Day 1  | Dedicating A Space To Practice

“Each place is the right place--the place where I now am can be a sacred space.”
– Ravi Ravindra

The sacred is simply recognizing the Divine Intelligence right where we are. To develop a habit of letting go and allowing, it is recommended to establish a particular place and particular time to practice. From there, we invite Spirit to join us in this place.  Spirit is everywhere and when we ask for Spirit to be with us, we are inviting it into our awareness and our heart. 

Practice: Find a small table or area in your home where you can add spiritually inspired items to create an altar. Plan on spending at least 20 to 30 minutes in this space each day for the 40 Days of Spiritual Practices. For now, just sit and recognize a power greater than you in this moment.  Then you can say, “I know Spirit is all there is and I am one with Spirit. I invite the awareness of Spirit to be here right now with me.” You can also invite Spirit in a question, “Spirit, will your presence be with me now?” and then be in silence and breathe quietly. 

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Day 2 |  Finding The Breath

“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.”
– Amit Ray

There is nothing more centering and calming than to stop and take a few deep breaths. The breath reminds us to let go and find perspective on any concerns we might have. 

Practice: Take your seat in your sacred place. Set a timer for at least 10 minutes. Use the practice from Day 1 and then breathe deeply in through your nose and relax as breathe out through your nose.  Focus only on the breath. Let thoughts that come, go.  Don’t follow them.  Just let them go and focus on the breath. 

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Day 3 | Let Yourself BE

“Everything is a part everything anyway. You can have it all, if let yourself be.” 

– Donovan

Is it that simple? Contentment and peace by just allowing ourselves to be? Yet, maybe we resist because it is the unknown.

Practice:  Find a sacred place and quiet your thoughts with your breath for 10-15 minutes. Breathe deeply and slowly 6-8 times. With each out-breath, relax your body and let go completely.  Return to a natural breath. As you have thoughts, let them go like a cloud drifting away. 

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Day 4 | The One Seat

“As we take the one seat and develop a meditative attention, the heart presents itself naturally for healing. The grief we have carried for so long, from pains and dashed expectations and hopes, arises. We grieve for our past traumas and present fears, for all of the feelings we never dared experience consciously. Whatever shame or unworthiness we have within us arises.”
– Jack Kornfield

The Buddhist teacher, Jack Kornfield, refers to a sacred spot that we choose to meditate as the ‘one seat.’ When we are willing to sit down in this seat, we may be distracted by our thoughts or feelings.  To develop our practice of allowing emergence, it is essential to stay in this seat and be with our feelings, to let them arise, and be with them.  As Jack Kornfield suggests, there is a natural healing happening when we are willing to take the ‘one seat.’ We do not have to ‘do’ anything. 

Practice: Take a seat in your sacred place. Breathe deeply and slowly. Allow feelings and thoughts just to be. 

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Day 5 | Being Centered

“Breathing in, I calm my body and mind. Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh

Centering ourselves whether sitting, standing, or walking is a mindful process to be present and aware of the moment. Centeredness can always be found in each moment. 

Practice: Sit in a sacred place. Begin by breathing deeply and relaxing. Slowly and quietly say in your mind the quote by the Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, with your breath:  (in) Breathing in, I calm my body and mind. (out) Breathing out, I smile. (in) Dwelling in the present moment, (out) I know this is the only moment. Continue repeating with your breath 10 times and then sit in your centeredness for at least 10 more minutes. If you find yourself distracted, you can go back to mindful breathing. 

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Day 6 | Grounding Your Spirituality

“It is only by grounding our awareness in the living sensation of our bodies
that the ‘I Am,’ our real presence, can awaken.”
– G.I. Gurdjieff

Grounding is the act of balancing your spiritual and physical energy by connecting yourself with the earth.  Scientific studies are proving that grounding allows a positive flow of electrons from the earth, which reduces inflammation, improves sleep, reduces stress….and more.  

Practice:  Stand outside on the earth.  Imagine your feet having roots that go into the soil.  Be aware of the center of your body near your navel.  While maintaining this grounded-ness,  stretch, do yoga postures, breathe the fresh air, sit in the sun or maybe even hug a tree. Stay connected to Mother Earth for as long as you desire.

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Day 7 | Body Awareness

"Embrace and love your body.  It's the most amazing thing you'll ever own."
– Anonymous

Take some time today to become aware of all that your body does for you.  This is the vehicle through which you move and interact with the world, and it is constantly working for your highest good.  Appreciate all of the systems, organs, and cells that are working in Divine Harmony for you today!

Practice: In your sitting time, breathe in, as you allow yourself to feel energy moving up through your body, up your spine and then breathe out as you imagine the energy moving out through your arms and the top of your head.  Do this 5-6 times and then sit in your energetic body affirming health and vitality and being grateful for all that is does for you. 

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Week 3 Day 1 | Letting Go Of Stress

“In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.” ― Fred Rogers

Even when we are in a tunnel or a thick forest, there is light surrounding that very place in any given moment. We are the light.  No matter the stress we might feel, the light is always there.  Learning to let go and trust that everything is in Divine timing and order is easier with a sense of the Divine Spirit within and the faith that this Divine Spirit is with us at all times.  We can know that we’re a being full of the light that vibrates in every instant. Let go of the seriousness and treat yourself ‘lightly.’

Practice:  Notice any worries and stresses.  Ask yourself, “Is my worry justified or am I making it up? Is it really true? Do I really know this?”  Just breathe, recognizing that everything is in its natural and Divine order. Your best outcome will manifest when you relax and allow Spirit to reveal your highest and best good.  Repeat to yourself, ‘I allow the highest and best to come through me.  I am strong and confident.’  Enjoy a short walk and walk with confidence and trust. 

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Week 3 Day 2| Surrendering Deeper

“Enlightenment has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It’s seeing through the facade of pretense. It’s the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.” -Adyashanti

Surrendering can be painful because we are letting go of our beliefs and our identity that we have built over many years. Jesus surrendered in the Garden of Gethsemane, Moses in front of the burning bush and Buddha under the tree of enlightenment.  They each struggled with surrendering to a Spirit. When they did, they were transformed and the wisdom they found has inspired, literally, billions of people. 

Practice: Either sit in a chair or kneel on the floor and lower your head below your heart.  Surrender the thoughts from your head to your heart and its connection with Spirit. Continue for as long as you are comfortable.

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Week 3 Day 3  Letting Go And Trusting

“The key to serenity is trusting that the universe has your back.” – Gabrielle Bernstein

Sometimes we have trouble believing that good things are happening right now and will happen in the future. This resistance can be attributed to experiences of being hurt in the past or from not wanting to get our ‘hopes up’ in case we are disappointed. If we are less than open, we have a ‘less than’ experience of the good that the universe has for us. The only way we will find and peace, joy and meaning in our life is to be open to the good in the moment. 

Practice: Sit quietly in your sacred space. Think about the day before you. Notice situations in your life when you might be holding back because of the fear of being disappointed. Set that hesitation aside and be willing to be open to all of your good in this moment and for the rest of the day. 

Week 3 Day 4 Boundless Life

 “We are not bound by precedent but freed by Principle.” - Ernest Holmes

No matter our experiences from our past, we can choose new experiences and new ways of being in the present moment. Spiritual principles assure us that as we choose, a manifestation of our intention and attention is being created.

Practice:  In your quiet time consider an experience where you would like to manifest a magnificent outcome. Contemplate what new ways of being you will choose to guide this manifestation. Carry this practice throughout your day.

Week 3 Day 5 -Smile : Smiles are Contagious!

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.”—Thich Nhat Hanh

The simple act of smiling can lift our spirits if we are feeling sad.  Have you noticed that we smile when others are smiling?

Practice:  Sit in your quiet place and relax by breathing deeply. Begin your meditation practice with a slight smile. Then smile broadly. Continue to smile throughout your morning practice. Commit to smiling all day, whether alone or around others. Notice how smiling affects how you feel. Notice if others are smiling around you also. 

Week 3 Day 6 Beginner’s Mind

“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” -Meister Eckhart

The Buddhists teach a concept called ‘beginner’s mind.’  Beginner’s mind is letting go of our expectations and preconceived ideas about something, and seeing people and things with an open mind as if we have never seen that person or situation. 

Practice: Pick up an object, preferably something edible like a piece of fruit. Let go of what you know about that object and look at it and touch it with a beginner mind.  If it is edible, slowly peel it or open it and mindfully taste it with a beginner’s mind. Allow yourself to sit with experience for a few moments. Go through your day using a ‘beginner’s mind.’

Week 3 Day 7 Let Go Of Fixing

“Every day I wake up and ask myself, how can I accept myself and others more fully?”- Alaric Hutchison

We are all created in the image and likeness of God.  Yet each of us is a unique creation, different from all others and absolutely spiritually correct and perfect exactly the way we are.

Practice:  Look in the mirror and say 10 times, “I love you just the way you are and I am grateful.” Then think of someone you think needs fixing and say “I love you just the way you are and I am grateful you are in my life.”

Week 4 Day 1 Living As A Prayer

“The most powerful thought is a prayerful thought. When I'm praying for you, I am praying for my own peace of mind. I can only have for myself what I am willing to wish for you.”  ― Marianne Williamson

Our prayers need not be reserved for a quiet moment. Life itself can be a prayer. The first 2 steps of affirmative prayer we teach at the Napa Valley Center for Spiritual Living are: 1.) Spirit is all there is, and 2.) we are one with it.  We can walk and talk these steps throughout our day with the intention of healing and revealing our spiritual truth. 

Practice: Start with a prayer in your sacred place in the morning. Any prayer. Set reminder alarms throughout your day to remind you to practice the presence of Spirit through prayer. 

Week 4 Day 2 You Are Enough                                                              

“Time is too short to be living someone else’s life.”—Kobi Yamada

Only you can be you.  God makes no mistakes. We are all whole, complete and fabulous expressions of the Divine. 

Practice:  Sit quietly and clear your mind of thoughts. Breathe deeply. Say to yourself, "There is nothing I need to add or change to improve upon God’s creation of me.  I am enough.”

Week 4 Day 3 Moving to Peace and Acceptance

“For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Anger is an appropriate emotion at times. Anger can even bring us clarity and determination. It is the holding on to anger that is unhealthy.  Through a willingness to accept a situation, let go, and even forgive, if necessary, we can find inner peace. Peace is a natural state of being.  

Practice:  In your sitting practice, think of something recent that frustrated you. Notice the feeling in your body. Does it have location in your body? Ask for Spirit to help to become aware of the importance of this anger. What was the learning in it? Once you are ready, accept the situation, let go of the anger and forgive yourself or another. Let the feelings lessen and allow a sense of release, freedom, and peace come over you. 

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Week 4 Day 4 Nurturing Yourself

"Put yourself at the top of your to-do list every single day and the rest will fall into place." – Unknown

We are often told that we cannot pour from an empty cup.  When we are only focused on helping others, our cup runs dry and we no longer have the time or energy to take care of anyone, including ourself.  

Practice:  In your sitting time, imagine the feeling of love for someone else and then shift that same feeling to surround yourself with love for your whole being.  Choose something to do for yourself or say to yourself today that is nurturing or comforting.

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Week 4 Day 5 Be Gentle with Yourself and Others

“Kindness is my Religion.” -Dali Lama

We are each totally unique and perfect in our Divine Expression, even when we make missteps. We must give ourself permission to love, nurture, and be kind to ourself and others just as we would with a child.  We each deserve it! We all have things we would like to change about ourselves or in our lives.  We can begin by accepting the perfection of where we are now. We can assume the best in others. 

Practice: Watch your thoughts about yourself and others today. If you notice any that are critical of yourself or another, take the time to change them into something positive and write them down or text them to yourself.  We can also practice loving kindness towards ourselves when we think we have made a mistake, or we think we have missed an opportunity.

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Week 4 Day 6 Cultivating An Attitude Of Gratitude

"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." -Meister Eckhart

No matter who you are, there are always things to be grateful for in your life. As you come to appreciate even the smallest of these, you are building an attitude of gratitude and a consciousness for more good to manifest.

Practice:  As you awaken in the morning, take the time to think of at least five things you are grateful for. Right before you fall asleep tonight, review your day and give thanks for at least five more things you are grateful for.

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Week 4 Day 7 Peace In, Peace Out

“Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.” —Wayne W. Dyer

When we seek peace from outside ourselves, it is subject to the whims of others. We need to first seek peace on the inside and then we can know peace around us and in the world.  The first step in finding this peace is accepting life as it is. As Byron Katie suggests, every time we argue with reality, we lose.  From this acceptance we can seek a new and different experience.  We find the inner peace and then we find the outer peace.  Peace in, Peace out. 

Practice: In your sitting practice, just breathe, relax and allow yourself to feel an inner peace. As things come up that disturb or alter the peace, just notice them, accept them for what they are and come back to the peace.

Week 5 Day 1 Be In Awe

“He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.” - Albert Einstein

Awe is a feeling of reverence, amazement, or wonder brought on by something which catches our attention in a moment. It is the feeling we have when being in a forest or viewing a canyon or waterfall.  It is also when we recognize the inner beauty of a person or the miracle of a moment. 

Practice: Give yourself a gift of five minutes of contemplation in awe of everything you see around you.  Go outside and turn your attention to the many miracles that surround you.

Week 5 Day 2 Good News

 “Sometimes you have to let go of the picture of what you thought it would be like and learn to find joy in the story you are actually living.” Rachel Marie Martin

We can be caught in the web of the bad news of the day that all sources of the media feed us. We can turn around any negativity in our mind and find hope, or good in it.  We can also seek and become aware of the good news. We may not be able to depend on traditional sources to provide us with it. There are online sites for good news and kinder living, like dailygood.org, karmatube.org, kindspring.org, conversations.org, and awakin.org. Let us trust in the goodness of the Universe focus on the good news. 

Practice: Search online or in your daily routine for the good today.  It is always there.

Week 5 Day 3  Be Kind

“Kindness is a powerful quality that we each possess.  When displayed, shared, and received, kindness creates peace, friendliness and community.” Talulah Finkelstein, age 9, Co-founder of ‘Be Kind,’ Napa, CA

Kindness is love in action. It is contagious. There is a TV ad that show a progression of kind actions from one person to another and it comes back around to the person who first initiated the act of kindness. Although the scenario is dramatized, the kindness we do does come back to us because as we express more love we are more open to love.  Kindness makes the world go round.

Practice: In your quiet space, consider how you can practice kindness for others today. Commit to at least 5 acts of kindness today.  Choose one to be random by being kind anonymously where the receiver will never know. 

Week 5 Day 4 Emerging Stronger and Better

“Flutter Your Wings. You are ready.” -Butterfly Luv Hugz

In our spiritual practice we have prepared the way, surrendered, stayed the course and lived as a prayer. Now it is time to emerge Stronger, Brighter and Wiser. We do not have to second guess ourselves. We have done the work and now it is time fly. 

Practice: In your morning practice, feel your inner strength that is more powerful than muscle. Notice your heart center and recognize love as the greatest force in the world.  Keep feeling this connection with your inner strength and your love during your day. 

Week 5 Day 5 Seeking Spirit Every Day In Every Way

Why look for God? …. Look for the one looking for God … but then Why look at all? … He is not lost … He is right here … Closer than your own breath!”  ~ Rumi

In the quiet we can find our true Divine self. We can realize we are one with everything that surrounds us. In these moments we can cherish the gift that is bestowed upon us by acknowledging that oneness. We can open our arms and embrace the good and the God in all life.

Practice: Emerge from your sleep in the morning and from an imaginary cocoon and invite Spirt to be with you in morning sacred time. It’s OK to grab a cup of tea or coffee and just savor these delicious moments with a sense of a greater power. Allow your true self to emerge.  

Week 5 Day 6 Expect Miracles

“Loving ourselves and others works miracles in our lives.” – Louise Hay

When we are willing to follow nudges and intuition, to be mindful of truth revealed in us, and  being open to synchronicities, miracles happen.  We can expect them and be grateful for them at the same time. 

Practice: Set an intention in the morning to be open for miracles. As you go through your day, be open to nudges, revelations, and synchronicities for they are the catalyst for miracles.

Week 5 Day 7 Have ‘God-Findence’ (Palm Sunday)

“I speak with confidence because the world needs my light.” – Gabrielle Bernstein

When we allow a stronger and more sacred connection, we can be confident that we are doing the work of Spirit by just being our authentic self. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, in the confidence and trust of Spirit within him. He knew even death could stop the wisdom and truth of Spirit. He proclaimed that if he was silenced, the rock themselves would speak the truth.  That is God-findence!

Practice: Sit in your sacred space and recognize a power greater than you in this moment.  Then you can say, “I know Spirit is all there is and I am one with Spirit. I invite the awareness of Spirit to be here right now with me.” You can also invite Spirit in a question, “Spirit, will your presence be with me now?” and “Spirit is the strength and presence within me. Allow yourself time to feel this presence. Then go be God-fident knowing that Spirit is the power within you!  

Week 6 Day 1 Be Willing To Be The Light 

“When day comes we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid. The new dawn blooms as we free it. For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.” -Amanda Gorman, U.S. Youth Poet Laureate

As we step into the world, are we willing to be Divine beings having human experiences or do we choose to play small and pretend we are human beings having human experiences?  Our playing small means that we will have limited experiences. Only an awareness of our Divinity can bring us greater experiences of peace, love, and light.

Practice: Sit in your sacred space and imagine your body as a divine being filled with and radiating light. As you go about your day, be mindful of your Divinity having human experiences.

Week 6 Day 2 Share The Joy

“Do you realize that your love, your peace, your joy, your bliss can be so powerful in you that it becomes contagious, and people just want to be around you and they don’t know even know why?”  ― Lisa Nichols

Joy is the inner happiness that is not connected to an event or person. It is sourced in the Divine and can always be found if we let go of our negative and limited thinking.  Our negativity is a lower energy thus does not spread. The higher vibration of joy is contagious. Others are drawn towards it.

Practice: Allow yourself to imagine and experience joy during your morning practice. Then take the joy with you wherever you go. If you lose that feeling, take a quiet moment to discover it again.

Week 6 Day 3 Where Is The Love?

“Where is the love you said that you would give to me soon as you were free?” -Ralph McDonald and William Salter

We all seek connection and love.  Many think romantic love is everything, when truly, love is everywhere.  As we open our hearts, we will find it and it will find us. When there is seemingly a lack of love in a friendship, relationship or situation, we can ask Spirit in our mind, “Where is the love?” or “How can I experience or be the love in this situation?”  Allow yourself to open to the possibility in the moment of experiencing love, not necessarily from someone, but in someone and around someone. 

Practice: Today, for each person with whom you come in contact, silently bless them, recognize their divinity and silently say, “I love you.”  No exceptions.

Week 6 Day 4 –Allow Spaciousness (Passover Feast and the ‘Last Supper”)

“The heaven to which Jesus points is the spaciousness within ourselves—one that makes room for those who threaten us, for those who are different, even for those who have betrayed us.” - Mirabai Starr 

Jesus always made room for the marginalized in his ministry, the ones that others looked down upon or thought were untouchable. He even left room for those who would deny and betray him at his ‘last supper.’

How can we include those who seem different than us or have betrayed or hurt us? We don't have to give up setting boundaries for our emotional and physical safety or even have empathy for somebody to love them. We do need to let go of any held judgments or emotions that bind us in order to find spaciousness in our life. A space for ourselves to be free and to let others be free as well.

Practice: Take a moment to imagine somebody that you don’t know well and how you can include them by inviting them to an event or into a circle of your friends. If you are aware of somebody you hold in contempt, invite your heart to soften around this person. You can forgive them from a distance.

Week 6 Day 5 - A Vessel For God

“God needs us to shine It’s light, as me, as you. Use me, oh God I stand for you and here I’ll abide As you show me all that I must do.” -Rickie Byars

Is it hard to imagine that God needs us? We are its emissaries, its messenger and its way that love is expressed on the human level. When we are open to letting Spirit shine its light through us, we can be that clear Divine expression. 

Practice: Listen to Rickie Byars’ song,  “Use Me” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es9NNvSI8qw  Listen to the words and sing along with them, feeling your willingness to let God use you in powerful and uplifting ways. Act from this feeling today.

 Week 6 Day 6 - Meet No Stranger

“You are part of me that I do not know yet” -Valerie Kaur

Valerie Kaur, in her book, “See No Stranger,” recommends that when you meet somebody who is different from you: a different race, culture, faith, orientation, gender identification, or gender: instead of judging them and assuming that they are different in all ways, turn to compassionate curiosity. You can begin to wonder who they are beyond how they identify and or how they look. All of us are multi-faceted beings with a variety of experiences. We are also all connected in the oneness of all life.  We know that are a part of us, in some way, we just don't know how yet. The way we find out is to ask, to listen to their story and to the truth and wisdom they have found in their life.

Practice: As you go about your day and see ‘strangers’, think to yourself, “You are a part of me that I do not know yet.”  Find an opportunity to talk to someone you do not know well, or you do not that well yet and ask them about the experiences and the discovered wisdom that brought them to this point in their life.

Week 6 Day 7  Awakening Humanity to its Spiritual Magnificence (EASTER) 

“We envision humanity awakening to its spiritual magnificence and discovering the creative power of thought.”  - Centers for Spiritual Living Global Heart Vision

Our center has joined the Global Heart Vision of the Centers for Spiritual Living to awaken humanity to its spiritual magnificence. Will join us also?

Practice- Take time to contemplate what is your part in awakening humanity to its Spiritual Magnificence.  Ask the universe, how Spirit might show up through you to change lives in small and profound ways... Or maybe, in really big, powerful, and profound ways. If you allow Spirit to express itself through you, you can do many wonderful things with great love.