Spirituality – the Ebb and Flow

All of our lives have been disrupted in varying degrees by Covid 19.

People are out of work, businesses have shut down and some of us have lost loved ones. We aren’t able to spend time with family and friends. Yoga classes are only available online and grocery shopping has become a whole new adventure.

Someone once said that no one comes to God after winning the lottery. I suppose that is debatable but the point is….. we often don’t seek deeper meaning until a crisis hits.

We go about our daily routines, experiencing the usual ups and downs. Our attention is focused on every day reality. You may have a spiritual practice but it might not be integrated into the whole of your life.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, your world is turned upside down. Maybe a serious illness, loss of job or death of a loved one.  You start to question. You begin a deeper search for understanding…trying to  make some sense of the world around you. You question your place in the universe, looking for a higher purpose. A feeling of hopelessness sets in and you resort to prayer for the first time in your life. You are looking for something more, something deeper. With this seeking, a spiritual focus begins to grace your life.

Right now, we are all in the middle of a pandemic that has changed our lives in dramatic ways. Future plans of travel, moving and socializing aren’t quite going as we wanted. We have no control over the repercussions of this virus. What we can control is how we respond.

Will you use this time for self reflection? Can you change your perception from feeling isolated to embracing the gift of solitude? Will you be quiet and open yourself to connect to something larger that your limited sense of self? How will you deepen your spiritual practice?

There are many spiritual paths. All of them acknowledge the existence of “something” more intrinsically important than the image you project, the products you buy and the mind dulling activities you engage in simply to pass the time. Time is precious.

Use this time well. It can be a gift on a personal, soulful and global level.