Spirituality is a concept that is defined in various perspectives by different people. Being spiritual, to me, doesn’t necessarily mean being more religious. For me, spirituality is a way to go within and connect with oneself, to achieve self-realization, and to live life with gratitude, love, and kindness.
This article is going to be on a slightly more spiritual topic, but I believe that it is one we can all take away something from, regardless of how spiritual we consider ourselves.
For one to find inner peace and freedom, he or she must be able to master the art of detachment from worldly things. By saying this, I don’t mean we should be putting aside all of our responsibilities and running off to “find ourselves” or finding “the truth”. It simply means letting go of the control we believe we have over other people, places, or objects.
At the end of the day, no matter how much we try to control a situation in our life, there is always that one little thing that will always bother us, that will somehow go wrong. If not that, then maybe after we solve today’s problem, our minds will aimlessly wander and come up with new issues for tomorrow. What we can control, however, are our thoughts and reactions to these daily occurrences in our lives. When we find ourselves lost in trying to find solutions to the many problems we face, we get stressed out, we get anxious, and we all know by now that worrying solves nothing.
The first step to permanently solve any kind of problem is to change the way the problem is perceived. Train your mind to focus on “inner solution consciousness” rather than “outer solution consciousness”. Stop trying to rearrange the order of things externally; instead, let go of any part of you that constantly finds problems with reality. Once you get the hang of controlling your reaction to things, you will start to notice that when you are calm from within, a door to a solution is always opened on the outside.
One way to do this is by thinking of your thoughts and you, or your “awareness”, as two different people. This way you can separate yourself from the thoughts you have and question those thoughts. Instead of giving you an example, let me tell you how you can practice this habit. The next time you are faced with a problem or a situation that upsets you, let’s say, maybe you are upset because of a disagreement you have with your best friend. Ask yourself, “What is it that she said that upset me?”, or “Why am I so upset at the fact that she is expressing her opinion?”. This way you get a chance to question your thinking by becoming more aware of the thoughts you are having. It’ll help you by preventing you from instinctively reacting and creating issues that don’t even have to arise, and I mean…it’s never fun to fight with your best friend!
Spirituality and self-realization don’t come to any of us in a day, and some of us probably have no interest in doing so at all. But being aware of our thinking and controlling our reactions to worldly matters, in my opinion, positively impacts our mental health and can be a start to taking a more optimistic approach to life. With events all over the world leaving us in a constant state of anxiety and worry, we must let go of what is completely out of our control do what is in our control to stay positive.
Book Reference: The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael Alan Singer
P.S. If you found the topic discussed in this article interesting, I’d highly suggest giving this book a look as this discusses only a chapter from the book! :)