A Personal Spirituality

Photograph by Reverend Steve Waites

I am often asked why I have spent so much time studying spirituality, and since I have, why I don't practice it full time.  I have spent many years studying and attending courses from naturopathy, women's spirituality, studying numerous forms of religions, akashic record reading, past life regression, crystal healing, and reiki, just to name a few.  But my ‘day job’ is in a large company working on strategy.  

And sometimes I ask myself the same question.

But then I think about the way I live my life, the way my spiritual training and practice has impacted my life.  From how I view the happenings in my life, both the joyful times as well as the challenges, the way I can take a step back and look at the actions of others through the lens of the situation being possibly a soul lesson, and maybe not as hurtful as it might seem. To watch the world around me, the actions taken on the public stage, and realizing a larger purpose is at play.  Or just taking a walk along the water and being awestruck by the beauty, the divine energy that can flow through you when you can take the time to be at one with nature.  

I have often struggled with my decision not to open my own business related to all my spiritual training. But then I realized that spirituality, and how we practice it, can be done any time, anywhere - not just in an official setting, but how we turn up in our jobs, the energy we can infuse into our daily interactions with our family, coworkers, store assistants, the barista at the local coffee shop. And most importantly, how we care for ourselves.

We can all be spiritual practitioners, with the ability to teach others through our actions and words, regardless of how we decide to live our lives. We all have the capacity to heal, to love and to support others.

Reverend Kristina Breen, B.S.

Sacred Foundations, Inc.

Director and Treasurer  

Spiritual Gathering, Sunday July 8, 2018

Sunday, July 8, 2018
10:30 AM
At Laughing Giraffe Therapy Center
100 O'Connor Drive #14, San Jose CA 95128

How to Live a more Spiritual life.

At Sacred Foundations, we affirm the Divine in all its manifestations on earth. We honor all paths and embrace the wisdom of all the Sacred Text across the globe.

At their core, these Sacred Texts offer us truths and lessons that can aid us in life.  However, we don’t adhere to strict doctrines and dogmatic teachings that stifle our spiritual growth. We look for and embrace spiritual connections to loving kindness and personal growth and healing. We see these as tools for our spiritual toolbox. 

  

What does it mean to be spiritual and not religious?

The definition of spiritual is often thought of as the interior life of the individual or the wellbeing of the mind, body and spirit.

A spiritual person often…
Strives to be loving towards themselves and others
Strives to be kind and loving, in their thoughts and actions
Feels we are all connected, energetically one
Consciously attempts to honor our oneness
Cares about all living things
Feels a connection to life on earth
Looks to understand
Strives to let go of judgments
Has compassion.

To a spiritual person, God is Love.

You can be both religious and spiritual if you operate within your religion from your heart and not from rigid dogmas, righteousness, ego and judgment.    

In the USA
More and more people don’t identify with any religion 
2007 - 15%
2012 - 20%
37% classified themselves as spiritual but not religious
68% said they believe in God
58% said they felt a deep connection to the earth

Many people who reject religion because they see it as rigid and don’t like feeling restricted by dogma (authoritative doctrine, proclaimed as unquestionable truth).

I have found that most religions, at their core, start out from the same basic foundation of love, kindness and compassion, striving to connect humans to something greater than themselves.

When people’s egos get involved and dogma is created, that core value is lost. This is one of the reasons why there are so many sects within a religion, like Christianity.

Robert Fuller says the “spiritual but not religious phenomenon can be characterized as a mix of intellectual progressiveness and mystical hunger”.   

I tend to use the core values of many religions as they apply to my life. I take what works for me and leave the rest.  I find some of the ceremony and ritual helpful for healing, releasing, marking life milestones, manifesting what I want to create in my life, and in celebration. I use these tools to give meaning to and enhance my life.

For example, when my husband and I were ready to have a child we performed a ceremony to ask for the right soul to come to us, stating what we thought that child would bring to us and what we would bring to that child. This helped us clarify our roles as partners and parents and to fully embrace those roles on a deep level. 

In the near future I plan to create a croning ceremony for myself and ask my spiritual sisters to join me in the celebration of my croning, fully accepting my new role as an older woman and all that comes with that.    

There is no rule that we have to follow a specific teaching or persons beliefs. This is not a one size fits all planet and each person has different needs and wants.  We have free will and we have chosen to incarnate at this very moment for a specific purpose unique to us.  We are free to use whatever tools meant for our personal needs, our personal path as long as we do not harm others.

I feel this is why we have so many different religious beliefs on the plant.  So I encourage you to explore, seek, find what works for you and play, just do it with love, kindness and compassion towards yourself and others.  

Here are some simple ways to add ritual into everyday life:

Blow wishes or things you want to release into bubbles and watch the wind carry them away. It helps to visualize them when you blow into the bubble and as you watch is float away.  You can also visualize what your life looks with the outcome you want to achieve. Emotions make it more powerful. 

Write down what you want to release and burn it, letting it go as you watch it goes up in smoke. 

Write down what you want to create and plant it in the garden, like planting a seed. You can plant something over it to enhance the intention, allowing it to nourish the plant as it grows.  

When you come home from a hard day, hang your worries on a tree or shrub outside your home before you enter. You can pick them up the next morning when you leave but you may find they are not as heavy or important the next morning. 

Run Reiki or hold a positive intention while you are preparing a meal knowing you will be eating the energy placed in the food you prepared. 

Ask for blessings and good energy to fill you before your start your day.

Before you go to bed at night, write down or say out loud all the things you are grateful for that day.

When someone or something makes you angry or uncomfortable stop what you are doing and thinking and drop into your heart.  Find compassion and send them love. We have no idea what is happening in their private life. 

What kinds of things do you do, or imagine going, to intentionally live a more spiritual life? 

In love and light,
Felecia

Reverend Felecia Mulvany, D.D.
President
Sacred Foundations, Inc.
Spiritual Center and School of Divinity
www.sacredfoundations.net
staff@sacredfoundations.net
https://www.facebook.com/SacredFoundationsInc 

Spiritual Gatherings held the 2nd & 4th Sunday's of the month at 10:30 AM
At Laughing Giraffe Therapy Center
100 O'Connor Drive #14, San Jose CA 95128

Sacred Foundations, Inc. is a 501c3 nonprofit church. We affirm the Divine in all its manifestations on earth. We honor all paths and embrace the wisdom of all the Sacred Text across the globe. We believe that only through dialog, education, and community sharing that humanity will find a way to live peacefully together in tolerance and diversity.