The gifts of spiritual practice.

Spontaneity, Joy, and Profound Peace

“Ego could be defined as whatever covers up basic goodness. From an experiential point of view, what is ego covering up? It is covering up our experience of just being here, just freely being where we are, so that we can relate with the immediacy of our experience. Egolessness is a state of mind that has complete confidence in the sacredness of the world…”

                          Pema Chodron

         The final results of spiritual practice could be lumped together under the category: compassion. They include spontaneity, joy, and profound peace. Wayne Dyer, American author and self-help guru, says, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change.” When you practice openness of mind and heart, bringing one’s whole self into the here and now, listening with compassion, being without doing, and seeing one’s connection to all that is, you reach a place of understanding that the universe is unfolding as it should. You know that to fulfill your purpose in that unfolding, you must show up and be fully yourself without pretense or apology.

         Spiritual practice, that is, the inner journey of discovery, results in a kind of confidence that comes, not from wealth, education, or station, but from a deep, mystical understanding of your purpose for being here, now. It is a confidence that no life circumstance can take away, nor diminish.

         All our fears are manufactured by that part of our psyche that is attached to the things of this world—possessions, status, recognition. The ego clings to the past and seeks to manipulate the future to its own benefit. It is freeing indeed to let go of that grasping ego, and simply face each day as it comes, knowing that all is well. What is important is that we be kind to ourselves, to others, and to the world in which we live.

         Arriving at this place of spontaneity, joy, and peace is a life-long journey. The only road there is consistent practice. It matters not what form your practice takes, whether prayer, or meditation, or walking, so long as it moves you away from the chaos of the world and into the solitude of self long enough to listen, see, open, be.

                          In the spirit,

                          Jane