“Sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness.”
Galway Kinnell
Although you may not realize it, your everyday life is already sacred. Everything arises from the one source. Everything is an exquisite expression of life, of pure being.
One of my clients reported that she is starting to become more aware of things in her life she never noticed before. She loves it when someone unexpected shows up at her door. She flows through the day responding with ease to everyone and everything. And she is attuned with all her senses when she takes a walk outside.
These are new experiences for her, but this deepening awareness has always been available. Things aren’t becoming more tender or sacred. The way nature appears to her hasn’t changed.
What’s changed? Her perspective.
Rather than living in the mental noise, she’s more willing to say a friendly, “Hello,” to her reactions when she’s triggered and let them be. She is slower and quieter so there’s space to see and appreciate everything.
She’s sensitive and grateful—and her heart is touched over and over.
Recognizing the sacred all around us—which includes ourselves, we take nothing for granted.
Discovering What’s Sacred
This is the sacred in everyday life.
When something is recognized as sacred, it is known to have a quality that is beyond the material, physical world. It’s not subject to the mind’s analysis, judgment, or interpretation.
It is illuminated by grace. It may look ordinary, but as we encounter it with nothing in the way, we stand in awe of its very existence.
Recognizing the sacred all around us—which includes ourselves, we take nothing for granted. Then everyone and everything is a gift, a surprise, an expression of the light of consciousness.
Oh, the puddles of rain outside my window! I get to breathe! I get to hold my friend who just lost her husband.
Most of us need reminders—a gentle tap on the shoulder that invites us out of the mind’s noise and into the living reality of this now moment.
And this is where rituals and practices are helpful.
A friend has an altar at home that she visits in reverence every morning. Another steeps himself in books describing the exquisiteness of being present in nature. And another starts the day with a guided meditation that grounds her in presence.
With each moment of consciously being aware, you’re here: peaceful, free, and utterly alive.
Your Rituals and Practices
There are countless ways to remind yourself of the sacred quality of everything. Here are some suggestions:
- Set an alarm with soft chimes to awaken you to presence any time during the day;
- Pair a conscious breath with a common action, such as standing up or feeling the urge to check your email;
- Read or listen to something that inspires you before you turn out the light at night or just upon waking;
- Offer a prayer of gratitude before you start eating a meal;
- Go to a busy café and see the tenderness in everyone (I love this one!);
- Commit to slowing down and being aware when you find yourself rushing.
The mind may tell you that if you were really far along on your path to awakening, you wouldn’t need rituals and practices. And this is an opportunity to not listen to the naysaying mind.
Give yourself permission to do whatever it takes to absorb into the experience of being aware. Come up with actions that bring you back to the spaciousness beyond your personal self, and incorporate them into your daily life.
With each moment of consciously being aware, you’re here: peaceful, free, and utterly alive.
What About You?
What are your rituals and practices for coming home? Do you have any resistance to using them? I’d love to hear your reports and comments.
Thank you, this reflection is helpful. I observe a quiet time each morning and this helps orient to the day. My wife and I usually walk the dogs together after coffee and listening to the news on the radio. When I get started on the days activities, I have a tendency to get absorbed in the task and if I am not careful start anticipating the next task or activity rather than being fully present in the moment and focusing on the task I am doing. This leads to becoming anxious and anxiously anticipating the next thing I think I need to do. I am working on becoming aware when the transition to anxiety occurs and letting that remind me that I can only do one thing at a time and that helps me come back to the present moment with more equanimity.
Thank you for a beautiful reflection. I always start the morning with quiet and centering prayer and the intention to be aware of the moment several times a day. Unfortunately the day often drifts by too fast and I have not taken time. This is a wonderful reminder to stop, take a deep breath and be in the moment- thank you
T
Being an extroverted introvert, I am aware, especially after a relatively quiet cold inside winter, that going into a group, sometimes the sounds are like a cacophony and it takes some time to shift and not feel somewhat overwhelmed. I like the idea of a ritual, perhaps taking three conscious breaths to help me shift.
I live amongst 26 other people in a Health Care Facility and I find that not being alone except when I choose the peace of mine room has a sacredity to it.It offers a peace of well being.
Beautiful – thank you!
You are so welcome!
It has been on my mind to refresh my intentions toward spiritual or mindfulness practices. The difference they make is astonishing. And then I awaken at 4:00 to find this in my mailbox. I am grateful for this and for the 24 hours given to me, this day. This one day. The practices I am returning to with renewed vigor include a set apart time for poetry and Journaling to add to my morning meditation, adding to my gratitude paractices, finding moments to pause throughout the day. Thank you for the reminder and inspiration to turn more fully towards life today
Twila,
Keep turning toward your love for your spiritual practice. It changes everything!
Beautiful article, very grounding. In my own practice, three conscious breaths will bring me back to the here and now. Peace to you ~
Hello Robert, Those three breaths can be transformative – and it’s so simple! I’m glad to hear that practice will bring you back home…
Love the ritual suggestions. ?
Hi Anita,
It’s beautiful to allow ourselves to lean into these everyday reminders. So helpful!
Dear Gail, this is so beautiful! A wonderful reminder to the sacredness and preciousness of all life! Some of the practices that help me are: listening to a CD by sound healer Steven Halpern, I have one playing most of the time when I am at home; reading something inspirational,even just a quote(I know I will read your essay many times for inspiration); lighting incense every morning and evening and being grateful for everything(this site has helped me tremendously with that).
Thank-you Gail, for sharing this!
Love and blessings, Sheila?
Hi Sheila,
I hear your fire for being grounded within yourself. Committing to these practices and ways of being helps sustain the peace we’re longing for… And you are committed!
Thank-you for your kind reply, Gail! I can’t tell you in words how much this article has helped me! Thank-you again!!!
Peace and blessings, Sheila?
Thank you for this gentle reminder. May it become my way of life.
I wish that for you, too, Lynda. The more we enjoy these practices, the we experience being still and connected inside.
Thanks dear Gail for your “offer” as it is at the same time a rimnder and widens my perspectives and alertness to be more fully who I AM. A smile is on my face to be seen and shared.
So beautiful, Sieger! This is the effect of these offerings – to find that inner aliveness that we know is true and live here. Then our natural radiance shines from within and lights up the world!
Dear Gail, thanks – ——- – deep breath: YES! Thanks for the phrase of natural radiance, which most likely I lost, when I was about 6 years. Nowadays about 60 years later, it comes back, rediscovering that ray of Sun, which has slept under ashes of limiting believes.
Sieger
Now you know it! It’s timeless, it’s just that now the clouds are clearing, and the truth of who you are can shine.
Dear Gail, thank for your beautiful, wisdom words!:)
I live in the present, to breath in and out, and I become aware the life which teaches me now, and which I took granted then, as the light shows me to be grateful. Love.
Hello, Is. So beautiful to not take life for granted anymore. Then we are truly living now – with our hearts wide open.