Spirituality and how I got into it
Spirituality for me means…
For me, spirituality means, on the one hand, to feel the connection to myself and, on the other hand, to have the certainty of being deeply connected to my environment. To have a trust that life means well for me and that in the end everything will turn out as it should. I have had this trust for a long time, despite the fact that life has not always meant well to me.
My childhood
My childhood in particular was a great learning process for me. Today I can see, why I’ve made those experiences and what they were good for. Every difficult situation always holds a learning process, which we can usually only realize afterwards. I can therefore only underline the beautiful saying “everything will be fine and if it’s not good, it’s not the end”. Ultimately, I came out of my experiences stronger than before and would not be who I am today if my childhood had been pretty in pink.
About Faith
I was raised very Christian, we went to church every Sunday. At the same time, I was baptized just before confirmation. My dad wanted me to be able to choose which religion I belonged to. I am very grateful to him for this openness today. This gave me the opportunity to think intensively about the topic. Today, I know that I don’t currently feel that I belong to any religion. I am interested and like to listen to everything. On the other hand, I tend to trust (and if you want to call that godly) a higher power that, in the end, has the big picture in mind. I don’t care whether this is mother earth or a divinity.
About religion
Therefore, for me personally, spirituality has nothing to do with religious belief. Even though, I think every religion has the same background. We as humans want to achieve content, explanations for what is happening, and hope. Faith offers us all of this. Personally, I think it’s wonderful to think that every belief has the same foundation, as if everything came from one source. That there is war between the different religions is, because of that thought, even more disturbing for me.
For me, therefore, spirituality is not a belief in God, Allah or Buddha. I think spirituality and with it content, explanations and hope lies in us. In each individual.
The universe and us
I myself have the whole universe in me, because everything is interconnected. This thought occupied me for a long time. That I am connected to everything that surrounds me. And everything in turn is connected to me. The idea is beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Since I also like to have a scientific explanation of things, I have dealt with it more intensively.
I was able to find out that we are made of stardust and thus carry the universe within us, each one of us. This is not only spiritually fascinating and incredibly inspiring, but also scientifically proven.
In a nutshell, we are all made up of atoms, and those atoms, in turn, are made up of dust. Dust that was created during the Big Bang or when a star exploded, i.e. stardust. This can exist for millions of years and at some point will form again as an atom and from it a star again. On average, every atom has already completed 4 such cycles, which is why we humans are all made of stardust. And if I now imagine that I am made of stardust, that I have the universe inside me, then someone should try and tell me that there is no miracles. Because miracles also have something to do with spirituality.
In my opinion, miracles come in big and small. Small miracles are everyday things that we take for granted and consider normal. The fact that we can wake up, breathe, move and interact every morning is a miracle. Greater miracles are the fulfillment of wishes and the great life events. Learning to appreciate miracles again – especially the small ones – that’s in my opinion, the art of living.
Realizing Things
If you’ve had little to do with spirituality before, the next section might seem daunting. Therefore I would like to ask you to read it openly and just let it sink in. Maybe we can get a little closer to the topic of spirituality together, because I too am on a journey of discovery into this unknown territory.
But back to spirituality, I had a huge insight for myself in one of the first meditations at RUSU 2021. I was allowed to travel back on my line of life until the point in time when my soul chose my current life. That moment was overwhelming for me. The tears ran and I could clearly see that my soul has chosen this very life. With all ups and downs, all joys and sad moments, all blissful situations and all challenges. I chose this life to be able to discover my light. My soul has searched the darkness in order to be able to shine. That moment was magical and since then I can almost say: my life is different. I feel so much more gratitude, even in and after difficult situations.
Altogether I was able to learn a lot about myself through the RUSU. It has helped me, to find myself a bit more. Before that, I didn’t really see myself as spiritual. But now I know that I was always to a certain extent. Because my deep trust, that life has good things in store for me, has been with me for many years. At the same time, I was always aware of my own power to change things and to control them in my own way. I don’t mean manipulating things and situations. But to be confident and put positive energy into the cause.
The saying „Where your mind goes, your energy flows” illustrates this perfectly. What we think about determines our actions. Our actions in turn determine the reaction we receive from the environment. The reaction of the environment in turn determines our thinking. Everything is in a cycle and everything is connected to everything. I will definitely write something more on the subject, because the whole thing is so incredibly inspiring. Overall, however, it can be said that this can of course be both a positive and a negative cycle. Therefore, my inner attitude, my thoughts, my actions and thus the external reaction determine. That gives an incredible feeling of power and possibilities, doesn’t it?
Let me explain this to you with a small example. Let’s say I wake up this morning, full of energy and happiness. I start my day with gratitude and a routine that serves me. At work, as is usually the case, it is very stressful. Everyone wants something from me. If I now direct my focus on the positive, practice gratitude and try not to get caught up in the vortex of stress, then my day will be calm and relaxed. I can come home in the evening, full of gratitude for how much I have achieved today. At the same time, this day would of course be a completely different one if I thought negative thoughts and indulged in them. Because we always attract what we radiate.
Unconscious privileges
Our philosophy professor used to say that only people with a full stomach can deal intensively with topics, think about them and philosophize about them. I thought about that a long time, and he was right. Just because I’m fine, and I don’t have to worry about existential issues, I have the privilege to think about my life, and maybe even beyond it. This is the only way I have the privilege to deal personally with my further development.
I regularly see the opposite at work, and you and everyone else sees it on the news and all over the internet. People, who have existential worries, need to think about how to feed themselves and their families. There is no time for other thoughts. Sometimes I wish, not to be able to think so much. At the same time, it is a great privilege that only a small part of the world’s population holds. I always have to think of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs when it comes to the subject.
The hierarchy of needs clearly shows which needs have to be met one after the other. Only if…
- the basic needs,
- the safety needs,
- the social needs
- and the individual needs
…. are satisfied, only then can one deal with personal development. There are a lot of building blocks that have to be fulfilled. And so it is all the more important to practice gratitude every day. To tell yourself every day how happy you can be to deal with current issues. Of course, there are always challenges that you have to deal with. But we often forget how privileged we all are to deal with it.
Spirituality Is…
- in each of us,
- every connection to a higher force,
- the pursuit of content/satisfaction,
- the attempt to find explanations for events,
- and hope.
Some people celebrate their spirituality more openly, share it with other people, or enjoy it all to themselves. Others may just not be aware of their connection, or for some the time may simply not have come to deal with the topic.
Overall, I can say that I am currently on the way to discovering spirituality for myself. I am happy if you were able to follow my thoughts or if they started your very own thought process.
I hope you have a fantastic day
All the best,
Ronja
