I love the idea of spiritual practice. Like today I practice mindfulness. Or I'm practicing compassion. It's just a new way of looking at it for me this year. You know, the thought is that we practice to get better at something or to achieve something, like there's a final product. But in the sense I'm talking about, it's not about a destination. The practice is the way. I started thinking about it after I read Sheila's comment yesterday. I suppose that whatever we choose to do, we're practicing something. If I'm sitting around doing nothing while the dishes pile up, I'm practicing laziness. I become lazy. (Too many times have I done this one.) If I spend my time praying, I'm practicing prayer. I'm being prayer. I looked around for some articles about spiritual practice and found this one on a yoga site:

"Liberation, or enlightenment, is not a thing to be attained or acquired. It is living in the moment from the most profound understanding and without egoic attachment to anything." ~Georg Feurstein

I guess consciousness is a huge part of practice. It's looking at my life and saying in this moment I choose to practice selflessness or good humor. So I guess today, I'm about practicing openness to others--being attentive, listening. Off to church, then.