good news devotion
There’s some good news I want to talk about.
Devotion isnt only for temples, churches or sacred spaces.
HURRAY
Devotion is ours,
readily available,
instantly downloadable,
a lens to view life through.
And we can do this anytime, anywhere.
Oh the pure JOY of it.
Who writes about devotion? Well, from sacred scriptures, to modern poets, from the stage of motivational speakers to 15 min podcasters, the breadth and depth of devotion is plenty. And what I’m loving is the modern ease and readiness, the accessibility of it to all of us for giving modern day life an up-level, a sprinkle of something extra, a little cream on top of the cupcake of life.
Lets unpack devotion starting with the poet Mary Oliver:
Attention is the beginning of devotion ~ from her poem Upstream.
So here, we can use our attention to create a mood or feeling of devotion.
Practices or mini rituals can be simple and sweet;
Light a candle or stick of incense & read something inspiring. Take a moment to let it seep into your heart.
Send a handwritten note to a dear friend or neighbour who you know is struggling.
A spritz or dab of your favourite perfume oil.
Q: what are you placing your attention on? What topics are you talking about? If you listened to the mood or underlying tone of your conversation, what would you hear?
Here’s a little bit from a few of my favourites:
Rick Rubin, author of The Creative Act talks about devotion as the spark—the intuitive “needle jump” that calls you to nurture something with soulful, undistracted attention. Creativity is seen as sacred, an act of devotion. He hones in on using your creativity as something beautiful, true and sacred which in turn begins to evoke feelings of devotion. Cooking a family dinner, how can you make that feel like an act of devotion? Lately, cleaning out the fridge has soothed my mind and I’ve been thinking how my fridge is an ode to health (well, it was till my daughter bought home from the US a giant bag of Peanut M&M’s for her brother, which now sit on top of Oreo’s, also note mine!).
John O’Donohue offers devotion through a spiritual lens—life as art, love as prayer, he encourages space for us to access our inner wisdom. We all know now in our bones, that taking time, sleeping on things, thinking things through is a path to good choices. Shooting from the hip is great when your buying a new red lippie, maybe not so much in a conversation with a treasured friend.
So coming back to you & I and the real life application.
Lets finish with this contemplation:
How does your devotion shine through?
