The Spiritual Room

My Spiritual Room includes my rituals of praying and meditation, and I participate in spiritual development as a member of my church. I also believe in random acts of kindness and try to use these acts as a way of spiritual practice. I delight in the wonders of nature: the beautiful sunrises, sunsets, and scenes of life, so I enjoy attending what I fondly call “The Church of the Great Blue Dome” when I can. I like to walk while I meditate or pray; I like to count my blessings and practice gratitude. In my last post I spoke about different journaling practices. Over the years, I’ve kept a gratitude journal. This journal is dedicated to writing down the blessings of the day. It is my intention to write down five things each day that I am grateful for; from my experience, there have been many days that I can write down much more than the prerequisite five; however, there have been other days that I have to go back and read over prior lists to help come up with my five things. I find this a spiritual activity, and it reminds me of my abundant blessings. Another example of my spiritual practice includes reading. I try to read every day. I have a stack of books on my nightstand that I “visit” each morning and others for the evening. I read devotionals, spiritual texts, nonfiction, self-help, and fiction. This practice gives me a focus for my meditations, shapes my thinking, and guides my life.

Visiting nature, art museums, churches, and other places is included in my worship and wonderful additions to “airing” my own Spiritual Room. It is simply a matter of taking the time to incorporate the activities and practices into a daily schedule and soon rituals are established. One of the most valuable practices for me is meditation, and I would like to devote even more time to meditation.

It is the practice of social connection that brings me to worship with like minded others. It is this commonality that makes the everyday ordinary extraordinary. The social connection allows me to feel like I am not alone in my pursuit of faith, spirituality, and peace. In his book Simple Prosperity, Dave Wann states, “By changing the way we regard the world, the ‘me’ in each of us becomes a much wider ‘we,’ and we feel interconnected and complete. Even in a world filled with contradiction and superficiality, we find True North” (69).  Connecting to people and places expands the walls of my Spiritual Room.

It has been my great fortune to be “called” to walk the ancient route of pilgrims along the Camino Frances to Santiago, Finisterre, and Muxia in Spain; I have made the journey twice and eagerly look forward to returning. Both of my Camino experiences were a major part of spending time in my Spiritual Room. The experiences I had reminded me that the ordinary can most definitely be extraordinary. During my journey, I learned many lessons and reminded of important truths, and many of these lessons from the Camino connect to all four of my rooms. A day doesn’t go by that I don’t think of places I visited, of people I met, or of experiences I had on the Camino. The pilgrims travel the ancient route for many reasons, but in my mind, this pilgrimage is spiritual as one connects to self, others, and a higher power.

I’d love to hear how others “air” out their Spiritual Rooms. Do you have activities and rituals that bring you closer to God, the Divine, the Universe, or Higher Power?

Blessings,

Lisa