Spirituality and Life’s Challenges
by Dr. Susan Ricketson Intuitive and practical solutions by World wide holistic coach and counselor
Increasing your faith or getting help to leap into a new way of thinking which will be more productive in your life and give you a sense of peace.
I will speak to 3 groups of people who relate to spirituality differently and then write about how all can be helped with learning all you can about spirituality with determination not to be a victim, tapping into your inner spirit and beginning action on what you are discovering. Then I will share my own experience with my spiritual journey.
The first group is relatively easy to work with. These people already have a religious orientation which is working for them and they are open to having their faith deepened into a daily working in their lives. They can use their religion to help bring them out of the depths and/or focus on what it is they want to accomplish and are having difficulties with. They can choose what works for them in their religious orientation and let go of what doesn’t work. It needs to be a very practical application. Let go of guilt and negativity and focus on what is uplifting and helps you in your daily living.
The second group consists of people who have been disappointed in religion, many who have turned their back on any kind of God or spiritual life or Higher Power and have heavy baggage attached to old useless ideas they have been trained to believe or frightened into thinking they will go to hell if they don’t follow a strict regime of behavior. With these people there is a lot of undoing and releasing of negative thinking and feelings and changing of core beliefs which are limiting them in their life. They need to replace these old thoughts with new beliefs and new thinking and behavior so they can be successful in all areas of their lives.
The third group is one of a vague sense there is something better out there than what they are attempting to cope with but not knowing how to tap into that source which they think is spirituality but they’ve tried that before and nothing has worked out. These people, as well as the above mentioned group, need to find a higher power (something greater than their own egos or their addictions) they can relate to dealing with their own conscience and in their own heart. This takes a great deal of guidance and direction. There are many tools that can be used to enable a person to find their way in this journey. There are many books available and groups which can be helpful. 12 step groups of every kind are out there waiting to be tapped into. My suggestion is to pray to THEIR higher power for guidance on which books to read and which groups will have something to offer. This can help them with their thinking, behavior, and feelings which will produce a much healthier life.
I will discuss some of my personal ideas on spirituality and how it can be a practical force in your life. Many of these ideas are taken from my book “Dilemma of Love”. I believe whether conscious or not most people long for a deep spiritual connection which they may or may not have had as a child before it was trained out of them. People are trying to find that through pseudo-connections; these are externals to fill the void and emptiness inside. This is what leads to addictions of every sort available as well as poor relationships. It has been said the feeling is like a hole in the center of us with the wind blowing through it. It is the loss of inner reality and an addiction to outer reality.
Through one’s attempt at a connection with a power greater than themselves which they can call anything that fits for them, they can begin to reclaim their inner reality and fill their world with meaning and love. I believe one’s longing for connection is a quest for life. Most of us have some awareness, vague as it might be, that we were born for a specific purpose, that life contains a Divine plan. As much as that can be debated by intellectual means, if this article touches a chord in the reader it is worth pursuing this core belief. Obviously a negative, pessimistic view of life is not producing positive results. Why not leap into a new way of thinking!
Finding your spiritual connection in the world is a very personal, subjective experience. The beauty of spirituality is there is no “right” path for everyone. You can describe the experience of opening to your Higher Power in any way that feels true to you. As Virginia Satir says “Spiritual power can be seen in a person’s reverence for life—hers and all others, including animals and nature, with a recognition of a universal life force referred to by many as God.”
I believe that you can only truly know your relationship with a Higher Power through yourself—through your feelings, sensations, and awareness. Institutions and other people can be helpful at times but they cannot give you this knowingness, you need to experience it for yourself. It is this personal experience that heals. For me, a Higher Power is something greater than myself alone that connects with my spirit—with the sacred, pure, innocent part of my soul. This part of me is unharmed and untainted by the dis-ease of the world. If I live fully in the present moment, the mysteries of yesterday are gradually unraveled for me. When I took that leap of faith years ago, coming out of a very dark time, I often had to “act as if” in the beginning. .. just pray, talk and listen and choose to believe in the power of that connection. This is what I mean when I say the relationship between myself and a spiritual force is reciprocal. As I get to know myself better, I developed a deeper sense of Higher Power who I choose to call God as I did as a small child in my innocence and trust. As my spirituality grew, so did my self-knowledge and self-esteem. This is not an abstract left-brain experience. It is also not an addictive feeling. Spiritual awareness is feeling free and fully present with the universe and other people. It is a peaceful, yet exciting, sensation of energy. It is a feeling of being alive in my body that brings a sense of meaning and purpose to my life which was not there before. It has opened me to be free of addiction—in my relationships and in all areas of my life.
In my opinion, spiritual maturity is when I have times when the feeling awareness of my Higher Power fades or only passes through me fleetingly. This is when I need to trust and turn to the strength of my commitment to spirituality. I need to go out in nature and be with the animals and plants and mountains and water. I need to commit myself to a faith in a universal source for good. I need to believe my questions will be answered through direct means with a universal source or through people who are also full of faith. I need to trust in the spiritual forces that connect us all. I hope this article has been helpful to those looking for a better way of life.
Dilemma of Love
