Dear Friends,
At my 12-step meeting today, I heard someone talk about his recovery as having a shelf life – an expiration date that would soon arrive if he didn’t continue his spiritual practices. “My sponsor said to think of my spiritual condition like a cup of yogurt,” he commented. “Unless I take care of it, it will go sour in about two weeks.”
It seems that the nature of spiritual practices is that they are just that . . . practices: they’re intentional activities that we do with regularity in order to stay spiritually fit.
One of the things I love about Unitarian Universalism is that our faith affirms all the diverse ways we can take care of our spirit. “Prayer” can be a crochet stitch or writing down my thoughts in a journal. “Meditation” can be slicing carrots for a salad or thoughtfully combing my dog after a bath. I have learned that spiritual practices aren’t so much about what I do, but rather that I do them with frequency and mindfulness. And, when I allow the demands of the day to fritter away these simple actions, my spirit begins to go stale and expire.
Buddhist teacher and writer Lewis Richmond names five virtues essential for not only living well, but also aging well. They include: gratitude; generosity; the ability to re-frame misfortune or setbacks; curiosity; and flexibility.[1] These virtues strike me as the natural outcomes of intentional spiritual practices. And, if I’m able to cultivate more of these qualities in my life, I suspect that my fresh and happy spirit will not be at risk of expiring. Rather, it shall be my companion for many days.
Terry