Why Start A Spiritual Practice? To Get To Know Your True Self
- Jan 31, 2022
- 5 min read
Written by: Ulrika Sullivan, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I sit in a meeting trying to focus on the conversation. For the second time in the past few minutes, my mind floats away to my daughters birthday that needs to be prepared for, groceries that need to be brought home, the evening’s dinner, the electricity bill that I can’t forget to pay…and back to the conversation in the meeting...OOPS, I lost the point I was going to make!
I feel like a failure.
Have you ever felt like this? The speed at which possible impressions are hitting our senses is sometimes overwhelming.
Every day we have millions of thoughts, commitments, responsibilities, desires that we try to navigate, prioritize and fulfill. It’s hitting us constantly and we’re allowing ourselves to be distracted.
Now more than ever we need a way to help us prioritize, handle and detach from analyzing and reacting to every single impression that is thrown at us, and instead learn how to detach from the endless stream of thoughts and impressions that takes us away from the experience of what truly is your true self.
Your true self is the part of you that is connected to the universe, your vast energy field that reaches far beyond your physical body.
How do you stay focused, calm, and in flow?
If you don’t have a spiritual practice, it may be a good time to start one.
You may say; “Noooo, I can’t do that?!” with a clear sense of self-doubt. “I’m not a yogi, or good at meditating either for that matter…”.
Well, spiritual practice has been seen as something for only a few and not for everyone.
This is changing. Everyone can have a spiritual practice.
And who said you need to be “good” at meditating? (because there is no such thing as being “good” at meditating).
Meditation is a way to get to know your true self.
Meditation is not the only thing that can be part of spiritual practice, but it’s one of the most accessible and powerful tools to connect with your true self. The way you meditate is not the point, it’s that you do it and meditation can be done in a variety of ways. The trick is to be curious about your own preferences and not follow what everyone else does.
Maybe meditation for you is to spend intentional time in nature, or meditation is a ten-minute walk without checking your phone.
A spiritual practice involves connecting with our bodies as well. And many of us have disconnected from our bodies for so long to be able to cope with the pace and pressures of career and society. The body is holding a treasure of wisdom that we can tap into through having a spiritual practice.
Yoga is a wonderful gateway to body awareness and re-connecting the self with the body, but to connect with our body’s wisdom doesn’t have to mean that we sit on the floor cross-legged or do a head-stand. The connection between our breath, body, and mind can be much simpler than that. And there are practices for increasing our body awareness for everyone.
It’s like opening a door every day to your true self and listening and experiencing the love and peace that exists there.
But most of us are too busy to intentionally give ourselves that opportunity, because not only does it take courage to stop listening to the constant chatter of the ego-mind, but also our fear of truly getting to know who we are as a soul.
So, let’s say it sounds interesting to view a spiritual practice as something that can add perspective and depth to your life. But still, you may feel that it’s too far-fetched, not for you, or that there’s not enough time in your day.
Where to start? Often when people hesitate to begin a spiritual practice is that it’s requiring someone to prioritize themselves first. And that can feel uncomfortable.
To have a spiritual practice is self-care that leads to self-love and it’s a lifestyle change we’re talking about here. A spiritual practice takes you on a journey to discover who you truly are.
Your true self.
The decision to start a spiritual practice equals attention to a deeper perspective of ourselves, which is different than going for a manicure.
Having a spiritual practice is like expanding your perspective of who you are, and we have to be willing to do so. And when we are expanding our view of ourselves, almost like stepping into the unknown we need realistic steps so that it feels like something we can actually do.
So starting small, with an intention to slow down and prioritize stillness for five minutes a day is a huge accomplishment. There are millions of guided meditations available everywhere online that’d support this intention.
Try my guided How to Release Stress and Invite Harmony meditation (sponsored by New Light Living podcast).
Journaling is a practice that is empowering. One of the most powerful tools as part of a spiritual practice is to witness your own feedback loop through journaling. The capture of a moment through journaling helps your inner world to become more real and tangible. Amazing discoveries about yourself can be found on journaling pages. However, it may take some practice because what we’re talking about here is not what happened during the day, or what someone said that rocked the boat. No, this is our experience of our inner world that comes down on the page.
And that takes to tap into our heart and intuition.
Letting the mind take a back seat.
Set a timer for five minutes after meditation and free-write whatever comes up. This technique is not only functioning as a release to a pressure cooker of emotions but also a way to get to know our inner essence.
There is no right and wrong way of doing it as long as you don’t edit what comes down on the page. Because what comes down on the page when you are in stillness, calm, and in flow is your true self.
What is good is actually to DO it and not just thinking about it.
The work to get to know your true self is done every day. I invite you to dive into your true self together with me!
Ulrika Sullivan is the Best-selling Author of Wisdom Beyond What You Know: How to Shift from Being Driven by the Mind to Living from the Heart and Intuition, and founder of the Beyond the Mind membership community which is created to help integrate heart-centered and multidimensional living into our lives.
To learn more visit, Ulrika, on UlrikaSullivan.com or WisdomBeyondBook.com.
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and visit my website for more info!
Ulrika Sullivan, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Ulrika Sullivan is an intuitive spiritual life coach, yoga teacher, and energy healer. After leaving a stressful multitasking corporate career that left her feeling on autopilot, Ulrika realized she didn’t know who she truly was. A complete inner shift led her to her “point-of-no-return” when she with clarity connected with her true self, natural talents, and life purpose. Ever since Ulrika is successfully helping busy working women to connect with their own intuition, find their inner calm, self-love, and life balance, so that they can live with more ease and flow. Ulrika is the host of the podcast “New Light Living - See Your Life in a New Light”.
