10 Simple Practices That Are Difficult to Maintain, but Will Change Your Life Once Adopted

Below are 10 simple lessons/tasks with somewhat difficult implementation relative to maintaining discipline and practicing them consistently, or on a daily basis. Yet if you are able to perform these rituals daily or at least make it a goal everyday, or even simply setting the intention regularly, then your life will be completely different. The rituals [states of perceptive awareness] presented are perceptive in nature. *We will present physical activities and habits in another article.*

1. Gratitude

Above all else is Gratitude. If you can find something to be grateful for every single day then you have found meaning in life and have uncovered the key to eternal happiness. Gratitude opposes nihilism — meaning it preserves or internal flame, our passion for life and will/desire to live. Sustaining gratitude sustains your being-ness — your existence in this human form. You define meaning in your life. One of the spiritual challenges of existence is to create meaning, for how can one ever find meaning within an eternal nothingness? Thus lies the difficult paradox that often unknowingly creeps into our daily lives. Nevertheless, the impossible is possible. Cultivating gratitude is the epitome of finding meaning in life and unlocking the keys to success and spiritual fulfillment.

2. Grace

When you encounter an obstacle, encounter it with grace. Don’t even look at it as an obstacle. Make the obstacle the path. Rather than perceive an encounter in life as blocking your path, see it as redirecting you to your path. Always remain calm and collected. If you must express anger, express it with control and direction rather than express it as rage — scattered and misguided.

3. Patience

Always having something to do is often considered the epitome of productivity in this day and age and is often viewed as one consistently contributing to society (on a subconscious level anyway). But this often conditions one to always be ready to arrive at the next moment. The very thought of stillness or not having something to do may even create circumstances for anxiety to buildup. Bear in mind, those who rush through life simply arrive at death more quickly. Not having something to do and boredom are not the same thing. One may do nothing and not be bored, but rather focused within a meditative state. Boredom is a symptom of the onset of depression and stems from a lack of gratitude. The desire to possess/expect more.

4. Stoicism

Adopt a stoic practice. Do not (verbally) vent or complain — you simply place your burden upon the shoulders of others. If something is bothering you then sit down with it and get through it. Meditate on it until you have the answer, until you see the lesson in the experience. Complaining about something signifies a kind of blindness. The failure to practice acknowledgment and to take a moment to observe and try and understand what life is trying to teach you (about yourself or others). Such a practice will allow you to bear suffering in silence. In turn you will not burden others. The universe will reward you for choosing the path that results in less entropy.

5. Connect

Connect with the outside world; it is not separate from you. Your inner-world and the outer-world are intertwined — bound by causality. The calmness and peace of your inner-world will be reflected externally through the material world. With respect to the individual, these things typically occur over time, so be mindful of your days & weeks, not just your hours and minutes.

6. Choose

Choose how you want to live your life, rather than be told how to live it. Do something because you want to do it, not because it is the rule. Rules are made to be changed or broken. Adopt a perceptive awareness of free-flowing consciousness rather than compartmentalized consciousness. Following the white rabbit rather than following a weekly planner. Encounter serendipity by performing random acts of spontaneity. Allow the universe to make plans for you.

7. Reflect

Reflect upon your past actions and encounters/conversations with others. Learn and absorb. Do not simply participate in encounters with others with the perception of only teaching them something, but actually listen and be unexpectedly surprised at how often you learn something new. *A journal (writing) or art (painting) are good forms of expression and reflecting through an active medium.*

8. Reciprocate

Be generous. Our gifts are abundant. Extend them to others. Every chance to give is a blessing — an opportunity to serve.

9. Humility

Be humble. We all create this world together. No one person represents any more value than another. If one piece of the puzzle is missing, the puzzle cannot be complete. Consider people as expressions of something that is vast and infinite. Infinite potential is surely fertile grounds for the possibility of materializing every single potential outcome.

10. Intelligence

Practice intelligence but maintain the position of continuous evolution and always finding more to learn. Vanity is sneaky. Don’t let it go to your head. We all have a lot to learn. Relative to the intelligence of the cosmos, the intelligence of man can be equated with a grain of sand within a vast desert.