Spiritual Searching

Spiritual Searching

In today’s hectic world, most of us have every waking minute overcrowded with work, parenting, activities, commuting, exercising and running from one life event to the next. Leisure time is often filled with noise or distraction and the opportunities for quiet reflection are few unless we make it a priority in our lives. We’ve become such a goal oriented society that we lose the journey in our dash to the finish line and the first things to be sacrificed are the things we do for ourselves.

Any good accountant knows about the practice of paying yourself first and the theory of time management is very similar to that of money management. Taking time for yourself first will put you in a frame of mind to be able to give the energy needed to all of the urgent challenges set before you every day. Stealing fifteen minutes from each day’sactivities to breathe, reflect and be still will help to calm the rush of everyday living and bring you back to your center. It’s too easy to put off the small things that we need to do for ourselves. They get lost in the frenzy of our “to-do” lists and in the background track we choose to accompany our activities.

“Program yourself for a happy day.” - Elizabeth Burns

If you don’t have time to carve out structured periods to reflect and meditate, you can fit in small pockets of meditation that won’t intrude on your schedule just by being conscious and aware of your breathing and your surroundings. Many of the activities we perform without thinking can become opportunities for contemplation and growth.

In less time than it takes to brush your teeth, you can begin and end your day with a beneficial attitude that will carry you through. The first few minutes of wakefulness are the most important in shaping your outlook and creating positive or negative feelings. Upon waking, take a moment to reflect on any dreams you may have had and to pull the most pleasurable aspects of your life forward to put you in a happy frame of mind. The last thoughts you have just prior to sleeping are the ones that mold your dreams so consciously thinking about goals, hopes and aspirations will move those into your subconscious.

You can utilize the moments at the stop light or during commercials while watching your favourite television shows to either reflect or to take notice of and regulate each breath. During meals, practice “conscious eating” to use all of your senses with each morsel of food. Experience the scent, texture and taste of the food and notice the differences each bite brings. Showering is a perfect place to examine the negatives in your life and to feel them flow away with the water. Actually paying attention to the process of cleansing will help you to release the detritus in your mind as well as on your body.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. - Lao-tzu

Reintroduce yourself to your spirit, gradually, on a daily basis. Give yourself the greatest reward, discover yourself and spend time and energy on the process. In this day and age, every resource a person can imagine is usually right at their fingertips on the internet and the tools for enhancing, finding; expanding ones spirituality is not an exception. There are a wealth of communities, help sites, information and guidance sites that can aid anyone from the novice to a serious student of spiritual thinking and living.

A Google search on the topic of Spirituality yields 84,600,000 results, the following websites are just a small sampling of what is available:

The Learning Meditation website is an excellent choice for beginners who wish to learn to meditate. You can enter the sites Meditation Room and listen to a guide who walks you through simple 3 – 10 minute meditations or you can read the text while listening to music that calms you. Each exercise is spoken in a soothing tone and will help beginners concentrate on breathing. The samples cover a diverse range of subjects from reducing stress to fulfilling your potential.