Nowadays, people are very materialistic, hungry for power, money, influences, etc., which seem to be seen as ‘normality’ for human-beings. We seem to pay our attention to physical needs and wants, rather than grow our mind and spirit. Since mind and spirit is also very crucial to our lives, we need to grow spiritually and revamp our concepts of self-worth and self-meaning. We certainly need to have a balance between the material and spiritual aspects of our lives.
We need to look inside our mind and spirit to grow spiritually. In addition to recalling the things that happened in a day, week, or month, we will need to examine closely our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and motivations. From time to time, we have to examine our experiences, the decisions we make, the relationships we have, and the things we engage in, which will provide useful insights on our life goals. On the good traits, we must sustain and get rid off the bad traits we have. Besides, it gives us clues on how to act, react, and conduct ourselves in the middle of any situation. Just like any skill, looking into our mind and spirit and growing spiritually by focusing inward can be learned. We need to have courage and willingness to look for the truths that rest inside us. Here are some pointers when we introspect: be objective, be forgiving of ourselves, and focus on our areas for improvement.
We have to develop our potentials to grow spiritually. Religion and science may have conflicting views regarding human spirit. Religion views people as spiritual beings temporarily existing on Earth, while science views the spirit as just a single dimension of an individual. Mastery of the self is a recurring theme in both Christian (Western) and Eastern teachings. Although the needs of the body are recognized, they are placed under the needs of the spirit. We need beliefs, values, morality, rules, experiences, and good works to serve us as the blueprint to ensure the growth of the spiritual being. Realizing ourselves’ full potential is to self-actualize. According to Maslow’s theory about human needs, physiological, security, belongingness, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualization, and self-transcendence are the needs that human beings strive for. James earlier categorized these needs into three: material, emotional, and spiritual. When we have satisfied the basic physiological and emotional needs, spiritual or existential needs come next. Obtaining each need leads to the ultimate development of the individual. It might seem a little “new-agey” to us but meditation is without doubt one of the best methods of growing spiritually: our mind and spirit. In this website, we have covered selected great articles explaining how to meditate that we can learn from.
To grow mind and spirit, we need to look for meaning. Some religions that believe in the existence of God such as Christianism, Judaism, and Islam think that the purpose of the human life is to serve the Creator of all things. Many theories in psychology propose that we ultimately give meaning to our lives. Whether we believe that life’s meaning is.
