Skye McColman’s Mystical To-Do List
Note: This is all optional. It’s offered in the spirit of mutual inspiration and encouragement. If something on this list captures your imagination, dive into it. If nothing does, then set it aside.
Begin and end each day, if possible, with a moment of gratitude. Linger over this, when you can.
Set aside some time every day to be present to the silent and peaceful places in your own heart. This can be a formal practice of meditation or contemplative prayer, but it could also be something spontaneous and unstructured. How you meet the silence is less important than simply choosing to do so.
If you cannot find the silence and peace in your heart, be mindful of all that seems to show up instead. Discern what within you needs healing, what needs honoring, what needs a response, and what needs to be released.
Pay attention to how your thoughts and feelings dance within your consciousness. Be especially present to anger, to fear, to sadness, to envy, and to self-aggrandizement. Consider what these feelings (and the stories they accompany) are seeking to tell you, or to teach you. Ponder the ways you can welcome and release powerful emotions, so that you may meet everything that arises in your life from a place of deep equilibrium and calm.
Bring clarity to how you inhabit and care for your body. Notice how active you are, how much sleep you are getting, the quantity and quality of the food you eat. Refer any concerns to your healthcare provider, but bring to your prayer life a recognition that care for the body is an expression of care for the soul.
Review the tasks of your day, whether related to professional work, manual labor, domestic upkeep, care for children or those in need, tending a garden, or any other task that is yours for this day. Approach your responsibilities in the spirit of the Benedictine principle Ora et Labora: “Prayer and Labor.” Your work is your prayer, your prayer is your work. Give yourself the gift of being mindful of this.
Give yourself to the important (and maybe even not-so-important) connections you will make with others this day and every day. Cherish relationships that are grounded in love, family, and mutual care. Treat everyone with the same dignity and respect that you would offer to Christ or the Buddha. If or when you are emotionally off-center, be proactive to refrain from projecting your dysregulation onto others.
Honor your own power. You matter. Choices, whether big or small, that you make can have a real and lasting impact in the lives of others and for the world. Be creative and be proactive. Celebrate the fact that you can make a positive difference and help the world to become a better place.
Monitor your relationship with shame. This corrosive feeling can undermine appropriate feelings of remorse or responsibility, or can oppress us with the unhealthy judgment of others (perhaps from long ago). Be diligent in refusing to shame others, and bring that same commitment to yourself. If you do find others shaming you (or you shaming yourself), remember that divine love, compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation matter more than human guilt-mongering. Love casts out fear — and it also heals shame. So be love.
Read something sacred. A sacred text like the Bible, the Qur’an, the Dhammapada, or the Bhagavad-Gita can bring inspiration and insight. Keep in mind that these texts, too, have their blind spots, so read with an open, kind but discerning heart.
Read poetry. Seek especially the words of poets who are great mystics, as well as mystics who are great poets. Let the words of the poets open your heart to mystery and grace. If poetry intimidates you, start with Mary Oliver or Chelan Harkin, and then work your way up to Rumi, John of the Cross, or Denise Levertov.
Be gentle with yourself. If you are grieving, healing from trauma, living with illness, suffering from chronic pain, or managing mental illness or any situation that causes distress, remember that this is not your whole story. Seek care that can help you to heal, or at least to endure. Change often takes time, so allow your blessings to unfold slowly.
Take inventory of the fruit of the spirit in your life. Be cognizant of your current and emerging relationships with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Which of these do you need to cultivate? Which is so abundant in your life that you have plenty to spare? Reflect on how you can strengthen your relationship with each of the fruit.
Take a nap. If that is not possible today, then make it happen when it is possible (and you truly need it or will benefit from it).
Get a massage. If today is not the right day for that, then consider when it will be possible, and hold it as a treat you may look forward to.
Take a bath: and not just a utilitarian bath to get clean, but a luxurious bubble bath that leaves you feeling as refreshed as you do cleansed. If your schedule does not permit such an indulgence today, plan for a day when you can make it happen.
Dare to dream. What are your hopes, your plans, your fond ideas for a wonderful time yet to come? Ponder both the wild outrageous fantasies and the small but achievable micro-goals that you can work on each day. When a hope or a dream seems too big to be attainable, consider one small step you can take in that direction. After all, a cathedral is built one brick at a time.
Practice a bodily discipline that can be a form of prayer, or can be conducive to prayer and meditation. Yoga, tai chi, qigong, kinhin, Sufi dancing, or breathwork are just a few examples of the ways you can embody your mystical life. Practice in accordance with your capabilities, and consult with a healthcare provider to ensure your practice is appropriate for you. Even a simple bow or genuflection can be a way to embody your love for the mystery.
Face that which you have been avoiding. Do you need help recovering from an addiction? Seeking care for something causing you significant distress? Is it time to begin or resume work with a therapist to take meaningful steps in the service of healing? Is there a broken or toxic relationship that needs confrontation or healing? Such work is difficult and typically requires the support of others. If something like this is troubling you, reach out to a therapist, chaplain, spiritual director or other caregiver who can help you take your next step.
Learn something new. This could be as simple as reading a book on an unfamiliar topic or a more robust endeavor, like enrolling in a college-level course to broaden your mind and your capacity for critical thinking.
When possible, take on a discipline that will challenge your mind, the way that working with weights challenges your body. For example, practice or learn a foreign language and/or play music: these are the types of excellent and pleasurable ways you can support your brain health no matter how old you are.
Participate in a faith community. Choose something in alignment with your beliefs and values. When the community challenges you, it should be clear that this is in service of greater freedom, growth, and maturity. If traditional communities (like churches or centering prayer groups) are not available, look for community in creative or alternative ways (such as online groups, service organizations, or informal gatherings around a shared interest).
Be here now. Whether you call it practicing the presence, living in the now, or simply the sacrament of the present moment, it is a universal principle that liberation and enlightenment happen only in the present moment. If your life has a recurring “marker” like a clock ringing on the hour, use this as a mindfulness prompt: that whatever you may be doing, you are always invited to be mindful of this infinitely compassionate moment.
Honor the past and trust the future. Being faithful to the present does not mean ignoring the past or the future, but simply relating to them mindfully and skillfully. The past is the story that carries us to the sacred present, and the future is the quantum field of probability that we are always invited to meet with trust, hope, generosity and faith. Honor the past and release its hold; welcome the future as a partner in living into your creative potential.
Know that you are stardust. Thomas Merton lamented that we cannot tell one another that we are shining like the sun — it is only for us to discover for ourselves. But he also said “the gate of heaven is everywhere.” You have access to your own inner light, right here, right now. It is a graced gift and it is yours.
It is not only the gate of heaven that is everywhere. Heaven is everywhere, for heaven is anywhere that the Divine may be found: and the Divine presence is the ground of all being. Know who you are, know where you are, and remember that Divine union is not something to achieve, but simply something to acknowledge and receive.
Remain humble. One problem with diving deep into mystical truth is that we become susceptible to ego inflation. Humility — not humiliation or abnegation, but authentic, down-to-earth, self-forgetful humility — is our most reliable safeguard against spiritual pride. Do something earthy and humble today: clean the toilet, empty the litter box, defrost the freezer, weed the garden. Work close to the earth to remain close to the earth.
Investigate your restlessness and your boredom. We all experience such feelings, some of us more than others, and each of us finds that our restlessness is triggered by different things. Do not shame yourself for feeling bored or restless, but lean in to explore what is happening. Offer the uncomfortable places of your life to the ocean of Divine love, so that you might be healed and invited to grow.
Be creative. Paint, draw, work with clay. Write, sing, dance. Work in the garden, prepare a meal, decorate your living space. We all have ways to create, and it is our creativity that brings us close to realizing how we are the “image and likeness” of the Divine. If you do not feel that you have a creative discipline, be open to the possibility that you could take one up. Even if you are 100 years old — then you get to bring a century’s worth of experience to your creativity! Beginner’s mind is open to infinite possibilities, so cherish it.
Pray. If you don’t believe in God, then pray to Love. Open your heart and mind and belly to the transforming power and presence of Love, of the Divine, of the ocean of compassion and healing. Trust that prayer changes things, even if the only “thing” being changed is your own heart. Pray every day, and be mindful of the Pauline challenge to pray unceasingly. This does not mean you must always be talking to God — rather, consider how you can make your entire life a prayer.
Reflect on your vocation. Vocation is more than just our profession or livelihood. Vocation is the complete calling of our totality as human beings. Discern how you are being called to live out your mystical vocation — just for today. Then go do it.
Engage in the disciplines of your spiritual tradition. If you are a sacramental Christian, receive the sacraments. If you are a Kabbalist, study the Kabbalah. If you are a Buddhist, be diligent in following the Eightfold Path. No one has to do it all, but everyone benefits when we do the good work that our tradition gives us to do. Be gentle with your imperfection, and always return to the promise you have made.
End the day with some form of Examen: a daily examination of consciousness. Notice what has been a grace and a blessing, and what lessons have come your way. Remember to return to the first item on this list, and be sure that your Examen is steeped in gratitude and love.
