Deepak Chopra’s Australian tour is coming soon, where he will remind us of the extremely important connections between mind, body and spirit. He wrote an article in “Ripple News” recently, about ways to nurture your spiritual life. Deepak talked about ten ground rules for spiritual life, which I’d like to reiterate from my understanding of the article, followed by my own reflections. Here is part one which discusses five of the ten recommended rules.
1.Know Your Intentions
Deepak says to identify and bring to the surface, your false intentions. By this he means your secret ill wishes toward others like wanting them to fail in some way and wanting to take things that aren’t yours. Chopra talks about the feelings of fear, greed and hopelessness that come about when these false intentions are active and not to give into them.
My reflections: Knowing your intentions can be achieved by remaining as conscious and as aware of yourself as possible. Before you contact somebody, before you eat something, before you go somewhere, ask yourself why you’re doing it. Getting in the habit of asking yourself why you’re doing something can help you identify healthy and less healthy intentions.
2.Set Your Intentions High
I like this one- Deepak says to aim to be a saint and miracle worker. He suggests for us to ask (the universe, our higher selves) for self mastery and to achieve it as soon as possible. Chopra believes that mastery starts with vision and for us to see the miracles around us as a starting point for more miracles to grow.
My reflections: It’s easier to be a saint if you can be in the company of somebody who you consider to be like this. If you don’t have somebody in your family or friends circle that seems saint like to you, you might find a person like this who runs a group or a seminar. In terms of miracles, be aware of and remember the little miracles that have occurred in your life- like seeming chance meetings or delays that have brought about surprise outcomes. Recalling these miracles can help you feel you’re progressing in life.
3.See Yourself in the Light
Chopra reminds us that when we’re feeling needy and powerless, it’s because of our ego’s powerful grip on us and we can overcome this by seeing ourselves in the light. He mentions how sex, money and power are things we use to fill the needy hole within us but they don’t actually work. Deepak says that ordinary and extraordinary (human) beings are all in the light, it’s only a question of degree.
My reflections: An effective way to see yourself in the light is to visualize this in a meditation. See a column of light connecting you with the universe above and see the light coming down into your body. Deep, constant breathing will assist you in filling yourself with light in a longer lasting way.
4.See Everyone Else in the Light
Here Deepak Chopra comments on something that I think a lot of us do- put others down in whatever way to feel good about ourselves, whether we do this silently in our heads or overtly. He points out that everyone is doing their best with what they know and where they’re at and to remember this if the urge to judge somebody comes up.
My reflections: Another great way to stop yourself from judging others is to remember that the person in question is ‘meant’ to be how they are at that moment. This perspective can help you tremendously in several ways: it can help you save energy that would otherwise go into judging people around you; you feel less responsible for others therefore more at peace within yourself and your focus stays on you and how you can improve yourself rather than on fixing somebody else.
5. Reinforce Your Intentions Every Day
Chopra stresses that we need to constantly remember our spiritual purpose in life, through prayer, meditation or some other ritual that reinforces it. He notes that your intentions need to feel at the center of your being.
My reflections: Affirmations are a successful way of mapping out your intentions (see Affirmations page). By writing out exactly what you want for your inner and outer life and repeating these affirmations aloud every day, your intentions can be reinforced very well indeed.
To summarise, nurturing your spiritual life can be achieved in the following ways: by knowing your intentions; setting your intentions high; reinforcing your intentions; seeing others in the light and seeing yourself in the light. A beneficial exercise to get you more in touch with your spirituality, is to take note of your own reactions to these five strategies and jot down what they mean to you. Stay tuned for part two of ways to nurture your spiritual life, where I present the last five recommendations by Deepak Chopra.
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