Practice, Practice, Practice
Finding our way to the depths of divinity.
A contemplative practice is any act, habitually entered into with your whole heart, as a way of awakening, deepening, and sustaining a contemplative experience of the inherent holiness of the present moment. Your practice might be some form of meditation, such as sitting motionless in silence, attentive and awake to the abyss-like nature of each breath. Your practice might be simple, heartfelt prayer, slowly reading the scriptures, gardening, baking bread, writing or reading poetry, drawing or painting, or perhaps running or taking long, slow walks to no place in particular. Your practice may be to be alone, really alone, without any addictive props and diversions. Or your practice may be that of being with that person in whose presence you are called to a deeper place. The critical factor is not so much what the practice is in its externals as the extent to which the practice incarnates an utterly sincere stance of awakening and surrendering to the Godly nature of the present moment.
At any given time we are likely to have not a single practice but rather a constellation of practices, often with one of them as our primary practice. Others may surround it, each carrying its own special place in our life…. As the months and years go by the constellation changes. New practices emerge. Practices that have been present for years fall out of the picture….
We discover by experience that if we are faithful to our contemplative practices our practices faithfully lead us in the direction of a more daily, abiding awareness of the divinity of the life we are living.
Remaining faithful to our contemplative practices calls for the integrity of remaining faithful to a commitment that nobody sees; it consists of giving ourselves over with all our heart to simple acts which, on the surface, seem to be but the incidental passage of time. But if we are faithful to this unassuming path of fidelity to our daily contemplative practices, the subtle awareness of the depths to which they grant access begins to permeate the very texture of our daily experience of living. Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, fidelity to our contemplative practices evolves into an habitual awareness that does not miss the surprise appearance of God showing up in something as immediate and simple as the sunlight that suddenly fills a room on a cloudy day.
Finding your contemplative practice is then an event that occurs in each and every granting of contemplative experience in which the divinity of the present moment is realized.… By such fidelities [to practice] you, without your knowing how, are led along the path of your transformation into the depths of divinity that your daily living manifests.
Finley, J. (2023b, August 24). Find Your Practice and Practice It . Center for Action and Contemplation. https://cac.org/daily-meditations/find-your-practice-and-practice-it-2023-08-31/
Lovely. Thank you. Practice as you describe it, is presence, witness. Presence and witness to the infinite, immeasurable truth we often lose touch with. Why? Because our lives are performance-based and evaluated for results rather connection. Practice, of course, is also practice like piano or free throws or memorizing a poem. It is focused work, a place, an action where we grow in our skills. No wonder we get better at discerning the divine in the everyday through contemplative practice. Blessings to you Jim Finley. Peace and the beauty of the truth be yours.
“Giving ourselves over with all our hearts…” To be fully present in our daily lives so that we can give with all our heart to attend to our daily tasks, be it spiritual or completely mundane. When everything is felt with all our hearts, we know that we are leading a life filled with grace and love. Practice, practice, practice. Thank you for this.