Do you ever feel too busy to meditate, to preoccupied to pray, and then feel guilty if your spiritual practice is being neglected?

I woke this morning with a sense of urgency as usual. So many people I know I ‘feeling’ a speeding up of time. Sometimes I wonder if it really is a planetary / cosmic quickening, or rather my own sense of pressure, of trying to fit so much into my days. Even as the shorter hours of daylight grow into Spring and we have more daylight hours I often can’t quite cram everything that I hoped to, and I worry about missing something – especially all the beautiful spiritual practices that I like to incorporate into my day. Then I contemplated for a few moments on how many others might feel the same. Perhaps I could help all those other busy people to build their own spiritual practices into a busy schedule.

I’ve put a list together of very simple ways to bring lots of small practices into a full day – without even changing the schedule one bit. Just being a little more aware of what we are doing and how we are doing it is a spiritual practice in itself. In Zen Buddhism even washing up is a spiritual practice, as long as you feel mindful of what you are doing as you do it.

So here are my thoughts on 5 practical ways to bring your thoughts into line with your spiritual impulse. For example:

1- As you get out of bed step straight into an imaginary hoop of bright white light and stretch it up and over your head. As you stretch lovingly invite the angels to protect your energies during the day.

2- As you shower, imagine the water is cleansing and replenishing all your emotions to help you stay positive – whatever the circumstances.

3- Brushing your teeth – remind yourself to stay positive, commit to only positive words for the whole day.

4- Doing your hair tell yourself you are a child of God, your crown connects to the Universal energies of Love and Light and you will be shining this light wherever you go.

5- Then whether you walk , use public transport, or drive to wherever you need to be, silently bless everyone you meet – unless they sneeze of course – then you have the happy solution of being able to say ‘Bless you!’ out loud.

Blessings to everyone – Have a wonderfully peaceful and thoughtful Easter Weekend.