What to do When Your Spiritual Practice Collects Dust

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We’ve all done it; your spiritual practice is going great, you’re feeling more connected than ever, and then life happens. Suddenly, you don’t have the bandwidth for the same level of engagement you used to. Maybe you’re depressed or simply too exhausted to do much of anything. Altars gather dust, books get forgotten on shelves, and you haven’t lit a candle in over three weeks.

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So what exactly do you do when you find yourself wanting to get back to things after a break like this?

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Firstly, it’s important to acknowledge that none of this is a personal failing of yours. Life gets the better of us all from time to time, and we handle it as best as we’re able to. You’re hardly the first person to have done this, and you certainly won’t be the last. In fact, I’m sure there were some worshippers/devotees in antiquity that felt pretty similarly to how you’re feeling now.

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Take a breath, do a couple of stretches, and center yourself. We’re going to go through some of the avenues you can take towards getting back into your practice. That said, everyone’s spiritual practice is different and as such your mileage may vary. If you find yourself with more specific questions, I’d be happy to help in whatever way I can.

Without further adieu, let’s get into it.

Refresh your space intentionally

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I don’t know about you, but when I start slipping with my spiritual practice, it usually means I’m slipping in other areas of my life as well. My space starts getting messy, and I start feeling like I’m living in never ending clutter. When this happens, it means it’s time for a refresh.

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There’s a lot to be said for doing cleaning and rearranging intentionally. Done right, it can be a spiritual experience in and of itself. Altars are the obvious place to do this, but it can easily extend to your living space in general. If you believe in house spirits, consider dedicating the act of refreshing their domain as an offering. If you don’t believe in house spirits, you might also try dedicating the act to a deity or higher power that you do believe in. Try to keep your dedication in mind while you work, and watch how your place sparkles when you’re done!

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If a dedication isn’t quite your speed, doing something like meditating or lighting a candle before you start is another good way to set the mood. Essentially what we’re trying to do is take our refresh out of the realm of the mundane and into the realm of our spirituality. Doing this is not only a good way to ease back into your spirituality, but it can also help to remind you what’s so special about it in the first place.

Journal about what’s been going on

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If you’re at all like me and you fall into thinking that you’ve been somehow just intentionally ignoring your spiritual practice (despite wanting badly to resume it), journaling can be a powerful reflection tool. To start things off, I’d recommend trying an entry where you talk about everything that’s been happening in your life lately. Having it all laid out in writing for yourself can be really eye opening and help to reduce some of the guilt you might be feeling over letting things get to this point.

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Even if you haven’t had a lot going on lately, journaling might still help reveal things hidden in your psyche. Sometimes we fall out of our spirituality because there’s actually something about the way we were previously practicing that isn’t right for us. Try asking yourself if there’s anything about your spirituality that hasn’t been sitting well with you lately. You might be surprised by what you find. If you do find something, now is a good time to try changing up how you’re practicing. It may just be the restart that you need!

Pray to your higher power(s)

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I’ll admit it, this one can be scary (especially if you haven’t been in contact with your higher power(s)). You might be worried that they’ll be angry or upset with you for disappearing for so long. This is a totally understandable fear to have, given the culturally dominant Christian ideas of a vengeful god. That said, in my experience with non-Christian higher powers in this situation has thus far been pretty different. If I’m gone for a while they might be quiet at first, but they generally come around if you keep showing up.

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For these reasons, I find it’s best to rip off the communication band-aid as soon as you feel you’re able. A prayer is a good step towards feeling connected again, and it’s one of the easier ways to get back into things. Your prayer doesn’t have to be lengthy or rhyme or anything like that, either. A simple greeting and explanation that you’re coming back to things is more than sufficient. Depending on your circumstances you may want to offer an explanation and/or words of praise for your higher power.

Learn something new

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This tip is honestly one of my favorites from this list. Sometimes, our spiritual practice can feel stagnant because we’ve been doing the same thing over and over again without switching things up. When this happens, it can be really helpful to do a deep dive into part of your practice that you feel could use a refresh. There’s an added bonus here of getting the perspectives of other people, which can be really helpful if you’re feeling stuck.

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If you’re not sure where to start with your research, I would recommend spending some time coming up with a list of questions that have come up in your practice. These will give you a great starting point for looking into things. And don’t worry if the question seems silly or redundant— you’d be surprised by how many new questions will spawn when you start digging. Keep a log of your questions somewhere, and note down any important information you come across.

Talk to someone about it

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Another good way to ease yourself back into your spiritual practice is by talking about it with someone. This could be a friend or someone close to you, or you could try joining an online community geared towards spirituality or your specific faith. In terms of online communities, I suggest looking for places with longer form writing like forums and blogs. If you’re looking for regular interaction, Reddit and Facebook groups are both solid options. Discord servers are hit or miss, but there are occasional gems if that style of communication works better for you.

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The goal here is similar to learning something new; it’s to get you thinking about your spirituality again. Engaging with others has the added bonus of making you feel less alone in your practice, which can be a huge help. The introduction of new perspectives can also aid you in getting out of that stuck feeling you might be having. Sometimes, we really do just need to change the angle that we’re looking at things.

In conclusion…

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Everyone goes through periods of time when their spiritual practice collects dust. That doesn’t make them bad at their spirituality and/or faith, and there’s always time to get back to it. There are a lot of things you can try, but I recommend refreshing your space, journaling, praying, learning something new, and talking to someone about your spiritual practice.

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Have you ever tried any of the above when you’ve fallen into a spiritual rut? How did it go? Have you tried something that I haven’t talked about here? Let’s all share tips and tricks and learn from each other!