What is Spirituality?
“Spirituality is the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things”
A lot of people look at spirituality as a woo-woo and some kind of cult-like beliefs. And this cannot be further from the truth. Actually, everything around us is spiritual, because its first origin comes from the spirit. The creation of a house begins in the architect’s mind. A beautiful statue begins with the artist’s imagination. A gorgeous dress starts, first, in the designer’s imagination….. even a good meal starts with the chef’s idea. Where do all these great ideas and thoughts come from? The truth is: from spirit. And the work, up to completion comes after.
Spirituality and everyday life
The ancients have discovered, through observations, that the way we think leads to the way we act. The way we act leads to the quality of life we live. That means that the way we think makes us see life in a certain light.
There are a lot of spiritual movements. All religions are spiritual movements. And all religions teach us to be compassionate, loving, forgiving, and full of grace. How we interpret the teachings, through the prism of our experiences and feelings, is a different story.
Ever since the Industrial Revolution, and even well before that, we have been taught to work hard. We have been told to power through illness, feeling low, and so on. We have been told that daydreaming is not beneficial for us and we should get practical. Sometimes, I wish I was told, to find the balance between work and rest.
This is where spirituality has got a lot to teach us. Through practicing different spiritual practices, especially Buddhism and Taoism, we learn to slow down and observe life. Practicing meditation teaches us how to breathe, observe our thoughts, and just be in the moment. Spirituality is more about being than doing. It is about adding more Ying than Yang. Spirituality actually helps us to have a more balanced and fulfilled life.
Once we incorporate spiritual practices into our daily life, we start noticing changes that, at first might seem unusual.
Positive effects of spirituality in our life:
- Being in the moment – Our bodies always are in the moment but our minds are not. Our minds are constantly traveling back to the past and forward to the future. Being in the moment helps us to be more mindful and see that there is nothing to regret, blame or worry about in this red hot minute.
- Being more aware of our thoughts – Observing our thoughts and seeing what type of thoughts we have gives us a lot of information about how we see life and our place in it. This helps us to begin the process of changing our thoughts towards a desired outcome.
- Slowing down our pace – We are told that our worth depends on how much we do. FALSE!!! Slowing down our pace creates space between doing and being. We need to be more in being than doing. Slowing down helps us to relieve some of the stress naturally and to feel more relaxed. This is important, so we can tap into our creative side.
- Acceptance of life as it is – Life happens with or without our approval. Accepting that there are cycles of joy and cycles of challenges is a powerful mindset. Understanding that the challenges help us to grow is helpful to begin to live in a winner’s mindset.
- Self-acceptance – Accepting that we are a product of our decisions, up to this moment, allows us to realize that the past is in the past, to forgive ourselves, and that only the decisions we are making now will shape our future. Do you feel more empowered now?
- Forgiveness – Forgiveness is another powerful spiritual tool. I have noticed that it is best to start with self-forgiveness and after that to move on to forgive others that, you feel, have wronged you. A lot of people think that when we forgive others we condone their behavior. This is not true. When we forgive others we drop the weight of resentment, hate, and revenge off of our shoulders but we carry the lessons with us.
- Self-forgiveness – When we practice self-forgiveness we acknowledge that we are flawed and we accept our flaws. It os OK to be flawed but we realize that it is not OK to keep on repeating the same mistakes. We also find out that keeping on beating ourselves over past events is as futile as pouring water into a bottomless pit.
- Self-Love – Spiritually self-love is extremely important. When we cultivate enough self-love, we are able to care for ourselves better, create healthy boundaries, and have more energy for important tasks and goals. What is not to love?
- Love to others – Once we accept our flaws we understand that every single person is flawed and this creates love and compassion in our hearts for them. We begin to see hatred as a pointless use of our energy.
- Patience – Patience is needed to be able to create anything. If we can allow a planted seed the time to grow by putting it in the soil and caring for it why can’t we allow ourselves the time to learn and acquire the skills we need for our growth?
- Seeing the bigger picture – When we are concentrated on the details we lose sight of what is truly important in our lives. Seeing the bigger picture keeps us focused on our WHY, instead of only on the HOW.
- Finding who we really are – We are a spirit having a human experience. This belief is widely spread in spirituality. That is why it is extremely important for us to look after our spiritual needs as well as our physical needs. If all the necessary steps are taken, without using any spiritual bypassing, we realize that we are love, joy, compassion, and appreciation.
- We feel more compassion – Compassion for oneself and others is the understanding that each one of us is on the spiritual path but at different points. Compassion helps us to stop judging and be ready to help others in their moment of need.
If you want to experience these positive effects of spirituality in your life book your session with me
