Yesterday I wrote about my concern that living your life as a practice will occur for many people as a lot of work. And they would have a point. When I think about what’s involved it covers the following:

  1. Inventing a story or vision of your life. And oh, by the way, your life has several different areas, or categories like, family, career, community, wealth, health, spirituality/religion etc. and you’ll do well to create a story for yourself in each domain that is important to you.
  2. Inventing practices that keep you on track with your story or vision of your life
  3. Inventing practices that transform limiting beliefs. These are beliefs that operate to stop you from having what you say you want in life.
  4. Developing “essential” or “foundational practices” e.g. observing, monitoring/evaluating, letting go, speaking and listening, cultivating networks of help, and learning. I will be saying a lot about these foundational practices.

And this would be a very high level look of living your life as a practice.

Ahem.

According to me. 😉 And remember, nothing I say is “the truth”, just something for you to consider in your life and see if you find useful.

I stand on solid ground though. Think of any activity that is worthwhile, and what it takes to accomplish to a generally accepted high standard. Think of golf, playing a musical instrument, opening and running a successful business etc. They all require constant attention, thinking, and acting.

Think of the people that you respect, and these may not all be people who have big accomplishments that the world can see. It could be a relative who always is there for you with the right word or deed. They all have cultivated practices in their lives that allow them to perform to a high standard or to simply just be a quality that inspires you e.g. patient, understanding, inspiring, loving etc.

Even though these practices may seem easy for other people especially when they have faded into unconscious habits for them, the fact is you have to be engaged in the practices that support what you say you want in life. And yes, it’s a lot of work. If that turns you off perhaps one place to start is your relationship to work. What is your relationship to work? What does the word “work” bring up for you?