Photo by Moyan Brenn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>Both traditions I am trained in have a way of acknowledging various points of the day: the beginning and the end, and also midday and dusk.\u00a0 The practice of bookending my day with a moment of connection is one that feels uncomplicatedly lovely to me.\u00a0 While these times could benefit from twenty or thirty minutes of practice, they also benefit from one or two minutes of acknowledgement.<\/p>\n
The midday and dusk times, on the other hand, often come while I\u2019m in the middle of something else, and so pulling away, even for a minute, can feel hard.\u00a0 When I do, sometimes I rush through, but when I am able to pause for long enough to feel connection in my belly, they inevitably help me realign my day with what\u2019s truly important to me.<\/p>\n
One simple way to engage this practice is just to look for something to say thank you for at each time.\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe that forced gratitude is good for us, so I\u2019d suggest staying away from the things you think you ought to be grateful for and instead acknowledging things you are able to appreciate in the moment you\u2019re practicing.\u00a0 Tiny things are good choices: these soft sheets, this steaming cup of coffee.\u00a0 Big things are another one that\u2019s often easy to connect to: gratitude for being alive, for friends or family, for shelter, warmth, and food.<\/p>\n
I find the phrase \u201cthank you\u201d especially evocative and so prefer it to \u201cI am grateful for,\u201d although you may feel differently!\u00a0 If you have a devotional practice or set of beliefs about who you might be thanking, you can address your gratitude more specifically, but I also find that it works well to just say \u201cthank you\u201d without any specific idea about who you are thanking.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve also used taking three deep breaths at each of these points as a very brief way to take a pause and acknowledge the cycle of the sun in the sky, and I\u2019ve used specific prayers \u2014 ones that come from traditional sources and also ones I\u2019ve written \u2014 at other times.<\/p>\n
Do you acknowledge daily cycles?\u00a0 I\u2019d love to hear about your practices!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One simple way to engage this practice is just to look for something to say thank you for at each time. I don\u2019t believe that forced gratitude is good for us, so I\u2019d suggest staying away from the things you think you ought to be grateful for and instead acknowledging things you are able to appreciate in the moment you\u2019re practicing. Tiny things are good choices: these soft sheets, this steaming cup of coffee. Big things are another one that\u2019s often easy to connect to: gratitude for being alive, for friends or family, for shelter, warmth, and food. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1335,"featured_media":129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,7,5],"tags":[41,40,39,42,37,38,19],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-practice","category-formal-practice","category-how-to","tag-day","tag-midnight","tag-noon","tag-sun","tag-sunrise","tag-sunset","tag-time"],"yoast_head":"\n
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