Practice Small, Practice Great

“Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” ~ Vince Lombardi

I am sure you have heard the old adage that practice makes perfect. Well, this is not entirely correct. What if what you are practicing is wrong? Then your practice only makes permanent, not perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect, as the saying goes.

When you begin any practice, make sure it stems from inspired actions; that it has value and merit for you. Begin small and see how it progresses. If you are satisfied with the results, then, as Epictetus says, proceed to the greater things.

“Practice yourself, for heaven's sake in little things, and then proceed to greater.” ~ Epictetus

The Habit of Practice

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” ~ Aristotle

Aristotle also said excellence is a state concerned with choice. This is key. You have power – the power of choice. You don’t have to live forever instinctively. You can STOP, TAKE A BREATH, and ASK:

“What do I choose to be, to do and to have in my life right now?”

Then, set about practicing that. There is the start of excellence.

“Ask yourself the secret of your success. Listen to your answer, and practice it.” ~ Richard Bach

The Art of Practice

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Here we are at the final week of 2010 and what do you choose to do with this week? As you come down from too much holiday shopping, cooking, eating and celebrating, you are still about to enter 2011.

My answer is to practice! Practice what, you may ask. I am glad you asked – keep asking good questions!

Well, what is it that you want your 2011 to look, sound and feel like?

What do you want to be, to do and to have in 2011?

What are you doing to make that happen?

This is what you practice. Now, the choice is yours. You can choose to bitch about your holiday bills and the weight you put on with all the celebrating. Or, you can do something about it. Practice is an action; it is something you do – consistently!

“It's not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it's what you put into the practice.” ~ Eric Lindros

7 Spiritual Practices to Purposeful Manifestation

Thanks to everyone who joined our first BWP Teleclass, "What Do You Really Want to Do With Your Life?" It was a wonderful experience and I was honored to share my spiritual practices. 

Here are the 7 Spiritual Practices:

STOP!

“Stopping is a spiritual art. It is the refuge where 
we drink life in.” ~ Sue Monk Kidd

BREATHE!

Focusing on the act of breathing clears the mind of all daily distractions and

clears your energy, enabling you to better connect with the Spirit within.

ASK!

“You have not because you ask not!” ~ James 4:2b

Who am I?

What am I here to do?

What do I truly desire?

LISTEN!

“Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening

when you'd have preferred to talk.” ~ Doug Larson

DECIDE!

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspired to make it happen.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

ACT!

“You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.”

~ Anthony Robbins

RELEASE!

Leap… the net will appear!

Click here to get the ebook with tip sheet and 

listen to the replay of the recording.

Here's to your success!

Using Spiritual Practices

Our Becoming a Woman of Purpose Meetup met last weekend. I want to say thank you ladies for coming out on a frigid afternoon, I appreciate you all.

We talked about spiritual practices ~ some tips on how to use them and some examples of specific ones. One very important tip is to just do it! It is not about being perfect, but being centered and at peace. This you will never accomplish if you just don’t start already! Never mind about how it looks or sounds to anyone else, this is your journey and your practice. It looks however you need it to look for it to work for you.

Another tip is to have no expectations. It is said that expectations are future rejections. When I expect someone to do something, and they do not; it is not the person that has let me down, but my expectation of them. Go into everything with an open heart and an open mind. This is critical for spiritual practices because when you have expectations, chances are something will come up that is not in line with what you expected. Then what? You give up because it didn’t go according to your plan. In the realm of the spirit, nothing goes according to your plan. This is an important lesson to keep handy. I can do the same practice two days in a row and each day presents something different. Why? Because I am different. I am feeling something different, I am experiencing something new and different, or I am just in a funky place at the time.

One of our newest members shared her spiritual practice of meditation. She remarked how centered and peaceful she feels once she has had her meditation time; and how empty she feels when she does not meditate. Another member shared that she creates vision boards and this is very calming for her.

There is no set practice ~ whatever you do to connect you with the divinity that is within you and outside of you is your practice. I shared my four main practices: prayer and contemplation; spiritual reading; silence and solitude; and journaling. I can definitely feel the effects when one or all of those practices go unchecked. For silence and solitude, I take myself on an Artist Date; just me, my journal and my pen. No friends, family or pets. No distractions, just time to be with yourself, to get to know yourself more.

If you are a newbie to spiritual practices, there are two sites that I have found to very useful: One is Beliefnet – whatever your belief system, this site will accommodate you. It offers prayers, meditations, news and views on all things of a spiritual and religious nature. The other site is Spirituality and Health, named for the magazine. Try one or both sites to jumpstart or spice up your spiritual practice.

I also shared a ritual I use for ending my day: every evening I do a self-inquiry of my day. I answer three questions:
*What have I learned today?
*What have I enjoyed today?
*What have I improved or contributed to today?

Then I list five things I am grateful for that day. Instead of going to sleep anxious and worried about the day or the next day, this sets the tone for restful and peaceful sleep. When you wake up, set an intention for your day.

What would you like the day to look like? Ex., a day full of peace-filled conversations with no drama!

How do you want to feel? I want to feel peaceful and grateful all day, not worried or stressed.

Also, if you have a petty tyrant, that special person whose job it is to constantly annoy you, set an intention that your petty tyrant won’t annoy you today. And if s/he does, it won’t bother you; you will remain in a state of peace and goodwill. It may sound hokey, but when done in the proper spirit, it does work and you will notice the difference. As a coach, teacher and speaker, I have many petty tyrants. Yet, I see them as my teachers ~ they are in my life to teach me something. Yet, I simply remain open and grateful for the lessons and the blessings that come. This is what consistently doing spiritual practices has taught me ~ to be more open and look for the light instead of expecting the darkness.

I would love to hear what spiritual practices work for you. Please share them with us.

In peace and gratitude,
Coach Carolyn

Using Spiritual Practices ~ Part One

“Spiritual practice supports the development of personal power. Spiritually powerful people are not necessarily people who do so much, as they are people around whom things get done.” ~ From A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson

I have a great many tasks and projects that I work on from day to day. I don’t consider myself busy, as I consider myself productive. We can be extremely busy, but produce nothing at the end of the day. When the day is done, I want to have something to show for the time and effort I spent on an assignment. As one of my spiritual practices, I assess my day; evaluating how my time was spent and what was truly accomplished.

I have several spiritual practices, and they have become just that, practices. It took time to develop them into a daily habit. Like brushing our teeth and showering, spiritual practices are to be done until they are very comfortable and natural. You miss them when you cannot do them.

The only time my spiritual practices are out of sync is when I am traveling. So I have adapted a travel version of my practices so that I can do them when I am on a plane, train, bus, or traveling by car. I love my travel practices, because when I am traveling, I love the motion. I find this very soothing and meditating, thus being conducive to putting me in a peaceful state. I am good at shutting other people and noises out. (Don’t know if this is a good thing or just plain rude, but it works for me!)

At our next Becoming a Woman of Purpose Meetup, we will be discussing the ins and outs of using spiritual practices. For me personally, I could not do all that I do if I did not have spiritual practices. I would not be as peaceful or as focused. When I feel less than peaceful and less than focused, I know that I have my practices to fall back on. I can do them anytime.

If you are looking for the peace, the calm, the focus in your life, consider attending the next Meetup gathering. If you cannot attend, look for the follow-up posts and notes. I may also do a teleseminar if there is enough interest. Looking forward to your thoughts on this one.

May you be at peace,
Coach Carolyn