It’s that time of year again when we reflect on the year gone by and the year ahead. January is well known as the month for health and fitness as we hunker down to burn off some of those extra calories we consumed during the holidays. They were certainly delicious!
Taking care of the physical body is very important and often the first step we take to improving our well-being. Once we start burning off those physical calories we feel better about ourselves. But what about the emotional and mental ‘calories’ that we carry on a spiritual energy level?
Spiritual fitness, which encompasses emotional and intellectual fitness, is equally important as more of us realize the importance of living life to enjoy our work and relationships because we have learned to experience and manage stress and anxiety with spiritual seniority.
Meditation helps us centre ourselves as spirit in a body with a mind and emotions. Learning to meditate means learning to live life with renewed awareness and stillness, applying our spiritual tools to creating the life we want for ourselves. Yes, it is possible to live a hectic life, present, grounded and mindful.
Like physical fitness, spiritual fitness requires dedication and commitment. Just like when we are physcially training, we may hit a plateau of discouragement because we are not experiencing any tangible evidence of growth for all our hard work. This is a critical point of conscious choice in our journey. Will we give up? Will we push harder? What will we do?
We do not need to give up, or push harder. We need to learn to be present with the circumstances, allowing ourselves to experience the frustration, apathy, and whatever emotions arise. When we know how to mindfully experience our current circumstances we become enlightened with consciousness. This requires spiritual consciousness and awareness of our intention.
Experiencing discouragement, or any other emotion, is natural and it is important we learn to understand every emotion is part of our journey. It is how we experience our emotions, stress, anxiety, contentment and joy, how we can learn to experience them with love and respect that perhaps defines spiritual fitness best. Meditation is the most effective way to enter the silence, to release difficult emotions, and to create a calmer, clearer future.
Make a commitment to immerse yourself into a meditation program that nurtures spiritual fitness and your life will change forever. Nothing changes until you change. It is through commitment, dedication and practice that we grow spiritually.
Regina Kaiser
