So I am sitting here thinking about the word practice. I have come to realize that I have this love hate relationship with the word. On the one hand I realize I cannot master anything if I do not practice. I cannot make something a habit unless I do it so often that it becomes part of my daily routine. There are things which I have practiced doing so often and for so long that I now just do them automatically.

My spiritual journey has been filled with opportunities to practice. It has not always been easy, but it has been important that I remain true to my practice. Several years ago I remember a friend of mine wrote about keeping a gratitude journal for November. It prompted me to keep one daily, not just in November. At first doing so daily was not easy. There were days I did not want to do it, but I pushed myself through and now it is just part of my practice and if I do not do it, I feel off. It is like something is incomplete and missing in my day.