SPIRITUAL TACTICS – 50 tips on enhancing your spiritual side!

When you are on a spiritual journey, just getting started or already good on your way, it can be challenging to maintain a good spiritual attitude towards your goal. Sometimes a little bit of help can do wonders to go the extra mile 🙂

Here are 50 tips to go the extra mile… Enjoy !

1. Read uplifting books. Spend time each day reading a book that encourages and inspires you. It can be biographical, fiction or non fiction. Check the library, they often have an inspirational section.

2. Meditate for 15 minutes a day. This can be prayer, but it does not have to be. Take time to center yourself and meditate on a thought, phrase, or image. This will help you connect to your deeper self.

3. Quiet your mind through meditation. Allow your thoughts to flow freely. Not judging them, not holding on to them, just let them flow.

4. Think positive. Positive thinking uplifts the spirit and lightens the soul. It allows your inner person to breathe without the weight and stresses of the world.

5. Be thankful. Spend a few moments each day reciting what you are thankful for. It can be material things or even people. If they are people, take a moment and write them a note letting them know why you are thankful for them.

6. Develop tolerance. Not everything can be the way you like it. Learning to tolerate the tough times allows you to enjoy the good times even more.

7. Be patient. Both with yourself and with others. Spirituality is a journey and will take time. Everyone is on a different path and going at a different speed. Let things come to you.

8. Learn your strengths and amplify them. Find out what you are really good at and do it even more. The more you do it the stronger you will get. Accentuate your best quality, do not down play it!

9. Find your spiritual passion. What is it that your spirit hungers for? Is it peace? Helping others? Contentment? Whatever it is, search for what drives you and seek to fulfill it.

10. Accept your spiritual side. Do not let the world take your spirit away. We are all spiritual beings, accept that part of you and begin to explore it.

11. Journal. Take time every day or every other day to write down your thoughts and dreams. Make the journal your own, you decide how to write and when to do so.

12. Pray. A spiritual connection with a greater spirit can help guide you through the uncertainties of life. It is also a great way of relieving stress and giving things over that you have no control over.

13. Be around spiritual people. Good company creates good morals. Pick your friends wisely, if you want to be more spiritual, choose to be around people that are spiritually minded, it will rub off.

14. Listen. Take time to slow down and listen to what the universe is saying to you. Also take time to listen to that messages you are sending to yourself.

15. Slow down. Turn off the TV, radio and computer. Take a stroll out side or set aside a weekend without electronic distractions. Allow yourself to be a receiver.

16. Get in a routine. Start the morning off with some meditation and prayer; it is a great way to start the day. End the day with some quiet time to reconnect.

17. Begin practicing spiritual disciplines. Disciplines such as prayer, reading holy texts, and fasting are great ways to begin to explore your spiritual side.

18. Search for what hinders you. Look inside yourself and examine your thoughts and beliefs. Are certain thoughts getting in your way of becoming more spiritual? How can you combat those thoughts?

19. Take care of yourself physically. The spiritual and the physical are intrinsically linked together. Taking care of your body e.g. getting plenty of rest, eating, exercising, in turn primes you to take care of your spirit.

20. Find a spiritual guide. Look for someone that has been down the path that you want to go down. Ask them to walk the road with you and guide you down the difficult passages.

21. Surround yourself with inspirational sayings. Print outs posted around your bedroom or quotes written on the bathroom mirror can help keep you centered and focused throughout the day.

22. Surround yourself with inspirational images. This can be landscapes, people, statues, or artifacts. Create a spiritual environment and spiritual growth is soon to follow.

23. Get involved in service to others. Serving others is a great way to get in touch with the common condition of humanity. It serves a deeper need in all of us to be significant and make a difference.

24. Give time. It could be just taking time to listen to a friend in distress or helping someone along side the road. Put your schedule on hold for a second and invest in others.

25. Give money. Sacrificial giving has been a tenant of many spiritual paths for thousands of years. It is a constant reminder of our responsibility to others and the futility of living for wealth.

26. Stay connected. Find a group of believers that are of similar mind to you. Spend time with them weekly and use them for spiritual guidance and support. The world is much too hard to take on by oneself.

27. Ask for help. We often have needs that need to get met that we wait around for other people to meet, thinking they should do it naturally. Well, most of thetime we have not because we ask not. Ask.

28. Set goals. Write down a description of where you want to be on spiritual journey. Be as specific as possible. Then map out how you think you could get there. Share it with a friend for some feedback.

29. Identify what distresses you. Do an internal check and find out what things (behaviors, thoughts, feelings) are getting in your way of becoming more spiritual.

30. Set boundaries. Allow yourself to be your own person. Be kind, caring and gracious, but be no-one’s door mat. Service is given, not taken.

31. Connect with nature. Take a nature hike or go camping for a weekend. Enjoy creation and marvel at the natural wonders of the world.

32. Let go. Let go of bitterness that has been brewing inside of you for many years. It does nothing but poison your life.

33. Be purposeful. Live life with gusto. Have a purpose in life and fulfill it. Look at the many roles you have in life and try to be the best at each role.

34. Unplug from life’s electronics. Take a weekend and unplug. Unplug the TV, turn off the cell phone, leave the computer off and click the radio off. Spend time related to others or resting.

35. Take a spiritual retreat. This can be on your own or with friends or a church group. Be encouraged and take some reading material and a journal.

36. Go to a workshop or seminar. There are almost always free spiritually based seminars and workshops going on. Find one that interests you and check it out. You might just learn something new.

37. Reconnect with your past. Where have you been in life? What challenges have you overcome? Who was important in your upbringing? Let your heart guide you in how you respond to these questions.

38. Consider where you are burning out. Burn out is a major cause of spiritual depression. Find out where all your energy is leaking out. Perhaps you just need to take a break from it.

39. Address myths you believe about yourself. Our mind is always making up stories about ourselves that are not true. Combat those myths with truths that you know from reality.

40. Find truth in yourself. For many people, their spiritual journey starts within. Self discovery can lead to a spiritual revelation.

41. Talk to many different leaders of faith. Get as many perspectives on spirituality as you can. They are usually all to ready to share.

42. Go to the library. It’s a cheap way to get your hands on all kinds of religious and spiritual material.

43. Accept grace. Grace is getting something that one does not deserve. Accept forgiveness.

44. Be merciful. Overlook the follies and mistakes of others, as you would like them to do to you.

45. Challenge yourself and your own beliefs. Write down your core beliefs, then begin writing why you believe them.

46. Sing. Singing is the outlet of the soul. It lights the spirits and endears the soul.

47. Use your talents. Find ways to serve others using your talents.

48. Keep it simple. Simple is the best way to go, do not get your mind working on too many concepts or involved in too many activities. One or two at the most will do.

49. Find forgiveness for yourself. The journey to spiritual enlightenment begins with forgiving yourself for past missteps. Let go, learn from it, and move on.

50. Take your journey one day at a time. You cannot become Gandhi or Mother Theresa over night. Be patient with yourself and enjoy every day as they come.

~ Giri Dayakar Jagamohan