What is Spirituality

by: Vincent Laurie

What is spirituality? The definition for "Spirit" is; the part of
the human being associated with the mind, will and feelings. Think
about this word for a minute. We often use the word as encouragement
toward another for example, "lifting ones spirit". We want to relate
this word to a peace within. The word spirituality does not mean to be
religious or self-righteous. Spirituality is used as a tool for those
who accept its belief. Spirituality defines us as who we are in the
mind, what our will (choice) is and how we feel because of our
choices.

From the time I was thirteen until I reached twenty-one; I was living
a life of unmanageability. I was partying with my friends and doing
everything there was to do that was not beneficial to me such as
drinking, hanging out with the wrong crowd and using drugs
occasionally to take my mind off the hurt I was feeling inside. I was
damaged. Damaged so much that I could not see any other way but the
way I was living in order to cope with my inner self. Through this
spiritually sick period, I knew there was a God but didn't care to
understand him. I was very resentful, bitter and angry.

Deeply wounded, I turned away from the very thought of a spiritual
anything. My wounds were so deep that it consumed me and my life
became dark and meaningless. I had struggled with being sexually
abused as a child, verbally abused and neglected by my parents, my
parents hating each other, having a child of my own, being a single
parent, getting out of an abusive unhealthy and unstable relationship
, losing loved ones to tragedy, etc. Every day I escaped my pain by
blaming, escaping and not resolving. The reason for me doing the
things I did was always someone else's fault (so I thought at the
time). When I felt my lowest, I called God's name. As soon as I felt
better, I started my patterns all over again. This cycle repeated for
years and all the while my spirit was infected and I didn't recognize
it. I did not understand what spirituality was. It was difficult for
me to think of anything else but what I was going through and all the
while God was watching me. But, I needed to be defeated before I was
willing to accept it. The more I tried to cope the more defeated I
became and the more lost I ended up feeling.

Spirituality is powerful, preserving the capability to lean and rely
on something greater than ourselves to help us in times of trouble or
affliction. Each one of us has a spirit inside. Our minds induce our
will to make choices. If our minds are corrupted with self-
destruction, confusion, sadness, rejection, fear, isolation,
abandonment, insecurities, low self worth etc. our mind then
influences us to have the desire to make wrong choices. When we choose
to do wrong things then our feelings begin to thrust like a motor,
where we are then left feeling worse then we started off. Leaving us
feeling depressed, angry, bitter, resentful, oppressed, tired,
unmotivated with no ambition or drive to want better for ourselves.

In order to weigh our emotional level, the question we must ask
ourselves is, "how is our mind, will and feelings?" In order to begin
an emotional recovery we must be willing to admit that our spirit has
been broken. Since we now recognize that we have a spirit, we must now
realize that our spirit has been afflicted some way or somehow. In
times of distress or turmoil our spirit begins to grieve, leaving us
feeling sad, low, depressed even angry, bitter or resentful. Our mind
begins to flourish with negative thoughts, telling us how bad our
situation or circumstances are. Our mind is a vessel for corrupted
thinking. The mind plays tricks on us to the point where we begin to
believe that our situation is going to get worse and not better.
Before we know it, we begin a pattern of behavior that becomes
destructive to our spirit or our "inner peace". If this thinking
continues, eventually our emotions will affect the body physically
with illness, discomfort or heaviness. Destructive behavior will then
lead to affecting other's that are around us leaving them to feel
confused, angry, bitter or upset. This type of thinking is a lie and
this lie begins to weigh deep on our spiritual peace, damaging our
spirit to the point where we begin to lose hope and want to give up.

After years of going through the motions of trying to escape from my
own problems, I became so out of control where I didn't even know how
to think anymore. The only thing I knew was that I was tired of being
tired and wanted so badly for my "mess" to go away. In order for it to
go away, I had to come to terms with the fact that I was the one who
created it. No one would speak to me because they were afraid of my
responses. I became very isolated because I was unwilling to process
my pain. When I became isolated, I started to realize that everyone
around me is affected badly by my behavior and my actions. If this was
so, then I realized that something must be wrong with me. If everyone
responded to me the same then there must have been something really
wrong with me. The more I meditated on this thought the more depressed
I had become. I began to lose hope and wanted to give up. I wanted to
go to sleep and not wake up. Not only was I causing myself pain on top
of the pain I was feeling but the people around me were feeling it
too. Nothing to me was worse than feeling alone. I didn't think anyone
could understand me. No matter how hard I tried to blend in, I had
always felt different. I felt like my life was under a microscope and
in order to deal with it, I chose to be alone and further distanced
myself from my family and close friends. I was angry all the time and
most of all afraid of what my family thought about me. I thought that
their expectations of me were too high and instead of trying to meet
them, I defied everything they wanted for me and opposed to anything
that they suggested. I became cold and numb after a while, repressing
all of my inner turmoil so that I could function throughout the day.
When I was alone at night, my thoughts ravaged me to the point where I
needed to escape all over again. I went through bouts of crying and
screaming. Some days I would sleep for twelve hours or more and when
my eyes opened I struggled to get out of the bed. I had no energy or
motivation to do anything.

What most do not recognize is that when we get to the point where we
want to give up, we still have the choice to either allow our
circumstances to consume us or take action by not allowing our
circumstance to get the best of us? Choice is vital when we are
feeling spiritually broken because we can either regain our spiritual
sanity or obtain spiritual insanity. Either choice is our
responsibility and when it comes down to that choice no one is to
blame but us. Regardless of the situation or circumstance that may
have affected our spirit, we still have the choice to make it better
or make it worse for ourselves.

How do we deal with our circumstances so that our spirit maintains its
sanity and peace? Go to http://www.thebooksociety.net for the full
version of this amazing e-book titled "How You Can Change Society and
the World We Live IN." Thank you from members@thebooksociety.net This
ebook includes: How a women struggled and found help from
http://www.thebooksociety.net

Vincent Laurie

About The Author

Vincent Laurie is Christian that wants to spread the word of
spirituality to society to improve the lives of others. After many
years of struggle and confussion and lost faith. I have finally come
to the conclusion that without spirituality we are dead. Our lives
must maintain a spiritual awakening and we need help from each other
to accomplish this. The spirit needs to be feed just like our bodies
and we can't do it alone. That is why I created thebooksociety.net for
members to voice there opions and share with others valuable ebooks to
promote a healthy and happy life. We have done much research and
collect data to promote the best e-books. Our goal is to promote the
world!

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