Keeping up spiritual practice

Originally posted by josephw
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

I hope to carry on this way. I don't ever want to stop learning, and I don't want to kid myself and think I know all the answers.

Originally posted by karoly aczel
And whatever you do put your whole being into it.
Even taking out the trash can be a mindful spiritual practice.

This is good advice that others also have given me. My mind tends to wander during mundane tasks and I go through them on auto pilot. I develop the habit of not being present.

Originally posted by CalJust
Hi BDP,

Your honest and important OP has brought me out of selfimposed exile. We share this "problem", and just maybe my experience may be able to help you.

I started some ten or twelve years ago to do a twenty minute twice a day meditation practice, also called mindfullness. But many times I almost gave up, because it did not "work". I just could not ...[text shortened]... and The World.

But for us it has been significant and helpful advice. May it be for you too.

Yeah, the community bit is important. Work got intense and I started missing out on it. Need to get back there.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
Perhaps it would help for you to rethink your spiritual goal.

From what little you've told me, you reach your goal, become satisfied and lose your motivation since you've attained your goal.

Also, the whole concept of a the goal of attaining "peace" or "happiness" seems terribly flawed to me in light of the role / desires of the ego.

It isn't just inner peace I seek, but also peaceful relations with others.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
It isn't just inner peace I seek, but also peaceful relations with others.

I didn't have just "inner peace" in mind.

-Removed-

It's funny how it's easy, for me at least, to get so caught up in planning and making "improvements" and setting goals and worrying about tomorrow that I can't appreciate what's right there in front of me.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
It isn't just inner peace I seek, but also peaceful relations with others.

I think all good things flow more from equilibrium than from a set of actions that might be described as "practice", or, shall we say, good actions (practice) stem from a state of balance.

Originally posted by FMF
I think all good things flow more from equilibrium than from a set of actions that might be described as "practice", or, shall we say, good actions (practice) stem from a state of balance.

Do you suppose spiritual practice could help in reaching a "state of balance"?

Originally posted by Ghost of a Duke
My own spiritual routine is to check each morning that I don't have a spiritual routine.
(I'm wary of picking one up accidentally).

Always carry a pack of disinfectant wipes in case you need a #2 in a public loo.
(And beware of transsexuals, transgenders and men in hats)

Originally posted by wolfgang59
Always carry a pack of disinfectant wipes in case you need a #2 in a public loo.
(And beware of transsexuals, transgenders and men in hats)

I'm more wary of women who smoke pipes.

Am open to psychoanalysis.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
It's funny how it's easy, for me at least, to get so caught up in planning and making "improvements" and setting goals and worrying about tomorrow that I can't appreciate what's right there in front of me.

Yeah, what are you planning for?

Taking care of our physical needs takes but 5-10% of our time, but most people obsess over physicality ,objects and so forth without ever getting "happier"

Originally posted by FMF
I think all good things flow more from equilibrium than from a set of actions that might be described as "practice", or, shall we say, good actions (practice) stem from a state of balance.

I see a difference between good practice and good works, but also conceded that they overlap

Originally posted by karoly aczel
Yeah, what are you planning for?

Taking care of our physical needs takes but 5-10% of our time, but most people obsess over physicality ,objects and so forth without ever getting "happier"

Usually nothing too important - what I'm going to eat when I get off work, or what I'm going to do tomorrow, etc. - but I can seemingly find a million little things like this on a given day...

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
I struggle greatly with maintaining my spiritual practice.

After years of searching, I have finally stumbled on a spiritual path that seems promising - perhaps even right for me. (Mainly involving meditation and reducing the role of the ego.)

One problem is that once it gives me a better day or two, I start thinking I don't need it anymore. So I ...[text shortened]... arted.

Would others please share any tips they may have for establishing a spiritual routine?

A spiritual practice like meditation is on-going, unlike, for example, baptism which is an event. And that's exactly the point about it's being a practice: one has to practice it to get proficient at it. When one reaches a certain level of proficiency, it becomes second nature, something like a habit (but a good habit instead of a bad one). Keep going. You'll get there eventually.

BTW: when you 'get there' you'll see that there's no there there. Mindfulness will have become as easy and automatic as breathing. (The comparison is not trivial; this is why many meditation traditions start by teaching novices to concentrate on their breathing.)