From Amanda's very early writing (1990s to early 2000s), shared as it was originally written.
spiritual wellness 2
"Live in the now.
Keep your desire turning back within and be patient.
Allow fulfilment to come to you, gently resisting the temptation to chase your dreams into the world. Pursue them into your heart until they disappear into the self and leave them there.
It may take a little self discipline but be simple, be kind, attend to your inner health and happiness. Happiness radiates like a fragrance from a flower and draws all good things toward you.
Allow your love to nourish others. Do not strain after the needs of life. It is sufficient to be alert and aware of them.
In this way, life proceeds more naturally and effortlessly.
Life is here to enjoy."
Attributed to Maharishi, in Unconditional Life by Deepak Chopra
Last week I wrote about the importance of slowing down long enough to rediscover our spirits. And I focused on mental and physical stillness.
This week I want to concentrate on our hearts, our selves and our spirits. Those word written by Maharishi are permanently under the glass on my dressing table! I read them each morning to remind me of the way I want to live. For me, it seems a great credo for living a life of happiness. And a receipe for becoming more spiritual.
How do we describe spiritual? I found it a challenge to write this article because the topic is vast and means different things to each individual. There was nothing I felt I was wise enough to 'tell' people about. So I have decided to ask you to read this as a trigger for stimulating discussion about what you think spirituality is for you. And how it affects your life - whether you are conscious of it's impact or not.
As preparation for this article, I read a wonderful series of books by Bartholomew. These books I found to be a immense resource of wisdom about finding meaning and purpose in our lives. And about becoming happier and more contented. Which, to me, is what becoming spiritual is all about.
A phrase he used that caught my imagination was 'Life is living you!". Rather than 'you are living life'! He suggests there we pay attention to our inner selves - and ask ourselves continuously 'what is living me?'. What does that mean? I wondered if that was the same as the old favorite 'to thine own self be true'? What do you think? Perhaps you can meet with friends and ask each other 'what does living me mean'.
From what I see on my travels - both inner and outer - we need to tune into our feelings; to be aware of them and experience them fully; to 'attend to our inner needs'; to be clear about what we want and then pay attention to living every moment as it happens. Most people find themselves at the end of a day wondering 'where did today go' , rather than having the experience of 'being' in every moment as it happened.
Instead of focusing on the moment, they spent that precious, never to be repeated, moment worrying or thinking about something or some other event that happened in the past or might happen in the future. That's a disconnection with our spirit - our true self - the 'you' Bartholomew is talking about. How do you spend your moments? Try spending an hour just focusing on moments and see if it makes a difference.
I have pondered how to live in the moment for many years! And based on my experiences and limited knowledge so far, I think when we focus on a moment, it means that we really see and hear and feel what we are doing; our full concentration and attention is on what we are doing - even if it is sitting still.
Loving and liking ourselves comes into this 'being spiritual'. How can we 'allow our love to nourish others' before we love ourselves first. Try this technique Bartholomew recommends - repeat 'I love myself' daily for several minutes at a time. It's really interesting to see and hear what our internal response is! What happens when you say this to yourself?
Some of you may be reading this and cast it off as new age rubbish and that's fine...but the ideas are not new! They have been around for eternity - I believe many of us have just lost our awareness of what is really important and what really makes us happy. (Dare I use the word 'enlightened'?)
Truly living is about knowing who you are and then 'living and loving you'. To accept ourselves unconditionally. Which means we don't seek approval from everyone in our lives. We accept that there are people who are not like us. As we 'live ourselves' they may choose to fade from our paths. As the Dalai Lama said " If I like chilli and you don't , I can't say you have to eat chilli. That's silly!"
Enjoy your discussion! Remember, 'life is here to enjoy'.
