Becoming more Spiritual in your day-to-day living can be a very worthwhile endeavor, but it also takes a lot of work. If you are like me, you want to see proof that a change of this nature and magnitude is really worthwhile. You want to know that becoming a more spiritual being will actually help move you along the pathway to success before you decide to put a great deal of energy into it.
Are there demonstrable results you can see or sense which justify the efforts you are making? The answer is undeniably yes.
Let me tell you about some of the ways I have found to grow in Spirit:
- Decide what qualities you want to build into your life.
- Look for examples of ways in which you are becoming the person you want to be.
- Keep a journal to record your growth and development.
- Manifest your creativeness.
- Help others.
Qualities of a Spirit-filled Life
It is difficult to “hit the target” unless you have something to aim at. For me, that is being free, giving to self and others, creating, leading and following, and thinking. The antithesis (i.e. being bound, taking, using, letting others lead, and reacting) is less that what I desire for myself. God set my sights higher, as I hope He did yours.
Hitting the Target
Becoming the person of excellence that you want to be is an active, purposeful process; you don’t get there by default. Monitoring your behavior to ensure that you are instilling the right attribute is key.
A Life Worth Living Is a Life Worth Documenting
It is difficult to underestimate the importance of recording your change/ improvement. A friend of mine once told me that the most important documents he possessed were his Bible and his journals. The Bible is the key to your faith; journals are a record of your history on earth.
All of us are in a constant state of flux. You are not the same person you were last year, last week, yesterday, or even last hour. Your physiology, emotion state, intellectual inventory, and Spiritual capacity ebb and flow. depending on where you put your emphasis. Make a record of your life, not only so that you can learn from past experiences, but also so that your loved ones can benefit from the situations you describe, and especially, the lessons you learned.
You want to be able to see the changes you have made in time. You want to remember the things that worked, and those that did not. You want to be able to repeat the things that helped you grow and develop, and discard those things that weakened you.
Your loved ones want to know that you are and were human, just like they are. It will help them in their growth. They will benefit by knowing that you struggled at times, and made wrong decisions and bad mistakes, just like they have. I wish now that I would have gotten to know my mother and father better before they died. Few records remain now, much to the detriment of me and my brothers and our family.
Journaling Is a Terrific Way to Keep the Important Memories Alive
Journaling is the single best way to assess and document who you were and who you have become. It is like keeping a diary about you.
Every morning, write three pages longhand in a notebook or binder. Just let the words flow. Put down whatever comes to mind. Make lists. Make goals for the day, the week, and the month. Write down thoughts that come to you while you have slept. Put down your goals for the year in January, and hold yourself accountable in December for having achieved those goals.
Re-read your journal periodically. As you do, it will become readily apparent that you have changed and are changing. It will likely not be subtle; you will be able to see substantive metamorphosis in every facet of your life where you have worked.
Discover
Exercise your resourcefulness and ingenuity regularly. Create or discover something new and unusual. Sketch it on paper, and then make it for real.
Prepare for the rough times ahead (and they will come) by becoming resilient. Major General Bob Dees has written a series of three books on the subject (Resilience Trilogy: www.resiliencetrilogy.com), and would be well worth your studying.
Remember the great times and how you felt when “nothing could be better than this.” Resurrect those feelings whenever necessary. Cultivate a habit of appreciation/ gratitude.
Help others
Encourage others. Laugh with others. Tutor those who are struggling in school or in life. Giving to those who can’t repay you is one of the best feelings you will ever have.
If you do these things, and “graph” your progress along the way, you should be able to readily see how you are moving in the direction you have chosen.
We will wrap up the Spirit Series next time. Remember that the Spirit is only a part of the “total package” which you will want to consider in becoming a person of excellence. Learn more about this in my book, All-in or Nothing * Master Your Destiny, which is available at a discount on my website (www.all-inornothing.com). You can also find the book at Amazon.com.