In the last couple of years, there have been numerous books on the subjects of rest, slowing down, and simply taking your life back. We live in a fast paced culture that doesn’t value quiet or rest as we once did. In fact, we believe people are lazy if they are not always on the go.

Furthermore, we seem validated if our phone is always notifying us, or someone is calling or texting. We also find our sense of satisfaction from how many likes or views we get from the posts that we make. Yet, one thing is missing; inner peace.

We are the most connected society in the history of the world, however, we are also the most anxious. Not to mention, we are distracted like never before. We are more social, but our relationships aren’t any deeper. We have friends (and followers) but how many of these relationships are vital and add life.

John Eldredge wrote a great book called Get Your Life Back and John Mark Comer, wrote, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry to address these very things. Another author, Justin Whitmel Early wrote The Common Rule, which takes it from, not only the personal level, but connects it to family and social life as well. For every one of us, I think we need to slow down and evaluate our lives to make sure that we are valuing the right things.

In The Common Rule, Early writes much about spiritual disciplines and the need to make them a daily and weekly part of our lives. (DISCLAIMER: with any of these books, realize that they may have viewpoints and habits that might not resonate with you or me). However, there are some things that we can glean from their writings. The old adage, “Chew the Meat and Spit out the Bones” applies here.

I like the way that Justin Whitmel Early gives us a great perspective on the daily habits that I believe are applicable to all of us. Check out the PDF below on the Daily Habits and see if you can incorporate these into your life. If you can’t do them all, at least start somewhere.

Early challenges us to:

1. Kneel 3 times a day in prayer.
2. Eat one meal a day with someone (Family or Friends)
3. One hour with your phone off.
4. Read Scripture before your phone (or if you read on your phone, don’t do anything else until you have read the Bible)

Try these things and see how you grow in your spiritual life. Getting our priorities in order will help us in every part of our life and will lead us into a life of peace and not anxiety.