The 3 Basic Building Blocks of Starting Your Spiritual Practice: Meditation, Journaling, Self-Reflection

For anyone who wants to get started on building your own spiritual practice, it is important to start with the foundation. So how can we start with the foundation?

One important thing to remember with starting anything new is to keep it simple and easy, so we can set ourselves up for success.

Just like the three basic steps of a skincare routine (I love a good skincare routine) which is to cleanse, tone, and moisturize, I’m going to introduce you three basic building blocks of a spiritual practice that can help to lay a strong foundation for you to build upon later.

1. Meditation

Meditation is my number one, most important building block of any spiritual practice. Think about the function of a cleanser in a skincare routine. Meditation helps us to take a pause from our constant thinking and all the distractions around us, gives us a chance to reset, and to turn inward to listen to what’ truly important. Meditation cleanses the mind.

There are certainly many benefits of meditation proven by science already, so I won’t list them here. I always see that the benefit of meditation depends on what you are looking for from a meditation practice. If you want meditation to help you relax, it can do it. If you want meditation to help you manage overwhelm and anxiety, it can also do that. Personally, I need meditation just to keep myself sane so I can continue functioning in this crazy world.

I have written some blog articles in the past that can help you get started with a meditation practice and I’ll list them here:

Bottom line – Start simple and be consistent.  Even meditating for 1 minute a day counts as daily meditation. Once you get into your 1-minute meditation routine regularly, you can slowly build the 1-minute up to a longer duration.

2. Journaling

Journaling has been a very important tool for me since high school, and it is my ONE safe place that I can be absolutely honest with myself.

Think about the second step of a skincare routine which is using toner to help gently exfoliate any dead skin cells and prepare the skin for the next step, journaling serves a similar purpose as a building block of a spiritual practice.

Journaling can help us to express our truth, process our emotions and feelings, and clarify our thought process.

It is also a place of surrender. We can write down any questions, worries, problems, anger, grief, resentment, and let the pages hold them and share our pain.

It’s a safe place where we can have an internal dialogue with all parts of ourselves and the Universe.

I have written a blog on my personal website how to get started with journaling here:

Bottom line – Start with writing any thoughts and feelings after you finish your meditation practice in your journal. It can just be 3 to 4 bullet points, or 3 to 4 pages.

Some days you may write one thing down. Some days you may get into the flow of writing more. Some days you may not have time to write down anything and that is okay.

When you’re starting out with journaling, you don’t have to write every single day. But if you do have 1 minute after your 1-minute meditation, I’d encourage you to jot down how your meditation goes that day.

3. Self-Reflection

The third most important basic building block of a spiritual practice is self-reflection, or self-inquiry. This is what happens in the real world after your meditation and journaling. This is real life “off the mat”, and the most important aspect of any spiritual practice.
 
This step is the “moisturizer” of the skincare routine. You cleanse and tone your skin as a way to prepare your skin to be hydrated and moisturized for the rest of the day. Self-reflection throughout the day is how you integrate your spiritual practice into your daily life. And to me, that is the true purpose of any spiritual practice.
 
You can meditate for 5 hours a day, and write down 10 pages in your journal every single day. But if you cannot maintain the same awareness throughout your day, the same mindfulness that you have cultivated from your spiritual practice, then you are missing the point.
 
When life throws you a curveball, when you feel triggered or when life does not happen the way you want it to be, are you able to take a pause, stay grounded in the presence of love, and respond consciously instead of reacting based on your conscious or unconscious patterns? Are your actions, habits, beliefs, thoughts, and feelings aligned with your values, your priorities and what you truly want to create in your life?
 
In other words, are you really practicing what you preach?
 
Of course, there are so many times a day that we WILL fall off the wagon. The point is not to beat ourselves down when that happens. Rather, hopefully with all the time and effort that you have put into your spiritual practice, it is going to help you to stand back up again.
 
Self-reflection gives us an opportunity to see beyond the situation at hand. Ask yourself what is the bigger picture here. What is the lesson for you to learn? And what is the gift in all of this?
 
What happens on the outside is only a reflection of what’s going on inside. Know that life happens for you, and not at you. You are not the victim of your life, or Life in general. You are a co-creator of life, and the Universe is always here to support you.
 
Whatever that is happening in your outer world is a valuable indicator to show you what’s happening inside, in your inner world. This is how we can bring the unconscious to light so we can continue to grow, evolve and heal ourselves.
 
I have shared a story in a past blog on how I was scared to take the diabetes test and how I overcame my fear, as an example of how we can integrate spiritual practices into our daily life:
 

Bottom line – Always ask yourself this: what is this situation / this feeling / this person reflecting back to myself?

If you feel angry at someone, know that the trigger is within you, not outside of you. Ask yourself what it is that got triggered within you (journaling is a great way to help you with self-reflection). It can be a belief that you are not good enough, or you are not worthy. It can be a boundary issue not communicated well, because you are trying to please others or you want to be liked. Stay curious instead of critical. The lessons happen so then we can do what our souls have chosen to come here to do.

Conclusion

Spirituality is an abstract concept, yet starting your own spiritual practice does not have to be.

I hope that this blog can help you see that, no matter what your beliefs are, you can get started on your spiritual practice anytime. Just like everyone’s skin types are different, the three basic skincare steps do not change. But everyone may use different types of products.

So make these three basic building blocks – meditation, journaling, and self-reflection – your own. It is my belief that there is no ONE fixed way that you have to follow, in order to explore and experience what spirituality means to you and to integrate spirituality into your daily life.

Meditate in the style that resonates with you. If writing in words is not your thing, draw it, sing it, or dance it out – however you like to express your inner world.  Find your own way, such as using mantras, alarms, app reminders, or design rituals even if you like, to help you stay aware and mindful throughout your day.

It is my hope that we can all see ourselves as a spiritual being having a human experience, and to allow ourselves to be supported and to live in the grand presence of Love.

How about you? What do you consider as the three basic building blocks of your spiritual practice? 

Feel free to contact me directly here for any sharing and feedback