Friday 16 November 2007

A Healthy Spiritual Life

Would you agree that having good health is right up there at the top of the list of living a successful life?

“Some people don’t do well simply because they don’t feel well.” - Jim Rohn

No amount of other successes can compensate for debilitating illness of the body or the mind. It’s a lot easier though, to see where the significance of physical health lies than in another area of health, that is, Spiritual health.

To have a rewarding spiritual life brings many benefits to our lives. By spiritual I do not necessarily mean having a religious life although for many people this is intrinsically linked. What I mean is an experience outside ourselves, sometimes beyond our ability to understand, that nourishes and nurtures our soul. When this impacts on us, it brings peacefulness, joy, wholeness, strength, less stress, purpose and passion, a sense of calm and emotional stability into our lives, imbuing us with a richer, deeper meaning to our existence.

There are many ways to finding and developing that spiritual element in our lives.
There is a website that is an initiative of the Bhrama Kumaris World Spiritual University at www.just-a-minute.org. I found this today and it’s quite a find. It encourages us to take one-minute pauses through our day to create some personal peace in our often-frenetic lives. It offers a range of one-minute meditations and is for anyone regardless of background or beliefs. Going through some of them today was for me a perfect antidote to life’s busyness. And because it’s just for one minute, no one can say ‘I haven’t got the time’.

I think its important to set aside time when you can be alone with your thoughts when you can cultivate that inner life. For some people it may be moments of prayer, or reading a spiritual or uplifting book or listening to music that moves your spirit or uplifts you. I find that sitting in the garden for a few quiet moments, listening to the birds and the rustling of the plants, watching the many engaging sights, smelling the flowers or feeling the sun or the breeze on my skin induces a feeling of calm and peacefulness and spiritual connectedness.

I remember as a child slipping out of school at lunchtimes to go and sit in peace in a nearby church. I would often be the sole person around and those few moments of quiet in the peaceful sanctity of the church replenished me in ways I did not even realise then. Maybe these days they don’t leave churches open for wayfarers to slip in and the way some of us live can make it hard to find that space for quiet contemplation but its never impossible as even a walk in the park can do it. The important thing is to nurture our spiritual lives in whatever way it fits for us and to build that into our aspirations for success.

“Material success may result in the accumulation of possessions; but only spiritual success will enable you to enjoy them.” - Nido Qubein

Blessings for today
1.I am grateful for the many times I get to have those quiet alone moments when I can gather my thoughts and find a stillness in my life.
2. For connectedness with my neighbours
3. For a hot meal provided for me on this cold and frosty night and my family to share it with.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com

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