24 October 2014 4 Comments

Managing Your Energy, Part 25: Strategies to Increase Regularity of Practice

Getting regular with energy practice or spiritual practice may not seem like a sexy topic. Actually learning to make regular practice appealing is rewarding and alive as we begin to engage more and more completely, and reap results in our lives.

If you do not practice some form of energy work, Inner Work, meditation, inspirational reading, Qi Gong, or martial art, most of the same processes apply to any type of health practice or personal discipline. Practicing regularly helps to cultivate all forms of success.

Strategies to increase and enhance regular practice:

  • Start now. Start now. If you’re lousy at it, start with just a few seconds. You will build over time.
  • Pick a spot to practice where the energy and conditions support your desired focus. When possible, always practice in the same spot. Energy builds up here over time and assists you.
  • Practice at the same time of day when you can. You may soon find your body heading to your spot at that time.
  • Get clear about exactly what you are going to do during your practice time. Lack of clear intention dilutes results.
  • Do one set of practices over time until you get results. Consistency builds neurological circuitry and focus.
  • Dial in an energy connection to your sources of inspiration, whether these are people, teachers, places, deities, elements, Nature, or Spirit. Allow IMG_0275their energy to enhance your focus.
  • Shift “I have to . . .” to an attitude of loving invitation. Invite and allow without pushing yourself.
  • Shift from ‘I missed my time to do it’ or ‘I don’t have time,” to “Something is better than nothing,” “Even a minute builds momentum,” and “I will at least find small windows of opportunity throughout my day.”
  • Cultivate your own trust by following through on promises to yourself.
  • Don’t say “I should do more.” Either motivate yourself and DO more or stop aggravating yourself with this type of litany.
  • Reinforce motivation to practice by noticing results: at the time you practice, throughout your day, and cumulatively.
  • View this Work as a karma account or bucket of holy water that accumulates as you put in a drop of practice.
  • Understand that sometimes you may feel nothing as you practice, or for periods of time, and then suddenly find yourself in the energy of the practice when you aren’t focused on it. Notice when this happens.
  • Keep bringing the fundamentals of your practice into direct expression throughout your day.
  • Intentionally enjoy the good feelings you get from practice. Remind yourself you prefer feeling this way to the way you feel when you are resistive or negligent.
  • Identify and speak kindly to your points of resistance.
  • Notice the vague disappointment you feel when your practice is flat. Seek to recapture the next moments by coming fully into what you are doing. Keep coming back.
  • USE your practice time well: Avoid vain repetition, going through motions, or empty ritual. Bring yourself wholeheartedly to the moment.
  • Catch yourself practicing when it feels good and tell yourself, “I enjoy this and want more of it!”
  • Get past thinking that things are important just because they are urgent. Deadlines increase urgency but not importance. Practice is very important even if it lacks urgency or deadlines.
  • Increase your urgency to practice by remembering that you could die without its fruits.
  • Notice the difference between wholehearted engagement and doing something because you ‘should.’
  • Notice how practicing being wholehearted begins to impact other aspects of your life.
  • Notice how practice impacts your sense of life purpose.
  • Notice what it feels like to take a fully-aware breath.
  • Bring the fragrance of successful practice into your day, to make your day more enjoyable.
  • If you flake out, come back. No blame. No recriminations. Just come back. Keep returning, keep returning, keep returning. . .
  • Think of practice as watering a garden in which you are cultivating joy.
  • Use your relationship with practice as a venue for being kind to yourself.

What works for YOU?

How do you feel when your resistance ‘wins’?

4 Responses to “Managing Your Energy, Part 25: Strategies to Increase Regularity of Practice”

  1. Strategies to Increase Regularity of Practice ~ Increasing Benefits – Positive Energy Guide

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