Whether you are a seasoned seeker or new to walking the spiritual path, anchoring in on core principles offers a base to return to when the magic feels distant or when practices grow mundane.
No amount of healing crystals or positive affirmations can move the fountain’s waters if it’s not rooted in faith and truth. While each modality has its medicine, there is a simple truth that requires no external tool when we return home to ourselves. May these principles offer guidance in living from our hearts to lead in spiritual wellness, emotional intelligence, inner peace, fulfillment, and authentic connection with ourselves, our community, and the divine nature around us.
Spend time with your spiritual core
It’s often easier said than done, but spending time with ourselves can restore our spiritual wellness in ways that other modalities can’t. While there are endless options for spiritual practices if the connection with your spiritual core is lacking, you are just going through the motions. I like to think of it as driving a car. You might know how to operate the functions, but you will ultimately burn out if you don’t know where to get gas.
So, what does spending time with your spiritual core look like anyway? This will be different per individual, but in a nutshell, it is the aspect that connects us to subtle energies. Some of these will be mentioned below, while others will be unique to your experience. Whether you are painting or enjoying a fresh breeze, connecting with your spiritual core is intentional in developing a relationship with life force energies.
Open yourself to deeper meanings
Spiritual connection isn’t reliant on the confines of religious rules and beliefs. Most of these restrictions can limit our perspectives and steer us away from our sovereignty. Perhaps opening yourself to deeper meanings can consist of a variety of tools spanning from philosophy to gardening. After all, it’s not so much about following a paved spiritual path but rather being true to what piques your curiosity to inspire questions and exploration. Ultimately, we are free ourselves from the grip of needing an answer.
Keep it simple
That’s it. There’s not much to it. Please keep it simple in thought, belief, and environment. If you’re thinking about whether you’re doing it right, you’re overthinking. The modern landscape is riddled with experts promising quick fixes and enlightenment. Remember, there is no set formula to reaching the destination because the destination doesn’t even exist. Keep it simple, whatever spiritual health may look like to you.
Incorporate creative outlets
It’s pretty easy to get caught up in the mundane. Materialistic goals we set for ourselves can box us in. As a writer, I find it liberating to dabble in watercolor painting and making music to keep my creative flow in a playful state. When we incorporate creative outlets, it offers a break from our main focus areas, bringing clarity in the mind, inspiration, and spiritual wellness.
Practice gratitude
This is an essential factor when it comes to revitalizing our spiritual wellness as well as attracting more abundance into our lives. When I say to practice gratitude, I don’t mean to get yourself a journal and list ten things you are grateful for that day. While this proves helpful and practical for many, it can also become a thoughtless and mechanical habit if not done with presence and intention. To practice gratitude is to live in gratitude. How might you incorporate this more into your daily actions?
Perhaps you might share gratitude before enjoying your lunch. Maybe you might practice appreciation for the woman making your morning coffee or calling your parents. Gratitude is a manner that spans beyond a lined page but rather an invitation to weave each thread as a way of life, bringing us deeper into the present moment.
More fluidity, less rigidity
Resistance can grow as a protective mechanism if we are not careful in honoring our boundaries. How can you add more fluidity to this moment? Are you hunched over and tense in your body as you read this? Take a breath and feel the sensation of softening your shell. Our spiritual wellness goes hand in hand with how we can flow with each lesson and blessing this life has to offer. As the popular saying goes, the more you resist, the more it persists. You might consider the benefits of dancing, sitting next to a body of water, or going for a swim. When we connect with the natural flows of life, we can sense what areas in our life might benefit from less rigidity.
Explore your shadows along the spiritual journey
It is virtually impossible to step into the true light without finding your way through the dark. In the land of toxic spirituality and spiritual bypassing, we must tend to our shadow. This could be an entire article on its own, but briefly, shadow work consists of looking at the parts of ourselves we keep hidden from the world-and sometimes ourselves. This means we might not even be aware of what our shadows are.
Here’s a quick exercise you might incorporate into your spiritual practice: Think about the last time you felt triggered. Instead of making an excuse as to why the other party was at fault, consider how external actions caused you to feel a certain way. What can you learn from it? What is it pointing to in your shadow? How can you come from a place of love to nurture the person inside?
Sit in contemplation… or meditation
This is another simple yet effective tool when tending to your spiritual health. Meditation offers many benefits, such as reducing stress and anxiety, increasing our levels of compassion, and bringing us to a place of stillness, to name a few. As effective of a tool it may be, many face challenges when it comes to racing thoughts. While meditation is another topic that we will be exploring in The Heart Revolution, remember to keep it simple if you find yourself struggling with it. There are also many resources to begin a guided meditation when first starting out.
Connect with your breath through movement
The most popular option in this category is yoga, and rightfully so. There is so much tension that gets stuck in the body that it is often hard to pinpoint. Connecting with your breath through movement isn’t limited to yoga and might include various flow arts like hooping or dancing. However, whatever you decide, see how you can make it a consistent practice. Even if it is just for 20 minutes, daily movement can relieve stress and trauma locked in the body.
Serve your community for enriched emotional wellness
Whether you are battling a dark chapter and feel you can do it alone, nothing is more healing than community. Humans are social creatures by nature, and when we serve the community, we create the opportunity to connect on a soul level and give back to the human existence. Where loneliness is said to increase the risk of mortality, connection is the medicine for emotional wellness on all levels. As the famous adage goes, when we are in service to others, we are in service to ourselves.
Our spiritual wellness is multifaceted and unique, yet incredibly simple. The foundation of a fulfilling inner awareness can be exercised in our planet’s blessings in store for us. So perhaps that fancy yoga mat is just a materialized bonus to honor your spiritual well-being rather than to lean on as a crutch.