section_path: Contemporary spirituality/Spiritual practices
section_name: Spiritual practices
paragraph_text: Spiritual practices
  
  Kees Waaijman discerns four forms of spiritual practices:
  
  Spiritual practices may include meditation, mindfulness, prayer, the contemplation of sacred texts, ethical development, and spiritual retreats in a convent. Love and/or compassion are often described as the mainstay of spiritual development.
  
  Within spirituality is also found "a common emphasis on the value of thoughtfulness, tolerance for breadth and practices and beliefs, and appreciation for the insights of other religious communities, as well as other sources of authority within the social sciences."