Spirituality.
When spirituality is mentioned in conversation, people immediately say, they aren't religious. In fact, nor am I, like many people I am on a spiritual path. This is something very personal and a subject I had no interest in knowing anything about, until I began to grow as a person.
For me and most of the people I've spoken to, It's a connection with all things, a love for life, an appreciation of the beauty the world has on display, all nature, people. Contentment.
Benefits.
- Improved health
- Reduced hypertentsion (Blood pressure)
- Less stress, even when life gets difficult
- Positive feelings
- Lowered depression
- Increased psychological well-being
- Superior ability to cope with stress
Connected.
This is how life is for me, I've never felt such awareness and connected to, or at ease with myself. I've spoken about my neediness to have 'things' being diminished, and feelings of contentment coming from within.
I have a real belief in myself, not a superficial, or arrogant projection of self-belief. I also believe in a higher power, consciousness, the quantum field.
The anger has gone, replaced by a calmness I've never experienced, any potentially stressful situations, where I would have been beside myself previously. Simply weren't an issue, they were dealt with calmly, then forgotten about. I possess a clarity of thought, that I don't remember having. Finding the answers to questions, I'd have previously spent days worrying about.
I believe I've always cared about people, friends and family, the people you'd normally care about. Now it's much more. I feel a connection with people I've just met, I want to help them when they are having a rough time. To witness them happy, smiling, laughing.
Strength.
For me, looking at all religions, be it Christianity, Buddism, or Islam, for example, without analysing. People gain strength and purpose from the teachings, based upon someone else's experiences. They teach people to love, have compassion and have peace in their lives, how to build a spiritual life of their own.
Religion adds structure , it's a link to a higher power, the acceptance of the link.
Personal Spirituality.
I've discussed this subject with a few people, that are themselves on a spiritual path, of their own. Or, have an interest in spirituality, we had slightly different views on how it worked for each of us. Which is just fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion, I don't have to agree with it, and we aren't going to fall out over it.
There was the opinion, that it doesn't matter what other people think, or what they say, it's about you, and that's all that matters. We are all equal and divine beings, that is it.
Where it does matter less than it ever has, what other people think about me. It certainly doesn't have a negative effect on how I feel internally about myself, as it once would have.
We live in a society, alongside other people, we must consider how other people feel and how we interact with them. For many years, I didn't do this, it got me nowhere.
Real world from my perspective.
I lived in a world, where, for whatever reason. Anger, drink, stress, or any other factors involved, I didn't give much thought to other people. I was polite and courteous, I had friends and partners, but realistically it was all about me. When I became healthy, starting to grow, catching up almost and then progressing further than I ever thought possible at the beginning of the journey.
I understood that being unhealthy in one respect, due to whatever circumstances, would mean that if I went to the other end of the spectrum, not caring because now I'm on the spiritual path and healthy, I hadn't really achieved much.
In the bigger scheme of things, I still had a disregard for what other people thought or felt. This didn't seem like a real-world scenario to me.
As with many things in life, it's being sensible about it, finding a balance. One that works for you, one that you are comfortable with and can live with in the longer term.