The Benefits of a Daily Practice

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It has been a hard year.  To get through it, most of us baked compulsively, spent long hours on electronics, and went weeks without putting on proper shoes, much less pants without elastic waist bands.  With the dawn of 2021, many are taking steps to improve their physical and mental health in hopes of feeling better. For some, this might look like lofty goals, but for most of us, the changes that are slow and small are the most gratifying and sustainable.  The benefits of a daily practice are innumerable and tend to stretch beyond our original purpose of embarking on the journey.  Before we examine some of the possible positive outcomes, let’s understand what a daily practice is.  

Borrowing from Jungian philosophy, it is important to note that there is a difference between choosing and wanting. Wanting is an organic, “inside-out” way of guiding behaviour.  Choosing, on the other hand, is a more cognitive, or logic-based process.  When you boil it down, willpower is the ability to resist short term temptations in order to achieve a longer term goal.   In order to stay on track, it is essential to make sure the long term goal is sufficiently meaningful to your whole being, and fits with the value system that guides your relationships and behaviour, not just a choice based on feeling like you “should” do something.  

In the On Balance Community, a daily practice represents an intention and commitment to the self which is purposeful and self-directed.  The idea is to give oneself space to live consciously and mindfully in a fluid and intuitive way.  The daily practice is kind, gentle and compassionate.  It is not perfect.  It is guided by an inner stirring, desire and want before it is guided by a conscious choice.  Each person’s practice will look different, based on one’s own needs, desires, energy and direction.  As individual as the journey is, some of the benefits are universal.  Let’s look at what those can be:

A daily practice increases mindfulness

According to Buddhist philosophy, contentment resides in being able to stay in the moment.  In Buddhist teaching, depression resides in the past, anxiety resides in the future, and contentment centres on harnessing and focusing on the present moment.  Committing oneself to a daily practice increases our ability to stay in the present moment, thereby increasing our capacity to examine our reactions to situations and emotions.  This is best represented by the famous words of Viktor Frankl “Between stimulus and response there is a space, in that space lies our power to chose our response, in that space lies our growth and our freedom.”

A daily practice increases focus

When you concentrate on something, you increase its vigor.  Regardless of what you are committing to do for yourself, the act of resisting a short term temptation to work towards a longer term commitment strengthens our resolve and concentration. It is accepted that within our brains that “the neurons that fire together wire together”.  The more we practice, the more we train our brains to follow through on whatever matters to us most. This can help us plan. There is a lot of research to suggest that self-control is a limited resource, and if you deplete it in one area (not snapping at an irritating colleague you’ve spent the day with), you will have less of it in other areas that day (saying no to that second glass of wine). When we commit to ourselves ahead of time, we use less self control in the moment, and can focus on what is internally important to us. 

A daily practice increases love

A good guide on committing to a daily practice involves asking ourselves the question: “What do I love?”  We can easily concentrate on, and commit to that which we love.  A nurturing form of self love wants the very best for ourselves.  As a guiding principle, self love gives us permission to tune into our inner wants, and chose actions which are truly in our best interest. Sometimes that might mean pushing ourselves, sometimes that mean resting, but either way, we have the opportunity to focus on a loving purpose and development of ourselves. 


A daily practice increases creativity

A daily practice is, in and of itself, a creation.  On any given day we create, as our energy interacts with ourselves and the world.  The capacity to chose what we attend to gives flow and movement towards being more discriminating with ourselves.  These discriminations allow us to become aware of all of the different choices that are possible.  Any kind of ritual and routine communicates to our bodies and brains that we are in a place of safety.  By reducing stress in our system, we free up emotional and cognitive space for creativity and wonder.  

If you are currently pondering a daily practice, please know that the process is not necessarily easy, but is gratifying.  Please see “How to create a daily practice in 5 steps” for a deeper look into how to get started.  “We are either knowing or we are learning”.  When we check inside with ourselves, it can be a wonderful experience to attempt both in congruity. 


Sources: This Jungian Life Podcast Episode 145, Full Catastrophe Living by John Kabat-Zinn

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