Keeping on track

[PoetryInDespair]

I'm having a horrible time staying on track. I want to meditate every night and study things that will further my education but I can't find the time. When I do have time it's late , around 12am and by then I'm beat. So I want to know how you stay on track with meditation,prayer and just the little things that sometimes can be hard to find time for.

[Jenett]

A couple of thoughts:

1) Try different times of day. This isn't ideal, but if it's a choice between doing it every day, and not doing so, and doing it every day is important to you, then do what makes that work.

2) Be willing to be flexible. There are benefits to meditating every day. But do they all need to be long, involved times? Or would 5 minutes or 10 minutes be ok on some days? Most people can find a way to fit that into their morning routine, as a break in their day somewhere, or right before dinner or before starting work at home or whatever. Re-examining your schedule can often find you some time somewhere.

3) Look at different kinds of meditation. Moving meditation (walking, dancing) may be easier to fit into your schedule on some days, if you want to exercise anyway. Then, on other days, you can do a specific focused meditation.

4) Look at if there's stuff you really need to do 'formally' every day. Maybe there is, maybe their isn't. Looking at this part every few months can help you keep on track.

Now, all of this said, I'm *really* lousy at doing consistent at-home practices. I do it when I have assignments, but I have a hard time otherwise. I know part of my problem is that the last few months, a chunk of my time, my computer's in the bedroom (we've had houseguests a lot last month), and other times, I'm out in the living room before my husband wakes up in the morning. My altar's in the bedroom, so if he's still asleep, I'm really very limited in what I can do. But if I do stuff in the living room, there's the cat, there's sometimes limited space, and I don't have my altar.

On the other side of it, sometimes I have time and energy after work - but a lot of times I don't, or since I need to be in bed really early. (I get up before 5am for work, and I really need 8 hours of sleep, so I'm in bed by 8:15 or so. Since I don't get home from work until 5:30ish, that isn't much time to eat, have a bath, and do anything else that needs doing before I go to bed.)

So that's hard. Right now I'm doing regular group ritual, and periodic stuff on my own when I get time (mostly weekends), and little quick things during the day at work as I get time/space. (quick prayers, "Hi, how you doing?" things like that...) I want to do more daily structured stuff, but I'm working towards that.

[grnpuffer]

So what happens when you go to bed without brushing your teeth? Isn't that a ritual that MUST be done before you can settle in go fall asleep? What about the restlessness that goes through your mind and body when the lunch hour comes around. There's nothing inherent in your biology that REQUIRES that you eat lunch... you are responding to a habit. You don't have to think about it, do stretching exercises or ohm a mantra. It just happens. The habit of your work should be as automatic as any other ritual you have in your life. In fact, the next level- where the work begins doing you- wont begin until the work becomes as natural in your life as brushing your teeth. Habits are acquired easily... try making a point to wash a pot or pan immediately after use (rather than waiting until you get around to washing all the dishes). After it becomes an automatic thing, observe what happens to you (and to your temper!) when dirty pots are left lying around. It's a trivial example but quite instructive when you experience it. Once a particular practice enters the habit stage, you'll notice an anxiety or craving that begins stirring as the hour approaches. It becomes as natural as having lunch.

Aquiring the habit of lunch wasn't difficult, right? What is it about your spiritual practice that makes it different? What excuses are you giving yourself?

If you imagine changing your strategy every time you brush your teeth- different times, different places, different this and that, then the activity will never settle into a ritual form in your subconscious. In fact, if you try to establish a disclipline based upon novelty, you will ultimately fail because you are being motivated by pleasure/ego/interest/emotion/avoiding boredom/self indulgence. If you chose this approach, your work will always be superficial (and frankly, you have better things to do with your time/life). The fruits from your work will yield surprises, but only if you enter into your work deeply.

If you study with a western mysteries school, they will have you committ to brief meditations at regular and highly defined intervals- every day/no exxceptions. They may have you do the same thing (like spend 10 minutes meditating on a single word or phrase) for weeks, months or more. The point isn't to convince you that the phrase will lead you to the realization of god, but rather to give you insights into the nature of magical will. The truth is, until you've worked past the excuse stage/squirely stage/ you won't make meaningful progress.

So there is'nt a magic fix here. If you want to be a professional dancer/musician, you commit to the work and don't spend your time making excuses to do something else. The genuine spiritual path is an adventure unlike anything that can be imagined, but it takes equal comittment as any mastery of the physical world. If you are not confident that your approach to your work is the right one, invest some time into finding the right situation or information and then stick with it.