Starting a practice diary
As many of you know, I recently did the “Love Cannot Be Compromised” workshop here in England. During the sixth session we are supposed to ask the Holy Spirit what would a fresh start with our practice look like. The answer I got was to start a practice diary.
So that’s what I did. I’ve been using it for nearly a week and I really like it. If you want to do something like this yourself, you’d need to tailor it to your own individual needs. But here is how I’m doing mine:
It’s in a weekly format, with three columns for each day.
Each day I have a list of things I want to stay with as part of my practice of the Course:
- Idea for the day:
- Course reading:
- Meditation (time, quality):
- Idea chosen/start counter:
- Hourlies:
- Frequent Reminders:
- Response to temptation/vigilance:
- Asking guidance:
- Giving miracles:
- Unkind reactions
- When stopped:
- Evening quiet/moment at bed:
That is the left column, which is the same for every day.
Then, in the middle column, I list how it went. What my idea was that I practiced, what my Course reading was, how long and how well and how many times I meditated, when I chose my idea for the day, when I started using my counter, which hours I did my hourly remembrance, how well I stayed with the frequent reminders and response to temptation, when I asked for guidance, names of people I tried to give a miracle to, unkind reactions (to family members) I may have had, at what time my frequent reminders practice pooped out (it usually does, I’m sorry to say), whether I did an evening quiet time and an additional moment at bedtime.
Then in the right column, I have a space for overall notes on the day. This is very useful as the things I say there do not tend to show up in the middle column.
At the end of each week, I review the week gone by and write down things to focus on for the week to come.
So far, I really like it. I know it sounds like a bit much, but it’s not really. It doesn’t take long to fill out. I do it in bits throughout the day. My notes at the end of the day take a minute. I spent about five minutes looking over the previous week. It’s not a drain on time at all, to be honest.
For years and years I have carried this persistent urge to get all those pistons firing. If you’ve read my posts for long enough, you’ve probably noticed that. That urge simply will not go away. This is my latest effort to get them all going on a consistent basis. So far, it’s really helping and I’m hoping to stay with it for quite a while. We’ll see!