Imagine the following scenario:
Your work has you on a bit of a deadline, but at the same time your youngest just came down with a cold, your mother calls nagging that you need to help her at home and you open the fridge knowing you need a good shop, because the leftovers are gone. You look at the clock, and know that you will be hitting traffic. Meanwhile, the to-do list just keeps stacking.
The anxiety, the stress and the weight of expectation feels suffocating.
So you find yourself at a crossroads:
Do you push through, promising yourself a distraction or treat as soon as the to-do list clears?
Or, do you lean into the awareness of how you are feeling and practice spiritual living?
There’s no shame if you said the first option;
In fact, we’ve been taught that this is the optimal choice. We have to move forward. We have to gain traction and make sure that all these needs are met. Food, sick children, work and taking care of your parents, how can you consider stepping away from those responsibilities.
Only, to be spiritually aware doesn’t ask you to step away from anything.
It only asks you to shift from the reactive mode to a space of awareness.
What is that space of awareness?
I love the analogy of being in the jungle, fighting to survive with a group of others and then you decide to step up a mountain to observe exactly what’s going on.
You take yourself away from the chaos, take a step back to scan the horizon, and then perceive the best route, a distant stream for sustenance and even some fruit close by.
When you practice spiritual awareness you are taking a step aside from the day to day grind and observing what’s really going on, as well as what can potentially shift.
From the survival space of fight, flight, or freeze, that space where the shutters are down and you can only see potential problems or struggle, you move to a place where you open your mind to find a different path, listening to your heart and deep inner guidance.
I always say that my favorite word in the phrase Spiritually Aware Living (or Spiritually Aware Parenting which was my original focus) is AWARE.
Spiritual is what you are at your core: You are a spiritual being having this human experience. You can’t get away from being a spirit. You just forget. We all do.
Living is what you are doing here.
But awareness of your whole self… that being Aware: that’s the game-changer.
Sometimes it’s even being aware of not feeling or being how you want to be.
There’s no judgment in awareness.
So, is that it? Just be aware and figure out how to get up a mountain in the stressful times?
No. it’s not.
Because your brain won’t necessarily embrace this new practice. It’s used to being in charge.
Your heart and you may need reintroducing and chances are you have some preconceived beliefs, some concepts around God, Duty or even just woo-woo flakiness, that may keep you from really jumping in.
Then there’s meditation, and figuring out if it’s a good fit for you, and how to get your brain to actually be quiet and what about understanding what being spiritual really means?
You’ve been living in this body for a while and have established patterns.
Embracing Spiritually Aware Living means creating a new pattern, a new habit of stepping outside that chaos (even for 2 minutes) and connecting to something greater than what’s in front of you.
But at the same time, just because something takes practice doesn’t mean it has to be hard.
Rather you just have to know what steps to take and how to delve into your own inner truth.
I can’t tell you your truth, and I won’t pressure you to take on mine.
But I do know a few things about spiritual connection.
Having studied religious studies, mysticism and self help for over 30 years, I’ve come to realize that everyone’s path is unique. Everyone has their own perceptions and deep connection to divine energy.
However, everyone is a unique spiritual energy, and that is what we all have in common.
We are all part of something, connected in energy.
And I have a lot to say and share with you about it.
