The Discipline of Ordinary Practice
In contrast to last week, which was filled with gatherings and long nights of shared ritual, this week has been unremarkable. After so much activity and time spent around other people, my body pushed back a little. I caught a mild cold and have been doing my best to stay warm, wrapped in blankets and moving between quiet corners wherever I can find them.
So the focus has shifted back to the basics. Rising early when I can. Sitting in meditation. Doing my remote contractor work. Feeding the chickens. Making breakfast. Slowly tending to the long list of small improvements around the property. Nothing dramatic. Just the repetition of ordinary life.
Lately, I’ve returned to a simple mantra given to me years ago by a transcendental meditation teacher. It isn’t mystical or elaborate. It’s simply a way of gently imprinting relaxation into the nervous system instead of stress.
There is something humbling about being forced back into simplicity. When the body slows down, ambition quiets with it. The desire to optimize or improve fades, and what remains is just the next small thing to tend to.
I find that the goal of spiritual practice is to become increasingly accustomed to the ordinary. It is easy to assume the aim is some special state to achieve or experience to collect. But more often, practice simply trains us to be steady within what is already here.
As they say in Zen, “Chop wood, carry water.” Though in my case it is more like, “Do the laundry, send the invoice.”
The discipline is in accepting the seasons that feel plain. The weeks that feel repetitive. The mornings that feel slow. Not reaching for intensity. Not demanding insight. Just returning.
For me, that means maintaining consistency where I can and releasing self-judgment where I cannot. Waking early. Helping a friend. Making enough to pay the bills. Letting the practice live inside the ordinary rather than apart from it.
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