Disasters to Development: How Spiritual Growth Begins

After reading a number of books from world famous authors I got to thinking about how in almost every case there was some major life crisis that spurred the author on to the spiritual path. An accident which laid someone up in a hospital bed for months, a divorce that shook their belief in love, a physical disease that could have proved fatal, these are just some examples of such issues. Very few people in this world wake up one fine morning and decide, “My life is good the way it is, but now I’m going to try something different so that I can grow as a person.”

The Disaster is Actually a Good Thing

Ever think any normal person is going to say that to himself and start making drastic lifestyle changes? No, sad to say most of us will happily go on living the lives we are living, even if we are not too thrilled about them. Routine is comforting, routine is safe and routine is no place where you will have a chance to challenge yourself and find your inner strengths. It is only when that spectacular crisis hits your life that you suddenly wake up and realize, “Hey, that’s not good. I need to do something about this situation.”

Beginning Self Development

Inner growth is not a top priority or even a distant goal for the majority of us when things are going great in the material world that we are living in. It is only when things begin to go wrong that we suddenly wake up to the possibility of changing the way we do things. It is no longer an option to remain in the loser pattern and then we decide to shake things up. This is when we begin to catalogue our strengths and weaknesses, which is the first step to making actual changes. How can you improve yourself when you don’t know what you need to work on?

Developing New Habits

It is not easy to change the habits of a lifetime. There will be times that you want to do so much more than what you are physically able to achieve. That’s fine. Each time you feel frustrated about moving at a snail’s pace, take a look at how far you’ve come. The changes that you have already managed to effect will give you the motivational boost required to stay on the path. The best way to stay the path is to make friends who also are in the process of inner growth. The support group is a great place to share your insecurities and know that you will get the right advice.

Use Your Greatest Tool – Your Mind

There is nothing more powerful in your world as your own mind. We believe what we tell ourselves. So it behooves us to speak positively and well when we use our minds. The easiest way to use the power of our mind is through positive affirmations. You may already be working with some on your own, but it always helps to ask for more clarity. Here is a good affirmation from best -selling author Louise Hay that you could use.

Affirm – I ask for more understanding so that I may knowingly and lovingly shape my world and my experiences.

Identify Your Patterns

Life is characterized with habits and patterns. You do something and expect something to happen in return. For instance, when the gardener sows a seed he knows that a seedling will burst forth from the ground after the requisite amount of time if he continues to water the soil and keep it moist. The baker knows that when yeast is added to the dough, the dough will double in size if left alone to ferment overnight and make the bread softer. The orchard owner knows that if he does not pluck the flowers of the tree, he will get to harvest the delicious fruit that is sure to form in just a few weeks time.

 Patterns and habits such as these exist everywhere around us. In the natural environment for sure and in the human world as well. For instance if the children make too much noise, mother will shout at them to tone it down. If a brother cut the hair of his sister’s  favourite doll, she will make sure that his favourite action figure loses its weapon, or some other form or retribution is sure to be forthcoming. If the boss seems unhappy, it is not the best time to present him with the plans for the office picnic because he is sure to refuse it in his present frame of mind. If your friend is feeling unhappy because she broke up with her boyfriend, you are going to take her out and feed her ice cream, or maybe take her out to a movie to make her feel better. 

These are easy patterns that lead you to form habits, but there are some patterns that you are unaware of.  There are some patterns in your life that may not always be in your best interest. For instance never speaking up when a family member bothers you by saying something, just to keep the peace. Trying not to be confrontational even when you know that you are in the right and the other person is in the wrong. Believing that you need to work very hard indeed to attain any measure of financial success. Sabotaging your own goals of weight loss and fitness by over eating or not exercising enough. These are behaviour patterns which do not work for your highest good, but you have them all the same.

They may arise from a number of limiting beliefs that you may have. The trouble is that till you identify your life’s patterns you are not going to be able to identify the limiting beliefs behind them. And a belief is merely a well entrenched thought. No matter how deep rooted a belief may be, it is just a thought which can be changed. By replacing the old limiting belief with a new positively charged affirmation it is possible to literally change the pattern of your life. All you need to begin with is to identify the existing patterns in what you see going wrong in your life. Think about it, what seems to never go right in your life? Now identify the pattern to get to that particular limiting belief.