Your spiritual practice is not the same as your religious practice, regardless of what you identify as. But perhaps the baseline for this post is a shared understanding that as humans we have a spirit. If you don’t believe that, this post likely isn’t for you.
I believe a few things:
That energy transforms itself into very real feelings and things,
That we know our own truths; we know who we are and how we’re meant to contribute to this world, but that it is our job to listen to that inner knowing, and
That we are all connected at a higher level; that our spirits are connected as forms of higher energy.
So, spiritual practice allows us to connect with that inner knowing. The reason this is so important, is that when we don’t do what comes naturally to us and fills us up with pride and positivity, we feel anxious and lost. While talking about spirituality can seem fluffy or disconnected from the reality of life, in fact it is the complete opposite. Spiritually; being open to understanding our own selves, makes us better humans, more productive, more successful, and much happier. That’s all pretty logical stuff.
When I was in high school, TV wasn’t much of a priority, except on Friday nights when I would stay home with my Mum and watch TLC’s What Not to Wear. I loved these times, but for the sake of you not feeling sorry for me, I wasn’t at home every Friday night. I was the same then as I am now. I would spend time with my boyfriend or friends, and even go to a house party sometimes, but that was maybe 60% of the time. The other 40% I spent hanging out with my Mum at home – these days it’s hanging out with my dog at home, watching Netflix, and reading; I haven’t owned a television in five years. When I got older I balanced my teenage social life with babysitting and the TV time got cut. But, I digress.
Some days when I would get home from school I’d make it in time to catch part of the Oprah Winfrey show. I loved her. The way she connected with the audience and inspired humans to be better and to be their best selves shone through the television. I remember thinking that I wanted to be like Oprah, and I still do.
I miss her show, but I get my dose of her teachings via YouTube and I’ll listen to her stories and lessons as I do the dishes or plan for the week ahead.
This morning I was watching YouTube videos of Michelle Obama (last night I watched Southside With You, a movie about Barack and Michelle’s first date and oh my god it is so good, watch it), and landed on one with her and Oprah at the United State of Women. As YouTube does so well, it took me down the rabbit hole and I ended up on a video of an Oprah Winfrey show discussing The Secret from 2007. My beliefs up above tell you that I believe in The Secret, or the law of attraction; the idea that thoughts become things and that we have control over our lives.
My mantra supports this: create the life you love.
So how do you practice spirituality? What do you do each day to make sure you feel in tune with your life? How do you make sure you are in tune with your behavior and decisions? I definitely lose touch with my inner guidance, and getting back on track is literally the best feeling in the world. Better than an amazing first date or falling in love or getting to work at an amazing company or being recognized with a major award, because this is a feeling that we create and sustain for ourselves; we don’t rely on anyone else for it.
I do it by figuring out how I feel, and then why I feel that way. When I’m feeling depressed or angry or sad I have to figure out why, and then adjust my thinking to move out of that space.
I write down what I want in my life and then I let it sit for awhile. It’ll be in the middle of the night, or in the shower, or on the yoga mat that I’ll get the answer as to how I can best achieve something.
I took a day off of life yesterday.
I felt emotionally drained, although I don’t consider my life to be hard (if you have the ability to sustain an income for yourself, have food in the fridge, and a nice place to live, your life is pretty good), and I am grateful for all that I have. Still, if you don’t feel in touch with yourself, it’s easy to feel drained. Sometimes you need to lean into that and watch a bunch of great, inspiring movies until well past bed time to get yourself back to a place of feeling like you can commit to your work. The documentary about Manolo Blahnik, Southside With You, and the Chelsea Handler series did that for me last night.
This leads me to the part about energy transforming into feelings and things. The things we watch, read, and look at determine how we feel. How we feel determines the energy in our lives. The thoughts we think, what we give our focus to determines how we feel which sends out energy into the world. What you focus on expands.
My answer to my own question, is: quiet, reflective time, intentional planning and decisions for future steps, gratitude for what I have and have achieved, and envisioning what the next phase of my life will look like. I do this one day a week, I’ll end up dedicating almost a whole day to it, mixed with work and blog posts and dog walks.
I think it’s so important to spend time focusing on being self aware. I know that sounds wishy washy, but it’s what ultimately makes us happy humans.
That’s all. Gonna go write in my journal now and keep putting those goals to paper. <3
