3 Things that Enliven Your Spirituality and 3 that kill it
You can’t simply sashay into a church or temple to “get spirituality.” Spirituality is something you have to work at, and the work needs to come from the depths of your soul. Although the spiritual path is different for everyone, and what works for one person may not necessarily work for another, there are a few basics that can help with your spiritual development – and a few things that can destroy it.
Three Spirituality Boosters
Spirituality boosters are life-giving fertilizers that can help your spirituality blossom and grow. Tend to them daily and they can reward you greatly with new blooms and fresh insights on your journey.
Meditation
Mediation can consist of sitting quietly with your eyes closed, but it can also include an easy walk down the beach or even a city street. What makes meditation different from regular activity is your awareness of being in the moment and the supreme connection to something much bigger than yourself. The keys to building a successful mediation practice include consistency, persistence and loads of patience.
The patience kicks into play when it comes time to empty your mind from the incessant thoughts that like to stream through it. A mind tends to rebel when you try to quiet it. It is much too used to the constant parade of cacophony with which the outer world consistently accosts it.
Trying to quash your incessant stream of thoughts can make them rebel scream even louder for your attention. Instead, let them flow through your brain as they wish – just don’t grab a hold to any of them. Let them sift through your mind like flour as you breathe deep and evenly. Concentrate on your breath. Exhale tension and needless thoughts. Inhale the power of the universe. Patience helps ensure the clarity will come.
Pick a time each day and stick with it. Some days will be calmer than others, but each day affords you at least a few moments to better align your soul with a greater entity.
Prayer
Occasionally screaming “God help me!” when you’re in a pinch is not likely to cut it for boosting your spirituality. What can help your spiritual journey is regular communication with God, the universe, or whatever larger-than-life entity you choose. Think of the communication as a discussion with a friend rather than a slew of memorized words being spewed randomly into the distance.
While prayers can include a cry for help, they can also include cries of joy and those of gratitude. Praying does not have to be limited to a specific time and place each day, either. Use it whenever you have a thought you want to share, whether it’s a thought that makes you laugh, cry or even angry. Your good friend, that great entity, will listen.
Journaling
Daily journaling can be as vital as daily meditation for keeping your spiritual path clear of debris. A morning writing session serves a similar purpose to meditation because it clears out your brain, but it also gives you a chance to examine what’s really important to you. It’s a great tool for self-questioning which ultimately leads to a deeper self-awareness and a sharper focus on what really matters.
Journaling can be especially useful for artists and writers as a springboard of ideas that morph into creative works. The journal also serves as a way to ask yourself more burning questions, such as what’s really bothering you when you have hate festering in your gut. Purge it in your journal to find relief. Include a weekly gratitude list as part of your writing.
Three Spirituality Killers
Spirituality killers are worst than weeds when it comes to choking out your spirituality. They are toxins that can eat at the roots of your growth and kill off any life that once thrived.
Greed
A life that focuses wholly and solely on material possessions is not one that has much room for spirituality. If your life’s goals are to have the biggest house, the fastest car and the largest designer shoe collection, your road is already mapped out and it does not run parallel to a spiritual path. The greedy life is instead focused on getting the next great thing, a focus that leaves you scampering like a rat for a freshly dumped mound of garbage.
This is not to say that material possessions don’t have a place in your daily life, but they should not be the aim of it – at least not if you desire a deeper meaning and a sublime connection to the universe. This is also not to say that spiritually minded folks do not necessarily have a fine lineup of material goods. They can be wildly successful and prosperous. The prosperity comes, however, for living a life aligned with the universe not from scrambling for the latest model sports car.
Hate
Hate and resentment clog up your spiritual channels much the same way a wad of greasy hair can clog up a shower pipe. You need to break it down and flush it out if you want your channels to be open to receive any spiritual glory. Getting rid of hate and resentment can be easier said than done, and the longer it lingers the bigger it can grow.
Journaling and meditating on the specifics of what is causing you such hate and resentment can soften the clog immensely. Although the clog may not disintegrate overnight, it can be slowly untangled and eventually washed away. Like meditation, purging your soul of negative emotions can often take consistency, persistence and patience – and little prayer for help with forgiveness can never hurt, either.
Close-Mindedness
An open mind is a requirement for spiritual development while a closed mind can keep you trapped in its narrow box of thought for the rest of your life. Closed minds are those not willing to explore what really is out there guiding our way, or even a belief that anything is. Those who say the world as we see it is all we’re going to get might not even make it to the spiritual path’s entrance.
Close-mindedness can also hinder spiritual growth when it traps you into a daily routine that never explores new friendships, new experiences or new ways of thinking. Constant change is not only part of life, but it is an integral part of spiritual development and growth. You can’t rise very high on the ladder of spiritual ascension if your mind binds you tight beneath the very first rung.
Dare to go higher. Dare to question your set-in-stone beliefs. Dare to open yourself to all experiences that can propel you onward and upward on your personal spiritual path.
This article is written by Ryn Gargulinski for Mind Power World: http://www.MindPowerWorld.com
