Monday, September 17, 2007 at 2:02am
Choose healthy spiritual habits
Column: PERFECTBALANCELIFE
Those who choose to dedicate themselves to a specific spiritual path or faith tradition often experience frustration and disappointment about their level of progress and growth. Roy Eugene Davis, founder of the Center for Spiritual Awareness, asserts that a major obstacle to the realization of one's spiritual aspirations and goals is the practitioner's "inclination to want to have results without changing their modes of thinking, feeling and behavior." One reason we do not experience progressive inner fulfillment is because we fail to consistently put into practice the rituals and disciplines that we know are so vital to our well-being.
It is a fact that dedicated spiritual paths and faith traditions encourage their followers to adopt specific disciplines and practices in their daily lives. From sitting motionless on your living room floor at 5 a.m. in a Buddha-like lotus pose, meditating, to shouting out your cherished beliefs in the middle of Times Square in New York City, faithful disciples and devotees are always required to demonstrate — through action — their inner convictions. When we do not act out in accordance with our deeply held values, we suffer internal turmoil and imbalance. It is important to quickly realign ourselves so that our internal world functions in harmony with our outer world. Each day the choices we make about how we think, feel and behave have a direct impact on how we will respond to every condition we are faced with.
Recommended habits
I would like to share with you some healthy habits that I have chosen to incorporate into my daily life. When I fully experience these habits on a regular basis, the result is a deep sense of inner fulfillment and life balance. Such fulfillment is always equally reflected in my outer world experiences. I do not always practice these habits consistently. Yet the more I practice them, the better I am able to see my own behavior and attitudes. By contrasting each healthy habit with its opposite, I hope to provide you with a greater sense of the potential benefits these habits can provide for your life.
Begin and end each day with intentional time for prayer, meditation and reflection.
Opposite: Begin and end each day distracted, anxious and rudderless.
Act as if everything you need at this time is already yours.
Opposite: Think and act like everything you need cannot be obtained.
Control outer circumstances by cultivating inner peace.
Opposite: Allow the opinions, thoughts, and actions of others to control your responses, behaviors and attitudes.
Work diligently with focused intention.
Opposite: Be lazy, lacking inner strength and power.
Practice peace; no violence against self or others.
Opposite: Be abusive to self and others.
In speaking to the significance of making the kinds of choices that support our continued growth and freedom, Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, provides us with the following insight: "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
We are free to choose and adopt healthy habits into our lives or to adopt unhealthy habits that enslave us. Quickly get to work and recognize how you are choosing and practicing your particular habits, and whether or not they are freeing or enslaving you.
— — —
Jack LaValley is a practitioner of the martial arts, physical cultivation exercises, and sitting meditation. Although currently working in the hospitality industry, he spends much of his free time helping and working together with those who are pursuing the spiritual path. Jack and his wife, Oh Wha-ja, a native of South Korea, reside in Westchester County, New York, and are the proud parents of three beautiful children. You can reach Jack at: {perfectbalance1@optimum.netl}. © Copyright 2007 by Jack LaValley.
It is a fact that dedicated spiritual paths and faith traditions encourage their followers to adopt specific disciplines and practices in their daily lives. From sitting motionless on your living room floor at 5 a.m. in a Buddha-like lotus pose, meditating, to shouting out your cherished beliefs in the middle of Times Square in New York City, faithful disciples and devotees are always required to demonstrate — through action — their inner convictions. When we do not act out in accordance with our deeply held values, we suffer internal turmoil and imbalance. It is important to quickly realign ourselves so that our internal world functions in harmony with our outer world. Each day the choices we make about how we think, feel and behave have a direct impact on how we will respond to every condition we are faced with.
Recommended habits
I would like to share with you some healthy habits that I have chosen to incorporate into my daily life. When I fully experience these habits on a regular basis, the result is a deep sense of inner fulfillment and life balance. Such fulfillment is always equally reflected in my outer world experiences. I do not always practice these habits consistently. Yet the more I practice them, the better I am able to see my own behavior and attitudes. By contrasting each healthy habit with its opposite, I hope to provide you with a greater sense of the potential benefits these habits can provide for your life.
Begin and end each day with intentional time for prayer, meditation and reflection.
Opposite: Begin and end each day distracted, anxious and rudderless.
Act as if everything you need at this time is already yours.
Opposite: Think and act like everything you need cannot be obtained.
Control outer circumstances by cultivating inner peace.
Opposite: Allow the opinions, thoughts, and actions of others to control your responses, behaviors and attitudes.
Work diligently with focused intention.
Opposite: Be lazy, lacking inner strength and power.
Practice peace; no violence against self or others.
Opposite: Be abusive to self and others.
In speaking to the significance of making the kinds of choices that support our continued growth and freedom, Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, provides us with the following insight: "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
We are free to choose and adopt healthy habits into our lives or to adopt unhealthy habits that enslave us. Quickly get to work and recognize how you are choosing and practicing your particular habits, and whether or not they are freeing or enslaving you.
— — —
Jack LaValley is a practitioner of the martial arts, physical cultivation exercises, and sitting meditation. Although currently working in the hospitality industry, he spends much of his free time helping and working together with those who are pursuing the spiritual path. Jack and his wife, Oh Wha-ja, a native of South Korea, reside in Westchester County, New York, and are the proud parents of three beautiful children. You can reach Jack at: {perfectbalance1@optimum.netl}. © Copyright 2007 by Jack LaValley.