Reclaiming Our Spiritual Practice

[00:00:00] Jessica: We're going to be having a lot of delicious conversations this season, some with guest speakers, but many with just you and I, I feel like most conversations have so many layers that we never get the time to really get into. So if you'd like to dive deeper into the conversations that we're having here on Reclaiming Our Spirit, I'd love for you to join the podcast Patreon.

[00:00:24] Jessica: Depending on your tier, you'll get a shout out, be able to watch the episodes on video and even have the opportunity to tune in for a weekly pick a card readings. And two additional spiritual musings or stories. This is your official invite. If you've enjoyed what you're listening to and you want to support the podcast, hop on over to reclaiming our spirit Patreon and pick the tier that works for you.

[00:00:43] Jessica: Just check the show notes for more details or head over to www. jessicapaschke. com. You can say I love you in so many different ways, and sometimes it's in the form of coffee. It doesn't have to be anything big, but there's something in the act of the consistency of saying, you matter enough to me that every day I am thinking about you, and I'm doing this because of that.

[00:01:04] Jessica: And I think that ties in beautifully. Not intended, but I think it ties into beautifully into this idea of spiritual practice and having a daily spiritual practice.

[00:01:17] Jessica: Your journey to the divine is an intimate exploration of self where you are both the seeker and the source of enlightenment. I, Jessica Paschke, invite you to break free from the ordinary, to reforge your spiritual path with courage, curiosity, and audacity. Unleash the power of your spiritual connection, stepping into a purpose driven life free of have tos and shoulds.

[00:01:41] Jessica: Join me on this profound exploration of rediscovery where you'll not only redefine your own spiritual practice, but also inspire a collective awakening. Welcome to reclaiming our spirit.

[00:02:00] Jessica: Hello. Hello. Welcome. Today we are going to be talking all about. spiritual practice. I get a lot of questions about spiritual practice and my mentoring programs, my classes. And so I cannot wait to dive into that today and really chat about why it's such a pivotal piece in reclaiming your spirit and creating a direct line to yourself and your soul and spirit.

[00:02:21] Jessica: I'm looking forward to that today, but first spark of joy. So one of the things my family likes to do is whoever gets up. earliest first, excuse me, we'll start like the tea and the coffee for the other members of the household. And it was one of these things that my dad used to do that I loved. I would wake up to the smell of coffee when I was little.

[00:02:45] Jessica: And it was such a good smell. There was just something about it that made me feel so safe. It was like, I knew that my dad was up and he was doing his thing. And I also knew that one of the reasons he started the coffee. So early was, yes, he was the first one up every day. He got up really early for work, but he would make a mug of coffee and find my mother wherever she was at and deliver her coffee, um, to start her day.

[00:03:08] Jessica: And it was one of the most magical things. It was just this little act of love. And you know what? He did that even on the day that he left us, he did it every day. I do not remember a day where he did not bring my mother a cup of coffee in the morning and it just. Makes my heart expand even thinking about it, talking about it.

[00:03:28] Jessica: So we sort of carry that tradition on in our family that whoever gets up earliest is going to start the tea or the coffee or both, since we have coffee and tea drinkers in the house, and then they can deliver the cup to the person. Who is sleeping or not yet awake or wherever they are and it's awesome and my husband has really embraced us because my mom lives with us for part of the year and so when she's living with us, he makes sure that the very first thing she gets is a cup of coffee every morning so she doesn't have to make her own coffee.

[00:03:57] Jessica: She doesn't come up and pour it. He brings it to her. So I love that. Anyway, my spark of joy for this week was I had gotten up early and someone had pre ground the ground. And that's also a love note to say, I love you so much. I'm going to pre ground things for you so that you don't have to. It just makes things go faster in the morning.

[00:04:14] Jessica: And so that in itself is an act of love. So someone had ground the coffee and had put the water in the thing and hadn't turned it on, obviously, but it was all set up. I just had to take the grounds out and put it in the filter and start the coffee. And my teapot was already filled to the top. And I was like, Ooh, like, cause I have this kettle and the kettle was full.

[00:04:31] Jessica: I didn't have to wait to fill it up. All I had to do was turn it on. And then my green tea was in my pot. It was magic. It was magic. It was like, wow, the coffee and tea fairy showed up. Anyway, not knowing who it was. I thought maybe it was my husband. I go to unscrew the top. where the grounds had been so they wouldn't get gross overnight and I see this little piece of paper in there and on it my daughter's scrawl it says I accept tips and it's like 5 30 in the morning and I'm like snort laughing in my kitchen because my little human prepped the coffee which is so great because That means those small actions y'all that we do every day that say, I love you, our people notice, our big people and our little people notice.

[00:05:14] Jessica: Anyway, I accept tips. Oh, it was a really good way to start the day. It made me laugh. And it was, it was that spark of joy that one needs very early in the morning. So that was my spark of joy. But I love it. The small things y'all, you can say I love you in so many different ways and sometimes it's in the form of coffee.

[00:05:33] Jessica: It doesn't have to be anything big, but there's something in the act of the consistency of saying you matter enough to me that every day I am thinking about you and I'm doing this because of that. And I think that ties in beautifully, not intended, but I think it ties into beautifully into this idea of spiritual practice and having a daily spiritual practice.

[00:05:54] Jessica: It's about telling yourself that you love yourself enough that you're going to take a little bit of time to tune in and to really check things out and to support yourself and give yourself what you need. So let's just kind of start off by by talking about what a spiritual practice actually is because there are a lot of definitions out there and I'm going to tell you how I define it so you know the container in which we're chatting about.

[00:06:15] Jessica: This does not mean that you have to define it the same way in any way, shape, or form. Does not. So I think of spiritual practice as something that we can connect to and that can bring to life everything we do. From our spiritual compass, to our purpose, to connecting with spirit, to connecting with our higher selves, to understanding ourselves.

[00:06:35] Jessica: It's like a way to like create space to tap into that every day. And, and to take action on it, action is really important. Spirituality is awesome and it's amazing and it can sometimes be a little like, how do I take action on this? How do I put this into real life? And so our spiritual practice is a space where we get to do that and it ties into everything that you do.

[00:06:59] Jessica: So your spiritual practice isn't just like a one and done kind of thing. You know, where, okay, I'm going to get up in the morning and I'm going to put it on my to do list or my evening list, and I'm going to just, it's done. I did it. Woo! I think we need to reframe it. Because spiritual practice really is a spiritual practice.

[00:07:18] Jessica: It is how you practice what you know to be true for yourself. Your intentions, your values, your purpose, your soul, your spirit connection, all of that delicious stuff. In real life, it's, it's really about how you move through your entire day, your entire day, not just that one moment in the morning or the one moment in the evening or during lunch, it's how you are moving through your whole day.

[00:07:44] Jessica: And yes, there are touch point rituals that help remind us of that. And that's like that AM practice, that PM practice. But the whole of it is, it's supposed to be a reminder. You tune in in the morning so you can set that intention. You can get clear on how you want to move through the world and where you're going.

[00:08:03] Jessica: And then you do it all day. And then at night, touch back in, reflect, review, create space for awareness. It's a whole day activity and when you turn a spiritual practice and you take it out of this little box of I'm going to do it at this time and this time and then space out the rest of the day, but when you take it out and you let it be what it wants to be.

[00:08:24] Jessica: You move into this space of responding to things rather than reacting to things, because you've already set the tone, you've already opened up your awareness to something more, to something different. And at its core, a spiritual practice is really about you understanding you. And what's important to you.

[00:08:46] Jessica: It's about grounding yourself in who you are. So the act of making coffee every morning that my father so amazingly did every single day for my mother, you could call that part of a spiritual practice. Was he meditating? No, but he's saying, I value this. This relationship matters to me. I value my family.

[00:09:08] Jessica: And this little act of love folded into his. I'm sure he'd be like, that is not what I called it. I love you, dad. But it is, that's an example of a spiritual practice. He knew what was important to him and he prioritized it. Another way to look at it is this idea that you're making room to connect to yourself, to really tune in and to say, what is going on in there?

[00:09:34] Jessica: What is going on in there? What am I feeling? Emotionally, physically, mentally, what is going on? It's like taking your daily temperature. Life is a lot. And if we don't take time and make time to unpack it and, and look at things and really tune in, really connect, it's like driving and zoning out. We don't know how we got where we were.

[00:09:53] Jessica: So you can connect and take this time to connect to yourself, to connect to your soul, even to connect to spirit. And when you're doing this as a practice, as something that you're prioritizing, something that you're bringing into your full day, you end up moving through the world with more trust and confidence, because.

[00:10:10] Jessica: Now you know who you are. You know where you're at on your one to five scale for the day. Is it a rough day? Is it a good day? What's happening? And you're reminding yourselves of that. These values are important to me. These intentions are important to me. Knowing who I am and what I want and how I want to move through the world.

[00:10:25] Jessica: That's important to me. And then you start to build this trust and confidence knowing that, hey, I can do this. And that leads to more clarity. Leads to more freedom in life. Leads us to be more aware of the choices we have. As we anchor into ourselves, and I think that ultimately, at the end of the day, really reduces our fear of the unknown.

[00:10:44] Jessica: And when I say the unknown, it's all of that stuff that we can't possibly know. All of that stuff ahead of us that we just, we don't know when we get up in the morning what's going to happen. But when we have a spiritual practice, and we anchor into ourselves. Then I think we feel more comfortable moving into that unknown, moving forward, because we've tuned in, we know what we're working with, we've caught ourselves, Oh, I'm really burnt out.

[00:11:07] Jessica: Oh, I'm a little sensitive today. I need to move through the world with taking that into account. I'm really tired and maybe I shouldn't be demanding as much from myself today as I normally would. And in the long run, it keeps us from burning out. It keeps us from falling in the hole, keeps us from hitting the brick wall.

[00:11:25] Jessica: Because we're moving into this space where we're really co creating our life intentionally. Things stop happening to us and they just happen. And we just meet them where they're at and where we're at on that any given day. It's this idea of like really stepping into a space to thrive, setting ourselves up for success.

[00:11:47] Jessica: Day to day life can be challenging enough. We don't need to make it more challenging by not knowing who we are, or not knowing what we want, not knowing our intentions. This can take a lot of stress off, a lot of stress. And I do have to say this, because when I first started out, I'm not sure that I knew this difference, and I'm not sure when it shifted, but spiritual practice is different than just connecting to spirit.

[00:12:07] Jessica: Though you can do that during your practice, but that's not the only reason why you're going to do that. You're really doing it for yourself to know yourself better, to understand who you are. And when you know yourself better and you understand who you are on a deeper level, then that's where the magic happens with spirit, because then you can tell the difference between your busy mind and spirit, between your

[00:12:30] higher

[00:12:31] Jessica: self and spirit.

[00:12:32] Jessica: A spiritual practice does strengthen your intuition and spiritual connection. But you don't necessarily, it's not only connecting to spirit. A lot of that connection happens in the knowing of yourself and tapping into that. How do you figure out what you want to do? How do you figure out how to do a spiritual practice?

[00:12:54] Jessica: Or what to include, right? That is the challenge. What do you do for a spiritual practice? And it really depends on you, but it does. It depends on you and on what you need. So the very first thing I would say is if you are wanting to start a spiritual practice, you need to figure out why you want to start a spiritual practice.

[00:13:16] Jessica: I know why I want to start a spiritual practice and I'm all on board because I know why I want to know myself better. And that's going to strengthen my connection to everything else. Your why, your intention may be different and it matters. When I first kind of started out with really wanting to build a spiritual practice and doing it in a consistent way, I read a lot of books and there was one book that had the details of a, like a must do.

[00:13:40] Jessica: These are all the parts you have to have in a spiritual practice. And I had just had a baby. The baby did not sleep. The baby never slept. I love my baby and she sleeps a lot more now, but at the time she never slept. But I was really hell bent. I was going to do this. I was going to have a spiritual practice.

[00:13:56] Jessica: I was going to change my life. So I took this book and the spiritual practice in this book, and I was going to implement it step by step. But it was really hard because it was a really long spiritual practice and I didn't have a lot of time. Definitely didn't have a lot of time to myself and they wanted me to do it in complete quiet, which didn't exist in my house because I've always had a lot of pets and then now I have a baby on top of it.

[00:14:18] Jessica: And even though I was doing every single step, I wasn't really seeing the benefits. It didn't really work and I didn't get the point of it. And the result was I didn't keep doing it. It fell to the wayside. It crumbled, like a sandcastle in a wave, it crumbled because it didn't meet what I needed. It didn't work because it wasn't meant to fit my life.

[00:14:44] Jessica: It was based on what the author found worked for them and their time and their day. But I did not have two hours in the morning to do a spiritual practice. And maybe that's what their day and their time and their needs were. And that is fantastic for them. That is wonderful them. I love it that they have that.

[00:14:59] Jessica: At the

[00:15:00] time,

[00:15:01] Jessica: I didn't have it. My intentions were wildly different than theirs. My needs were wildly different from theirs. And from the moment I started imitating that practice, it was doomed to fail. So understanding your need and your personal motivations behind your practice are key. You know, are you stressed?

[00:15:20] Jessica: Are you doing this to relieve some stress, to quiet your mind, to let things settle? Are you doing this to center your energy? Asking yourself, why are you trying to make time for this? What are you wanting to get from it? And it's okay to say, I want to get this. I know it's called a spiritual practice, but y'all, we are doing these things to get something from them, whatever it is.

[00:15:42] Jessica: So don't feel guilty about asking, well, what do I get from this? Probably a lot, but what do you want to get from it? Or what do you expect that you're going to get? Or what do you expect to happen or change in your life from it? Because that's really going to dictate the pieces that you choose in your spiritual practice and what you do.

[00:16:02] Jessica: If you're wanting more self awareness, or maybe you're wanting connection, those are very different things. And you can include both of them. Is that what you need and is that what you're expecting? Is that what you want? And we really come back to knowing your why. I know that I say, know your why, know your why.

[00:16:19] Jessica: And you're probably so tired of it. But, oh my gosh, know your why. Know your why. Your intentions are going to be different from mine. I can tell you step by step how I do my spiritual practice, but you're going to need different things because you're moving through life in a different way and you have different challenges and different desires.

[00:16:37] Jessica: So you need to personalize it for yourself and not only personalizing it on a whole for yourself, but you need to have part of your plan personalizes it for the day. I have a cranky, cranky pants spiritual practice when I wake up on the wrong side of the bed that I implement because I got to turn that around.

[00:16:56] Jessica: I cannot move through the world like that the whole day. I have a spiritual practice that I implement when I am running late and feeling rushed. Two totally different intentions. So you may not just have one practice. You may have a couple different ones. There are pieces that you can always stay in your practice and that will evolve, but personalizing it is really key.

[00:17:17] Jessica: If the intentions are what you're building on, right? I want to build off of these intentions. Then how you do it is, is what you build. That's the framework you're going to use based on whatever you need that morning. And so when people say, what should your practice include? I have a very simple answer.

[00:17:33] Jessica: Anything your freaking heart desires, anything at all. Whatever connects you more deeply to yourself will connect you more deeply to your soul and to your spirit. And so I say, what do you need in that moment? And include that. What is going to remind you of who you are at your essence? What is going to light you up and say, yes, I am ready to do this.

[00:17:57] Jessica: That's what you want to include. There are things you want to keep in mind, so you need to be flexible. Not every day is going to play out where you have 6 billion hours at the beginning of the day to spend in spiritual practice. It's not. So you're going to have, you know, want some theme and variations, a longer practice, maybe a shorter practice.

[00:18:14] Jessica: Like I said, a cranky practice and not cranky practice, but you want to be flexible and shift to what you need with that day. Having that space, like I said, to switch one part of your practice to specifically, like if you wake up stressed, then make sure that you include something in your spiritual practice to help with that stress.

[00:18:33] Jessica: If you wake up and you are just needing connection to self or needing connection to spirit that morning or that evening or whenever you do your practice, make sure that you sneak it in there. Even if you don't do it every day. Sneak it on in there, and that's why I say knowing yourself and knowing what you need really matters.

[00:18:48] Jessica: That practice is going to slow you down, but let's say you've got an intention, you've written it down, you know what you're working towards, you know what helps on a normal day, so do that first. Sometimes repetition is really helpful, doing the same thing over and over again, because it gets you into a pattern, and it's easy, you just don't have to think about it.

[00:19:06] Jessica: Sometimes it's not helpful. Sometimes you have to completely toss everything out and do something different. You do you, you know yourself better. Everyone's going to be different. So some of you will want something different every day. And some of you will want the same thing, but if you're doing the same thing every day, then make sure there's space to meet yourself where you're at that day, whatever that looks like.

[00:19:24] Jessica: And if you're changing up every day, then really tune in and take the time to say, okay, what do I need today specifically? And which parts of my practice will include this? And this is just the ritual part. Your practice is the whole day. The ritual sets the stage. But it sets the stage to help you navigate.

[00:19:43] Jessica: So if you have a really important meeting that, you know, you're stressed out about, and you need the clarity on that design, your ritual around that for the morning, not asking what's going to happen with this meeting, but saying, okay, what do I need to show up as my full self? Well, I need to anchor and I need to ground my energy or center my energy.

[00:20:02] Jessica: I need to tune into my breath. I need to be aware of what I'm feeling so that I can acknowledge those feelings and know that they're present. So they don't pop up unexpectedly. in the middle of my meeting when I'm giving this big talk. Okay, so I know I have to do some sort of emotion scan. Maybe a body scan.

[00:20:17] Jessica: Maybe some gentle movement. But how? Really figuring it out and kind of creating a plan. I know planning doesn't sound super sacred, but having a plan, you know, helps figuring out how much time do I have? What can I fit into that time? What do I need? When am I going to do it? How am I going to do it? If you don't plan a little bit, your whole day is going to go by and you're going to be like, well, that was that day.

[00:20:39] Jessica: I'll try again tomorrow. And then six months later, here you are. I put mine into my schedule because that's what helped me. But if you're not a scheduler, you're not a scheduler, but you do need some sort of plan. You need to figure out when you're going to do this and how you're going to make yourself do it.

[00:20:53] Jessica: And that sort of kind of comes into this idea of making it a habit. Once again, not exotic, but consistency is key. It's not like I'm going to do a spiritual practice ritual once. And then magically, I'm going to be all good. No, this is something you have to repeat every day and make it an important part of your life.

[00:21:12] Jessica: Okay. Making space for it. Making it a habit. I know a habit doesn't sound like super magical, but you gotta do it. Because even if a habit doesn't sound sacred, I get that. But if you don't do it, it's not gonna help you either. So. Make it a habit, doing it is important and make it so easy that you can't say no.

[00:21:32] Jessica: I have a five minute or less spiritual practice I do on the days that I cannot even be bothered. And let me tell you what, that five minutes changes everything. And so at the very least, I take five minutes at the very least, whether it's five minutes when I'm taking a shower, whether it's five minutes sitting in the car, whether it's five minutes sitting in a hospital lobby, you can do your spiritual practice anywhere.

[00:21:54] Jessica: Is it fun to light some incense and to have candles and yes. But it's the doing. How is it serving your life? How is it making your life better? If I expected myself to have this amazing incense fueled candle lit heaven every time I went to do my spiritual practice, I would not do it many days of the week.

[00:22:14] Jessica: Kind of kick out that preconception that it has to be this thing that's one way or super exotic. It's every day. What can you do every day? One of the things I found really works with habits and creating habits is this, is that you attach it to something that's already established, that you're already really consistent on doing.

[00:22:33] Jessica: It's like one of my favorite books when my daughter was little was If You Give a Moose a Muffin. I think it's, I think it's, I think it's If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, If You Give a Moose a Muffin. If you give a moose a muffin, then they'll want a whatever, and then they'll want a whatever, and then they'll want a whatever, right?

[00:22:49] Jessica: And it all attached, this whole book, every time the moose got something they realized they needed something else. And so this little person goes around and gets them all the things and then they come back to the muffin at the very end where they started. It's the same with habits. If you wake up and you know the first thing that you're going to do is brush your teeth, because you consistently brush your teeth and then you take your vitamins, your supplements, your pills, whatever you do, and drink a glass of water.

[00:23:10] Jessica: Attach it to that. If the first thing you do is stretch and get some movement in, then as soon as you're done stretching or with your movement, attach it to that. What do you do every day that is consistent, that you just automatically do no matter what the day brings? Attach it to that. And if you keep it short enough, you're going to do it.

[00:23:30] Jessica: If you make it 6, 000 hours or an hour or 30 minutes even, you're not going to do it. You can have a longer practice. But keep it short when you start. Just find a five minutes. If you're running on the treadmill and you have a five minute practice, you're going to hop off and do your five minute practice.

[00:23:47] Jessica: If you are running on the treadmill and you, the only thing you've got is a 30 minute practice or an hour practice or a 90 minute practice and you're running late, you're not going to do it. You're just not. So make sure you have a five minute version. And if you do it consistently, you are going to see the difference and you're going to keep doing it.

[00:24:02] Jessica: Once you see the difference, then you may even expand on it and you may play with it and you may carve more time for it. But it's this idea that the more you do it, the more you get that energy moving. The more that snowball, you start that snowball rolling down the hill, the bigger it gets. And then soon it takes on its own momentum.

[00:24:17] Jessica: And the small shift of just including these few minutes of spiritual practice in the morning. Starts to make room for a bigger shift. And it starts to remind you, yes, this is what matters in life, and this is who I am, and that starts to ripple out through your whole day. So if you are sitting here, wondering, gosh, what am I going to even start with?

[00:24:37] Jessica: I don't even know. If you had time for just one thing, what would it be, and why? For me, it's breathing, tuning into my breath, and gratitude. If my day is so chaotic that the only thing I have time for is 30 seconds of deep breathing and expressing gratitude, perfect. I've already prioritized two things.

[00:24:58] Jessica: I've tuned into myself, tuned into my breath, paid attention to my physical self, my emotional self, and in 30 seconds to a minute, I've gone through my gratitude. I will remember that as I move through my day. It will shift my mindset. It will settle my nervous system. It will. Now, I'm not saying that you have to do breathing in gratitude, but if you only had time to do like one or two things, what would that be?

[00:25:20] Jessica: Start there. Small steps. Make it simple. It does not have to be complex. In any way, shape, or form. And please, for the love of all things holy, don't look at what others are doing. I mean, you can for inspiration, of course, but don't look at what others are doing. Do you? Like, don't figure out the practice that you do for yourself.

[00:25:41] Jessica: Because a lot of times, I've noticed that when people describe their practice or what we think or assume is their daily practice, it might be like their special practice. So for example, the practice that I do every day for myself is wildly different than the spiritual practice I do before I work with other people.

[00:25:58] Jessica: It is totally different. So if I was only showing you my like professional spiritual practice, which I know sounds weird, but how I prepare and how I tune in, it is so different because I'm going out and connecting with other human beings, connecting with their energy, tapping in, helping them tap into their intuition and connect to their guides or their loved ones or whatever we're doing that day, coaching, whatever we're doing, that is going to look different than just like, Oh, I got up on Saturday and I'm with my family all day.

[00:26:28] Jessica: I'll have different needs and it's often much more simple for myself that way I don't feel guilty. It was so complex I wouldn't do it and then I, I know myself, I would feel guilty and it doesn't matter. You can do it in the morning. You can do it in the evening. You can do it at lunch. You can do it in the shower.

[00:26:43] Jessica: Tie it into something that you do. I am going to not tell you what to do, but I will give you some ideas. Okay. I'm going to give you ideas. You don't have to do all of these. You don't have to do any of these. Maybe you play with some of these and you figure out how they work for you. Okay. There's no right or wrong here.

[00:27:01] Jessica: They're just possibilities. So some of the practices that you could include mindfulness, checking in with yourself. I had mentioned a body scan, an emotion scan, a thought awareness. Mindfulness is really great. You can include meditation. For me, meditation is sort of a must unless things are really hitting the fan and I have to make it a really short thing, then I will seek my meditation in someplace else other than my morning ritual.

[00:27:25] Jessica: And I do have little rituals throughout the day. I don't just do one, but meditation is huge for me. It makes a really big difference. And there are so many different types of meditation, guided meditation, Buddhist meditation, transcendental, Kundalini, there's mantras. I mean, the list goes on. You just find a kind of meditation that works for you and, and find a space to, to fit it in, if that's what lights you up, but here's the deal though, too, with meditation, listen, I love a good vocal meditation.

[00:27:51] Jessica: I love a good chant, mantras. I love it. I cannot have that be part of my early morning practice because the rest of the house does not love that. So if I had made it a mandatory part of my morning practice, it would never happen. So I tuck it in later in the day when they're ignoring me and everyone's awake.

[00:28:08] Jessica: So that's what I mean. Like sometimes just clearing my mind is the meditation I do. Sometimes it's a guided meditation. I love chanting. I love all of that, but it can't be read away in the morning. Some people love to journal. Morning pages. Oh my gosh. Morning pages. is a spiritual practice, y'all. Writing down just your thoughts, what's flowing through, where your head is, spiritual practice.

[00:28:30] Jessica: Energy management is a great one, where you're just grounding your energy, clearing your energy, protecting your energy for the day. You can connect to spirit, even, uh, during your spiritual practice. I've incorporated something in the last few years. I like to call it the inspiration section. I really thrive when I am inspired.

[00:28:50] Jessica: When I'm tapping into things that light me up, whether it's listening to a podcast or reading a book or, I don't know, listening to music, seeing art. I have to be lit up. I have to be inspired. I have to be all of these things. in order to get my energy flowing. It's just who I am. I'm a very creative person.

[00:29:11] Jessica: So I've started including inspiration. And sometimes it's a quote. Sometimes it's a poem. Sometimes it's reading a small section of the book. Sometimes it's listening to a whole podcast. Or it's watching a film. Or it's watching a documentary. Or it's whatever it is. But I, I do make that a part of my day somewhere in my day.

[00:29:30] Jessica: Even if I don't fit it into my morning practice or my evening practice, I do fit it in there. Inspiration for me is my personalization of my spiritual practice. So what is yours? What do you need in your life? What is missing? What are you struggling with? Where are you finding challenges? How do you need to be starting your day off?

[00:29:48] Jessica: How do you need to be moving through your day? How do you want to end your day? These are what you're looking at. When we talk about spiritual practice, there is nothing that is mandatory. This is about you. Just the act of figuring out your spiritual practice will tell you more about yourself than copying someone else's.

[00:30:07] Jessica: Take the time, tune in, figure out what you need, figure out how you want to move through the world. Here's today's question. I have two questions. One, I want to know what are your biggest challenges when it comes to spiritual practice and keeping them going? Because we can continue this conversation, hit the Patreon and we can continue this conversation in chats and in live classes and things like that.

[00:30:29] Jessica: I want to know, what is your biggest challenge when it comes to keeping your spiritual practice going? And here's the other question, what do you need right now? If you could just choose one thing to say, I need this right now, my life would be better. And I'm not talking about a material thing. I'm not talking about money.

[00:30:50] Jessica: I am talking about a soul need. What is your soul need right now? Right now in this moment. Start there and start building your practice from that question. And I would love to hear the answers. What does your soul need? Send me an email, find me on social media, message me in the Patreon. Thank you so much for being here today and for exploring spiritual practice.

[00:31:14] Jessica: I can't wait to keep talking about this. We're going to have a fabulous guest on that's going to talk about spiritual practice in real life, and you're going to love it. So stay tuned. Have a great day, y'all. Thank you for listening to Reclaiming Our Spirit. To find out how I can help you reclaim your spirit, reach out to me at www.

[00:31:33] Jessica: jessicapaschke. com. Leave me a message and I just may share how you reclaimed your spirit in the next episode.