Sadhana

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may have noticed by now that I integrate my reading into my reflective practice.  Reading is part of my reflective practice and of course something I do for fun.  For fun, I am reading a book on horse training which has absolutely nothing to do with my current life but brings back memories of being a horse loving child and adolescent and my experience with horse training (I see now how confident I was but how little I really knew).  

I almost exclusively read what some might call “self-help” books during my sadhana every morning.  As Michael Grosso wrote “Anything that activates our mental life, any practice that forces us to try, test, persist, invent, risk, endure and enjoy our efforts toward self-mastery is sadhana.”  The practice must resonate with us, individually, what might work for one person is prayer, meditation or even sport, art or mindful caregiving. The practice must work for you, put you in touch with your own soul, respect your passions and spur your creativity. 

My sadhana does that. In the early morning hours, in the dark before the day begins, my study, my meditation my physical activity, my writing and creating, even my caregiving puts me in touch with my soul.  My soul, what feels right to me, not what someone else may observe, judge or expect.  Trust in me, myself and I.  My soul and heart, my mind and my body even though my consciousness is not mine, I am the observer of my thoughts, not my thoughts. My observer is me.  I am not separate from the one vast consciousness, energy or source. 

I observe that during my sadhana my mind wanders, it thinks about my to do list or worse what I “should” be doing or if I can meet my commitments or how I can work everything out.  This is where practice comes in.  The practice is to return to my focus, to my reading, to my writing, to my meditation, to my running, to be mindful in my caregiving. To honor the work I am putting in.  All I have is right now, whatever I get done is enough.