Studying mystical writings and tomes is an essential way to learn about the lives of the mystics. Each tradition will have a wide variety of different mystics and different dogmas, and it's important to get some sense of the scope of different writings. Everything starts to seem interconnected and becomes more alike than different:  Thomas Merton's No Man is an Island  St. Augustine's Confessions of St. Augustine  The Cloud of Unknowing, written anonymously Julian of Norwich's Revelation of Divine Love  DT Suzuki's An Introduction to Zen Buddhism  The Nasruddin Stories from the Sufic tradition Mystical practice is a combination of self-imposed meditation and contemplation and the specific guidelines of your religion or other practice. Each religious life will be different, because each religious person is different. Deciding what's most important to you and your practice is a decision that only one person can make. You. For some mystical Christians, living life as close to the way Christ lived is the most important aspect of practicing. For others, spreading the gospel is essential. Both ways of thinking can lead to mysticism and deep appreciations of the spiritual world. Mystics aren't part-time. Whatever your deep connection to religion and the big questions, it needs to be your biggest priority in life. Not your job, your family, or your hobbies. Your connection with the cosmos needs to be your biggest commitment. For many people, being a mystic is an entirely solitary life. Most mystics are monastic for a reason. If you want to be a mystic, it's hard to go out on Saturday night and have fun. Are you up to the challenge to commit? Part of Zen meditation revolves around letting go of these big concerns and embracing the void. For the mystic, that void should be your living room. Trusting in your instincts and diving into the biggest questions has a tendency to lead to even more questions than answers. It could either be frustrating or liberating to realize that you might never know what will happen after you die, or whether or not you're really "right" about your way of interpreting the world.
Read the writings of the mystics in your tradition. Identify the central tenants of your practice. Make your spiritual practice your main priority. Embrace mystery.