Developing a Spiritual Time Table

This is not for the purpose of setting up exact, inflexible long-range goals. This is also not meant as something you "have to live up to." It is simply an approach that can help you organize your spiritual growth.

How do we grow spiritually? By our actions, of course, but also by knowledge, taking time for ourselves, and trying to help others. Let's divide the spiritual learning process into the following categories:

1. Meditation. (This can include standard sit-in-one-spot meditation, meditations using tape recorders, meditations using television meditation videos, etc.)

2. Reading within the field, reading books and magazines dealing with our path of spiritual development.

3. Tai Chi is a martial art particularly suited to helping us learn to focus ourselves and still our minds. As such, it is a very useful tool for spiritual development. There is probably a place in your city that teaches Tai Chi. Yoga is another practice that you may find useful in your spiritual work.

4. The reading of tarot and related cards. This helps us open to imagery and internal messages.

5. Medicine Path work, in which one uses specific lessons to learn about things like Wapani.

6. Taking this knowledge and doing something with it.

Let's draw up a generalized program for a typical week. Yes, you do have work to do (at a job, at home, or in both places), and yes, many things and people make demands upon your time. But what is more important than your spiritual development?

So let's take a typical week. Mondays are rarely good days. We are returning to work (an "I've-had-fun-and-this-is-not-it" kind of experience for most of us), and we are not really in the best mood when the day ends. Mondays are good days to do some form of meditation, perhaps in concert with practicing Tai Chi or Yoga.

Likewise, Fridays are usually fairly hectic, and we're tired after a full week of work. So Friday is another good day for meditation.

Sunday, the day before we begin work again (generally), is a good day for relaxing and reading books and magazines about your particular area of interest in spiritual development.

The middle of the week is a good time for working on our Medicine Path studies, doing Tarot card readings, or in general reading more in your area of interest.

Saturdays, when we are filled with energy, are good days for doing something with our knowledge. Volunteer somewhere, help someone else, join a healing group, etc. Take your knowledge and use it to benefit others.

So here's our tentative schedule:

Monday: Meditation, possibly with Tai Chi or Yoga.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday: Practice Tarot reading, work with Medicine Path lessons, and do more reading.

Fridays: Another day for quiet meditation.

Saturday: Do something for someone else that would be an outgrowth of your spiritual work.

Sunday: A quiet day for reading and reflection.

How long each day should we spend on our studies? An hour a day is not unreasonable. On the other hand, don't get down on yourself if something comes up and you miss and occasional day. You do need to be careful, though, that 'missing an occasional day' doesn't turn into 'missing almost every day'.

You can give some structure to your spiritual work by adopting such a time-table, customized for your individual needs. What we're working with here is something that is forever - our souls. They deserve