When your spiritual practice evolves

Allowing new spiritual practices to take shape means listening to ourselves at the deepest level as we remain curious about what might be shifting beneath the surface. This article explores some common experiences when we sense that what was once rich and supportive, now feels a bit dry and flat.

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What is a spiritual practice?

Thomas Moore, in Care of the Soul, writes that the soul works itself out in everyday life. That when we bring intention and presence to our daily lives, we begin to experience all of life as a spiritual practice.

I’ve found this to be true as our spiritual practices awaken us to the reality of Love infusing our lives with meaning, purpose and connection. So, it’s especially disheartening when they begin to feel dry or stale. These times can be deeply disorienting and we wonder why we no longer feel the same way. We may even wonder, where has God gone.

Building a relationship to practice

Sometimes we enter a season of spiritual dryness due to fatigue, stress, illness or distraction. During these times, it can be helpful to remember that you’re in relationship to your practices and being in relationship with something means that it will change and grow, evolving over time with you.

There will be times of resistance and times of momentum. These times aren’t necessarily a dark night of the soul, though they can be confusing. Holding our practices as something we’re in relationship with allows them to have breathing room, recognizing that each season of life brings a different experience.

Letting go of rigidity

Relating to our practices this way also helps us stay out of rigid adherence to those that might need to evolve. For example, a health issue might require a shift in the practice of fasting or impact how long we’re able to comfortably sit in meditation.

Letting go of rigidity about our practices also allows us to see where we have become obsessive. We can get curious about how and whether our current relationship with ourselves and experience of God might be asking for something different. This requires great care as we practice self-trust and discernment about what might need to change and how.

Cultivating new spiritual practices

You may also want to explore what you’re experiencing day-to-day that might be impacting your relationship to your practice. Are you grieving, going through a time of increased stress, have a change in job schedule or a relationship. Take a look at your schedule and life, and ask whether there is something impacting your practice.

With some breathing room and clarity, you might discover that your spiritual practices are suiting you just fine. They simply needed an adjustment to allow for the changes in your daily life.

If, however, you discover that the flatness you feel in relationship to your practices persists, then it might be time to allow them to evolve. Check in with your body and soul about what they might be longing for. It could be movement, connection and community, greater depth and enrichment. If you are someone who prays, bring this question to your prayers.

Perhaps gardening becomes joining a garden club for greater community. Or your daily practice of sitting in silence becomes a contemplative walk. You might discover that you want to take a class to enrich your understanding of some spiritual concept or practice.

Returning to a forgotten practice

Along the way, you might remember a practice from years ago that was supportive and return to it with enthusiasm. When we return to a practice in this way, we come to it as who we are now and our relationship to the practice deepens and softens to meet us. We’re able to experience the reality of Love with fresh vision.

Give space for grief

Any change or evolution, even when we are pursuing it, means acknowledging grief. If yoga was a key part of your life for years and a recent surgery impacted your movement, you might discover grief as you re-enter your practice, aware of a change in mobility. Allow this to be, accepting what’s changed and giving space for your practice to meet you where you are today.

Perhaps you have left your church and are feeling the absence of the liturgy and sacraments. Or you once loved singing in community with others and now, you’re no longer able to worship in the same ways. Let yourself feel these losses as you explore how you might cultivate the rhythm and structure and spiritual expression they provide.

Let it all be true

Allowing new spiritual practices to take shape means listening to ourselves at the deepest level as we remain curious about what might be shifting beneath the surface. Let it all be true—the grief and longing, the curiosity and desire, the deepening into relationship with yourself and God. Take your time. The most enriching spiritual practices evolve out of the ordinary activities of daily life as we reframe them into places where our deepest self and God meet.

If you want to learn to live with more depth and long for a greater connection to yourself and others, please reach out for a conversation to get acquainted.