This is part 6 of our 7 part series on small investments that will change your life forever. (you need for a healthier and happier life) Before you start with today’s article, make sure to read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here. and part 5 here.
In this article, we will talk about the importance of investing in our own spirituality and in stress management.
Table of Contents
6. Invest in your Spirituality
Unlike what most people (want to) believe, Spirituality has nothing to do with religion. Religion is something you can practice but having a spiritual education is closely linked with the cultivation of your soul.
If I could elaborate a bit further as to what spiritual cultivation is about, I would have to say that it is about:
- Learning what is right and what is wrong while establishing the limits of morality (as you perceive them),
- Understanding the value of qualities such as honesty, honor and courage,
- Having a proper moral compass,
- Avoiding anything that makes your soul bleed and trying to make yourself happy while at the same time respecting the boundaries of others.
These are only a few things that you must understand and practice in order to properly cultivate your spirit.
Guidance by others
Just like with the case of physical education, you will also need a guide, a teacher or a mentor for proper spiritual cultivation. Some people are lucky enough to have parents and teachers who are able to provide them with the basis for a proper spiritual system.
Others are able to find spiritual teachers through other activities such as yoga or martial arts.
Finding the truth on your own
Last but not least, some dedicate their lives into finding exactly what fills their soul. This is a very tricky path and demands a lot of dedication, study and soul-searching. Out of the two types (guided and self-guided), this one can also be the most dangerous, as it can lead you to paths unknown and often detach you from society as we know it. That is not entirely a bad thing but you have to understand that once you embark on a spiritual journey, your life will change forever and no one knows where you will end up physically, geographically or spiritually.
For that reason, it would be best if you first understand yourself and then seek guidance from someone who can guide you. This might sound as common sense but it is not.
Not all teachers and guides have the answers to your questions.
Also, not all of them are suitable for you. It might be the case that your energies or personalities clash and that is a sign that you must seek guidance elsewhere. But you must keep an open mind. Sometimes studying under an expert demands discipline and personal power, both of which are rare qualities in humans today. Once you find a teacher, commit for a good amount of time to see if you are truly on the right path. A spiritual guide is not an aerobics teacher or a personal trainer. You can’t be changing guides every week like it’s a hobby.
You must commit in order to see the changes that happen inside of you. If after a good amount of time, you are not getting anywhere then either consider introducing some changes to your mentality or seek guidance from another source.
How to stay on the spiritual path
One last important note: if you are having problems understanding if you are truly working on your spirit or not, ask yourself this one question: How is this making me a better person and how will it benefit me and the world around me?
The answer to your question can often be your guide when you feel lost in your spiritual journey.
7. Invest in Stress Management
I have spoken about the dangers of stress in a few of my articles (such as ways of the silent assassin or 6 effective ways to handle stress). Stress and our ability to handle stress play a vital part in our quality of life and health. Ideally stress should be completely out of the picture if we want to live long and healthy lives. However, that is far from what is currently happening and that is why you must invest some time in stress management.
What you must learn
You must understand what stress is, how it creeps into our lives and how to properly handle it, is one of those things that we must do in order to survive.
Stress is any activity that requires more sources from us than usual. It can be good stress (or eustress) or bad stress (distress).
Examples of Eustress are: working out, doing things we love, dancing, having sex, being successful at our work etc.
Examples of distress is pushing ourselves too hard (at work, in the gym or in life), doing things we do not love (as in a bad job), dealing with financial, family or relationship problems and so on.
Our body’s ability to handle stress is based on a set of internal and external factors such as our individual hormonal profile, our mentality, our life experiences, our attitude, our nutritional habits, our social status, our activities and more.
All of the above are important. Some of them we can directly change (like our nutrition), some we can work on (attitude and mentality), and some may not be so easy to change (our social status or the civil unrest in our country).
What you need to learn and do
As expected, the first thing we must do is focus on things we can change. Eliminating nutritional mistakes and having a proper nutritional plan is a must. Supplements can play a great role in our ability to handle stress. This is where having the right knowledge on nutrition, herbs and supplements comes into play, as mentioned in part 1 of this series. I have spoken about the power of adaptogens and their role in this, in a previous article.
The second important phase is to correct our mentality and attitude. Being negative all the time can result to stress. Being mentally weak is also part of the problem. You need to take simple steps towards behavioral changes in order to learn to handle stress better. Life coaches and, in some cases, psychologists can help greatly with that and they can educate you on how exactly to do those things.
The third and most important step, would be to properly manage your energy expenditure as I mentioned in an earlier article of the series. By adding restorative activities in your life (read about their importance in my previous article), you will be able to counteract the problems that come with stress and have a better response to it.
But remember that in order to win any battle, you need to first understand what you are up against. This is why having this type of knowledge is a must!
This concludes part 6 of the 7 part series. In our next and last part, we will look into the importance of investing in your leisure and lifestyle changes. Until then be strong, healthy and free.
Have you ever benefited from receiving extra training in your workplace? How about learning how to deal with stress effectively? Can you share some examples? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
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Also if you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave a comment and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks!
by Nick Sigma
CWC, EH, E-YRT200
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