The practice
of the Spiritual Warrior is to become spiritually senior. The ultimate
goal is to walk the spiritual path in every moment of our lives. We
are moving toward allowing our lives to be led consciously as Spirit in
a body. This does not mean creating "perfect pictures" like being able
to totally own your space all the time. Rather, aim for a heightened
level of awareness and clear intent with respect to each action,
decision, or thought as you walk down the street, shower, watch
television, or just do nothing (although there really is no such thing
as doing nothing).
There
is a way of eating a meal which can make it a sacred experience. Be
present, appreciate each bite, and be aware of the energy that you are
taking in through the food to nourish your body. Eating, of course, is
just one way of taking in energy. Often people who are unable to
receive energy in other ways try and compensate by consuming too much
food. This can create imbalance. Consuming food can be sacred, but it
does not have to be perfect. Perhaps on occasion, you choose to eat
boorishly and just wolf down your meal. Only you can decide what is
appropriate for you, and what you need to be doing at a particular
time. It is important to be aware of how you are living without
judging or becoming rigid. You can plan a romantic dinner for
yourself, or just eat while in quiet witness of the experience.
There are many ways to nourish your body consciously. No
matter how you choose to be, be conscious of your choice. What does
your body need? Does it need to be silly? To be angry? To do
something really "pop culture"? Does it need to do something very
different from what it usually does, to break out of a mold? Whatever
you choose, choose it from a place of Spirit. Remember to make that
decision for yourself. As we make choices, it is sometimes tricky to
make decisions fully for ourselves without anyone's permission. It can
be difficult to stay unattached to their reaction. Will they perceive
it positively or negatively? Focus on, and take responsibility for,
your own decisions, not how others perceive them.
You
can use the events in your daily life for spiritual development. When
you make a decision, make it from a place of Spirit rather than from
the analyzer/mind and body programming. If you are making decisions
from the place of the analyzer/mind, you will not be spiritually
conscious of your choice. One of the major intentions of the Spiritual
Warrior is to be conscious all the time, and to refrain from judging
his or her decisions. Ultimately, you will stay on your conscious path
if you are making your decisions from a place of Spirit first. When
your awareness resides in the center of your head, you have greater
awareness of the analyzer patterns and the body's programming. You can
choose to indulge those messages or to disregard them. Be clear and
know that you are doing your spiritual work. You are consciously
choosing your reality.
When
you take a walk down the street, what percentage of the time are you
present for it? Do you take time to look at the trees as they are
silhouetted against the sky or to feel your heart beating as you move
down the street? Do you feel the air that you breathe or have you
already moved onto the next thing that you are going to do? Walking
down the street is as spiritual as meditation. We want to bring
spiritual awareness into every moment and into all aspects of our
lives. We want to extend our consciousness.
Each
of us lives in different realities. If you walk past flowers without
seeing them or savoring the fragrance, the flowers do not exist in your
reality. They are not actually there for you. Something else was more
important in that moment than experiencing the present. If you are
present for your life, magic starts to happen and things turn up that
you would never expect.
The
Spiritual Warrior knows that he or she lives in a human body and bodies
love to be acknowledged and cared for. When you are not in present
time, your body can get angry because it does not have your attention.
Ask yourself how much of the time do you just go through the motions of
an activity without really being there for it? Are you communicating
with your body and loving your body as you do it? Perhaps you even
invalidate your body while you are looking after it. Your body just
wants to be loved. Remember you are the most important being to love
it. It is great when your partner tells your body it is beautiful and
appreciated but it isn't as important as your own messages of love to
your body. Having a body in manifest reality is a lovely thing and
looking after it is too, if you can have it.
It is far too easy
to drag your body around with you without being aware of it. The body
wonders where it is going, why it is doing something, and why you
aren't paying any attention to it. Bodies are just like children being
taken to the supermarket; they may not want to go, but if you are
present and engage them, you can both enjoy the experience. Bodies
want to be with you more than anything. Like children, they find it
difficult to understand that the one who looks after and cares for them
will willingly invalidate them. The more we can send messages of love
and consciousness, the happier bodies become. Bodies want to enjoy
life, play and have fun, just as children do. Really consider for a
moment how much of the time you are aware of your body and how much of
the time you are ignoring it or even invalidating it. Validating your
body is part of living spiritually.
Any experience can be a
spiritual one, just as long as you are spiritually present. The
choices are unlimited. It simply takes spiritual consciousness. As you
validate more and more of the journey everything changes.
