Spiritual Window Shopping
One of the common challenges to developing a spiritual practice is what Rumi called “spiritual window shopping.” [check out this video with Coleman Barks reading his translation of Rumi’s poem] This is a pattern of being attracted to a lot of different spirituality practices, perhaps even sampling them, but never committing and diving deep into the practice to reap the benefits found from the discipline it takes to grow in the practice. Hence, spiritual window shopping. We look at a shiny object in the store window. A few of them we might go in and try on for size. But most we never buy. Nothing really comes home with us for us to make a part of our lives. Sound familiar?
Deeper Inquiry
The behaviors I have described are not a problem in and of themselves. They are part of a very natural process. But when we eliminate the commitment part of the process, we create a superficial set of behaviors that never feed or deeply satisfy our spiritual energy body. The analogy for our physical energy body is if we are hungry, we go to a restaurant and are seated, look at the menu, decide what we would like to eat, and then get up and leave the restaurant. This sounds like madness, doesn’t it? Or maybe order an appetizer when we are hungry enough to eat a meal.
Committing to a daily spiritual practice is actually going ahead and ordering the meal we want and eating it – savoring our favorite parts and working our way through the parts we are not so fond of. The whole process makes perfect sense. There will always be many things that interest us or catch our eye. Some we will want to sample or try on for size. A smaller subset we will come into relationship with (buy, ingest or practice), and a subset of the ones we practice, we will master.
Given the overwhelming choices we have today with a wide variety of spiritual practices, it is easy to run from one to another like a kid in a candy store. But our consciousness knows that the benefit of sampling only comes from committing to a practice. And the benefit of mastery only comes through consistent practice. As spiritual beings in a human experience, here are a few things I believe we need to feed our spirit and keep life full and juicy:
- A framework for understanding how we find meaning for our life and what our primary purpose is in this life.
- A practice that inputs positive energy into our energy bodies.
- A practice that outputs negative energy from our energy bodies.
- A practice that helps us focus on what is important to our life.
Obviously a particular practice can satisfy more than one of these needs at a time. For example, my Reiki practice primarily helps me with #2 and #3, but often the infusion of energy adds to my ability to accomplish #4 as well. My meditation practice helps primarily with #4, but also adds to all three of the others.
In my first book, Divine Warrior Training, I offered a framework that covers all four. The framework focuses on a balance between three relationships, relationship with ourselves, relationship with other (people), and relationship with divine. If you are not familiar with my first book, you can check out a sample and/or order a hard copy or pdf here.
And sometimes committing to a practice becomes a stepping stone to another, more resonant practice that takes us even deeper. For example, in 2001, I took the training and became a Level 1 Healing Touch Practitioner. In 2003, I was introduced and trained in Reiki, a similar energy healing modality. I embraced Reiki and have been deepening and strengthening my practice ever since. I have not kept current with Healing Touch, and feel what it had to offer for my life and spirituality has been satisfied with my relationship to Reiki. I found and committed to a deep practice that 16 years later still has even more depth to explore.
What spirituality practice or practices have you committed to practice to mastery? Focusing on and committing to one now does not preclude others later. You can add other interests later, just commit now to one or two to take the deep dive. You will not be disappointed. You will find the wonder and beauty of the unseen world from which we all arise. It will get your head on straight and break open your heart to see the beauty all around us at all times!
Creating breakthroughs
In closing, here are some statements that I know to be true for me. Test them out in your heart to see if they ring true to you:
- Developing a deep spiritual practice requires making a commitment to the practice. We cannot sample practices and expect the benefits of practicing.
- Our spirit needs fed from a healthy and consistent spiritual practice.
- All spirituality practices take us to the same Source.
- Life is meant to be ripe and rich and juicy – like a local peach picked right from the tree! (Thank you The Little Grill Collective in Harrisonburg, VA for that recent peach experience! http://lilgrill.com/)
This is part 11 of a 12-part series. I would love to hear from you at challenges@thomascapshew.com I have not yet selected the topic for my last installment of this 12-part series, so if you have any ideas, please share with me! May your path be filled with health, joy, clarity and Love! Tom