We are nearly ONE week into our 40 days together, and the last day of Week 1’s theme, ARRIVE.

It’s not to say that as we leave this week, you’re supposed to be totally settled in.

This path is the opposite of linear! (Not straight & narrow, either. And definitely not always smooth!).

But my hope is that you’re just a bit more familiar, a bit more at home with this idea of simply BEing with yourself each morning. Not needing to have anything to “show for,” not needing to have to DO or accomplisth or achieve or succeed at anything. Just simply beginning the day, honoring your own attention and presence.

For 6 days, your essay + meditation + written reflection has made up what I call “short-form” practice. Your daily bread and butter. The just-right amount of time to get yourself right and ready for the day.

Short-form practice is the basic building block of 40 Early Mornings.

But there are two more types of practice.

Today, we explore “the moment-to-moment” practice. Or as I like to think of it: practice in the real life WILD of your Real Life.

Because obviously, we don’t meditate to … become better meditators. Or just be perfectly calm, gracious, and level-headed in our practice.

Nope! (Trust me, I’m way nicer when I’m meditating alone then like … when I’m annoyed at my husband for always leaving his wet towel on the back of a wooden chair 🫠 [ fill in your blank here]).

We practice so that we can human better in the rest of our everyday lives.

Think of practice like working out — especially lifting weights or doing squats. We put in the reps (or so I hear!), not so just so we’re strong in the gym, but so we’re strong and capable and safe for the long haul in our day-to-day movements.

Short-form practice is our daily set of reps — we need this regularity, consistency, and growing capacity, so we can utilize the skills we practice here in the moment in our Real Life.

So today, you may sit and practice the 5-minute meditation below and put pen to paper on the journaling prompt, like any short-form practice everyday.

AND / OR you may simply move into the rest of your day and practice in the WILD.

See if you can observe the quality of your attention today — use your senses on a walk. What do you see? Hear? Feel?

Notice how you feel in your conversations today. Notice your energy, you emotions, your thoughts as you move through all your daily doings.

See if you can call in the skills you’ve been practicing in the 5-minute “arrival” meditations so far.

In a transition point today — those kind of naturally vulnerable times — can you take a moment to pause? Check in with your body, check in with your breath, check in with your mind, check in with your emotions — without needing to solve / change / fix / or DO anything.

Or maybe practice that mini moment of “arrival” when you’re about to lose your cool today. Or when you’re about to react in that familiar habitual way — the next time you get set off or snagged in some way. Can you pause for a moment before you pounce? Check in with your body, check in with your breath, check in with your mind, check in with your emotions — without needing to solve / change / fix / or DO anything.

Practice in the WILD of your own Real Life.

Ok, “extra credit” — here’s today’s journaling prompt:

How’s it really going so far? What have you observed or noticed about yourself this week? Anything different? Any resistance coming up? Any light bulbs going off? Without judgment or needing to have all the answers yet, what has Week 1 felt like?

Ok. So much more to come — literally, in Week 2 we move into 10-minute meditations 😉

I’ll see you right back here tomorrow morning,

Cath

& new questionnaire drops tomorrow, here’s Week 1’s one more time —