Nurturing Your Spiritual Life

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Nurturing Your Spiritual Lifeby Deepak Chopra @ chopra.comIntention

is the starting point of any spiritual path. Intention includes will

and purpose, aspiration and highest vision. If you set your intention

toward material existence, that will grow instead. Once you plant the

seed of an intention, your soul's journey will unfold automatically.

Here are several basic intentions that mark a spiritual life.BASIC SPIRITUAL INTENTIONS*I

want to feel God's presence. This intention is rooted in the discomfort

of being isolated and separate. You can mask it by developing

friendships and family ties. Ultimately, however, each of us needs to

feel a sense of inner fullness and peace.*I want God to aid and

support me. God's presence brings with it the qualities of spirit. At

the source, every quality - love, intelligence, truth, organizing

ability, creativity - becomes infinite. The growth of these things in

your life is a sign that you are getting closer to your soul.*I

want to feel connected to the whole. The soul's journey takes a person

from a fragment state to one of wholeness. Events start to weave into a

pattern. Small details fit together instead of being scattered and

random. I want my life to have a meaning. Existence feels empty in

separation. This gets healed only by moving into unity with God.

Instead of turning outward to find your purpose, you feel that just

being here, as you are, is the highest purpose in creation.*I

want to be free of restrictions. Inner freedom is greatly compromised

when fear exists, and fear is a natural outcome of separation. As you

come closer to your soul, the old boundaries and defenses start to melt

away. If these basic intentions are present inside you, God takes the

responsibility for carrying them out. Everything else that you do is

secondary. However, you can still exert a great deal of

influence through your everyday conduct. Here are the ground rules for

spiritual life that have proved effective for me personally and that I

feel will work for many people.EFFECTIVE GROUND RULES1. Know your intentions.

Don't let your false intentions remain masked. Root them out and work

on the danger and fear that keep you attached to them. False intentions

take the form of guilty desires: I want someone else to fail, I want to

get even, I want to see bad people punished, I want to take away

something not my own. False intentions can be elusive; you will notice

their existence by the feeling connected with them - a feeling of fear,

greed, rage, hopelessness and weakness. Sense the feeling first, refuse

to buy into it and then remain aware until you find the intention

lurking beneath.2. Set your intentions high. Aim to be a

saint and a miracle worker. Why not? If you know that the goal of inner

growth is to acquire mastery, then ask for that mastery as soon as

possible. Don't strain to work wonders, but don't deny them to yourself

either. The beginning of mastery is vision; see the miracles around

you, and that will make it easier for greater miracles to grow.3. See yourself in the light.

The ego keeps its grip by making us feel needy and powerless. From this

sense of lack grows a hunger to acquire everything in sight. Money,

power, sex and pleasure are suppose to fill up the lack, but they never

do. You can escape this package of illusion if you see yourself not in

the shadow fighting to get to God but in the light from the first

moment. The only difference between you and a saint is that your light

is small and a saint's is great. You are both of the light.4. See everyone else in the light.

The cheapest way to feel good about yourself is by feeling superior to

other people. From this small seed grows every manner of judgment. A

simple formula may help here. When you are tempted to judge another

human being, no matter how obviously he or she deserves it, remind

yourself that everyone is doing the best he or she can from his or her

own level of consciousness.5. Reinforce your intentions every day.

Everyday life is a kind of swirling chaos, and the ego is entrenched in

its demands. You need to remind yourself, day in and day out, of your

spiritual purpose. For some people it helps to write down their

intentions; for others, periods of regular meditation and prayer are

useful. Find your center, look closely at yourself and do not let go of

your intention until it feels centered inside yourself.6. Learn to forgive yourself.

We all fall into traps of selfishness and delusions when we least

expect it. The chance remark that wounds someone else, the careless

lie, the irresistible urge to cheat are universal. Forgive yourself for

being where you are. Apply to yourself the same dictum as to others:

you are doing the best you can from your own level of consciousness. (I

like to remember one master's definition of the perfect disciple "One

who is always stumbling but never falls".)7. Learn to let go.

The paradox of being spiritual is that you are always wrong and always

right at the same time. Life is change; you must be prepared to let go

of today's beliefs, thoughts and actions no matter how spiritual they

make you feel. Every stage of inner growth is good. Each is nurtured by

God.8. Revere what is holy. Our society teaches us to be

skeptical of the sacred. But every saint is your future, and every

master is reaching over his shoulder to look at you, waiting for you to

join him. Human representatives.. of God constitute an infinite treasure. Dipping into this treasure will help you open your heart.9. Allow God to take over. Most people are addicted to worry, control, over-..management

and lack of faith. Resist the temptation to follow these tendencies.

Don't listen to the voice that says you have to be in charge, that

constant vigilance is the only way to get anything done. Let spirit try

a new way. Your intention is the most powerful tool at your disposal.

Intend for everything to work out as it should, then let go and allow

opportunities and openings to come your way. The outcome you are trying

so hard to force may not be as good for you as the one that comes

naturally. If you could give one percent of your life over to God every

day, you would be the most enlightened person in the world in three

months. Keep that in mind and surrender something, anything, on a daily

basis.10. Embrace the unknown. Over the years you formed

likes and dislikes; you learned to accept certain limits. None of this

is the real you. The unknown is awaiting you, an unknown that has

nothing to do with the "I" you already know. Some people reach the edge

of illusion only at the moment of death, and then with a long look

backward, one lifetime seems incredibly short and transient. The part

of us that we know is the part that flickers out all too fast. When you

feel a new impulse, an uplifting thought, an insight that you have

never acted upon before, embrace the unknown. Cherish it as the newborn

baby. God lives in the unknown, and when you can embrace it fully, you

will be home free. LightworkersRe-posted with Love & Gratitude♥Angel Love♥Living On Love Magazinehttp://livingonlove.ning.comFaceBook Link For KnightsIntent/KnightsIntention[ Knight]

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