Following are daily goals that can be practiced
over a month, choosing the one below which matches the date today
(If today is the 7th, then choose practice #7). These are from the
booklet "Understanding and Practicing the Teachings of Swami Rama",
which can be viewed and downloaded in pdf format. (Open/download)
In The Art of Joyful Living (pp. 128-129), Swami Rama
suggests that one develop thirty goals for thirty days, and pick one for
each day. These should be small points, but things you work on steadily.
For example, you may decide that today you are not going to lie. That
does not mean that you will redouble your lies tomorrow, but rather,
that today your whole thinking process is about this: that you are not
going to lie. You never claim that you will be able to speak the total
Truth, but simply decide that you are not going to consciously lie.
If you adopt thirty points to work on for thirty
days, you can just watch what you have accomplished in thirty days’
time. The point is not, for instance, whether you have lied or not lied:
it is that you have built your willpower. This is the real process of
building willpower. After thirty days you will conclude, “Yes, I have
done what I wanted to do.” But do not choose big principles that you
cannot fulfill—that is destructive. Instead, select little things.
Later, you may want to do this experiment of “thirty
goals for thirty days” using a separate list of goals which you make up
yourself, but for now, you will find the following to be a useful
practice. You might want to write a few words or sentences each day
about what you have observed. Start by using the number on the list
which matches today’s date. Check-off the goal at the end of the day.
1. Lovingly serve others today.
2. Observe one of the yamas (non-violence,
truthfulness, non-stealing, continence or Brahmacharya,
non-materialism), directing your actions and speech, while observing
your thoughts.
3. Allow your actions to come from conscious choice
rather than as a result of habit.
4. Observe one of the niyamas (purity, contentment,
training senses, self-study, surrender)
5. Observe all of your actions and ask yourself, “why
am I doing this action?”
6. Observe one of the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, space),
externally and internally.
7. Witness everything, external and internal.
8. Observe one of the five cognitive senses (hearing,
touching, seeing, tasting, smelling).
9. Be aware of your breath today, noticing its
qualities and how it relates to thoughts and emotions.
10. Observe one of the five active senses (speaking,
grasping, moving, reproducing, eliminating).
11. Notice how fears can control you, and how fears
are related to imagination.
12. Observe one of the four functions of mind (manas,
chitta, ahamkara, buddhi).
13. Speak very little today—only what is accurate,
purposeful, and non-hurting.
14. Observe your reactions when a desire,
expectation, want, or need is or is not fulfilled.
15. Observe your gestures and body language, noticing
how they reflect thoughts and emotions.
16. Observe one of the yamas (non-violence,
truthfulness, non-stealing, continence or Brahmacharya,
non-materialism), directing your actions and speech, while observing
your thoughts.
17. Practice one-pointedness, paying attention to whatever you are doing
today.
18. Observe one of the niyamas (purity, contentment,
training senses, self-study, surrender)
19. Resolve that today “I will love everyone and not
hate anyone today.”
20. Observe one of the five elements (earth, water,
fire, air, space), externally and internally.
21. Observe whether your “first thoughts” or “second
thoughts” are good or bad, clear or clouded.
22. Observe one of the five cognitive senses (hearing, touching, seeing,
tasting, smelling).
23. Be aware of the principle of meditation in
action.
24. Observe one of the five active senses (speaking,
grasping, moving, reproducing, eliminating).
25. Be aware of how you adjust to changing
circumstances around you.
26. Observe one of the four functions of mind (manas,
chitta, ahamkara, buddhi).
27. Observe how you relate to other people.
28. Observe your reactions when a desire,
expectation, want, or need is or is not fulfilled.
29. Notice which thoughts coming into your mind are
“useful” or “not useful.”
30. Choose one of the primitive fountains (food,
sleep, sex, self-preservation) and observe how it affects your other
desires, emotions, thoughts, speech, and actions.
31. Witness everything, external and internal (in
months which have 31 days).
