Spiritual Exercises for the Days of the Week

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Spiritual Exercises for the Days of the Week

Most of us would like to live in a more spiritually-conscious way, but the task can seem so daunting. Where to begin? The great teacher, author, and philosopher Rudolph Steiner had a wonderful idea: he identified one gentle spiritual task for each day of the week. After all, seven is a magical number (think of the seven chakras), and having seven days of the week as a container makes deep soul-sense.

You can use these simple, meaningful exercises as a basis for meditation, or simply as touchstones to keep in mind throughout the day. Step by step, we can gently bring ourselves into greater clarity and awareness. Breaking the process down into daily tasks makes it so doable, and the end result will be greater soul-strength and consciousness.

SATURDAY: Right Thinking Be aware of your thoughts. Gradually learn to separate in your thoughts the essential from the nonessential, the eternal from the transitory, and truth from mere opinion. When listening to conversation, try to become inwardly still, renouncing all agreement and, more important, all negative judgments (criticism and rejection). Do this in both thought and feeling.

SUNDAY: Right Judgment Decide on even the most insignificant issues only after full, well-founded deliberation and reflection. Abstain from doing anything that has no significant reason. Once we are convinced that a decision is correct, adhere to it with inner steadfastness. This is "right judgment" because it was made independently of attraction or aversion.

MONDAY: Right Word Avoid the usual sort of conversation that involves jumbled, simultaneous cross-talk. Listen thoughtfully to every statement and answer. Consider every approach. Never speak without a reason. Prefer silence. Try not to talk too much or too little. Listen quietly and process what you hear.

TUESDAY: Right Deed Our outer actions should not disturb others. When we are moved inwardly (by conscience) to act, carefully weight how best to employ the occasion for the good of the whole, and the happiness of others and the eternal. When you act from yourself and your own initiative, weigh the consequences of your actions in the most fundamental way.

WEDNESDAY: Right Standpoint In ordering your life, live in harmony with nature and spirit. Do not get buried in the external knickknacks of life. Avoid all that brings restlessness and haste to your life. Be neither impetuous nor lazy. Consider life as a means of inner work and development and act accordingly.

THURSDAY: Right Striving Take care not to do anything beyond your power, but don't leave anything undone that is within your ability. Pose goals that are connected with the highest of human responsibilities. In relation to these exercises, for example, try to develop yourself so that later---if not immediately--you may be better able to help and advise others. Let the preceding exercises become a habit!

FRIDAY: Right Memory Strive to learn as much as possible from life. Nothing happens that does not give us the opportunity to gather experiences that are useful for life. If you have done something incorrectly or incompletely, it becomes an opportunity to do it correctly or completely later on. When you see others act, observe them with the same end in mind (but not without love). Do nothing without looking at past experiences that may help in your decisions and your actions. If you are attentive, you can learn much from everyone. including small children.

Copyright: Adapted from Start Now! A Book of Soul and Spiritual Exercises by Rudolph Steiner 2004