It seems that due to choosing the road less travelled I’m always having to dispel the myths around what I’m teaching or the term I prefer, guiding, people towards. I’ve written countless articles on how you don’t need to be bendy to do yoga, that pilates is not just for bad backs and that you don’t have to be able to stop thinking to meditate. So you can imagine some of the responses I’ve had to my being a self-love and spiritual lifestyle guide! The most common is the response of, ”I’m not spiritual” and that self-love must mean something sexual, (ooh matron!).
So after meeting another beautiful soul last week that didn’t believe they were spiritual, it got me thinking about how to simplify such a big word. So here is the meaning from the dictionary:
spiritual - relating to or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.
(It also uses ‘spiritual’ to relate to religion but I’d prefer to keep this about all beings, regardless).
So the issue with that meaning is that there are so many people that do not even believe that we have a spirit or a soul! It has become normal to only believe in what we can see or can be proved by science, ( “I’m a realist!”). That we have no power to change anything, therefore leaving us at the mercy of fear because we can’t control anything. Yes this feels yucky doesn’t it?
This is my interpretation of the word:
Spiritual - to be connected to our heart, to have an open heart, to operate from love not fear, to believe and feel connected to our higher self and the earth, to experience more joy, to realise our purpose here, to feel unity and freedom. To feel empowered, to be present, a sense of peace. To love ourselves is to love each other.
As some of you know I’m part of a team that facilitates the screening of a film called “Down to Earth”, made by a family who went in search of the ancient wisdom of the earth keepers. There are many, many quotes in this film that stand out but recently the ones that have stuck with me the most are “spiritual poverty” and “people don’t love each other anymore”. The other common theme throughout the film is that carrying fear will make us sick. I can see the evidence of this without science!
Please don’t get me wrong though, this is not a judgment it’s just an awakening. I was the same, as I didn’t know any different. In fact this just struck me recently with a little sadness actually, that shopping just isn’t the same anymore. I can no longer buy loads of wasteful stuff I don’t need, I can feel the heavy energy of what’s going on in the world without even knowing what the news is. With all this said though I much prefer the beliefs that I have reignited, that we are all connected, that if we give ourselves love, kindness and compassion we are giving that to the world too. I believe that as a collective we are experiencing a shift in consciousness right now towards a more loving, peaceful era, where a more feminine, matriarchal energy will rise to help harmonise the planet. (I highly recommend reading ‘Light is the New Black’ and ‘Rise Sister Rise’ if you want to learn more until my own book is finished…)
This awakening happened to me quite a few years ago, maybe to get me prepared for my soul’s purpose. I know now that I suffered from the limiting but understandable belief that if I received nice things, shone out for my natural talents and gifts or believed in myself in anyway that I was causing pain for those who showed resentment towards me. So I did a really good job at avoiding resentment! All that really ended up doing was causing me pain and was no help to anyone. Now I know that the opposite is true. That I must be open to receiving, to share my authentic self and gifts, to believe I am enough exactly as I am will help others to be relieved of their pain. For this I am truly grateful.
So a really easy easy way to bring some spirituality into your day is to practise gratitude. This doesn’t mean that you are not a grateful person, but by making it a daily ritual it shifts your focus away from what you don’t have, to what you do, from what you aren’t to what you are, to your blessings not your misfortunes. Surely it is better to feel grateful than hard done by? On an energetic level it is the number one way to manifest more things to be grateful for. How would it be if you could be grateful for something before you could see it just because you trust that it is already manifesting its way to you? This much trust takes practice therefore making it part of your lifestyle is the best way to shift your beliefs in a gentle way from lack to abundance, from fear to love.
If you are thinking that you need some more spiritual in your life then The Self-Love Club membership is an easy way to get started and you will find lots of other heart-centred souls there to explore ideas with. When you join you instantly get a free gratitude meditation so you can get started on your love based lifestyle straight away…
