Eight spiritual principles for personal growth
”The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life — mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical.” –Julius Erving
It’s surprising how many people want success yet can’t define it. Society’s pressure to “look successful” has blurred the lines of what it really means. Many people living so called “successful lives” struggle to find any fulfillment in their lives. Is that success?
Easter brings powerful visual reminders of the ongoing processes of renewal, transformation and opportunity. It’s common that many of us find ourselves focusing on personal growth, change and rejuvenation during this time as well.
This season inspires us to pause and reconnect with our spiritual side. Spirituality is all about personal growth. It’s giving our lives meaning, giving our ventures a reason to be pursued. It’s developing an elevated feeling of purpose.
In a very real sense we have two minds: our left brain is the one that thinks and our right brain is the one that feels. The right brain is where our spirituality resides and unfortunately, is often overlooked and underutilized in our quest for success.
The spiritual side of success requires us to take a journey within ourselves and make positive changes to our world and us. This spiritual journey should not be one of getting ahead of other people, but rather getting ahead of ourselves.
There are many spiritual principles that can become part of our approach to life and work — ways of being, doing, thinking, believing, behaving and engaging that can enable us to reach our highest potential.
Here are eight key spiritual principles that can serve as a foundation for successful living:
1. Gratitude. Every day is a gift. Take nothing for granted. If we always focus on what we don’t have, we’ll never have enough. There’s something very uplifting about filling ourselves with gratitude when we first open our eyes each morning. Gratitude clears away petty crankiness and gives hope and inspiration to our day.
2. Humility. Energy gets squandered in the mindless striving for importance by trying to prove we’re richer, smarter, wiser, more capable or more worthy than others. Humility means letting go and freeing ourselves of the need to feel bigger than others.
3. Optimism. The power of optimism allows us to see the positive aspects of any situation and enables us to capitalize on each possibility. Optimism is a proactive state of mind. It’s a belief that many of the outcomes we seek are indeed in our own hands. Curiously, optimism is also a way of capitalizing on luck.
4. Generosity. We feel larger, stronger, fuller and more engaged by the simple act of giving. The most direct road to success is to keep on giving. Successful people give back to the community or become mentors to others. We grow when we give.
5. Forgiveness. We also grow when we forgive. Forgiving is not about approving or condoning what’s been done. It’s about letting go of it. When we get caught up in anger and vengeance, we give away parts of ourselves and allow the tormentor to victimize us again.
6. Cause and effect. Everything we say or do creates a ripple effect. For example, we not only affect the person we are dealing with, but also their families and friends. Trying to create good energy by inspiring people or seeking the better good in the world in turn creates a better us.
7. Intention. When we create intention, we take charge of the direction of our energy and events seem to fall into place to support that intention. When there is no intention, we default to experience a random life, carried by the currents that others have set in motion.
8. Expectation. We may not always get what we want, but we always seem to get what we expect. Whether we realize it or not, we’re constantly “programming” outcomes in our lives. Before achieving anything we must believe that it is possible. The clarity of our intention and the strength of our expectation come together to focus our attention and energy on results.
We don’t just “go” through life, we “grow” through life. Focusing on spiritual principles of success can help us leave a legacy, not just a memory and a bunch of stuff. Start to tell the story of your life, as you want it to be. Don’t be afraid of taking it slow, but be afraid of not moving forward at all.
Brad Larsen is a life coach and corporate consultant from northern Utah. He can be reached at bradlarsen@dailymasterpieces.com.
