COMING HOME TO OURSELVES

Is Work Life Different to Spiritual Life?

I have written this many times before but it merits repeating: spirituality is not a philosophy; it is a PRACTICE, a way of living.

It incorporates all aspects of our life: relationships, work, recreation, everything !

Our thinking and action generates emotions and feelings. It becomes our energy. That which we radiate into the world affects us and those around us in a very tangible way. The problem is, we are hardly aware of what we are thinking, because we’re too busy doing life.

Most of us don’t have a practical method of consciously working with our life. It’s not something that we are taught. We are taught to work hard, eat right, go to gym, have downtime, but we are not told that we can and should have a spiritual practice.

Many of us have unfortunately fobbed this off into the realm of religion. But it’s not. Yes, your religion can be part of your spiritual practice, but your spiritual practice does not have to be a religion. You don’t even have to be religious.

Spirituality refers to the Spirit that animates us and how we consciously choose to work with it ! It’s our Life Force ! Who can deny that we have a life force?

Right now, you’re alive, right ? That’s all you have to believe in.

The idea is this: through our daily practice we are capable of becoming more aware of who we really are and how this affects us and others. This is so simple yet we get caught in the busy-ness of life and get lost; barely able to keep up with everything we have to do.

Some of us never stop.??

If we live mindfully, we change everything in our life. This may seem like an exaggerated statement, but I mean it. Living mindfully changes everything !

And this is the first key: STOPPING. Regularly and consistently throughout the day. Making it a habit.

I’m literally talking about stopping for 5 to 10 seconds at a time. That’s all !

To be aware and become present. Then, let go and move on. Do what you have to do.

No-one can say they don’t have 10 seconds to stop, not even the busiest amongst us. It’s just that we don’t realise how important and impactful this can be. What a difference it can make to our self-awareness and to our life.

Just stop and ask: how am I feeling right now? In body. In thought. In emotion.

Sound too simplistic? Think it doesn’t work? Don’t think about it, try it !

This practice has a cumulatively powerful effect. The most challenging step is (ironically) starting.

Once it becomes a habit you don’t need to think about it anymore.

This will help you feel more in control. Without needing to deny the realities of your daily life. In fact, this will help you to deal with them. Do it and see.

Let me know if it doesn’t work.

Every day we are faced with choices; each choice has a consequence. Many thousands of tiny and seemingly insignificant daily choices add up to create our habits which in turn create who we become as people. They shape our life and the world we live in.

If we are conscious and aware we can choose a better path for ourselves. This takes AWARENESS and awareness is a practice. It’s a habit. It's cultivated through the practice of stopping.

Once we see this, we change our way of living. We change the way we work. We change our way of doing business.?And this makes us more successful, not less.

So where do we begin? How do we consolidate our various roles in life?

We begin with ourselves.

We need to have a personal PRACTICE. And the first step, I will repeat: STOP. Several times a day. For a few seconds. Check in and see what you are thinking and how you feel. That’s all!

All we really need is to come home to ourselves, and stopping is the first step in doing this.

? Steve Tsakiris