Enhancing Your Spirituality
A woman once approached the spiritual leader Ram Dass after a lecture he gave. She told him that she was having a terrible time finding spirituality in her city. She happened to live in New York City. Ram Dass thought about her predicament and then told her, “I want you to spend the next year finding spirituality every place you go… in New York City.” Enhancing your spirituality is not necessarily a question of where you live, but how you live.
A long-time fable has it that a man was passing through a small town and asked the shopkeeper what the townspeople were like. The shopkeeper thought about the question and asked what the people were like where the traveler lived. The traveler explained all that was good and bad about the people from where he was from. Most of his explanation was about what he didn’t like in his neighbors and fellow citizens.
When he was through the shopkeeper said, “Well, I guess the people around here are pretty much like that.” Yes, there are certain local and regional differences between those who live in different places. If you accept the fundamental notion, however, that the similarities between people are greater than the differences, then whatever you experience in relations with others now is what you’re likely to experience someplace else. What about acting with spirituality right where you are, right now?
Why not set as a goal to engage in some type of kind behavior toward a total stranger once a week, or if you have enough opportunities, once a day. It could be something as simple as holding the elevator door when you know someone is trying to make it in, or not giving someone a lecture when they put you on hold for a few more seconds than you would have preferred to be put on hold.
Here are some other suggestions. Note that all of them are small, and entirely do-able. Hence, your goal could be to engage in at least one of these per day:
Want to take your spirituality to a higher level? Here are goals you might wish to adopt in pursuit of being a more spiritual person. These are all challenging and potentially reachable, and you’ll have to decide how often you’ll engage in the behavior, be it daily, weekly, or what have you.
Enhancing your spirituality and focusing on becoming a more spiritual person will make your life more rewarding. Through your kind actions and inner calm, you may be able to attain feelings of inner peace and contentment.
A long-time fable has it that a man was passing through a small town and asked the shopkeeper what the townspeople were like. The shopkeeper thought about the question and asked what the people were like where the traveler lived. The traveler explained all that was good and bad about the people from where he was from. Most of his explanation was about what he didn’t like in his neighbors and fellow citizens.
When he was through the shopkeeper said, “Well, I guess the people around here are pretty much like that.” Yes, there are certain local and regional differences between those who live in different places. If you accept the fundamental notion, however, that the similarities between people are greater than the differences, then whatever you experience in relations with others now is what you’re likely to experience someplace else. What about acting with spirituality right where you are, right now?
Why not set as a goal to engage in some type of kind behavior toward a total stranger once a week, or if you have enough opportunities, once a day. It could be something as simple as holding the elevator door when you know someone is trying to make it in, or not giving someone a lecture when they put you on hold for a few more seconds than you would have preferred to be put on hold.
Here are some other suggestions. Note that all of them are small, and entirely do-able. Hence, your goal could be to engage in at least one of these per day:
- Pick up some litter in the street or in someone else’s yard.
- Let others get in line ahead of you when it appears that their need is more urgent.
- Call back a party who apparently overcharged you, being gracious the entire time.
- Write somebody a thank-you letter when they weren’t expecting it.
- Write a thank-you note to a stranger who did something good for your town.
- Keep your word.
Want to take your spirituality to a higher level? Here are goals you might wish to adopt in pursuit of being a more spiritual person. These are all challenging and potentially reachable, and you’ll have to decide how often you’ll engage in the behavior, be it daily, weekly, or what have you.
- To strengthen my relationship with God.
- To reflect on and be thankful for all that has been given to me.
- To recognize the sanctity of all earth’s creatures.
- To deepen my understanding of human spirituality.
- To read the sacred text of my religion.
- To follow the teachings of spiritual leaders.
- To be kind and charitable to others.
- To be tolerant and understanding of other religions.
- To practice charity at home.
- To obey the ten commandments, or the important codes of my religion.
- To dispense good will towards humankind.
Enhancing your spirituality and focusing on becoming a more spiritual person will make your life more rewarding. Through your kind actions and inner calm, you may be able to attain feelings of inner peace and contentment.
