When Spirituality Meets Reality – Finding the Balance
By Andrew D Thompson
Finding a sense of spirituality is an important and fulfilling part of life. Whether it comes from reading books, attending a local church, devoutly following a particular religion or philosophical belief, or simply from within, connecting with something larger than ourselves and recognizing that there is more to existence than what meets the eye is integral for a balanced approach to life.
At some point, for the vast majority of us, our time spent exploring spirituality will inevitably meet the physical world and the demands of our daily lives. Reconciling how to bring that sense of connection, understanding, and awareness that we gain from spiritual exploration into our life pursuits and responsibilities can be challenging for many people. The world can be harsh and chaotic, and endlessly offend our sensibilities, and trample on our patience and the calmness and serenity that we find when we’re alone.
Then there is the reality of having to make ends meet, support a family, and hold a job or career together. Stress can run rampant through our days, anxieties can haunt us at night, and people can challenge our sense of calmness in constant and unexpected ways.
It can be a difficult chasm to bridge at times, but it can all start to make sense and come together in a symphony of spirituality and reality as we bring the ideals from the former to align with our actions and behavior in the latter. Meaningful connections start with ourselves and having clarity about what we want in our lives for ourselves and for others.
Finding that balance between meeting our own internal needs and those of others is crucial for a balanced life. Yes, it’s possible to live selflessly for others in a very fulfilling way, but what happens when we don’t meet our own internal needs? What happens when we wake up one day and feel like we haven’t lived and done the things we have wanted to do in our lives?
Having clarity about our purpose can help us live a life without regret. Being clear about what we want to do, what we want to be, or what we want to accomplish can align beautifully with our spiritual selves when these are aligned with helping others. It is possible to bring together a win-win approach when what we do and how we act is not only fulfilling for ourselves, but also helpful to the world. Don’t all spiritual pursuits ultimately culminate with being helpful and there for others?
As we pursue the things we truly want, we can bring our spirituality with us. We can act with integrity, we can be open and honest about our weaknesses and want we need to work on and improve, and we can do our best to not take what others say and do personally. We can also face our fears and go through them and aim to do our best in life, which we benefit from as do others.
Most importantly, we can live in the here and now, consciously being present in our daily lives at all times. It’s the ultimate spiritual practice, which helps us become individuals who act instead of react and are able to be at our best when it matters.
This is what having a high-performing mind is all about—creating the life we dream of and simultaneously bringing our best spiritual selves into the world. It’s about living with positive, focused intention to make the planet a better place by being helpful to others and our communities. Do we want to be a net drain on society at the end of our lives, or rather, leave our loved ones and the world behind having contributed in some way to the welfare of others?
What we do doesn’t have to be fancy, just meaningful. A server who takes extra time and care for their patrons. A garbage collector who honks their horn for a toddler watching out the window, or a politician genuinely toiling for the betterment of their community are all simple examples of bringing our spirituality into reality. Businesses that are built around being helpful to others will no doubt deliver superior customer service no matter what industry they are in.
If we live exclusively for others, we don’t have balance, and neither will those others in our interactions with them. We need to take care of ourselves and meet our own basic needs so that we can be there for our loved ones and our communities. When our own ship is sinking, it makes it very challenging to look up and think about how we can be helpful.
When we have clarity in our purpose and we align that with our goals and pursuits, we live in a way that is more rewarding and enjoyable and frees us up to bring our spiritual selves to the equation and be helpful to others and the planet as well. Spirituality meets reality in a balanced way when our actions reflect our best selves and we live our best lives. What more noble pursuit is there than living to our full potential and helping others and the world reach theirs?
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Andrew D Thompson is a high-performance coach and author of the award-winning and bestselling book A High-Performing Mind. For more information, please visit www.andrewdthompson.com
