The Practice of A Day

Cultivating a microseasonal frame of mind every day.

I’ve been playing with Canva again! :)

There is an old saying:

It is more difficult to spend one day well, than to write a book.

In Anam Cara, John O’Donohue writes:

A day is precious because each day is essentially the microcosm of your whole life. Each new day offers possibilities and promises that were never seen before. To engage with honor the full possibility of your life is to engage in a worthy way the possibility of your new day… The new day deepens what has already happened and unfolds what is surprising, unpredictable, and creative. You may wish to change your life, you may be in therapy or religion, but your new vision remains merely talk until it enters the practice of your day.

Each day is essentially the microcosm of your whole life.

As I get older, I’m increasingly sure that I will always want a service-oriented job to go to—at least on a part-time basis. Why? Because my work days enhance the value of my off days—and the opposite is also true. Limits bring structure, which if I’m honest, I desperately need. I’m happiest when called to push myself—to learn and do—and always with the gentle nudge of urgency to use my time well.

I’m grateful for the chance to add value to the lives of my patients and to my colleagues. Even so, my clinical days also make my time off feel more luxurious. If I were free to wander in the forest all day, every day—I know I would not savor the experience like I do now.

Each microseason is a two-sided coin: one side is structured, precise, monastic—the other is intuitive, wild and poetic. I love it this way.

And I like to turn that famous saying by Flaubert upside down:

Be regular and orderly in your work,

so that you can violent and original in your life!

Ferns in the forest doing their sunrise dance.

If time is a vast circle, then each microseason is a small circle in which to practice.

What does it mean to “practice” throughout a day?

It’s simply an ongoing attempt—a best effort—to make the ordinary tasks of our day an unceasing offering of love.

Love: Care and focused attention to small details.

How can I discover the possibilities and promises that each new day holds for me?

Each day is a chance to practice continually renewing an inner attentiveness. We are laying aside—again and again—the preoccupations and daydreams which confuse and tie us down.

Focused Attention: Love made visible. I think loving intention is the secret ingredient in all good work.

What does it mean to engage the day with honor?

Remember: all you do affects, for good or ill, all other lives. Your work and how you do it matters. Even if it’s simply a chance to practice. How you do one thing is how you do everything. For example: you can only grow in patience by practicing being more patient in difficult circumstances. We can start small and build consistency and strength—grateful for each chance to practice.

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A Blessing For Work:

May the light of your soul bless your work with love and warmth of heart.

May you see in what you do the beauty of your soul.

May the sacredness of your work bring light and renewal to those who work with you and to those who see and receive your work.

May your work never exhaust you.

May it release wellsprings of refreshment, inspiration, and excitement.

May you never become lost in bland absences.

May the day never burden.

May dawn find hope in your heart, approaching your new day with dreams, possibilities, and promises.

May evening find you gracious and fulfilled.

May you go into the night blessed, sheltered, and protected.

May your soul calm, console, and renew you.

—John O’Donohue

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It’s almost Monday morning—time to practice.

Arise, shine, for your light has come!

—The Book of Common Prayer

Have a beautiful day!

I’ll see you in a new microseason,

xo Ann