A practice is
“any coherent and complex form of socially established cooperative human activity through which goods internal to that form of human activity are realised in the course of trying to achieve those standards of excellence [...] with the result that human powers to achieve excellence are systematically extended.” – MacIntyre, After Virtue, 1981
Art is a practice, medicine is a practice, architecture is a practice but bricklaying is not. A practice is something that has an intrinsic (internal) motivation to achieve excellence both for oneself and for the good of the community. It brings to mind such values as compassion, beauty, healing and enrichment for everyone, not only the practitioner.
Self love is a practice. As practitioners, we journey along a path that leads to mastery. But there is always more to learn. Even a master practitioner continues to improve her craft. By becoming skilled and dedicated disciples of self love, we inspire and enable others to realise those qualities in themselves.
“One person’s excelling in the form does not diminish the achievements of others but is a benefit to all.” – Maccarone, 2010
How is your self love practice coming along? How much time do you devote each day to taking great care of yourself, creating self talk that is positive and empowering, and fostering an attitude of acceptance of your strengths and weaknesses?
This is not just for you, it is for all of us. As we encounter women who are overflowing with love and confidence we are given an antidote to the messages of the media and magazines who tell us we are not skinny/pretty/successful enough.
What other things in your life are a practice? Yoga, meditation, dance, writing, photography …
I ask myself, what makes these particular things a practice? All of these things embrace diversity, individuality, authenticity and the value of uniqueness. My practice may be at a different level and involve different priorities to yours, but it is still a part of a body of work, a community of wisdom. New ideas, experimentation and trial and error are as valid as traditional age-old practices. We collaborate to find new truths.
What things do not fit this definition? Dieting, bodybuilding, religion …
These things preach a doctrine of a single path. There is disagreement and dissent about the right way to do things. There is competition and not collaboration. They give us experts who resemble clones of each other rather than masters who are diverse as the colours of the sky.
What are you practicing today? Where are you putting your energy?
Let’s practice self love and collaborate together to uncover excellence in our lives that we would never find alone.
Further Reading
The Best Non-Scientific Benefits of Meditation
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Katie,
Interesting post – however I disagree with some parts of your post simply because I filter and process information differently from you.
Whilst I’m not surprised you haven’t including dieting (a rather one dimensional choice, which I consider an act rather than a practice) or bodybuilding (which I consider to be a hobby, similar to cake decorating or doing the nifty tango down at the RSL), I am surprised that you included religion.
Religion is the ultimate expression of how you choose to live your life and the values you cultivate in living your chosen life. Formal religious practice may propose living by certain rules – but it’s worth noting that God didn’t create bureaucracy and dissent, we, as humans, did.
From a Christian perspective, Jesus’ greatest commandment was based on love – ‘love one another as I have loved you’. No bureaucracy or dissent there – and as you know, there is incredible freedom to be gained from living a life of love (including self love).
Other world religions purport a similar perspective. Thus religion, to me, in the context I mentioned in my third paragraph is the ultimate practice.
Thanks for making me think!
Ahhh, again I struggle with our definitions of words. In referring to religion, I meant the constraints and rules imposed by the institution rather than a notion of spirituality. I am sure you can find a way to celebrate individuality and the diversity of ideas within the broad strokes of a philosophy (Christianity?) but there is no way to practice “religion” without coming into conflict with those who stand behind such statements as “Jesus said, I am the way” (quoting my mother) at the exclusion of all other beliefs.
A practice of devotion to something … love? God? goddess? Buddha? the Universe? is valid, but religions (by my definition) compete with each other, have little tolerance for other ways of seeing the world and promote rigid rules that are unchanged by the shared experience of its followers.
Although fundamentalist Christians stand by the word for word versions of the Bible, much of it is in the form of parables or storytelling which illustrates a *concept* rather than set in stone statements. Jesus may have said, “I am the way, the truth and the life”, however I feel that He was relating to the ways in which he practised his own life being a pathway to happiness in this life and the next. My thoughts are that God gave us free will (I am Christian) – and if we were meant to live by a set of rigid beliefs we’d all be extremely happy in doing so.
However, I am just as much as a loss as to what we face when we die as the next man – and that is why I believe that no one religion can claim superiority. All we can hope to do is live according to our truth IMHO.
If we speak of the practice of devotion to something, I am linking that to you follow the practice of devotion to self love. I think self love is integral but part of a bigger picture, for example service to our fellow man and creation of a better world for all to live in.
Thoughts?
My devotion is to the spiritual power of the Universe, being part of what we call life – humanity, the earth, the sky, the animals and the trees – and I believe in our divinity. I believe that love and connection gives meaning to life. I could not enter into this state of openess without first finding what is loveable in me, and recognising my power as a co-creator of all that happens in my world. My devotion is to spiritual, transcendent love in all its guises. I guess that covers service to our fellow man and the creation of a better world