Tune your spirit

We talk a lot about strategies for taking care of our bodies. We know we should eat better and get more exercise. It seems to me, we are not very good about discussing strategies for taking care of our spirit. What are the day to day things we can do to keep us spiritually healthy? It's an inside job.

Whatever your religious belief or your belief in no religion at all, there is a spiritual part of everyone one of us. That spiritual part of us is driven by how we think, speak and act. And there is universal spiritual truth. It is just TRUE. That truth is what I believe is God. When we align with that truth, our lives change for the better.

It begins with how we think. We are in charge of that. No one else makes us think one way or another. It takes practice and discipline just like learning any kind of skill. Many of us have a really hard time with this. We allow negative thoughts to dominate. We focus on self loathing, disappoint or anger with others, desire that are unfulfilled and dozens of other thoughts that drag us down. These make our spirit sick. 

What we think drives what we say. As we allow negative thoughts to dominate, the words we say follow the same pattern. We speak self deprecating. We criticize others. We make snarky remarks. We talk about all the things we don't have or can't do.

Those thoughts and words then drive how we act. We avoid doing things that we know we can and should. We treat others badly. We are easily overwhelmed and angry. Others see a dark cloud around us. We act as though everyone else and everything else needs to change to make our world right. Our spirit is sick and it shows.

How do we change that?

We hold great spiritual power. It is just true. No one else can give it to us. We need to learn to tap into it and use it. 

It begins with what we allow ourselves to THINK. It's not always easy to stop negative thoughts. A world of trouble surrounds us. So how do we change the negative around us?

Your thoughts control what you are tuning in. Your words are the volume. These and your actions are what the audience experience with you. Imagine a radio. Your negative thoughts are the static and squeals. As you speak negative, it increases the volume. The rest of the world experiences your words and actions. You are in control of the radio – that's YOU.

Start with tuning in to a positive thought. Every time you find yourself slipping into worry, self doubt, blame... stop. Retune the radio. The best start is Thank you. Start a mental list of all the good things around you. Wake up with “thank you”. Thank you for the roof over my head. Thank you for my feet and hands. Thank you for my sight. Thank you for those in my life. Keep doing it every time a negative thought crosses you mind. Make a game of it. One negative thought requires 10 thank you's.

As you re-tune your thinking and focus on what is good around you, you will value those things more. As you value them more, you will care for them better. Then as good things come into your life, you will focus more carefully. And you will attract more of what you value.

Even in difficult situations, there are opportunities to be thankful. You'll begin to look for them. It will calm your spirit. You will find what you expect to find if your spirit is tuned in. You will need to build that belief and that spirit little by little. Much like an unused muscle, it needs to grow strong over time with constant practice and attention. You will regress. Start again.

Flip the negative on it's head. You believe someone has wronged you, focus on someone who hasn't. Value them. Show them you value them. Then be thankful.

At my lowest points when I have allowed my spirit to grow weak, I've picked up inspirational books. I write to remind myself of the importance of spiritual focus. Life is constantly challenging us. Often, for me, it takes a little kick in the pants to remind myself that I'm not doing my best at what I know I can do. But I can look back and know I am better this decade than I was the last.

Now, quite often, a magical thing happens. The other day I chatted with a neighbor with whom I sometimes exchange a short conversation. We don't know each other well. He started the conversation with “you are really positive, thoughtful and optimistic....” and then asked me my opinion about something. It struck me that in just a few conversations and simple chit chat, I had given him an impression of what I would hope to be my essence. Oddly, I nearly reacted with a negative about myself. Instead I walked away inspired to keep tuned in and turning up the volume of that kind of spirit.

I recalled the 19 year old college me whose friends commented that they had never seen me smile. I recalled the 20 something me sitting in a foreign country seething in remote anger about all the wrongs I had endured in my young life. I recalled the decades of poor choices and stupid mistakes. I recalled a dark night when I believed there would be no better tomorrow. And then I embraced the magic of knowing that all of those things did not and do not need to define me TODAY. Today, I am thankful for what all of those experiences taught me.