Recipe For Success: Wear Good Shoes
If there’s one thing I learned last week, from cooking for 150 people at a four-day retreat at the Farm of Peace, it was this: wear good shoes. Without proper support, you’re in a world of hurt.
And as painful a lesson as that was, it wasn’t the most profound lesson I learned there. But it was the most practical.
I’m a big believer in practical spirituality. As much as I love conceptual spiritual study — geeking out on the nuances of the theories of free will, self-direction, and hearts and souls (I’ve got a double grand trine in air, after all) — it’s the practical side of the spiritually-infused life that really puts my heart at rest.
Practical spirituality, to me, is how your spiritual studies directly impact and influence the way you live your life in the most seemingly mundane of ways. You could say it’s the “shoes” of life — the support that a sturdy spiritual orientation gives you in tackling the challenges and tasks of your existence.
Now, that might seem a bit odd to some; to think of the spiritual existence as a foundation for life, when so often the spiritual is thought of as the pinnacle of life, supported by the worldly. As if the dense, worldly life is the base, and the ethereal, spiritual life forms the “higher” parts of life. But I’ve found that model to lead to all sorts of problems.
Spiritual time vs. everything else.
When your spiritual life is floating above the rest, it’s too easy to get ungrounded, and make your spiritual pursuits separate from the rest of your life. Spiritual time vs. everything else. Spiritual concerns get disconnected from survival, from family, from health, and from all the so-called “practical” aspects of life, in that spiritual fulfillment gets prioritized above them, and sought without regard to how the rest of your life is flowing.
However, if you flip that model upside-down, it can make life so much richer.
What if you brought your spiritual connection into your worldly activities, instead of separating them out?
Last week at the retreat I worked at, there was a night when everyone was engaged in a night of prayer, all night long. It’s a wonderful experience, and I’ve done it numerous times. But this time, I was alone in the kitchen, cubing watermelons, slicing oranges, cracking twelve dozen eggs for the next morning’s breakfast, etc.
As I worked alone in the kitchen, I sang and prayed. My heart rejoiced in the simplicity of my work: my chance to be present with my experience of the Divine while I worked in the service of others. I wasn’t praying with the group, but I had a fantastic, spiritually rich night.
I didn’t leave the worldly to experience the spiritual. Instead, I allowed the spiritual to form the basis of how I went about the worldly. You could say that my work had “a great pair of shoes”; fantastic support to accomplish my tasks in a way that fed my heart (and not leave me in a world of hurt).
More and more, I’m finding this pattern showing up in my life, and I believe it’s the integration of the studies I’ve been engaged in coming home to roost, so to speak.
So, two points of awareness for you:
1. Where do you tend to separate your experience of the spiritual from the worldly?
2. How can your spiritual experiences support your worldly activities even more?
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Image by Celinet on Flickr, via Creative Commons license.
And thanks to all those who commented on the previous post so far: Isabella Mori, Barry Morris, Coach Anne, Michelle Van, Joanna Young, Jean Browman, Roslyn Hoetawa, Tshombe, Jason, Debbie Perkins, Mark Silver, Molly Gordon, John, May, Erin Ferree, Judy Murdoch, Gayle, Shawn Murphey, Judith Geiger, Anne Wayman, Carmen, Kim Cavins, Char Brooks, Nathan, Maryam Reimer
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Intuitive purpose finder and meaning maker.
to me, there is no difference between “the spiritual” and “the worldly”. spirit is in the world, spirit is the world. every time (EVERY time) i take care to be in spirit right here and now - as i’m typing, drinking tea, driving, cooking, having an argument, etc. - i gain, and the world gains.
how can take greater care to do this? that’s the challenge. gratitude helps. ritual helps. grounding helps. whatever brings me into the presence and into love.
You’re right — most people totally separate the activities and behavior patterns in their lives between spiritual and secular motivations…
Here’s a rhetorical question for you: Where and when exactly are people supposed to experience the benefits of spiritual action, if not in their everyday lives?
You know?
If there’s no practical application, if your spiritual evolution is not benefiting or impacting your life a synergy of little moments, in what context could you experience it? Brief, special, radical, rare moments of insight. I’d say that sets the stage for imbalanced expectations, disappointments, and moments of enlightenment too few and far between.
I like to live my magic, a little bit at a time, infusing everything…
Since Cheerful Monk is devoted to Happiness As a Spiritual Practice, my spirituality is deeply connected with every passing moment.
I think the place I still tend to get a little disconnected between the two is with family. It’s so easy for me to fall into ‘fix-it’ mode with my parents, or somehow separate/lose the sense of calm grounded-ness that my spiritual practice usually provides me in the day-to-day.
I do think that it’s critical to have a spiritual practice. I totally love and agree with what you said about cooking at night- and I also know that you’d agree with (because we’ve talked about it before) that taking time for spiritual contemplation/practice/prayer that doesn’t appear to have any worldly application is critical.
Why? Because it helps to clean and center our beings for engagement with the world, and to remember that deeper core connection that can so often get lost in the day-to-day things.
peace and love to you and your family- I’m glad you had such a lovely retreat. I’ve got one coming up this Monday, I believe…
Mark,
“…taking time for spiritual contemplation/practice/prayer that doesn’t appear to have any worldly application is critical.” It seems to me that’s the important part, we don’t do the meditation or other form of spiritual practice in order to enhance our performance in the world. Our actions in the world are part of our spiritual practice. The reason we take time out from the world is, as you say, to get reconnected to our core. And if we get disconnected in certain areas of our life, then those are great opportunities to deepen our practice.
What do you think?
My last comment may seem like stating the obvious, but so often I read about spiritual techniques being great tricks for helping us be more successful in life. I certainly have nothing against “success”, but it’s an outcome. To me the most important thing is the process.
It’s not easy for others to integrate the spiritual with the worldly simply because they’re too focused on getting the job done. It’s like normal life first and then spiritual life when all the noise has died down. I like that you gave the example of cooking in the kitchen as a way of fusing both concepts. It’s simple, practical and effective. Something a lot of us can try emulating.
My point was to shed light on how easy it can be for spirituality to become its own isolated part of our lives. We study it, engage in practices, and develop certain talents in us… and I, for one, have found it all too easy to compartmentalize my spiritual life.
Of course it has value and benefit for the “rest” of our lives, but it’s easy to miss that at times.
Like Mark is pointing out, engaging in spiritual practice solely for its “transfer” benefits is missing the point; and yet, if we isolate it too much, I think we’re missing the bigger picture.
Each has its role, is what I’m saying (not that I think that point is being lost anywhere in the discussion, mind you).
The monk has spoken.
I’m totally in agreement- the middle way seems like it’s been the most effective for me. I do need to isolate spiritual practice so I can have that deeper connection and carry it in the kitchen… but when it goes to far it does enhance that illusion of dualism with which our egos are already afflicted…
I would’ve been happy in the kitchen with you that night, my friend. Chop chop.
Love this article.
…because life is that which is imbued with spirit. How can it be anything else?
When we forget to open to this spirit within, we forget to open to life…
Much joy,
KL
1. Where do you tend to separate your experience of the spiritual from the worldly?
Up until recently my pattern fell in finances and specificly the number in my bank account.
2. How can your spiritual experiences support your worldly activities even more?
With meditation, mindfulness, and NVC I’ve found ways to infuse spritual lessons into finances and most importantly catch my ego in the moment from grabbing the same complaints.
It’s time for new complaints my friends.
Jason
“I didn’t leave the worldly to experience the spiritual. Instead, I allowed the spiritual to form the basis of how I went about the worldly. ”
Very well said and yes, it is practical spirituality.