Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

I pray 5 times a day.

I am an Orthodox Christian. My day begins with prayer, as soon as possible after I wake up. Prayer consists of reading (or reciting) prayers from a prayer book, followed by 100-200 Jesus Prayers ("Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!"), followed by 12-25 prostrations.

I then read the daily scripture readings indicated by the liturgical calendar.

At noon, I usually read a Psalm in front of my icons (I work from home) and do 12 prostrations.

After dinner, we pray together as a family, then read several chapters from the Bible together and discuss whatever comes up in the text we are reading that day. We're currently in the middle of reading the Bible in a year.

Before bed, I repeat my morning routine, but saying evening prayers instead of morning prayers. I usually fall asleep while saying the Jesus Prayer. I also say the Jesus Prayer throughout the day as I am doing things that don't require strong focus.

We go to Vespers (evening prayers) on Saturday night, and we go to church on Sunday morning.

Growing into this routine has changed my life, healed my family, and brought immense peace and joy (and struggle!) into my life. Glory to God!

EDIT: I should add that prayers are typically said while standing in front of an icon corner, usually with a candle lit and incense burning. Obviously, when I am saying the Jesus Prayer throughout the day or falling asleep, I'm not following those guidelines, but my morning and evening prayers are said while standing, usually with my eyes open.

Sitting on a bench. Lying under a tree. Going for walks with no goal in mind. Thinking, musing, watching the world unfold.

My wife and I are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's far more important to her than it is to me though.

For me a large part of believing in something greater in myself is the hope that I simply won't cease to exist when I experience brain death. I pray hoping someone is on the other end at least listening to me, I rationalize life on our planet as some sort of orchestrated miracle, I look to the vastness of space to realize that I am insignificant beyond imagination and that our planet and solar system are also insignificant beyond imagination.

I think of my friends and family that have died, and hope that I get to interact with them at some point and try and approximate that right now with things like writing the annual letter to my father and telling him what has been going on in my life since he died 12 days before my 13th birthday which I place on my blog here https://www.ryanmercer.com/ryansthoughts/category/dad

I think of the incredible age of the universe and the tiny blip that is a human's lifespan and hope that I am not some sort of chemical accident. That I'm not a bunch of electrical/chemical reactions that believes it is self aware by some fluke.

On any given day I'm 50%+ (sometimes 100%) of the opinion that we likely exist in a simulation which, at least to me, explains why we have such rapid tech advancements, why we have not detected any other sentient species in the universe, why we haven't seen any evidence of Kardashev 2+ level building in our galactic back yard, why so many things have be invented/discovered within weeks or years of each other by human beings with no contact with one another. I also like this thought because, like in the book series Magic 2.0 by Scott Meyer, there might be some hope that I can exploit some conditions of the simulation to directly benefit myself by either altering my character database or a database of something around me. Silly, but sometimes it keeps me going.

Imho - the only good explanation of why anything exists is that whatever 'is' has always been, is all there is, and is nothing of itself at all. Contemplating that infinite & eternal nature of our existence reconnects me with the magic & mystery of life. It awakens in me a gratitude, an awe, a wonder, a not knowing.. On a practical level - chi qong, yoga, pranayama, sauna/cold plunge, shaking, running, love making, meditating, reading the diamond sutras, beach cleanups, gardening.. whatever calls in the moment and makes me feel more alive, more connection, love, joy, appreciation, etc