LIFE AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
[Words in italics are myzania‘s. Everything else above the line are the musings of Espirational.]
I originally intended to write about creativity as spiritual practice, but realized all of life is spiritual practice. We can study, meditate and perform other spiritual practices to achieve enlightenment, but it’s in the big and small stuff of daily life where we learn how to live as spiritual beings in physical bodies. Many of the troubles in the world seem to come from the disconnect between God and daily life [*].
Now is the time to realize that God is with us every minute of our lives, not just in church on Sunday. How do we do this? How might the world change if we did?
- Remember our thoughts are prayers. The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing and that God knows our need before we ask. Every thought and word that comes from us goes out in the Universe and comes back to us in one way or another. Doesn’t this make you want to be more careful in what you think or say?
“For every action there is a reaction.” - I Release and I Let Go is not only a song with catchy tune, it is a reminder. Releasing and letting go of the stuff that no longer serves us is something we need to do often.
I’ll look up the song later. I should practice “letting go” more often. Think about it. There’s a reason Frozen‘s most popular track was titled that – look at the lyrics. To paraphrase the words of another singer/songwriter, Taylor Swift – “haters gonna hate” and it’s our reaction that can determine how much power they have over us. So “shake it off”. Easier said than done!! - We are one with God, each other and the earth. Separation is a myth. If we could begin to see God in others I guarantee the world would change.
Replace God with “the humanity” in the above sentence if it doesn’t resonate. The world is full of numbers….but those numbers – statistics – are people, animals, plants. If we would just listen to each other, then maybe things would be a little different. We need to listen to the Earth, too. Whether you think Climate Change is man-made or not, something is happening and we need to slam on the brakes before it’s too late. - God doesn’t always speak to us in big flashy ways. Listen for God in the silence.
We all need the moments of stillness to just “be”. Listen to the power of the waves on a beach, or rain on a tin roof (I love that sound) or watch the sun rise…and just “be”.
Living the spiritual life doesn’t always come easy. That’s why we call it a practice. What are some of the ways you practice your faith in daily life?
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* = I [myzania] think another problem-layer occurs because different groups don’t usually agree on what the disconnect – or perhaps the main disconnect – actually is. Or if they do, the other little differences trip them up. For example, I think that Christianity (an e.g. used because it’s the religion I am most familiar with) has a broad spectrum of belief/ traditions…ranging from the ones everyone of the faith knows or follows to the ones that only certain groups practice. Even those vary along the spectrum depending on individual, familial and local-communal belief. There is also the slightly-separate-but-somewhat-related broad spectrum between ‘progressives’ and ‘traditionalists’ and those in-between which is not necessarily defined by which sect you belong to.
We need to listen to each other. Reach out and talk. Not just within individual religions but to others of different faiths or none at all.
myzania 