Dailiness
So, now that we're in port again, one possible plan for Daily Practice looks like this:
Get up, brush teeth, drink water.
Do yoga at least 10 minutes, ending with Deep Relaxation for 1-5 minutes.
Sit in the godform position (familiar from all those Pharaoh statues), do 4-2-4 breathing, open one chakra, meditate 10-20 minutes on a Seed Thought or Koan.
Make tea. Turn on computer.
Another part of Daily Practice this month is beginning to develop a Sunday Worship service around Daily Practice. Our preliminary discussions suggest it might be the UU usual: invocation, introit, opening hymn, offertory, etc, with sermon (by me) and reflection (by another worship associate), closing hymn, closing words. But what if I want to actually DO some 'daily practice' in this one-off venue as visiting clergy?
For starters, perhaps we should import the Ringing of the Bell, which in our home congregation signals the end of Announcements and Welcoming Comments and the beginning of 'Let us worship together.'
There are dozens of Daily Practices that could be brought to people's attention, whether by description or by demonstration.
One local author (I think -- better check this) has suggested that a profoundly Unitarian Universalist personal practice could be memorizing uplifting poetry. I haven't actually tried this as a daily practice, but I bet she's right.
My parents-in-law used to have a daily practice of Checking Off the Calendar, putting a large red X through another day just before turning on the ten o'clock news.
My mom used to have a daily practice of singing bedtime songs to the assembled children in the bedroom of the youngest just before Lights Out -- the same 4 or 5 songs every night, and then 1 or 2 others by request, for more than a decade that I remember.
A young opera student I know has a Daily Practice of singing arias first thing in the morning, in full voice.
One of my teachers suggests keeping a Gratitude Journal, a nightly writing of at least one thing you are grateful for.
All of these could be examples of 'what you focus your attention on, you become.'
Meditation comes to mind at once, of various kinds. Yoga can be a daily practice. So can exercise. Katherine Hepburn -- do young people still watch her movies? -- made a daily practice of swimming in the sea no matter what the weather. Did it for years in Long Island Sound off the coast of Connecticut where she lived.
Most middleclass Americans make a daily practice of brushing their teeth, at least, and many of them also brush hair, paint on makeup, dress and armor themselves for the workplace. How does that shape their days?
And then there's the opposite of Daily Practice: chaos, sloth, breaking commitments -- whatever is 'opposite' for each of us, I suspect.
The Work of Making Our Lives goes on in every second, every minute, hour, day ... if we engage ourselves in a Daily Practice that brings us into focus, our Lives are made in a focused way. If we engage ourselves in following the path of least resistance or being pushed around by mass-media information overload, our Lives are made in a different, perhaps less-focused way. But whether we make a commitment to Daily Practice or not, our Lives will be made. Whether we keep our commitments -- to practice, to one another, to our word, whatever -- or not, our Lives WILL be made. And the Work of making our Lives is much altered by the quality of our daily practices, whether chosen consciously or unconsciously, whether chosen with close attention and intention, or not.
When first beginning a Daily Practice, many things arise that may be familiar to folks who have quit, or tried to quit, 'bad habits.' Backsliding and falling down are typical and not problematic. It doesn't matter whether you trip and fall, what matters is how soon and how smoothly you can get back up. And, to some extent, how long you can stay up before you fall again.
So maybe I'm on a roll here. More to think about as I go about the rest of the day.
Get up, brush teeth, drink water.
Do yoga at least 10 minutes, ending with Deep Relaxation for 1-5 minutes.
Sit in the godform position (familiar from all those Pharaoh statues), do 4-2-4 breathing, open one chakra, meditate 10-20 minutes on a Seed Thought or Koan.
Make tea. Turn on computer.
Another part of Daily Practice this month is beginning to develop a Sunday Worship service around Daily Practice. Our preliminary discussions suggest it might be the UU usual: invocation, introit, opening hymn, offertory, etc, with sermon (by me) and reflection (by another worship associate), closing hymn, closing words. But what if I want to actually DO some 'daily practice' in this one-off venue as visiting clergy?
For starters, perhaps we should import the Ringing of the Bell, which in our home congregation signals the end of Announcements and Welcoming Comments and the beginning of 'Let us worship together.'
There are dozens of Daily Practices that could be brought to people's attention, whether by description or by demonstration.
One local author (I think -- better check this) has suggested that a profoundly Unitarian Universalist personal practice could be memorizing uplifting poetry. I haven't actually tried this as a daily practice, but I bet she's right.
My parents-in-law used to have a daily practice of Checking Off the Calendar, putting a large red X through another day just before turning on the ten o'clock news.
My mom used to have a daily practice of singing bedtime songs to the assembled children in the bedroom of the youngest just before Lights Out -- the same 4 or 5 songs every night, and then 1 or 2 others by request, for more than a decade that I remember.
A young opera student I know has a Daily Practice of singing arias first thing in the morning, in full voice.
One of my teachers suggests keeping a Gratitude Journal, a nightly writing of at least one thing you are grateful for.
All of these could be examples of 'what you focus your attention on, you become.'
Meditation comes to mind at once, of various kinds. Yoga can be a daily practice. So can exercise. Katherine Hepburn -- do young people still watch her movies? -- made a daily practice of swimming in the sea no matter what the weather. Did it for years in Long Island Sound off the coast of Connecticut where she lived.
Most middleclass Americans make a daily practice of brushing their teeth, at least, and many of them also brush hair, paint on makeup, dress and armor themselves for the workplace. How does that shape their days?
And then there's the opposite of Daily Practice: chaos, sloth, breaking commitments -- whatever is 'opposite' for each of us, I suspect.
The Work of Making Our Lives goes on in every second, every minute, hour, day ... if we engage ourselves in a Daily Practice that brings us into focus, our Lives are made in a focused way. If we engage ourselves in following the path of least resistance or being pushed around by mass-media information overload, our Lives are made in a different, perhaps less-focused way. But whether we make a commitment to Daily Practice or not, our Lives will be made. Whether we keep our commitments -- to practice, to one another, to our word, whatever -- or not, our Lives WILL be made. And the Work of making our Lives is much altered by the quality of our daily practices, whether chosen consciously or unconsciously, whether chosen with close attention and intention, or not.
When first beginning a Daily Practice, many things arise that may be familiar to folks who have quit, or tried to quit, 'bad habits.' Backsliding and falling down are typical and not problematic. It doesn't matter whether you trip and fall, what matters is how soon and how smoothly you can get back up. And, to some extent, how long you can stay up before you fall again.
So maybe I'm on a roll here. More to think about as I go about the rest of the day.