blog - A Sacred Journey

Travel Tip: Make a Travel Shadow Box with Mementos from Your Recent Adventure

Have you been on any adventures recently?

Maybe you went on an amazing trip over the summer and want to memorialize it in some way. Or perhaps you have a shoebox stored in the top of your closet filled with items collected from a life-changing journey taken years ago that you don’t want to let go of but just can’t figure out what to do with.

I love collecting found objects throughout my journeys—markers of where I have been and what I’ve experienced no matter how small. Since I now carry a camera around in my pocket everywhere I go thanks to my smartphone, I’ve also come to enjoy taking photos of my destinations and sharing them over social media along the way.

While this might make me seem like quite the responsible traveler by documenting my experiences throughout my trip—whether through pictures or found objects—the trouble comes when I return home. Over the past few years I’ve traveled to four countries on three separate trips, taken hundreds of photos, and undoubtedly added weight to my luggage from the various mementos found along the way.

However, other than putting some prints in frames and adding stones and shells I’ve collected to my rock jar (free souvenirs!), I’ve done nothing with my pictures or mementos.

So far this fall has been filled to the brim for me, or at least it seems that way.

Every corner of my daily life seems to be overflowing with projects and tasks, from my work here at A Sacred Journey to my dining room that I hope to have painted by Thanksgiving. The influx of these projects and tasks are good signs, no doubt—I’m cleaning our Airbnb apartment multiple times a week because we’ve been nearly fully booked since we listed our space in July; I’ve shifted to devoting two of my work days to design work as inquiries and requests continue to flow in; I’m finally able to focus money and efforts on making my part of the house (rather than the basement below us) a home now that our basement renovation is complete.

When I pause and reflect on the reasons my days seem so much more full than they used to be, I’m grateful, no doubt. Yet in the midst of it all, it’s easy for projects that once were exciting to become mundane tasks, forever adding to my to-do list. At the end of the day I often feel uprooted, desperate for someplace to land.

This was especially true recently during a two week stint of traveling. (It always seems like a good idea when it’s months away, doesn’t it?) I had a few days at home in between two trips and had plenty of things I could devote my time to, including events and appointments scheduled each night. I was also aware that if I tried to do too much, I’d end up just as depleted by the end of the week as when it began, while still being unsatisfied with the work that was done (I struggle with being a bit too ambitious for the allotted time).

Knowing this (or better yet, knowing my inner groaning for slowness, space, and rest), I began my few days at home with a yin yoga practice on the theme of “fall,” and it changed everything.

Can you believe it’s been an entire year since we began our journey toward more meaningful mornings?

Each day last October we focused on cultivating a meaningful Morning Ritual, and in January, the series turned into my first online course—31 Days to a Meaningful Morning.

31 Days to a Meaningful Morning is a self-directed online course that is delivered to your inbox each day and comes straight from my heart, because over the years my own Morning Ritual has become my most meaningful spiritual practice, serving as a foundation for my day and setting the tone for the day ahead.

I’ve learned from my own experience that a hurried, chaotic morning can leave you frazzled and depleted. Starting the day with a meaningful Morning Ritual, however, will leave you confident, comforted, and ready for the day that awaits.

The 31 Days to a Meaningful Morning online course combines soul-work and careful planning to help you cultivate a Morning Ritual catered specifically to your desires and needs that is sure to leave you feeling closer to your True Self and the Divine.

In celebration of a year of journeying together toward more meaningful mornings, I’m offering a free 7-day sample course throughout the month of October to give you taste of how cultivating a Morning Ritual can impact your daily life and spiritual journey. As a bonus, at the end of the sample course you’ll get an exclusive discount for the full 31 Days to a Meaningful Morning online course so you can continue your journey to a more meaningful morning.

Guides are a valuable resource when setting off on a journey.

The guides we often think to pack are typically travel guides offering sample itineraries, hotel recommendations, and quick reference translations when you need to ask for directions or order a cup of tea. However, while these guides can be undeniably useful when navigating a new place, they will only guide you on your outer pilgrimage. If you want your journey to be meaningful, you’ll need a guide for your inner pilgrimage, too.

For centuries, pilgrims have carried such a guide. Known as a Vade Mecum, or “go with me,” these guides are guides for the soul. In them you’ll find practical information, yes (Rick Steves only started writing guidebooks in the past few decades, after all), but more importantly, you’ll find words of inspiration—prayers, quotes, and Scriptures to accompany the pilgrim along the path.

“Don’t you love New York in the fall?”

Tom Hanks’ character Joe Fox says this to Kathleen Kelly in You’ve Got Mail, a movie I watch year after year without fail as the air turns crisp and the leaves begin to change color.

“It makes me wanna buy school supplies,” He continues. “I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address….”

I feel you, Joe Fox. And even though we can’t all enjoy autumn in New York, nor are we all in school, there seems to be a general consensus that fall is the perfect time to learn something new. It’s just in the air, isn’t it?

Unfortunately as adults it’s easy to undervalue or even forget our desire to learn something new when there are daily tasks to tend to. And yet, if we pursue it with authenticity and intention, the process of learning something new can be akin to a spiritual practice by encouraging curiosity, cultivating creativity, and making room for delight.

Even when our school days are behind us, the back-to-school rhythm each year can serve as a reminder to continue to pursue life-long learning and personal growth in our everyday journeys, inviting us to ponder how we’d like to expand and to take action.

Ready to learn something new? Here are 11 ideas to enrich your journey—body, mind, and soul:

This past Monday was Labor Day in the US, and while to most it means a three-day weekend and signals the end of summer and the start of a new school year, I like to think of it liturgically.

No, no—you haven’t missed the declaration of Labor Day as the latest feast day during Vatican III. Even though Labor Day is only part of our cultural calendar (though I still have high hopes), when approached with intention it can offer us a unique invitation to deepen our spiritual journey as we focus on rhythms of labor and rest both in our world and in our everyday lives. After all, even God rested.

Speaking of which, there is, of course, the invitation to rest one day each week, modeled after the Divine’s resting on the seventh day of creation. These regular rhythms of sabbath are a call to cease and feast—a spiritual practice that is both challenging and rewarding in today’s culture.

There are times, though, when ceasing and feasting isn’t enough—at least for one day. Culturally, we refer to these seasons as a vacation or a leave of absence. However, just like a Saturday or Sunday each weekend, with a little intention, these seasons of rest and renewal can become so much more.

In the spirit of our Journey Book Club Discussion on The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up earlier this week, I wanted to share about my own capsule wardrobe as well as tips to help you start your own, too.

What we wear can often be overlooked or undervalued when it comes to spirituality, and it’s true—part of the spiritual journey is about releasing unhealthy attachments to material items. But it’s also true that dressing ourselves can be a creative endeavor, and cultivating a spirit of creativity always leads us closer to the Creator, whom we are forever called to join in co-creation.

As co-creators we’re always soul-creators, infusing meaning into whatever we pursue. This time, the medium just happens to be apparel (which is one of the main ways we present ourselves to the world, by the way). Perhaps that’s why I love the idea of a capsule wardrobe so much. In a way, it seems like an external expression of the internal process of cultivating the true self, setting aside elements of the false self that hinder creativity, dampen joy, and disconnect us from the Sacred which we seek.

You won’t find “capsule wardrobe” in the dictionary just yet, but I define a capsule wardrobe as a minimalist wardrobe that is carefully curated, easily coordinates, and forever sparks joy. If you’re as intrigued by the process as I am, here are 5 tips to get you started that have helped me along the way:

Journey Book Club Discussion: “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”

The Journey Book Club is migrating to Facebook—the perfect place to interact throughout the month as we read together, sharing our favorite quotes and insights and engaging in some lively discussion. This will be the last Journey Book Club post here on the blog. To continue to read/follow along (and find out what we’re reading next), click here to join the group.

I hope it comes as no surprise to you that I truly enjoyed The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

Although in many cases Marie’s method can seem a bit over the top (I won’t be emptying my purse each day anytime soon or affirming my clothing on a job well done), I’m a great supporter of anything that emphasizes how much even the ordinary things in life—in this case our possessions and surroundings—impact our wellbeing: mind, body, and soul.

In fact, even though tidying up is often a practice associated with spring cleaning, perhaps Ordinary Time is the best season in which to begin the practice of tidying up as it causes us to truly look at the items and spaces that can be often overlooked in our busier seasons and choose to take action in a way that will lead to life and growth. And, since spiritual practices are regular rhythms that cultivate life, leading us closer toward our true selves and the Divine, I think it’s safe to say that the KonMari method can be approached as a spiritual practice. After all, the central tenet of her method is to only keep items that spark joy, and as a fruit of the Spirit, isn’t joy a sure-fire way to measure our connection to the Sacred?

Since purchasing our first house last summer, I’ve taken up a new hobby: gardening.

My mother, too, is an avid gardener, and her mother before her. Growing up I remember spending what seemed like endless hours wandering greenhouses and nurseries, and while I was allowed to pick my favorite flowers to add to the mix (for some reason I always reached for Marigolds), surprisingly, I was never that interested in gardening itself.

I say “surprisingly” because now that we have our own home, gardening has become one of my treasured hobbies. It has also become one of my most natural and cherished spiritual practices. In fact, the deepening of my spiritual journey and my growing interest in gardening seem to be parallel, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Gardening requires the same traits as many of the most formative spiritual practices—patience, attentiveness, diligence, self-control—and in turn cultivates in us many of the postures that draw us closer to the Divine, including mindfulness, creativity, and curiosity.

That’s why, when it came time to plant my own garden, I wanted the guidance of someone who felt the same way about the hobby-turned-spiritual practice. Luckily, I knew of a woman at my church who did garden consultation—Gretchen Champoux of Sacred Spaces Design. Together, we were able to create a garden that has quickly become one of my favorite places, and I look forward to continuing to cultivate it as both a garden and a Sacred space as the years go on. (Because we’re always cultivating—in gardens and in life.)

As summer slowly fades into fall into the Northern Hemisphere, I wanted to share some of Gretchen’s reflections on gardening as a spiritual practice as well as tips on how to use nature to create a Sacred space—no matter the season. Read my interview with Gretchen below.

It’s the middle of August, and as summer winds down for many of us it’s time to put the suitcases away, harvest what remains of summer’s bounty, finish our summer reading, and return to everyday routines.

It’s all just so…ordinary.

We are, in fact, in the middle of Ordinary Time—the season in the Church’s liturgical calendar that lies between the feast of Pentecost and the season of Advent (some churches recognize two seasons of Ordinary Time—Ordinary Time I between Christmastide and Lent and Ordinary Time II between Eastertide and Advent). It’s a long season, too—the longest, in fact. It seems fitting, though, because most of our days are simply ordinary—we wake up, shower, go to work, care for families, run errands, make meals, go to sleep…and do it all over again.

There’s no invitation to keep vigil, like with Advent, or to fast, as with Lent. There’s no specific call to celebrate, as with Christmas or Easter. And, oftentimes there’s no great burst of insight or inspiration, as marked by the Feasts of Epiphany and Pentecost.

But it’s also in the everyday that life happens—challenges presented, lessons learned, obstacles overcome—each new occurrence taking us beyond our edges and presenting the opportunity for more growth. If Ordinary Time has an invitation, it’s to stay present to these elements of daily life, engaging them with intention and looking for the Sacred hidden within. What so often seems ordinary then has the power to become extraordinary.

Here are 10 practices to make Ordinary Time extraordinary:

1. Turn a mundane task into a time of prayer

2. Go on a personal retreat

3. Make something (How about daily bread?)

4. Begin a Sabbath practice

5. Spend time in nature

6. Settle in with a book that has the power to transform (I have a few suggestions)

7. Read the Bible in a new way

8. Live like a pilgrim in everyday life

9. Cultivate a Morning Ritual

10. In line with our current Journey Book Club selection, get rid of objects (and commitments) in your life that don’t spark joy (more on that next week!)

GO FURTHER…

Which of your own spiritual practices help make Ordinary Time extraordinary?

PS: How liturgy guides you on a daily journey (+ a great list of resources!)

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Which pilgrim path are you on?

Click on a path below to find your direction and discover practices to guide you along the way.
the pilgrim at home

the pilgrim abroad

Travel Tip: Make a Travel Shadow Box with Mementos from Your Recent Adventure

Have you been on any adventures recently?

How Yin Yoga is Becoming My Best Teacher This Fall

So far this fall has been filled to the brim for me, or at least it seems that way.

Ready to Create Your Perfect Morning Ritual? My Gift to You…

Can you believe it’s been an entire year since we began our journey toward more meaningful mornings?

Travel Tip: Create Your Own Guide for Your Next Journey

Guides are a valuable resource when setting off on a journey.

Back to School: 11 Ideas for Learning Something New (and why you should)

“Don’t you love New York in the fall?”

Create a Sabbatical Just for You

This past Monday was Labor Day in the US, and while to most it means a three-day weekend and signals the end of summer and the start of a new school year, I like to think of it liturgically.

5 Tips for Creating a Capsule Wardrobe

In the spirit of our Journey Book Club Discussion on The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up earlier this week, I wanted to share about my own capsule wardrobe as well as tips to help you start your own, too.

Journey Book Club Discussion: “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”

I hope it comes as no surprise to you that I truly enjoyed The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

The Spiritual Practice of Gardening

Since purchasing our first house last summer, I’ve taken up a new hobby: gardening.

10 Practices to Make Ordinary Time Extraordinary

It’s the middle of August, and as summer winds down for many of us it’s time to put the suitcases away, harvest what remains of summer’s bounty, finish our summer reading, and return to everyday routines.

GO FURTHER…

EXPLORE

DISCOVER

CONNECT