I have been talking to a lot of people about my spiritual practice, and I’m pretty astounded by the amount of people that have no idea what I’m talking about. I thought it would be a good idea to spread a little bit of knowledge.
What is spirituality?
According to Wikipedia, spirituality is centered on the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” It embraces the idea of an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality. It envisions an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his or her other being.
You might be ready to explore your spirituality if any of these things sound familiar:
- Have you been curious about your inner path to self-discovery?
- Do you find yourself trying to figure out exactly who you are or why you are the way you are?
- Do you feel like you need to get back to yourself because you know something just isn’t right?
If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, it may be time for you to start a spiritual practice. The best thing about having a spiritual practice is you get to do things for yourself that help your body, mind, and soul.
A lot of people hear the word ‘spirituality’ and think it’s something out of this world! I’ve even heard people say they are afraid to be spiritual because it affects the relationship they have with their faith or isn’t allowed in their religion.
Here’s the great news: spirituality is simply getting to know the true essence of who you are. There are different tools you can use to do this. Some of my favourite include meditation, yoga, affirmations, and Reiki. Developing a spiritual practice doesn’t have to be time consuming or complicated.
The Benefits of a Regular Spiritual Practice
Having a regular spiritual practice will benefit you physically, emotionally, and mentally. More specifically, when you become more spiritual and incorporate some of the tools I’ll be discussing, you are more in tune with your needs. This can have the following benefits:
- Handle everyday stresses with ease,
- Restore a sense of purpose in your life,
- Prevent depression and other mental illnesses,
- Cure or improve physical ailments,
- Increase clarity of thought, and
- Improve immune system function.
Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Are you ready to delve into putting together a spiritual practice for yourself so you can achieve some of these amazing benefits too?
Adding Spirituality to Your Self-Care Routine
Let’s start with the first step in creating a spiritual practice.
Make a Commitment
Just like anything else, if you’re working toward seeing results, you have to make a commitment. There’s no point in starting anything without setting the intention to stick to your plan and do the work.
I know a lot of people don’t think this step is worth it, after all it’s just a spiritual practice, but give this practice just as much priority as you would eating healthy and working out. You owe it to yourself to commit to this practice
In my opinion, a spiritual practice ranks just above eating healthy and working out, because your thoughts govern everything you do! You want to start from the inside out.
Grab a piece of paper or start a note on your favourite device and pledge to yourself that you will do this no matter how hard it becomes. Even when you really don’t feel like it, you will make an effort to stick to your practice. I promise it will be so worth it!
Now that you’ve made a note of your commitment, add a goal. What do you want to achieve by having a spiritual practice? Less anxiety, better stress management, a calmer mind, better sleep, etc.
Begin Your Day in a Sacred Way
Now that you’ve made a commitment to add a spiritual practice to your self-care routine, it’s time to map out a place in your home for you to connect with yourself, spirit, and your higher self. Choose a place that always makes you feel happy. This is going to be your space.
It’s ideal if this is a place where interruptions will be minimal, but if you’re a mom, sometimes that isn’t always possible. The key is that this place makes you feel comfortable and relaxed.
Once you establish a place, make this your go-to place. When things don’t feel right or you are having a bad day, you can go to this place to be calm and regroup. Get used to going to this spot every day. Think of it as a place to forget all your troubles and recharge your batteries.
You can decorate this spot with some of your favourite things that make you happy. This can be a beautiful piece of artwork, a favourite pillow to relax on, or an essential oil that reminds you of a time you felt loved.
Elements of a Spiritual Practice
So, you’ve committed to yourself to do this daily work based on your goals, and you’ve figured out where your special space is. The next step is exploring elements of a spiritual practice to give your self-care routine a mega boost.
These things are not set in stone. They just need to work for YOU! Consider my recommendations then choose the ones that feel right to you.
I highly recommended setting intentions and journaling as a great starting place. Some other elements to consider are:
- Smiling,
- Using affirmations,
- Diffusing essential oils,
- Listening to guided meditations,
- Practising yoga,
- Using your breath through breathing exercises,
- Painting,
- Walking,
- Exercising, or
- Running.
Hopefully you see something on this list that interests you. You can choose as many as you like. If you’re not sure which elements are right for you, choose a few and alternate the days you use them until you find some that you really enjoy.
Be at Peace
When you first start a self-care practice, whether it incorporates spiritual elements or not, you may find people have opinions about what you are doing. I always felt like I was at war with myself because I let other people’s expectations of me affect my expectations of myself.
It doesn’t matter what other people think of your self-care or your spirituality. It’s none of their business. This is why I had you make a commitment to yourself about starting this practice.
Do this for yourself so you can be happy.
Coming to peace with myself and letting everyone else’s expectations go required a whole lot of work. My first step was meditation and mindfulness. Being mindful is all about living in the moment—not thinking about the past or the future (or your to-do list), but just being in the moment enjoying your experience.
Living in the moment is so freakin’ awesome, when I actually allow myself to do it. It’s truly peaceful.
Welcome Meditation
Mindfulness = Meditation
Did you know that meditation has an impressive list of benefits? Here are some of my favourites.
- Reduces stress,
- Improves concentration,
- Encourages a healthy lifestyle,
- Increases self-awareness,
- Increases happiness, and
- Slows the signs of aging.
The practice also benefits cardiovascular and immune health!
When it was first suggested to me that I start meditating, I resisted. There was no way I was going to start chanting ohms or be silent for an extended period of time. Meditation isn’t really like that at all. Going for a walk and listening to the birds or focusing on your steps is a form of meditation.
The main point of meditation is to quiet your mind so you can begin to feel the benefits it has to offer. Meditation is a great tool to help with stress and anxiety because it allows us to ground ourselves and be able to move forward and do what we need to do in our lives.
Meditation helps you relax so you can see situations for what they really are and reduce the stress you feel around them. Stress is a full body experience that can affect absolutely every system in your body.
These simple exercises are a form of meditation that doesn’t require chanting.
- Staring at a candle flame,
- Feeling the grass as you walk barefoot,
- Listening to your breath,
- Taking a long shower, and
- Listening to music.
If you’re not sure how to get started with meditation, check out my guided meditations here.
Wrapping Up
The benefits of incorporating spiritual elements into your self-care practice are worth the effort to commit to yourself and start doing this on a daily basis. Not only will you experience less stress, but you’ll notice an improvement in your overall well-being too.
Once you’ve made this commitment to yourself, and start experiencing the benefits, you’ll quickly make this new self-care routine a habit as you start your day in a sacred way, incorporating the spiritual elements that appeal to you the most.
Which spiritual elements do you think you’ll start with? Tell me in the comments.
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