To say there is a right or wrong way to be spiritual is a BIG mistake. Each person must decide for themselves their path. BUT a path you should have, whether you choose Buddhism, Christianity, Paganism etc… even if you decide that no ‘documented or organized belief system is working for you.. you have to admit we are here on this earth at this minute and for that would should be grateful. You might ask why, well now we have the chance to impact other people’s lives. Your Spirituality is what allows us to think of others, allows us to see that there are greater universal forces out there at work. We can choose to ignore them, we might even be successful for a while. I prefer to think that we know in our hearts and it just takes different people, different amounts of time to see.
Some ways that will help you find and communicate with your spiritual side are:
Zazen: To do this you must relax your diaphragm and be fully conscious of your breathing. This is not easy to do when you are tense. It takes true self-awareness to realize that your body is tense. It takes effort to relax those muscles in your stomach and discipline to breath steadily.
But try to focus on your breathing; here is a long breath in, here is a long breath out, here is a short breath in, here is a short breath out. You will find that you will be more in tune to the present moment. As your mind is focused on your breathing, your senses take in the situation around you unencumbered and unfiltered. You begin to see things as they unfold, hear and listen to sounds as they come, feel and smell aromas as they arise without automatically shutting any of it out or reflexively reacting to them.
Continued practice of focused breathing will help you deal with situations in a more rational and objective manner. It lets you put things in perspective. And it gives you insight into the way your body responds under different situations.
Focused Breathing is the foundation for adopting many of the other techniques of Zen. Practiced on its own it will yield immense benefit to you.
Mediation:
Meditation is a very powerful tool to use for reducing and releasing the stress of the day as well as for healing and bringing enlightenment into your being. There are many methods for meditation. Some tap into mindfulness to bring the present moment into focus. Others utilize the breath to create a sense of timelessness by focusing on a single sensation or point and letting all other distractions go. This article will be focused on another type of meditation, that of the energetic healing form where the energies of the body and surrounding life force energies are focused for dynamic and accelerated healing.
The incorporation of colors and their corresponding stones can dramatically increase the effectiveness of the time that is spent in this activity. There are several times during the day that this activity can be most effective, in the morning when you first awaken, midday at your lunch break, after coming home from work, or before bed. Meditation does not have to take hours, and if you are able to even spend 10 or 15 minutes once or twice a day you will discover amazing results that may prompt you to spend even more time in this activity.
To start the meditation, it is important to get the body energized. Some form of physical movement is needed. Yoga, stretching, walking, aerobics, or any form of activity will work well. Younger people with no physical disabilities will use a form that may be different than elders or people with physical limitations. The key is to get the blood pumping, the respiratory system increased, and the energy stagnation of the body changed to a more dynamic state of being. Once the body is energized, the overall effectiveness of the meditation will increase. For those people that may have extreme physical limitations or very low energy due to situations such as prescribed chemotherapy or radiation therapies, energization can come through the meditation itself.
“Falling In Love with Gaia:
But our minds and intellects can take us only so far. To understand Gaia, to let her into our lives, we must fall in love with the Earth. It’s that simple. We must love the Earth with the same passion and concern and fierceness that we love our children, our parents, our lovers, our mates. As anyone who has ever fallen in love knows, logic and reason having little to do with it. Sometimes we resist, but it happens anyway. Sometimes the object of our love seems totally wrong to others, but it doesn’t matter. We love regardless. And the love we feel for our children—it is totally unconditional. This is the way we must love the Earth because this is the kind of love that changes everything. When we love someone we want the best for them. We make mistakes, yes, but once we realize what we’ve done, we try to do better next time.When we love someone, we don’t deliberately set out to destroy or undermine them or jeopardize their chances at life. When they are hurt we yearn to hold and comfort them, and we know that our love makes a difference. Sometimes love is all there is, and it’s enough.”
~Susan Meeker-LowryThere are many other ways that you can move to be more in touch with your spirit, these are just a few to get you thinking outside of the box, outside of what you normally would. The more we become in touch with our spirit that more we can impact other people in out lives, the more we can teach others.
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