Right as the clock struck midnight and 2015 was upon us, people started talking about their daily practices. I suppose it's a natural enough time to review what we do or don't do every day. Mostly it becomes a bit of a wish list for how we'd like our lives to be less mundane and more spiritual and as we have the clean slate of the new calendar year to help us, why not give it a bash.

Here's the not so good news - Daily practices, for the most part, are mundane. It's about doing the same thing, the same way each and every day (or as many days as you can). Whether you are communing with gods, or tending to an altar, or sipping a cup of tea or sitting in silence it's about doing that thing when you say you are going to do it. But mostly it's about doing that thing over and over again, recommitting to a practice without the expectation of reward. Occasionally I've had that "aha!" moment but more often than not, I do my thing, my day stops for a few minutes and I then move on.

Here's the super sucky news - We'll all probably screw it up at some point and quit doing it or want to change it up. We'll wonder if sitting under that tree on a pillow is really getting us anywhere and we'll want to do something else instead. We might even think, "I know, if I add jumping jacks or pulling a tarot card every day, this practice will get easier or more interesting or the goddess will chat with me more often. Hey maybe I could just do this every third day, yeah, that will be okay." I think that's a pretty natural reaction to daily practice. After all, it is called a daily practice and not a daily perfection. I know my own journey to a daily practice has had many twists and turns and the more complicated and expansive I made it, the harder it became to actually do anything. Doing that simple thing, whatever that simple thing may be, is often the best practice. Did I mention that you have to do it over and over again?

Here's the good news - Each day when we awaken, we have the chance to start our daily practices for the first time all over again. As I've practiced, I've noticed my ability to sit for longer periods of time. Grounding, centering, and finding myself present for the moment at hand, especially moments of chaos and stress (mine or other people's) has become easier as my daily practice has become, well, an actual daily practice.

These first two weeks of 2015 have been incredibly challenging for me personally. I've had a minor health scare and found myself unexpectedly jetting off to New Zealand to sit vigil as my father lay dying. Through all of this though, I was able to keep some semblance of my daily practice going. Each morning, I'd wake up at six (ish), make a cup of tea and sit outside. I would just sit. Sit and breathe. Sit and listen. Sit and let the thousands of swirling thoughts arise and fall without paying too much attention to the stories in my head. Sit and notice my presence or lack of it in that moment. Sit and talk with my ancestors or the gods or the trees or the chirping birds or whomever was on my mind in that moment. And then just sit some more.

Sit. Breathe. Listen. Sip. Sit. Breathe. Listen. Sip. Sit. Breathe. Listen. Sip.

My daily practice is about sitting and breathing and listening. I know folks that have much more rigorous and active daily practices. What is your daily practice and how did you come to it?