Do you want to feel more authentic in your spiritual practice by truly living your vision?
At various times of one’s lifetime, being spiritual can be confused with being lovingly passive. Being the observer. However, if there’s ever a time to act on what you’re feeling, now is the time.
This is also a good time to have your heart match how you are being on the outside.
You may think you’re more spiritual, a nicer and better person when you’re the observer, rather than interacting with what you’re observing. In the spirituality field, there’s a sentiment about trusting that all is truly well, and knowing that all will always be well. I agree. To know that even with all the suffering I know that there’s always a reason. And that it’s up to each of us to uncover the reason, grow, and evolve.
But…
If I want to more actively bring about a shared vision of peace and love for the world, I can’t do that by being passive and invisible.
You have to discover what works best for you. To look at how you want to show up in the everyday world. Not some obtuse idea or vision that seems unobtainable but rather, how to show up in an ordinary day.
The way I experience it is that in order to bring about more peace, love, and joy in the world, I must bring it about in my own life. That means looking within myself in more ordinary everyday moments. For example, there’s self-editing. I was a master at this. Do you self-edit yourself? We all do to some degree.
You may hold back at the family Thanksgiving table because let’s face it, some self-editing is normal. But it’s not normal when we live our lives for others, people-please, or go along to get along. Do you find that your thoughts and beliefs don’t often match what you’re projecting on the outside? You’re holding back being your genuine authentic self perhaps because…
- you worry what your friends, family, acquaintances might think of the “real” you
- you’re afraid of offending someone
- you’re a people pleaser and equate getting along with going along
- you have the idea that it’s not politically correct to share your opinions, ideas, beliefs on anything other than the most superficial subjects
- you believe a truly “nice” person doesn’t disagree with someone. “Keep your thoughts to yourself” could be one of your strong beliefs.
I’ve personally decided that I’m not here to blend in and avoid the tough conversations. I’m learning what I do align with and standing more in my truth. It may not match with your truth and that’s ok.
When we’re afraid of hearing each other’s thoughts and ideas, hopes, and dreams, we relate on a more superficial level. That often doesn’t feel good to me because superficiality equates to inauthenticity and strips away any hope for intimacy.
It’s very freeing to realize that you can only change yourself and not others.
And, accepting that you can’t force anyone to be different than who they are. Anyways, in waiting for them to change you’re wasting precious time you could use to grow and evolve your own spirit. That’s where the real power lies.
Being accepting of where others are doesn’t mean you have to approve of or enable their behavior.
You can take the belief about not wanting to step on someone’s journey to a fault. To believe that if you see something happening that doesn’t personally involve you, that it’s not an experience or energy that can affect you. Not true. It does affect you.
You’re in a dance of life lessons and life experiences. You’re not dancing alone. And, you’re in this dance with all of humanity and experiencing your fellow human beings, both directly and indirectly.
In marrying your spirituality with action, every situation is unique and requires a unique look.
What each of us has is our own barometer of our own feelings to guide us in how we might process and behave in a particular experience.
For example, if you see a friend who (in your opinion) keeps making the same mistake over and over again, do you say something? Perhaps your friend consistently chooses unkind men to get involved with and complains about each and every romantic relationship. What do you do? She seems to be in so much emotional pain, over and over again. If she were to ask you what you think, you would share your truth, your opinion. If she doesn’t ask you, it’s not your job or responsibility to show her where you see where her growth work is. That’s stepping on her journey.
But, let’s say your friend is harmed and you feel her safety is an issue. Do you stay silent? Probably not. You speak up, whether you’ve been asked for your opinion or not. You offer her your opinion because you care about her well-being. But there’s a line there. And knowing when to cross it is important and requires perception and good judgment.
If she doesn’t want to consider her pattern and choices and continues to suffer, you shared your truth but it’s ultimately her life to live.
Let’s talk about current events that are ripe with opportunities for our assistance. Humanity is calling.
You care about your fellow human beings. While you don’t personally know each one of them, they are your family. What if you see injustice and mistreatment, abuse, and violence. You understand that we’re all in this lifetime together, we’re all connected, and their problem is your problem too. While you may believe that humanity is moving forward, you also realize that each and every one of us directly affects how quickly humanity continues to move forward.
You may also realize that meditation, practicing yoga, looking within, creating a balance of wellness and beneficial habits, and self-awareness, definitely contribute to your journey. When you raise yourself up you’re also contributing to humanity raising itself up. We feel each other’s energy and will benefit from each other’s light. Self-care and spiritual growth practices are even more important today.
Do you feel a desire to speak up, take action, to do something? But you’re confused and waver. Perhaps you think that standing for peace and love means being the witness, focusing on your spiritual practice, and not getting involved. Know this. Whatever feels comfortable to you, it’s your decision and you can’t ever make a mistake.
However…
What if you want to do something in addition to your practice? Then honor that desire. Stepping forward to honor your altruistic desires and passion is also a very spiritual thing to do. Then that very action is also your spiritual practice. You will probably feel fulfilled as you marry your practice with your intention to assist, through your beneficial actions.
Please don’t confuse spirituality with passiveness. You don’t need to silence your thoughts and feelings.
If you feel you want to assist others by using your voice and actions then holding back is counter to that.
You can be a loving being and still use your voice. You can strive for peace while taking action.
Allowing your own experience requires confidence, letting go of caring what others may think, and instead be a stand for the light you practice so hard to bring to your life experience. “We’re all in this together” is, in part, about being there for others. “We’re all connected” is more than a woo-woo phrase. We honor our connectedness when we no longer look the other way. To no longer stand by while injustice, inequities, abuse, and corruption exist. If you believe injustice, inequities, abuse, and corruption are not personally affecting you, you see they are affecting someone. And it’s that someone that you don’t personally know but are still connected to.
When I look the other way and trust that it will all work out, it’s not enough to know that it will all work out one day. I know in my heart that something is not working now for someone, somewhere. There’s no wrong way to go about stepping up to beneficial change as long as we acting from our hearts.
What your part is, is for you to discover. And how that standing for peace and love shows up for you, is as individual as you are. You get to decide.
About the taking action part, this isn’t about upping one’s game on social media. It most certainly isn’t about getting people to agree by sharing political or social propaganda. When I see all the garbage on Facebook I wonder what would happen if instead, people thought for themselves and then did something truly productive to bring about more benefit to humanity. Sounds a little judgy I know. It’s a waking-up time. The alarm sounds pretty loud to me.
Present-day circumstances that we human beings created, offer opportunities for our authenticity.
As you look at recent past and current events and movements such as Me-Too, COVID-19, and Black Lives Matter, you may recognize where you’re needed. It’s no accident that humanity is experiencing these events. What is appearing on our planet today, is for humanity’s very benefit. Let’s not allow those who were the impetus in launching these movements, to have served their part in vain. They had an important part, unknown to them at the time. In my opinion, they embodied that experience so that humanity can learn and grow.
You may look at their part as a tragic circumstance but know this, their part was a gift to humanity. The tragedy is if we ignore what they showed us. The tricky part is stepping up to the gift and running with it. To recognize it’s a call to embody more love, to look out and care for each other, support each other as we become more loving human beings.
We can all
- Care about our fellow human beings
- Understand that it will require more of us
- Realize caring is one thing, practicing and action is another
- Know that perfection isn’t necessary, practice daily to be the change we each seek
- Decide, as we practice a new way of being, how we want to assist
- Ask within ourselves what we’d like to experience
- Be open to whatever we’re called to do, as we continue to shift and morph in our life experiences
Everyone is needed.
There’s no expectation for all of us to do the same thing. There are monks that pray for peace. We need them. Other people have chosen to be activists through peaceful demonstrations and protests. Peaceful activists are needed too. There are so many choices! There are no right or wrong ways to go when you’re inspired to contribute to bringing more light and love to the planet.
The opportunities to show up are numerous.
You’re here to learn, grow, enjoy, and to feel your connection to ALL others. Be authentic. Allow your outside to match what’s on the inside of you. You stand for something higher.
Practice marrying your spirituality with action and live what you stand for.