Spiritual Practices – Christine Valters Paintner

“What does it mean to practice the spiritual life?  When we embody practices, we live into them and they shape our habits of being.  We have to practice being present to the moment, because our tendency – and the world around us conspires in this – is to be distracted.  The monk practices contemplation so that in her whole life she can become conscious of the sacred presence beating through the heart of the world.”

— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD The Artist’s Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom

What is a distraction or obstacle that keeps you from living a more contemplative life as a monk in the world?