Developing a Daily Personal Practice
 

Developing a Daily Personal Practice
                 by Jan Marie Dore, Professional Certified Life Coach

One of the crucial steps toward living an authentic, self-
actualized life is spending quality time alone. This is not
always easy in today’s frantic 24/7 world, but I know from
my own practice of yoga that a daily, routine practice that
assists us in connecting with our own soul is vital to our
emotional, spiritual, and physical health. Here are some
thoughts on incorporating ‘me time’ into your schedule.

One of the enemies in the face of developing a healthy and
vibrant life-style and charting a new, self-directed course
is ‘busy-ness’. Effecting change in your life comes with
establishing a regular routine. Personal practice is a
period in the day that you set aside just for yourself. This
is personal time in which you can develop a level of peace
in yourself and come to understand the most important thing
in your life - your mind and heart.

To experience this, find ways to create quiet time for
yourself and time for creative silence each day. Take at
least fifteen minutes a day to be in complete silence with
no distractions or interruptions. You don’t need to do
anything during this time.

Practicing silence, or quiet contemplation, allows clarity,
order and a sense of ease and peace to emerge. When you
become comfortable with silence, you plug into an energy
source, and invite a natural order into your life that
doesn’t require as much of your effort and control.

Without a personal practice, life is often a series of
mundane and sometimes disorienting moments in which you are
living on the surface. When you commit yourself to a daily
personal practice, life becomes an experience of unfolding
wisdom, like the blossoming of a flower. During this
important time of the day, more and more of your own wisdom
is revealed to you.

Your personal practice time does not have to last for hours;
a quick ten minutes is good, and half an hour is excellent.
The important thing is that there is a period in every day
in which you take time to notice that you are living,
breathing being capable of connecting deeply with others and
developing qualities in yourself such as wisdom, patience,
and compassion.

You might feel as though taking this time for yourselves is
selfish, yet in order to create a high quality life, you
need the space and time to simply be with yourself. After a
period of creative silence, it may take you less time to
accomplish tasks. Your true values and priorities emerge
and take precedence over competing demands on your time.
You’ll be clearer on what you want and how you will go about
obtaining it. You will get answers to questions you’ve been
thinking about.

Connecting daily with the feelings in your heart and soul
and what you love to do will lead you further down the path
to self-fulfillment. Make it part of your routine. Time
alone, or time spent in a creative or meditative practice
will give you perspective, allow you to hear your own inner
voice, and bring you serenity. You can simply enjoy a quiet
sense of contentment, knowing that you have set aside the
time to do something incredibly kind for yourself.

“You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where
you don't know what was in the newspapers that morning... a
place where you can simply experience and bring forth what
you are and what you might be.”
~ Joseph Campbell

Make appointments with yourself to stretch, dance, walk in
nature, read, journal, do yoga or tai chi, play a sport,
paint or draw, meditate, focus on your breathing – whatever
practice brings you more alive and connects you to the
deepest part of yourself.

Here are some ideas to start integrating daily time for you.
Schedule time in your calendar set aside just for you and
your chosen personal practice.

~List ten things you’d love to do if you had the time

~Pick one of your ten things, and find the time to do it

~Spend 30 minutes planning a daily activity that will bring
you more joy or peace

~If there’s an artistic practice (painting, drawing,
singing, writing, etc) you’ve been neglecting, pick it up
again

~Establish a regular routine for a daily personal practice

~Take at least fifteen minutes a day to be in complete
silence with no distractions or interruptions

~Practice listening deeply to yourself, listening to the
voice of your soul. What gentle urgings or longings is it
communicating to you?

~Start each day with an intention and a commitment to
achieving the positive shifts you want in your life, and
watch for miracles to happen!

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This article is written by Jan Marie Dore, Professional
Certified Life Coach, Speaker and Writer. She has been a
practitioner and, more recently, a teacher of yoga and
meditation for more than 20 years. She incorporates the
practices of wellness, centering, breath, mindfulness,
creative alertness, self reflection, cultivating awareness
of the now, and creative "time out" into her coaching and
speaking philosophy. She aspires to show others ways to
access their deeper selves, find the deeper underlying
reality of who they really are, and design their lives from
the inside out. For free resources and programs, visit Jan's
website at http://www.janmariedore.com

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Copyright © 2005 Jan Marie Dore. All Rights Reserved - Feel
free to distribute this article to friends or colleagues who
might enjoy it, or to copy it for your ezine or website, as
long as you include the attribution above.

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