefulness (a one-minute moment of silence now and then), friendliness (saying "Hi" to strangers), optimism (upon awakening identify the things you're looking forward to that day), presence (giving your full attention to each task), trust (allow someone else to do something for you), openness (listening deeply to others), or curiosity (asking more questions in your conversations).
Congratulations. The choice is yours. You're now consciously practicing.
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/6285015
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