Deciding What God Means To You
Decide what your attitude toward God or your spiritual life is. There are different attitudes people have toward their spiritual life. Determining what your personal relationship toward a spiritual life is can help you determine the best way to cultivate that spiritual life. For example, research shows that there are two types of attitudes towards religious commitment.: intrinsic and extrinsic. There is also a third dimension of religiosity called the “quest dimension”. Depending on which attitude or dimension that you have, you will approach your spiritual life in different ways. Intrinsic commitment: Having an intrinsic religious or spiritual attitude means that you believe in the religion or the spiritual world as absolute truth. You hold your belief in your religious or spiritual beliefs above all other beliefs. Extrinsic commitment: Having an extrinsic attitude means you see your religious or spiritual beliefs as a means for you to live a fuller life, but do not regard religion above other beliefs you have. For example, you may use prayer as a means to gain relief from a stressful experience. For some people, having an extrinsic commitment to religion helps then fulfill social responsibilities or advancement. Quest: The quest dimension describes a kind of person who does not need to believe in a reality where God or any spiritual figure must exist. Instead, you believe that the complexity of religion or spiritual matters is important to grapple with, but you also work to cultivate doubt and skepticism alongside your faith. In other words, you expect your faith to change and grow with you.
Write about what God or spirituality was for you in the past. To decide what spirituality or God means to you, you should write about your feelings and thoughts to help clarify where you want spirituality or God to go in your life. The past is a very important part of you and should be used to decide what spirituality or God means to you now. Memory can be a rich source of knowledge that guides your decision making. Write about important experiences that involved spiritual enlightenment or God’s presence. For example, write about a time you felt profound peace when there was turmoil in your life. Write about important relationships that taught you about spiritual growth or God, or write about relationships that hurt your spiritual life or relationship to God. For example, a relationship with a parent or guardian might have helped you grow closer to God.
Write about the current state of your relationship to your spiritual life or God. What do you believe about the spiritual or God now? What has changed in your beliefs or values? Write about these experiences, relationships or ideas that have shaped your most current relationship to your spiritual life or God. For example, a recent change in a relationship like a divorce, having kids, or starting a new bond could have helped move you towards the idea of seeking a more spiritual life. Write down the big questions you have about your relationship to God or the spiritual.
Write down what you want your spiritual life or relationship to God to look like in the future. Setting goals, even with your spiritual life, will help you to create the spiritual life that you desire. These goals can be spiritual goals such as finding time to talk to God, pray, or read religious texts. They can also be goals that help others with their spiritual needs, like giving to charities, volunteering, or praying for someone.
Growing In Your Spiritual Life
Read sacred books, spiritual books, theological books, and other spiritual or religious texts. Reading books about the spiritual and religious experiences and ideas of others will help keep you excited and inspired about your own spiritual life. Remember to write about what you are reading in a journal and reflect on what you've learned. A famous example of theological book about Christianity is C.S. Lewis’, Mere Christianity. A famous book about the history, meaning and practice of Zen Buddhism is The Way of Zen by Alan Watts. There are religious bookstores or stores with sections on religion to help aid you in finding texts to read. The internet also has an abundance of information and forums to help you. Consider joining a book club that is reading theological or spiritual books.
Talk to your pastor or a spiritual leader about your faith. Follow up with them about how things are going for you in your spiritual life. Pastors and spiritual leaders hope to see individuals grow in their faith and are also prepared to support you when you go through hard times. Establishing contacts with members of your church, mosque, temple, or place of worship, will help you feel connected to the spiritual community. Talking to another person who is knowledgeable about your faith can also help you make sense of your own spiritual life. Ask for advice or help from people within your religious or spiritual community. In some instances, the aid given to you by religious or spiritual people will differ from the advice given by people who are outside of this community. You may be challenged to think outside of a self-centred mentality and that might mean being nice or doing good for the people or situations where you have been wronged.
Attend a small community group, bible study or spiritual wellness group. Getting to know a small group of people will help you establish more meaningful relationships with people who are interested in growing in their spiritual life. Going to a spiritual small group will help you stay active in your spiritual community. These groups great places to learn about spiritual life, share food, grow, practice spiritual practices together and share the struggles and joys of life together. These groups will help you with a sense of belonging and bring you closer to individuals who share your spiritual journey.
Practicing Spiritual Habits
Go to church, mosque, temple, or a place of worship regularly. If a spiritual community is a good fit for you, they will nurture you in your spiritual life. Often it takes some time to find a really good spiritual community, so check out multiple spiritual communities. Tell people that you are looking for a good spiritual community. Generally, the best way to find a spiritual community is through word of mouth. One way that you can tell a good spiritual community is by whether the people there seem to have full spiritual lives. If the people who attend the spiritual community seem to be genuinely joyful and excited about their faith or spiritual life, you may want to stick around.
Get involved in your spiritual community. Go to activities and events and establish yourself as a part of the community. It is a good idea to do this as soon as you start attending a spiritual community that you like. The longer you wait to become involved the more difficult it will be to reach out. Avoid spiritual communities that make you feel uncomfortable about showing your true self. If you feel stifled by the belief at a particular spiritual community, you may want to keep searching at other communities. Avoid communities that may seem clique-y or are hard to socialize with. For example, a community with an extrinsic commitment to religion may put more value in religious traditions and appearance over spiritual growth and community.
Do service for others. All societies, cultures, and spiritual communities promote this prosocial behaviour. When you do work for others you will often feel more connected to your spiritual life. Service will often help you to grow and change because you will work in places and with people you might not normally come into contact with. You can find ways to volunteer through your spiritual community or a community organization. Talk to your spiritual leader or a community official about how to get involved volunteering regularly. For example, if you have free Saturday mornings you can volunteer at the local food pantry or kitchen that provides meal services for people in need.
Practice prayer and/or meditation. Prayer and meditation help you to intentionally cultivate your spiritual life. These practices also help you develop both your own discipline and focus. Try to get used to stillness wherein you are not visualizing or communicating with anyone else mentally. Wait till you reach a better state of mind that God has a way to guide and direct you to a path. Research shows that meditation has many health benefits, including decreasing depression, helping with eating disorders, boosting endorphins and decreasing aggression and hostility in individuals. Many people pray with other people regularly in prayer groups. Praying with others will help you build relationships with people as you cultivate a healthy prayer life.
Keep a journal daily, for at least twenty minutes. Start keeping a journal about your spiritual journey. Journaling helps you keep your priorities straight and adds clarity to your understanding of what is going on in your spiritual life. Write down important or inspirational quotes proverbs from texts to keep you connected and motivated in your spiritual growth.
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