Spirituality: The Basics
Within recent years, individual practices of spirituality have become the new norm. This old but newly popular practice is defined as the act of being deeply connected with the spirit and soul. Spirituality serves as a universal guide for finding oneself but has become diluted in content and purpose as it gained popularity. This occurs often in the digital age, as people begin to share their stories and beliefs, a trend may lose its meaning or significance within said culture. Humans must extend their notions of the practice of spirituality to not solely be about sage, affirmations, and crystals; but growth, respecting others’ cultures, and seeking to become the best version of oneself.
A definition by Alan Jones, Former Dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, defines spirituality as “the art of making connections.”
A deep spiritual connection means facing the negative and positive aspects of one’s self and accepting them. It’s about looking at your inner darkness and light from a different point of view. Spirituality also requires looking at and trying to understand one’s whole self; the good and the bad.
Spirituality also goes beyond physical material life. Catholic educator Regina Coll suggests that it is “an awareness of the more than meets the eye in our lives.” In the end, spirituality is not something that can be taught but rather a concept that must be applied and even challenged in one’s life. An important step is taking a deeper look at yourself in order to determine how you’re going to use those fundamental principles to improve your life. There’s no easy road to this journey, there’s no step-by-step process because the spiritual process is different for everyone and what works for one person won’t necessarily work for another.
This new era of technology has caused our society to lose the connection we once had with all living things, and with ourselves. The only way to restore that sense of connectedness is by repairing the spirit through more deeper and fulfilling desires.
As hard as the spiritual journey gets, the end result is worth all the pain. Some search for this sort of freeing feeling their whole lives, and only some are able to obtain that true sense of freedom and connectivity. It’s one of those things that sounds fictional until you go on that personal journey to find one’s own beliefs.
Here are the following ways that one can incorporate spirituality into their everyday life. This includes things such as:
- Making your bed: This makes you less likely to get back into bed.
- Drinking water: The amount of hours you sleep is the same as the time that your body has been deprived of water. Drinking water will provide your body with some much-needed fluid.
- Breath work: Working on your breathing allows you to get a handle on your energy.
- Meditating: This allows you to feel a sense of connectedness with your body, mind, and soul.
- Journaling: This allows you to get your thoughts out of your head and onto a piece of paper which will make you feel less stressed.
- Exercise: Whether that is running, walking or just stress exercising allows you to get or keep your body healthy.
