What is Spiritual Growth and how can it help your life?
When you hear about Spiritual Growth, you might think it’s all about the white-bearded guru sitting in a cave, or some hippie earth mother with braided hair.
For others “growth” will have a rigid interpretation assigned to it by a particular holy book or tradition.
Obviously the term is much too complicated for one superficial, all-encompassing definition. What I’m going to talk about is a fluid interpretation of spiritual growth and its practical application in our daily lives.
How does this growth benefit us?
Well, here’s my list of the top 7 reasons, (if you have others, I want to hear them).
For others “growth” will have a rigid interpretation assigned to it by a particular holy book or tradition.
Obviously the term is much too complicated for one superficial, all-encompassing definition. What I’m going to talk about is a fluid interpretation of spiritual growth and its practical application in our daily lives.
How does this growth benefit us?
Well, here’s my list of the top 7 reasons, (if you have others, I want to hear them).
BENEFIT 1.
YOU GET TO SEE LIFE FROM A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW:
“People find life entirely too time consuming.” --Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, Polish writer
When you’re in the thick of daily life, it can be hard to see clearly. You take the world personally and you feel responsible for things you can’t control.
With spiritual growth, you begin to free yourself of the burden of thinking that you’re the driver and the world is your car.
With spiritual growth, you begin to free yourself of the burden of thinking that you’re the driver and the world is your car.
BENEFIT 2.
“You can not always control circumstances but you can control your own thoughts.” --Charles Popplestown
You become a stronger person spiritually and emotionally. You’re better prepared to influence the things you can influence. And you’re much more chill about the things you can’t control.
BENEFIT 3.
“Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.” --Hans Margolius
You start to get rid of the incessant buzzing that keeps echoing your head. You know what I’m talking about when you lie down to rest and all the events of your day and all your to-do lists come flooding into your brain.
When I say spiritual growth helps quiet the mind, I mean that you’ll start to have more impromptu moments of the kind you have after meditating (or performing any activity where your entire focus is taken up BY the activity).
You’ll be training yourself to get to these quiet places more quickly and easily – just like you train a muscle.
When I say spiritual growth helps quiet the mind, I mean that you’ll start to have more impromptu moments of the kind you have after meditating (or performing any activity where your entire focus is taken up BY the activity).
You’ll be training yourself to get to these quiet places more quickly and easily – just like you train a muscle.
BENEFIT 4.
YOU CAN DEAL BETTER WITH SORROW OR GRIEF:
“There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year’s course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.” --Carl Jung
We all deal with sorrow at some point, and it comes in varying degrees, but with spiritual growth we not only learn to deal with it, we learn to embrace the positives.
You might ask, “What positives?” But every type of adversity or challenge has a lesson, even if we can’t see it at first.
You might ask, “What positives?” But every type of adversity or challenge has a lesson, even if we can’t see it at first.
BENEFIT 5.
YOU HAVE PATIENCE and TOLERANCE:
“One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life.” --Chinese proverb
Here the practical benefit of spiritual growth is to learn to let life’s daily indignities slide off your back.
I’m not talking about faking indifference and bottling up anger and resentment. I’m talking about reaching a point where what other people do or think no longer bothers you.
Where, as Wayne Dyer puts it,
Spiritual growth is not about being uncaring. I’m talking about having a calmness and thoughtfulness that permeates your being, and that allows you to view life with more detachment.
I’m not talking about faking indifference and bottling up anger and resentment. I’m talking about reaching a point where what other people do or think no longer bothers you.
Where, as Wayne Dyer puts it,
“you’re independent of the good opinion of other people.”Anger and resentment come from this fear of what others might do or think. We also experience negative feelings when someone violates our own unwritten, internal set of “rules and regulations”, the ones we expect the rest of the world to live by.
Spiritual growth is not about being uncaring. I’m talking about having a calmness and thoughtfulness that permeates your being, and that allows you to view life with more detachment.
BENEFIT 6.
“Why compare yourself with others? No one in the entire world can do a better job of being you than you.” --unknown
With spiritual growth, you no longer think about playing catch-up with all the people who are doing “better” than you.
You stop worrying about that and you realize (as many have said) that it’s not about being better than anyone else, just being better than you used to be.
You stop worrying about that and you realize (as many have said) that it’s not about being better than anyone else, just being better than you used to be.
BENEFIT 7.
“There is no duty so much underrated as the duty of being happy.”--Robert Louis Stevenson
Spiritual growth helps you realize that your happiness won’t come from the outside, but from within. Great! It’s cliche, and what the hell does it even mean?!
It means you stop wishing for “stuff” to make you feel complete. A new car, a new house, a fancy hat. I know it’s been said to death, to the point where it might not resonate any more. Money doesn’t make you happy… blah, blah, blah.
It means you stop wishing for “stuff” to make you feel complete. A new car, a new house, a fancy hat. I know it’s been said to death, to the point where it might not resonate any more. Money doesn’t make you happy… blah, blah, blah.
The best way to think about it is to ask yourself:
How did we come into this world?
EMPTY HANDED.
How are we leaving this world?
EMPTY HANDED.
So the stuff we acquire in between doesn’t technically have any effect on the inside but knowledge does – on our mind and spirit. We were born with all the “gear” for true happiness.
PARTING THOUGHTS
This list represents what to me are the key benefits of spiritual growth. I’m sure I’ve missed some and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Spiritual growth is hard to define and it means different things to different people.
The thing that’s true across the board is that spiritual growth brings a deeper understanding of what people believe. When you come to understand your fellow human (the fears, the aspirations), it’s very freeing.
You come to relate to other people around the world in a more personal way.
Even if you feel your personal religious tradition is “best” (for lack of a better word), you can’t truly say you have a deep understanding of your own religion if your own religion is the only one you know.
As you taste new things, there will be aspects of some religions that you like and of other traditions that make you cringe but exposure is an integral part of spiritual growth and maturity.
A deeper understanding of what spiritual life means to different people will give your mind a freedom that will make you smile.
Spiritual growth is hard to define and it means different things to different people.
The thing that’s true across the board is that spiritual growth brings a deeper understanding of what people believe. When you come to understand your fellow human (the fears, the aspirations), it’s very freeing.
You come to relate to other people around the world in a more personal way.
Even if you feel your personal religious tradition is “best” (for lack of a better word), you can’t truly say you have a deep understanding of your own religion if your own religion is the only one you know.
As you taste new things, there will be aspects of some religions that you like and of other traditions that make you cringe but exposure is an integral part of spiritual growth and maturity.
A deeper understanding of what spiritual life means to different people will give your mind a freedom that will make you smile.
waxphilosophical.com
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