Fellow peers,

After a brief conversation with a peer on the forums I was inspired to start a thread on spirituality.

For some, spirituality is a very important aspect of the human being and can be a source of great healing, comfort and peace.

I am interested to hear about peoples spiritual experiences and to share with each other on how spirituality has helped us grow and learn more about ourselves. For example you can discuss spiritual leaders that have helped you, quotes, experiences, philosophies etc.

I want to also welcome any form of spirituality and belief that has generated a sense of space and peace. Don't be shy!

I will start with a quote by Alan Watts (Buddhist/zen philosopher). This helped me challenge my beliefs on being not good enough, not better enough, not as I should be:

"What I am really saying is that you don't need to do anything, because if you see yourself in the correct way, you are all as much extraordinary phenomenon of nature as trees, clouds, the patterns in running water, the flickering of fire, the arrangement of the stars, and the form of the galaxy. You are all just like that, and there is nothing wrong with you at all."

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Hey there!

Love this post! Keeping in touch with my spirituality helps me stay sane.

personally, I love to mediate and practice tarot. And journal. And of course, express gratitude! This helps to ground me.

jaz

Hi Pumpkinella,

What a great thread!

Im practicing reiki I have done level 1 and am aiming for level 2 next year…… this practice is amazing.

I also enjoy meditation, I found that meditation was one of the things that got me over line with mastering my OCD…… it taught me that I’m not my thoughts but the watcher of my thoughts… ❤️🙏🦋

Great thread!

I have found buddhism and meditation very helpful during my recovery. One of the best books I read was "Buddhism plain and simple" by Steve Hagen which introduced me to the concepts of mindfulness and meditation. I have also attended guided meditation classes and regular yoga classes for 10 years, which have a huge impact on my mental wellbeing. I also read the tao te ching, and keep a copy in the house.

Everyone would benefit from a little more mindfulness in their lives; particularly at the current time.

Hi there Pumpkinella

What a great post. I totally agree with the philosophy of self respect, self love and acts of kindness towards others. The latter is quite contagious!

If I can add one other description of mindfulness - it can be described as 'simply paying attention'.

By thinking carefully about what we are actually doing, even if its nothing at all, our mind is far less likely to wander, especially into negative thoughts. I try to do this a lot.

It is great to see others making their contribution to this thread.

All the very best, The Bro

Hi. I think this could be an interesting thread. I will just tag this thread for the moment... And offer my thoughts a bit later.

So lovely to hear from everyone.

I find it so interested that spirituality as a form of healing for mental health is often linked to mindfulness and meditation. Staying present, seeing our thoughts as only thoughts. I loved The Bros description of mindfulness - simply paying attention. It is just that simple.

We are not taught to naturally give in to such simplicity in living - things for us must always be treated with scepticism, doubt, endless analysis. I like a practice that says that this is not necessary. It is simply - pay attention and don't follow ANY idea/concept.

I have been listening to a lot of Alan Watts - he is a bit hard to follow at times but can come up with some wonderful little statements. One of my favourites yesterday was: "living through your thoughts is like going to dinner and eating the menu instead of the meal"

Another humorous one was "You don't TRY to remain in the present moment, you must realise there is no escaping it!" That's all there ever is!

I would love to hear more about the experiences people have had as well and any particular words that struck/changed them.

Anna I am a huge fan of the Tao Te Ching and have a copy as well. What is one of your favourite passages?

Hi Pumpkinella

What a truly beautiful invitation you've put out here. So incredibly thought provoking :)

I've found spirituality to be a bit of a rabbit hole experience; the more channels or angles you explore, the more you find. When you hit on a particular channel of interest or learning, it can be so fascinating until all of a sudden another appears and it's like off you go again, in a whole new direction.

Being a mind/body/spirit sort of gal, I find all 3 angles are so intertwined. How things impact us mentally, physically (biologically/chemically) and naturally can offer an holistic view of how we tick. Without one of those 3 factors being taken into account, it's like you can be getting only part or parts of the over all picture. May sound a bit weird but an example that comes to mind is when someone hears (for the 1st time) what sounds like a voice in their head saying to them, during a time of overwhelming stress or depression, 'Everything will be okay. You need to learn to let go and trust'. Report such an incident to a psychologist and they may consider the onset of schizophrenia, report it to a spiritual coach and they may consider a mind opening to clairaudience. Wondering about what this person heard, while considering all angles, and it may become clearer as to exactly what's going on. Trigger an open minded person to believe they're going crazy and they'll most likely come to believe it. Lead them to to wonder what life would be like if they learned and practiced letting go and this may bring about a different result. Perhaps they may even begin to trust what naturally comes to mind (as long as it's positive/productive).

I think this is what I love most about spirituality, it invites a person to open their mind to all possibilities :)

Hi therising,

Thanks for the great insight. The voice in the head is such an interesting thing to observe. I totally agree that it can be seen as some enemy to be "treated" or conversely, understood not as a madness but as a normal part of the human condition. Just because that voice can turn negative does not make one "crazy" - just human.

What you said about interpreting this as schizophrenia reminded me of something Eckhart Tolle pointed out. He was describing a person in the street talking out loud to themselves, normally in an agitated kind of way (we have all seen a scene like this) and mostly our reaction is to think that they have lost touch with reality in some way. Eckhart points out that the person doing this is simply saying his internal dialogue out loud. A dialogue not really different to the one we all have, constantly running in our minds.

I think it is all in the art of letting go as you say, letting our minds be without attaching ourselves to it. Understanding it is one part - one phenomenon in the mind/body/spirit rather than forming our complete reality. I believe part of human evolution is to realise this.

A great thread. Thank you for starting it.

I’ve been feeling moved to connect more with the natural environment. While that seems like an outward, physical thing, it feels to me like a spiritual thing.

It’s great reading everyone’s thoughts and insight.

Lillylane

Hi Pumpkinella

The voices thing is definitely interesting. By the way, I love Eckhart Tolle. I was quite surprised to find there's actually an organisation which invites people to come together online to share their experiences when it comes to hearing voices. As they say 'All are welcomed'. So, you have people there who face the challenges of schizophrenia, those who face everyday internal dialogue (which, for some, can be deeply depressing) and those who are trying to make sense of or are sharing their experiences of clairaudience. It's quite a mixed bunch.

I love how spirituality appears to be revving up these days and making its way more and more into the mainstream in different ways. It seems to be getting more people onboard. One of these people is a fascinating guy named Phil Borges. A lot of his work these days is related to looking at mental illness from a natural perspective. He has a lot of fascinating points.

By the way, just about everyone I know has a habit of talking to themself. As my mum always said, with a smile, 'As long as you don't answer yourself back, you're okay'. My theory, on the other hand is 'What's wrong with that, if you're getting the answers you need?' This reminds me of the people I work with actually. We work in the kitchen in an aged care facility. There's a walk in fridge which I refer to as 'The fridge of amnesia'. Everyone who walks in, myself included, says 'Now, what did I come in here for?'. A few seconds later it's proclaimed out loud 'Oh, that's right...'. We're an amusing and chatty bunch, especially when it comes to us talking to our self :)

Spirituality is so important. Personally, I am Christian and although this is mostly perceived as religious- true christianity is about following Jesus and being guided by the Holy Spirit in your daily life. Knowing Gods looking out for me, he loves me and cherishes me (and everyone), is more deeply healing than anything else I've experienced. It's knowing your not perfect at all, I make so many mistakes and hurt others when I don't even realise I did (no matter how pure my intention) and sometimes I try but I just can't do the things I set out to in my own will- but knowing I am forgiven, that when I'm so weak I can release all my burdens to God and he carries me; this is truly uplifting and powerful.

Hi the rising,

I am really curious to know about this organisation, do you have the name of it?

I looked up a ted talk by Phil Borges absolutely loved it. It is so fascinating that in his research many indigenous cultures from around the world had the same view of hearing voices and how different it is to our conception of it. It reminds me of Gabor Mate - I have heard him talk about this point before - though his main work is in addiction and trauma. He also talks about the cultural/spiritual void through the era of rationalisation.

Haha I actually love your mums comment and I cant be sure of course but it sounds to me like almost a mindfulness practice. Let the thoughts flow by - don't answer back. Very funny way of putting it.

haha I feel like every room in my house is a fridge of amnesia. I could do 10,000 steps a day just walking around and forgetting why I am there...

I completely agree Lillylane

I think we see ourselves as separate from nature - so when we immerse ourselves back into it we realise we are connected to nature - we ARE nature. For me thats what makes is spiritual.

That and nature is just so present - so still, and it speaks to the stillness in me.

Hi chadicha,

I loved your post it feels like a lot of the healing comes from giving yourself over to something bigger than yourself. To recognise that under this spirituality (in your case Christianity) we are a part of a greater whole and don't have to carry burdens individually. While we are responsible for our actions we are also intrinsically tied to something much greater and that gives us strength and compassion for ourselves and others.

Hi Pumpkinella

'Hearing Voices Network' is the name.

Phil Borges is multi talented amazing guy. I love his photography. Jamie Catto is another interesting guy. His book 'Insanely Gifted - Turn your demons into creative rocket fuel' is both an insightful and humorous read. He speaks of the many different aspects of self, such as 'The Victim', 'The Victor' and so on. The book's about learning to identify which aspect of self you're channeling at any given time and which aspect of self you need to channel/employ at certain times. I smile as I think of the different aspects of myself such as 'The lazy cow who won't stop watching Netflix' or the 'Super bi*ch' who was born from the ashes of my 'Constant people pleaser (I'll do just about anything if you love me)' sense of self.

Now I'm laughing as I think of how I took this 'different aspects of self' to a whole new level with my 16yo son and 18yo daughter not too long ago. I asked them 'If you could pick an aspect of self, what name would you give it?' Keeping in mind my kids have a phenomenal imagination, not only did they choose certain names but these characters came with an entire back story that had me in stitches :) For my son, while the name Stan came to mind (an intolerant aspect of himself that can't stand abusive depressing people), we ended up way off track talking about Stan's experience with time travel, his complex relationships with other people and dinosaurs, his experience as a single cell organism and a number of other things :) My daughter, on the other hand, went down the path of a particular sense of self living on a farm while having a Chihuahua who wore bright red shoes and a bow on it's head, amongst other things. While there's no denying my kids are insanely gifted regarding their imagination I do believe they take insanity to a whole new level :)

Thanks so much for the info Ill have to check out Jamie Catto.

Its funny how we all have these different 'selves' that we employ - or that we even see them as separate selves and not just one person doing different things at different times.

for me I find considering myself as no self at all a relief - hence all the eckhart tolle. For me its all really an illusion changing over time and circumstance, coming and going. There is no one person or self I can pin down and say, thats me! So I just cling to none of it. - Well I TRY to anyway.

Your kids sound bloody hilarious. I love that you chat to your kids about it I reckon that would be so good for them to talk about and laugh about. :)

Hi Pumpkinella

I can relate to Tolle's view on how busy the ego can be - always identifying, always processing, always working to lead us to relate to things or not, to define our self in some way. It's easy to see how we can become so exhausted simply through thinking/mentally processing. To quote Tolle 'Not to be able to stop thinking is an affliction, but we don't realise this because almost everybody is suffering from it.' When I first read this, it both amused me and inspired me.

Thinking is a strange thing. I can recall my husband arguing with me when he insisted I think too much. The argument came about when I insisted there are times where I don't think, where things naturally come to mind without me thinking. The thinking part may come in when I choose to begin processing what has naturally come to mind. He insisted what comes to mind is still regarded as thinking. I gave up. Getting my daughters take, out of curiosity, she agreed she's not thinking when something naturally comes to mind, when it just pops in from seemingly out of nowhere.

It definitely takes practice to not identify with everything, letting go of that need for a sense of identity. It seems we've been conditioned to always identify our self in some way. It can be a hard habit to break :)