The Benefits And Important Of Integrating Spirituality Into Your Daily Life

[COLOR="Green"]I agree that a spiritual focus can put life into a more harmonious and beneficial perspective. For instance, meditation alone can destress and help make our soul/spirit more accessible. Normal life (in our competitive, consumerist society) is so ego-driven with its predictable and inherent problems.

People have to find out for themselves really since telling them what you think is best is rarely well received or conducive to being applied. That said, I feel if more people just thought positively, this can set the wheels in motion for better days. (The law of attraction has it that what we focus on will grow...) Instead of totting up everything that went wrong with the day...to first acknowledge and then fully appreciate what went right with it is a good start in my opinion.

I can just hear people say "nothing went right about today" and this indicates how ingrained negative thinking can be. Humility is alien to the ego. There are countless things to be grateful for (even with a dire situation), e.g. waking up/still being alive, having a roof over our heads, food etc..... Counting our blessings I feel was more common in the past than it is in modern society.

There are, of course, degrees to which the spiritual life can be pursued. Further along this path, on a more deeper/committed level, greater responsibility is taken for our interactions, leading to higher awareness, increasing compassion, more humility and a diminishing of the ego.

I could go on at great length here since I am a spiritually developed person! Great thread. :048:

Yes I do incorporate spiritual practice into my daily life - at least I try to!! And yes there are many benefits. I personally think a lack of spiritual focus is at the root of many of societies current problems - but that is just opinion.

However having been on the receiving end of disapproval about my spiritual practice from a catholic priest recently, I know first hand how hurtful even well meaning advice can be.

What I do works for me. If someone asks advice I always recommend meditation and that will often lead to a new spiritual approach to life. But I don't evangelise about my approach. and try to convert others to my view. When they are ready they will ask. If they are NOT ready all the advice in the world won't help

I struggled a lot with life and had a lot of personal and health issues to deal with when I was younger, but you know what, as soon as I became aware of the benefits and importance of integrating spirituality into my life, everything changed.

Hello Inanna

Welcome to HP 🙂

How did spirituality help you in your life? What did you feel was of importance? what changed?

Did you find what you were looking for?

Blessings

Andre

This Thread is very interesting and I am intrigued to find out how and what people do/did to bring this type of thing in to their lives - different interpretations etc.,

Looking forward to reading any.

[COLOR="SeaGreen"]

This Thread is very interesting and I am intrigued to find out how and what people do/did to bring this type of thing in to their lives - different interpretations etc.,

Looking forward to reading any.

[COLOR="green"]Well, for myself, it got started during my hippy days (in late 1960s). It was then the fashion to shun orthodox religion and materialism in favour of a self exploratory journey into spirituality. So I have been on this journey most of my adult life (although obviously not a hippy now) and made significant improvements to my personality/mindset, abilities and awareness as a result.

(although obviously not a hippy now)

Why is it obvious?

Why is it obvious?

[COLOR="Green"]Well I guess the modern hippies have morphed into new age travellers to some extent. Hippies were of its time, just as punks typified their era. I haven't changed my values if that's what you mean. :048:

Thank you for your responses

Thanks so much for responding to my new thread.

To answer the question about what changed for me...everything changed actually.

I was unfortunately born with a lot of health problems and had to have a lot of operations throughout my life, which left me with a lot of scarring. This caused me to be bullied a lot at school, which affected me a lot at the time.

I've also never had a loving family to go home to and was basically at school 24/7.

In an attempt to 'occupy' my mind, in an otherwise very boring and sad environment I took to walking out and about in nature. I became used to getting better responses and healing from the earth, birds and trees than I got from people and spent a lot of time sitting alone meditating and contemplating. This was when I was very young, about 11 if memory serves.

I came to realise that yes I was different to other people and that I could 'sense' things from them, once I joined the real world again. Through my solitude I found myself and discovered not only that I had natural psychic skills but that I could also write poetry and paint and draw too.

I would gain inspiration from what a bird told me or from something I would sense and write or draw about it. I would talk to, at that age I didn't know who, spirits and fairy folk and later the lady I discovered to be my Goddess.

This led me gain recognition at school as an artist and writer and I soon became the best in my school, which empowered my spirit and raised my confidence so much so that I started being able to stand up for myself.

I came out of school with mainly A's in my exams and gave plenty of thanks along the way to my spiritual helpers.

This was my beginning and will be my end. Being quiet and listening to help and guidance and to yourself is, I feel one of the most important first steps.

Many moons have since passed this time and I now have a tattoo to cover my scars, which I designed and even though it was painful to have it done over my scar tissue, gave me much pleasure.

Learning about what's real and what's really out there is a big passion in my life and whilst I may never know the whole truth, the bit of it I do and the practices I have discovered and practice as a result of knowing myself and listening to the wisdom of those wiser, have guided me through many difficult times.

This is one of the main reasons I started my business actually, because I know there is another way.

Oh and I know you can't 'tell' anyone, I simply speak from experience and if someone asks me to help them, I will, gladly.

We all have our own guides and our own best ways of doing things and it is our uniqueness that brings us closer to our divine selves and guides. Discovering who you really are and where and what you may possibly choose to do now in your life is key.

I always try to write useful blog posts on the blog on my site if anyone is interested and when time permits, around me being a mum and running my business, I will help anyone here that I can too.

Don't judge yourself ever based upon how others judge or treat you. Create yourself in the image of who you ideally want to be and become it!

Bright Blessings.

Inanna xxx

Well I guess the modern hippies have morphed into new age travellers to some extent. Hippies were of its time, just as punks typified their era. I haven't changed my values if that's what you mean. :048:

Thanks for explaining. I still know a few people who class themselves as hippies. But good. It's the values that count.

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Myself...to start the day...I give gratitude, reaching up and back, taking a deep breath. then slowly (mostly because I"m old...er) I bend down and touch my toes.

At some point during the day; I try to do a meditation, chakra exercise and a self healing. This dosen''t allways happen but it is the goal and it helps.

I stay away from people that would drain me or soil me. I avoid: alcohol, cafine, msg, aspirtame and meat. I said "avoid". It's not in stone.

I don't watch TV and do read books that call to me. This fills me with joy (most of the time) and angst (some of the time).

I have chalenges and growth spurts that rock my world; but I always seem to land on my feet, a better person, when it's over.

How We Spend Our Time

It's interesting to read what you said about not watching TV, a lot of people are suprised when I say I don't, but it is a matter of time. I hate wasting time. If my husband and I watch a DVD series or a film, we choose something that we learn something from, even truths can be found in fiction.

So many of my clients make time to watch soaps and then say to me that they haven't had time to practice what I've taught them. I explain that, yes, sometimes we have to make difficult choices in life lol!

And well, reading? My husband is constantly trying to find new nooks and crannies to build me yet another bookshelf!

Another edit, ha ha, I forgot to say that I agree on the avoidance of harmful substances too, I have never smoked and rarely drink, our breath is energy and to reduce our bodies ability to take this vital energy in, seems like a slow suicide to me. Alcohol may relax you in some ways but it also takes away your ability to stay focused and in control. You need these qualities during all spiritual practices.

Some spiritual people smoke to induce trances and drink ritual wines too, I am not sure that these are very well thought out concepts in the long run. Not every spiritual traditions practices are right.

We'd be here all day talking about good books, but do you have any books or authors in particular that you feel have made a real difference to you? I'd love to hear your opinion.

do you have any books or authors in particular that you feel have made a real difference to you?

In my experience there was only one book that pushed all other books off from the shelves.

'A Course in Miracles'

I have read a lot of books over the years and in my opinion nothing has brought more answers to truth than this one. Nothing has since..........

[COLOR="Green"]For overcoming pain/emotional problems (of the egoic mind), an excellent book (and bestseller) is The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

Although he borrows from other established philosophies, e.g. buddhism and zen, he puts his own unique spin on them and gives helpful, practical exercises. In brief, by observing we become the watcher and this breaks us away from the "pain body". He helps us greatly in understanding the dynamics of this situation. There is peace in being totally in the now/the present. 🙂