Making Everyday Sacred With Ritual
Jeff OxfordIn life I have found it helpful to have beliefs. I have also found it helpful to be willing to allow those beliefs to evolve as I grow in wisdom. Having said this, some beliefs are long standing, life sustaining and act as pillars for me. One of those beliefs is this: everyday is sacred.
Knowing everyday is sacred, I try not to focus my energy on making anything happen. Rather, my intention is to focus my energy on daily rituals and practices that celebrate the sacred. Doing so helps me remember it throughout my day. It’s so easy to forget with all the noise of the world.
My belief that everything is sacred energizes my commitment to having daily rituals/practices. While daily meditation is my anchor, many days I also find myself writing, drumming, chanting and engaging in various other uplifting practices that nourish my spirit. When I start my day with these nourishing practices, it reconnects me to my essential nature which is pure unconditional love. Feeling this love reminds me of my divine nature. This love washes away any doubt that there is anything more important than bringing love into the world. My spirit is nourished. I am spirit.
And I am human too. As the day rolls on perhaps I encounter someone being unkind or hateful. These are the moments my daily rituals bolster me. They remind me that everything is sacred. Yes, everything! Even the less desirable attributes of humanity. In fact perhaps we learn the most from these moments?
My studies of the Bhagavad Gita have taught me that nothing is wasted. I take this to mean that even the pain and suffering I experience is useful. How so? These experiences help me awaken. The harder moments of life teach us where our limits to love and forgiveness reside. They teach us where we are still growing. They teach us to have compassion. They teach us that all of life is sacred.
My daily rituals help me stay on the path of awakening to life. Why is awakening important? Well, another one of my beliefs is that in order to fulfill my purpose on Earth (to joyfully serve), I must be awake. Meaning, I must be aware, alert and of the mind set that everything that happens is for me to learn and grow. I often say burn the pain and use it as fuel for the journey.
And so, coming back to my belief that everything is sacred, translates to everyday, every moment, every breath is sacred. My daily rituals help me remember this sacredness live into it. Living as such is powerful and humbling practice. It’s an endless practice really. A practice, not a perfect. At this stage of my sacred Earth journey, I don’t know any other way I would want to live.
Blessings and love to you on your sacred journey.
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