In my spiritual explorations I have found that much wisdom and wondrousness can be found in amongst the angels, energies and light healing. Indeed the most incredible, life changing stuff I have taken from my 'spiritual path' has been the down right sensible, the obvious, the 'tips for life' that take more from a therapeutic, humanistic approach than they do a magical or paranormal one. Whilst praying to deities or uttering mantras has its place, beyond the soulful gloss lies much great advice for the here and now. The afterlife can wait and so here are my favourite must know tips, for the living, about living...
1) "An it harm none, do what thou wilt" these eight words are a part of the Wiccan Rede, which is a law of sorts for pagan types. It's pretty much tells you all you need to know. It summarises the Ten Commandments in less than a tweet. It's a licence to live life how you wish, but with the rigid precursor that nobody gets hurt. Sound, sensible advice, though much needed by many folk if the Daily Mail website is anything to go by....
2) Clear your head. I'm not going to mention the benefits of meditation here for fear of boring you. Clearing your head can mean going for a nice walk, turn the TV/radio off, examine your own thinkings. Sit in silence a while and get to know what you really think and feel about life. Give yourself some pondering space and allow untapped brain energy to bubble up and say boo. It works. A busy brain is unhelpful, stressed, crazed sometimes. Find a little peace and as you do regain a piece of you.
3) Reaction is bad. You can't control life but you can control how you act within it. Next time you feel angry, frustrated or hurt instead of venting, seething or taking it out on someone instead simply sit in the feeling. Mull it over and do nothing, say nothing, see what happens. See how things can often straighten themselves out without your reaction to push, pull or otherwise bully life into going your way.
4) Remember tip 1... Well enact it for real by shutting your mouth and refusing to do any of the following; criticise, judge, bitch, moan or whinge. Refuse to join in the office gossip. Banter you may, chatter chat you might, but turn your volume down when it comes to spite! Let people be, allow them to make their mistakes, allow them to wear bad clothes, let them have character flaws that rub you up the wrong way. Let it all pass, take a deep breathe but don't breathe a word of it to a soul. It's amazing how cutting out the verbal venom can quickly make you a happier person with better friendships. Choose also not to moan. Life could always be worse. Look on the bright side, think positive, be grateful, count your blessings...you get my point yes?
5) Love everyone as you would your loving mother. Great Buddhist advice... presuming your mum is a good one! If not then use your imagination. We are all someone's child and we all deserve a chance. Just for a day treat everyone really well, even the ones who wind you up, no, especially the ones who wind you up. Know that your kind, loving actions ripple out more than you might presume.
6) On that same note, usher out a little forgiveness. All of those grudges you hold, forget them, drop them. See how much better you feel when you choose to release unforgiveness. Being unforgiving makes you feel bad inside. It tears you up. The longer you hold onto it, the harder it feels when you reenact those hurt feelings in your head and heart. If you choose to forgive, you will feel better. It's not about the other person. Forgiveness is about you. You don't need to be best buddies, but you do need to clear that stagnant rot of unforgiveness dwelling in your core so that you can feel a whole heap happier.
7) Embrace the chaos and darkness in your life. Sometimes life is on a spin cycle and you feel dizzy, distressed and out of control. No one warns you of this. Parents may have thrown the "life isn't fair" card at you, but do they really, really explain this? Nope and so when you are living through a very real bout of life being unfair, it can be hard to cope with. Know this... chaos often brings about the change we need. It clears paths and in its wake we can restart and reinvigorate our lives. Whether this is fate, destiny, or just the way things go, it is nevertheless true. Embrace your mistakes, your dark times, your chaos, because in the future you will be looking back thinking you are glad it happened because it helped make you who you are.
8) All things are connected, everything on the planet. Shamanic societies go one further, they see all things as living. And in some respects, as all things are made up of energy, this could be seen to be true... Whether you believe in the spirit of plants and bees or you simply see that all things come from and go back to the earth as matter, we are all one and the same thing. We are a planet constantly recycling itself and coming up with something new. We are the earth, we are the trees. Take a moment and be humble, there but for the genetic make up go we...
9) Be in nature. So simple, so often forgotten by urbanites and city dwellers. Be in nature, let it be your cathedral, listen to the song of the river and the orchestra that is made of birds, bees, wind and rain. Feel it, see it, breathe it. Be in nature.
10) Say a little prayer. If not to a god or goddess say it to yourself. In prayer we come to recognise what we really truly want and what we need. Very few people pray to win the lottery, though they may pray for a sick relative or for help in dark times. Does it matter who hears the prayer or what is done about it? Prayer can be empowering, it gives your thoughts some structure, it can help you make sense of life. Whisper your prayers to the wind, hold them in your heart. Through prayer you can learn to believe in your self and master your true inner power to conquer all that is bad and manifest the best life you possibly can.
11) Embrace a little unconditional love. We may naturally feel this for our family, partners and close friends. But we are often rather tight fisted when it comes to dosing out love to others. Why is this? Maybe we are scared of getting hurt, rejected, thought of as loony? Well actually dosing out a little love to all and sundry is a beautiful, soul inspiring, enlightening thing to do. Plus, once you try it, you will realise that it's not so hard. There is no limit to our love capacity, so dip in, find that it is boundless and slosh it around the place willy nilly, make people smile!