The Path You’re Already Walking

There’s a question I’ve been asked countless times during retreats: “Where do I begin (or restart) my spiritual journey?” It usually comes from someone who appears a bit overwhelmed, as if they need to climb a mountain, learn ancient languages, or spend years in a monastery before they can even start.

My answer surprises them: “You’ve already started. In fact, you’re standing on the path right now.” They look around—sometimes literally—confused. We’re usually in an ordinary place: a retreat center dining hall, a garden path, even a parking lot. Nothing that looks particularly sacred or mystical.

“But I don’t feel spiritual,” they say. “I haven’t had a profound experience. I can barely find time to pray.”

This is exactly the problem. We’ve convinced ourselves that the spiritual life happens somewhere else—in special places, during designated times, through extraordinary experiences that most of us rarely have. We’re searching for God everywhere except the one place He’s guaranteed to be: right here, right now, in this moment that’s unfolding as we speak.

The spiritual path isn’t a destination you travel toward; it’s a way of seeing the journey you’re already on.

Consider this: You woke up this morning. That’s already a small miracle worth noticing. You breathed without thinking about it—thousands of tiny gifts of life flowing in and out of your body. You probably saw sunlight, heard birds, felt the texture of your coffee cup, and experienced the taste of your first sip. You may have touched someone you love, spoken words of care, or offered help to a neighbor. All of this—this ordinary Tuesday morning routine—is shot through with the sacred if you have eyes to see it. It is actually extraordinary.

The mystics knew this. They didn’t become holy by escaping the world but by seeing it clearly. Julian of Norwich found God in a hazelnut. Brother Lawrence discovered Christ while washing dishes. Francis of Assisi encountered the divine in a leper’s face.

What they understood is what we’ve forgotten: God doesn’t live at the end of our spiritual seeking; God lives in the middle of our actual lives.

This doesn’t mean everything that happens is pleasant or easy. Sacred noticing doesn’t eliminate suffering or struggle. But it does mean that even in difficulty, even in the mundane, even in the rush of everyday existence, there are doorways to transcendence if we slow down enough to walk through them.

The invitation isn’t always to add more spiritual practices to your already full life. It’s to discover the contemplative dimension that’s already there. To notice that your morning walk is already a pilgrimage. That your attention to a friend’s pain is already a form of prayer. That your wonder at a sunset is already mystical experience.

The path is under your feet. The sacred is in your hands. The divine is in your next breath.

What if, instead of waiting for your spiritual life to begin, you simply started paying attention to the life you’re already living? What if the journey toward God isn’t about going somewhere else but about awakening to where you are?

This is the journey I want to invite you into—not a journey away from your ordinary days but into the extraordinary heart of them. Not a path that requires you to become someone else but one that helps you see who you already are: a beloved soul walking through a world saturated with grace, if you have the eyes to see it.

The spiritual path around us isn’t hidden. We’re just moving too fast to notice it.

What would happen if you slowed down?

Reflection and photography Copyright 2025 Michael J. Cunningham OFS

This reflection captures the heart of “Awakening to the Spiritual Path Around Us“—a book about discovering the sacred journey that’s already unfolding in your everyday life. Sometimes the most profound spiritual practice is simply learning to see what’s been there all along. Contemplative Company will publish the book in the summer of 2025.