Spiritual Development?!?! Yeah dude, that’s what I said. You don’t have to climb mountains to find gurus, or walk bare-footed in Indian to grow in spirit (not that there is anything wrong that!…see link below)
Meditation and Yoga in the Himalayas
Visit Dharamsala, The home of The Dalai Lama, and explore different Tibetan and Buddhist Meditation and Yoga techniques together with Hindu knowledge on the ancient arts of Meditation and consciousness control.
Spiritual Development, to me, is a daily practice of thinking, feeling and acting in a way that is in alignment with my life’s purpose.
My life’s purpose seems to be to help people learn to live happy lives…that’s what brings me the most joy.
It’s a pretty cool life purpose for me, because I get bored of doing things rather quickly, but my purpose allows me to do different activities everyday and still stay on target.
Think about it. How many different acts can you think of that might make someone happy for a little while? Off the top of my head, helpful little things that might be thought of as spiritual development.
- Smile
- Hold open a door
- Tip
- Do my job with a smile (very hard sometimes!)
- Show genuine concern and interest in people
- Buy lunch
- Buy coffee
- Buy drinks
- Tell a joke
- Help carry something
Spiritual development includes: spiritual practices, meditation, forgiveness, service (to self and others), love (real love…vice Hollywood love), oneness and all the the things I haven’t thought of yet.
Spiritual Goals
Spiritual goals are different for everyone. The spiritual journey is as personal and unique as a finger print…everyone has their own unique life path.
Follow your Bliss
But what if my “bliss” is to eat cookies??!?
Joesph Campbell is quoted saying: ”Follow your bliss” in order to find your life’s work…but what if my bliss is drinking beer and watching TV all day?
So, if I drink beer and watch TV, I will find my life’s purpose? I think there must be more to “follow your bliss” than just do whatever you want to do…
…Finding work that you love and create a livelihood and offer spiritual development at the same time…imagine what it would feel like to be excited to go to work…that would be amazing right???
What is Ego?
Dr Who Meets Eckhart Tolle
I just watched an episode of the new Dr Who, and I noticed a connection with what Eckhart Tolle said in his video. The episode suggests that the story of you is NOT you…but your real self is something far more wonderful! This just answer the question “What is Ego?”
Life after Death
An upbeat look at what might happen…after death.
Have you ever felt you died and went to heaven? Or how about Hell? What if every time you thought you died, you did die and just didn’t realize it? I am really fascinated by the idea of life after death.
For the record, I choose to believe that there is consciousness after death…I don’t claim to know what it is like, but I choose to believe that my life after death will continue in some way that I don’t understand right now.
Stages of Acceptance
The Stages of Acceptance could be thought of as the stages of grief…but that really ends in acceptance…it begins with denial…
I think the stages of acceptance begin with an unemotional view towards the current state of affairs…
Many opportunities for spiritual development manifest as life tragedy…there is always buried treasure in pain and suffering if you can find the your way to acceptance.
Spiritual Awakening Symptoms
Spiritual awakening symptoms are, in a way, everything that comes into your awareness…in your mind internally or in the world externally…shows up for only ONE reason…
That reason is to help you “wake up” to a spiritual truth that you are ready to deal with in that moment…
So, that’s it!…
…just kidding…for the sake of helping you see some of the big rocks that I faced, I will offer some of the symptoms that have rolled through my life to help me “wake up”…spiritual development includes some crazy and scary twists and turns….
Stages of Acceptance – Defending your Life
Defending Your Life is one of my all time favorite movies…why?… #1 It deals with “after life” issues. #2 Rip Torn is in it! #3 It suggests that one purpose of life on earth may be to face our fears. #4 It’s very FUNNY! #5 It deals with various Stages of Acceptance
Stages of Acceptance – Ground Hog Day
Shut up! You don’t expect me to believe that I can learn life lessons from a movie like “Groundhog Day”!! Um…well…yeah, I do. :-O The film “Ground hog Day” stars Bill Murray and is about a Pittsburgh weatherman that lives the same day over and over again. If you have not seen the movie yet, I want to warn you that this page contains “spoilers” about how the film ends.
Awakening Spiritually
Awakening Spiritually isn’t a “new age” phenomena…not that there is anything wrong with new age…my point is that folks of all faiths, religions, cultures all over the world are learning to embrace this awakening…
This means people begin to experience spirit personally…
How to Forgive
You can learn how to forgive, first yourself…then others.
I read a book by Dr. Phil called “Self Matters”. This books suggests that you think about your past and try to figure out if you are unconsciously being held back by memories and beliefs that may or may not be “true”.
Choose to Believe
I was listening to NPR the other day, and they were talking about some kids at a secular “discovery” camp…kinda like a church camp…for kids that didn’t really believe in god. The camp was not strictly atheist, but the kids sounded as though they were thinking as atheists.