What are Spiritual Disciplines

What are Spiritual Disciplines?

Spiritual disciplines are practices for developing, growing, and strengthening our ability to hear and recognize God in, with, and through our lives. While there is no formal, almighty, list of spiritual disciplines, some are more common than others. Throughout time, people have made suggestions about how to categorize them. Suggestions have included concepts like corporate or individual, internal or external, self-denial or action. I find it best to leave them uncategorized. I often feel pressure to choose equally from each category.

I invite you to think about the descriptions at the end of this post and how each one might relate to or fit into your current life situation and experiences. What does your attention span look like? How much alone time do you have each day? Do you spend time with other people who might practice with you? The goal is to start with a discipline or disciplines you feel most comfortable with and drawn to as you begin.

You may find there are disciplines you don’t enjoy now, but as your life changes, you may come back to it. The opposite may also be true. There is no right or wrong discipline to choose for yourself. As you read through the different types, make notes in your journal. What about each one sounds comforting, challenging, and even a little scary? Then practice and trust your inner self as you do.

Are Spiritual Disciplines really for me?

Are you experiencing a pesky disquiet or feel that there is something deeper than the overly marketed, negatively slanted, and pushy busyness of what the world expects of you in the day-to-day? Perhaps that is a pull from the Spirit to step away for deeper listening.

Are unsettled feelings or a longing for peace and calm something you keep coming back to, wishing for, or dreaming about? Are you reaching for space within that doesn’t get irritated and flared up at each new hurdle that appears in a social media meme or news story or snarky word from a coworker?

Disordered priorities of our life can cause resentment and anxiety. Do you know in your gut you are avoiding people and tasks that you shouldn’t? Do you need to reorder the people you value so they know they are valued – do you need to reorder your own value?

If these questions stir something in you, then perhaps the Spirit is pulling for you to practice deeper listening.

Benefits of Practicing Spiritual Disciplines

I am cautious to share the benefits in a list form because we are all unique. We practice differently, our lives move in different circles, our support groups differ, and mostly we listen differently. With that caution at heart, through the ages, people who practice more intentionally the gift of spiritual disciplines have shared their experiences. They have found the benefits to include some of the following, and I have experienced much of the same.

• Feeling less swayed by the whims of others or trends. Maintaining a closer walk to their own calling and path.

• They are better able to navigate hardships that emerge in their own lives.

• The ability to look more deeply at the broken parts of themselves and endeavor to change behaviors.

• The ability to delay gratification.

• Found deeper insight into the movements of those around them and their responses to them.

• The strengthened ability to distinguish God’s voice in and through their own lives and their relationships with others.

• Greater ability to maintain a place of calm or center when external events and irritations raise up around them.

• The appreciation of natural beauty and smaller gifts of everyday life.

• The capacity to disconnect from distractions like phones or unhealthy relationships.

• The ability to navigate reasoning between right and wrong in an ever-evolving society and world.

• They can place a higher and healthier value on the needs of others and injustices in the world.

This list is really a breakdown of two clear benefits from practicing spiritual disciplines: a greater sense of calm and gratitude.

Why Do You Say “Practice” Spiritual Disciplines?

There is a trend these days to steer away from anything that feels like institutional religion, rules, or dogma. People want to be free to be spiritual without being religious. Spiritual disciplines are not religious by nature. They are not bound to one particular faith or denomination. If feeling confined to doing the same things, again and again, feel restrictive, there is nothing that says you must do a spiritual discipline every day, at the same time, and in the same way, but practice can improve your ability to benefit from them.

When someone wants to learn a new instrument, learn to draw, learn to run a marathon, they practice. At first, it is awkward, difficult, painful, and sometimes feels impossible. Lots of us start things and never finish. We never get to a point where we feel like we “know” the thing we set out to do. If we stick with the practice though, over time, the new skill becomes second nature, a habit, something we turn to.

The “practice” of spiritual disciplines is the same as learning any new skills or craft. Over time, as you practice them, they will become a place of strength and muscle memory for you. That is why we practice.

What Spiritual Disciplines Are Not

The practice of spiritual disciplines is not a mechanism for working our way to heaven. They are not stickers for a sticker chart that paves our way to a glorious afterlife. We were created in God’s image for the purpose of love – for being loved. God bestows grace to each and all of us freely. The practice of spiritual disciplines doesn’t grant us a greater measure of grace, but rather it affords us the ability to listen more deeply to receive that grace and live a life recognizing grace in our day-to-day walk.

8 Common Spiritual Disciplines

There isn’t an official or comprehensive list, but a variety of philosophers, theologians, mystics, and writers include the following, which have become some of the most common.

• Solitude

• Silence

• Journaling

• Meditation

• Prayer

• Fasting

• Stewardship

• Study

Solitude

Solitude is time away. Time alone. Find a quiet room or space, or head out in nature. Solitude is literally about being alone. It isn’t about being an extrovert or introvert. The gift of solitude is an instant quieting of the noise of the world. It removes us from the weight and pull of work, crisis, illness, social media, other people’s expectations or influences, and the noises of the world. It is best to leave distractions like phones behind when you are practicing solitude. The environment around you doesn’t have to be silent when you practice solitude. Music, the sounds of the earth, or even a city can be a background to solitude, but often silence is a part of a solitude practice. You may want to begin with shorter, timed, sessions of solitude. Start with 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour. Solitude can also be extended to multiday retreats or solo trips. Hikes or walks can be a way to practice solitude.      

Silence

The spiritual discipline of silence is defined by the title – silence. It means finding space and place where you can be without interruption or noise. It can be hard to find places that are truly silent, and silence can prove quite uncomfortable for some, especially at the start of your practice. Our culture throws noise our way all the time. It’s how they sell us things, manipulate our movements, and remind us they are there. Some of us live with more verbal people or in busy, high-traffic areas. In addition to finding silence, it can also mean, being silent or holding your speech. Like with solitude, start with a practice time that feels manageable and then add to it little by little as you go. I will admit, this was hard for me at first, I could only do about 15 minutes. Now my mind and heart long for it. It has become a necessary part of my daily practice.

Journaling

Journaling is a powerful spiritual discipline not only for listening but also for providing a window for looking back at the path God has carried you along. Journaling takes a number of forms as a spiritual discipline. It can be as simple as writing down the events of your day and where you saw God at work. It can mean writing letters, or missives, to yourself or God or even others that they may never read. Perhaps you journal through poetry. It can be a place to write prayers and make a list of the people and realities you want to lift up to God each day. Journaling after practicing another discipline like silence or writing during moments of solitude can open your heart to hearing the guidance of the Spirit. Journals can include words, doodles, clippings, or art. Use a pencil or a pen or colored whatevers. You can leave a journal on your desk or by your bed or carry it with you. One way to start is by printing the Guided Prayer Journal. Over time, you will learn to trust what you journal in moments of deeper listening.

Meditation

There are lots of apps for meditation these days, some that are grounded in a meditation of faith in a higher power and others geared more toward faith in self. As a spiritual discipline, meditation is the practice of focusing on the truth that God reveals through deeper listening to scripture. Perhaps you repeat a scripture in your mind and then sit in solitude to reflect and listen. This allows the full depth of God’s calling to sink into your heart and mind. Lectio Divina is a type of meditation that combines the practices of study, silence, and prayer. Most commonly when we see images of meditation people are sitting on a floor with their legs crossed, their back straight, their eyes closed, and their hands resting on their knees. This posture is not required for meditation. Personally, I can’t sit on the floor because of my disorder. I find I meditate more wholistically when I am walking; it doesn’t hurt me physically. I say this to give you permission to do what you need to do to best listen more deeply.

Prayer

I like to describe prayer as honest moments with God. The Spirit is already interceding on our behalf. God doesn’t need our prayers to know what is going on in our lives, but this intentional dialog with God can serve to unburden us and draw us closer to God as grace is bestowed on us. We often think about praying before meals or at bedtime, but prayer is not a discipline to be restricted. You can pray anywhere at any time and for anything. Here at Church Candor, we will be exploring multiple expressions of prayer. One example is Daily Morning Prayer. Prayers are included with devotions. We also explore expressions like breathing prayers, litanies, liturgies, and pencil prayers. One of my faith mentors said to me once, “If it ever occurs to you to pray, pray.” This is how I find it best to start this practice, but also, I encourage you to consider a time of day when you might be able to be consistent.

Fasting

The idea of giving up something for short or longer periods of time can be unsettling. It has become trendy to give up things like chocolate or social media for Lent. This is a form of fasting or abstaining from something that provides nourishment or pleasure. Fasting or giving up something is not intended as punishment, but rather a way to practice self-control. It isn’t natural for us to deny ourselves things we want, and that we can easily have due to our status in life. Fasting can help us identify those things that have control over us and help us realign our priorities. While practicing the discipline of fasting, consider journaling also and tracking ways that fasting has opened space in your life to hear God’s calling and nudges. Grand fasting gestures at the start of this practice will often leave us feeling guilty or inadequate if we can’t keep up with them. Instead of saying you will give something up for all of Lent, for example, practice giving it up for an afternoon, or day. Like all disciplines, this is best practiced by starting in a manageable way and building on it.

Stewardship

Through the discipline of stewardship, we consider what it means to be caretakers of something that belongs to God. This discipline calls us to see our lives through a lens of abundance, not scarcity. We are stewards of many things. We are stewards of truth and relationships. We are stewards of our communities. We are stewards of the way we use our time and share our gifts and skills. We are also stewards of financial resources and physical resources. The practice of stewardship involves listening more deeply to how God is calling us to care for those things entrusted to us for the sake of others. The practice of stewardship is often woven into other practices. As we listen, we hear nudges for how God is calling us to respond to our world. Perhaps that is revealed in moments of silence or while journaling. I find it helpful to journal my stewardship-related thoughts and failings so I can learn from them and respond more abundantly.

Study

The discipline of study has no bounds. Scripture reading, reflections, and devotions that are personally guided or sparked by the work of others will lead to deeper knowledge. This practice is not simply intended as a means of consumption of biblical understandings, but rather an openness to what God is drawing you into at this time and place in our own lives and in the life of the church and the world. Scriptures you have known your entire life can speak differently to you today and tomorrow and 10 years from now. Study is the act of recognizing that God is not done with us yet and the vastness of God’s majesty is more than we can ever fully know so we press on in the hope to draw closer to the heart of God.

Comments

As we journey together here at Church Candor we will practice disciplines individually and as a community for key times of the year. I’d love to hear your experiences so far, positive, negative, or blah in the comments below.