Spiritual Ruts and Sacred Bridges

🎧 Prefer to listen? Click the audio below to listen to me narrate this post. Bear with me as I venture into the world of audio recording.

As we move through gratitude season into the New Year, I find myself in a familiar spiritual rut. The once fresh, engaging practices I started 10 months ago have faded because my schedule changed or I got bored.

I hate admitting this, but it's easier to commit to the gym as part of my routine because I can see and feel those results. Spiritual growth doesn't always work that way. I have to remind myself of that every time I’m tempted to forgo a spiritual practice for a workout or for another 10 minutes of sub-bar, snooze-button-induced sleep.

So, around Thanksgiving, I commit to recommitting to my spiritual practices.

Spiritual practices help us maintain and deepen our spirituality. Spirituality is a bridge between our inner life and outer world. It’s up to us to create that bridge, and spiritual practices help us do that.

A bridge at the Jesuit Retreat House, Oshkosh, WI. And yes, that rainbow is real.

If you’re in the same boat, read on for ways to refresh and recommit to your spiritual practice. You don’t need to wait until January 1 to get started.

Why Spiritual Practices Get Stale

Spiritual practices are like any other practice. They can get boring and routine. And, like any other practice, getting out of a rut requires commitment, intention, and creativity.

Plus, we evolve and change over time. Our relationship with the Divine does, too. Like any other relationship, we need to adapt, tune into what’s being asked of us, ask for what we need, and go from there.

Here are some tips to getting started:

Start With Honest Reflection

Start with a reflection that helps you name what you’re actually looking for in a practice:

• What makes a spiritual practice a spiritual practice for you? For example, what would make a walk in nature a spiritual practice as compared to just another walk in the park?

• How do you want to feel during and after your practice?

• What practices have you tried before? What worked, what didn’t work, and how did you know?

Cross-Train Your Spiritual Life

Try a different spiritual practice every day. Think of it like cross-training for physical strength or eating a varied diet for healthy nutrition. If you do the same thing over and over, sometimes nothing changes.

Maybe you pray the Ignatian Examen on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, work in a reflective journal on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and hike in nature on weekends.

Lean into Curiosity & Resistance. Start Small.

Explore practices that you are curious about or even resistant to. Sometimes the path forward is the one we are hesitant to take.

• Resistant to centering prayer? Head to YouTube for a tutorial.

• Curious about oracle decks? Head to a spiritual bookstore and ask for help finding one that fits what you’re looking for.

It’s ok if these practices don’t end up working – the more you try things out, the more you learn about your spiritual life. Challenge yourself to try anything you’re curious about or resistant to it.

Start small. Five minutes a day is a great place to start.

Contemplative Tools & Practices to Explore

Here is a non-exhaustive list of contemplative tools and practices that I have used or that have been recommended to me.

Guided Meditation & Prayer

• Insight Timer offers guided meditations, meditation timers, and classes

• Ignatian Examen

• Rosary

• Centering prayer

• Nested meditations

Creative & Visual Practices

• Mandalas

• Contemplative coloring books

• Awakening decks or oracle decks like Osho Zen Tarot, Kuan Yin Oracle: Blessings, Guidance, and Enlightenment from the Divine Feminine, Practice You: Daily Awakening Deck, and Mother Mary Oracle: Protection, Miracles, and Grace from the Holy Mother

Journaling & Reflection

• Reflective, guided journals like What’s Your Story? A Journal for Everyday Evolution, Spark Change: 108 Provocative Questions for Spiritual Evolution, and Heart Speak: A Visual Interpretation of Let Your Life Speak

• Gratitude journal

Sacred Reading & Listening

• Lectio divina, which can be done with forms of sacred writing other than Scripture, like poetry

• Audio divina

• Visio divina

• Daily readers or devotionals

  • To find one that resonates with you, search Google with terms that reflect what you seek: “spiritual devotional for parents,” “daily devotional for nature lovers,” “12 Step daily devotional,” “LGBTQIA+ daily reader.” My current favorite collection is Tosha Silver's Change Me Prayers: The Hidden Power of Spiritual Surrender.

Nature Practices

• Contemplative nature walks

• Labyrinths – if you can’t find an outdoor labyrinth, bring it inside

A ceramic finger labyrinth made by Kristen Grow-Bauer.

Looking for something bigger than a daily practice?

Check out retreat centers for their offerings. Many places regularly offer half-day or day-long workshops or retreats. Others offer silent retreats over a weekend, 5 days, 8 days, or longer.

Google is a great resource to start looking. Try searching “retreat centers or retreat houses near me.” If you want to travel, choose a destination and see what’s available nearby.

Build Your Bridge

Our spiritual life is meant to evolve and grow with us. What nourished you last year may not be what you need today, and that’s not a failure. It’s an invitation. Each practice you explore teaches you something about who you are, what you’re seeking, and what/who may be seeking you.

Remember, you’re building a bridge between your inner world and the life you live each day. Bridges can take time to build. Sometimes they need repair. Sometimes they need a fresh coat of paint. 

Start small, stay curious, and trust that even the smallest step forward is moving you somewhere meaningful.

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