Sustaining Spirituality Project

Spirituality is a sticky subject. Not because people don’t all have an opinion, but because it’s intensely intimate. After all, it’s your spirit, your soul. Do you really want to share that and have it be open to other people’s opinions? Or are you of the belief that sharing your story will help others to find their own way?

I have spent a lot of time over the years pondering spirituality.  To me, spirituality is a path to yourself, your own fulfillment and your being separate from the materialistic and physical aspect. If religion and faith assist you on this path, as it does many times, then fantastic.  If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. It is your path to walk, run or dance down.



This is the definition I like the most:

Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of their being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop an individual's inner life; spiritual experience includes that of connectedness with a larger reality, yielding a more comprehensive self; with other individuals or the human community; with nature or the cosmos; or with the divine realm.  Spirituality is often experienced as a source of inspiration or orientation in life. It can encompass belief in immaterial realities or experiences of the immanent or transcendent nature of the world.

Easy, huh? Thanks Wikipedia for simplifying.

Despite the lack of general conversation about spirituality amongst people, I do speak to my friends about it fairly often.  Not to the Taco Bell drive thru guy, or my gas attendant. But my friends and I talk about our own development, our own path and our desire to achieve simplicity, clarity and contentment. It’s not been an easy path for any of us, but it’s been a necessary one.

I know not everyone will sit and take time to wonder about their own path, they will instead walk it and perhaps reflect on it years down the road. Some others will never think about it, as it may not play a role in their lives as it does mine.  But if you are one of my readers, I tend to believe you may be someone who is enlightened or looking to be. Someone who operated out of kindness, empathy and a desire to be better and see the world be a better place.

All of my life, I have gravitated towards people who have a strong spiritual and passionate side.  People who want more. More answers, more happiness, more goodness.  I’ve been lucky enough to walk my path along side of some of these people every day, while others come, stay and fall away and meet up with me again further down the road.  Because of how lucky I’ve been, I’ve decided to share them in the Sustaining Spirituality Project.

No two friends of mine share the same outlook on their spirituality. There’s no right answer, and a million passages to take. It’s almost like a chose your own adventure book. Only you select which page to turn to, and how your story ends.  I will be sharing my own path after my first few guest bloggers share theirs.  

My first guest blogger on spirituality is my dear friend Esme.  Esme and I have known each other for years, we worked together. She was fairly young when we met, growing into her own.  And every year after, she’s continued to grow. Not everyone does this, many people never evolve. They decide they like who they are at 23, and stay there. They don’t learn lessons, look at themselves honestly or try to achieve any more. That’s okay, that’s their path.  But it certainly wasn’t Esme’s. 

Please take a moment to read it with an open heart.  I value your feedback, feel free to let me know your own take on spirituality and life journeys.  

You only get one path to forge for yourself; you might as well dance down it, bedazzle it and set it aflame while you’re there.  

Without further ado, my friend Esme on spirituality…

 

Spirituality is a deeply personal experience, and hard to explain, because everyone’s experience of it is different.

When Michelle asked me to write about spirituality, I’m sure she thought I’d be the perfect person to talk about it. I’m involved in spiritual practices such as yoga and meditation, and have been since she’s known me (which as been for almost 8 years). She knows I’ve overcome a few personal struggles. And that I contemplate the deeper meaning of life. But I’m having a really hard time coming up with anything. I keep thinking, “Who cares what I have to say about this?” I’m terrified to reveal too much.

This is a theme that keeps showing up for me recently: telling my truth. Do people want to hear it? Do they care? Talking about spirituality requires tapping into what truly makes you who you are. It’s light as much as it is darkness. It’s joy as much as it is sorrow. It’s fear as much as it is courage. It’s an inner voice; an inner knowing. In short, I think its one’s soul. How do you reveal your soul in just four paragraphs? And to perfect strangers no less? I don’t know how to talk about it without telling my life story.

In January 2011, I made a decision that commenced what I believe was just the first step to being true to myself. Practically overnight, I left my relationship, my job, my apartment, my life, and I moved home to where I grew up. To everyone around me, it looked like I was moving backwards. For the first time though, I knew I was doing the right thing, and I didn’t care if other people agreed.

Spirituality, to me, is the experience of knowing who you are, without needing others to know you, or approve of you. One of my favorite spiritual teachers is Deepak Chopra, who says, “In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.” It’s contentment in the face of uncertainty. It’s also contentment in the experience of bliss. It’s inner peace.

To close, as the Desiderata found in St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1662 states, “You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; and you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore, be at peace with your God, whatever you conceive him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusions of life, keep peace in your soul. With its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world.”

Peace and love.