Being Spiritual

Spirituality is described as a feeling or sense or belief that there is something greater than us. It is divine in nature and provides something more than a sensory experience as a human.  

I am a spiritual person, and this is what it means to me: I believe in a God or a power of my understanding. I use my spirituality to direct me and make sense of my world. It keeps me calm and provides focus when I need it. I truly believe that everything does happen for a reason.  

There are many people reading this post that identify themselves as Religious. This is what I admire about the religious people that I know. You have an organized faith and a clear understanding of your God, which you draw on to get you through every situation. You know and believe God is always there for you and you connect with him through prayer, meditation and reflection. You set time aside on a regular basis to attend a formal setting such as Church. Very often you belong to a church group which works hard together to help others that are struggling. Your religious beliefs are a big part of your life.

I feel I always have had spirituality in my soul, but it really developed when I worked in Palliative Care. When people are dying, they have a varied reaction to their faith. The Spiritual Care provider would speak to the students about spirituality and his words were always profound. He helped them understand spirituality was not an organized religion, but an individual sense of their own beliefs. Throughout the many years of working with the dying, I have witnessed a variety of reactions to how people face the end of their lives. I would say a calm acceptance that the end is near, is usually how people were. Some were comforted to go towards God, while others were angry with God for allowing sickness to happen to them. I found that the best way to open a conversation about religious beliefs was to simply ask, "was going to Church something that you once enjoyed?". It seemed to be an easy question for everyone to answer, and one that gave me a better understanding of what their faith needs would be. Having the honor of working with people that were at the end of their lives, taught me so many lessons about living and dying. It helped me develop a true understanding of what "the hereafter" means to me. I can honestly say, I am not afraid of dying, it's the journey there that I hope is tolerable. 

There are so many stories of how people "found God" or "God spoke to them" and they became a Christian after that experience. I think this is true of spirituality, only in a less grand way. You must be in the right place and time for it to come to you. For me it was a low time in my life and vulnerability is probably when people can embrace what their beliefs are. As my understanding of my spirituality grew, I realized how much it was helping me to make sense of my life.  I truly believe spirituality has brought a sense of calmness and acceptance to me. 

I have two favorite lines in my spiritual world. The first one, "God speaks through other people". For some reason we all seem to need encouragement to make decisions. When people say, "you should do this", pay attention, that idea is what you need to hear at the time. For some unexplainable reason, the very thing you needed to hear comes out of the mouth of someone that you least expected. Like Oprah says, "there are no coincidences". So, a random conversation with a total stranger is not a coincidence, it is something bigger than that. I pay close attention to any conversation I have with a stranger, and I think why did I just have that conversation.   

I remember the first time someone told me, "God gives you what you need, not necessarily what you want". I like to think what I need and what I want are the same thing, and I was hoping the big guy agrees with me. God, on the other hand, has proven from time to time, he has different ideas. It seems with me: everything is a process and once I embraced the fact, I was getting what I needed I accepted it as what is meant to be.  

Prayer has never and probably will never be my thing. If I get in a desperate situation I do reach out and it goes like this, "I know you are busy, but I really could do with some help or direction, if you could". I am comforted to know that when you think about someone you are actually praying for them. The power of prayer is astonishing to say the least, and now with social media, it can go worldwide. Miracles are happening by the sheer number of people thinking and praying for someone. 

I am going to close this post with the words, "take what you like and leave the rest". Some of my words will be so meaningful and others not so much. I have enjoyed sharing what my spirituality means and I hope it has given you an opportunity to reflect on your own faith beliefs. It is working in my life; I hope it is working in yours.