3 Very Simple and (Almost) Effortless Ways to Grow Spiritually Every Day

by Susan Ni Rahilly

We’ve just had the Spring Equinox and it’s the real start to the year. This blog is the result of my insights into how much a year can change your life . . . and my suggestions for those of you who’d like to evolve and grow on a daily basis throughout the coming year.

I was living in Saltaire, Yorkshire (UK) in the mid-90’s, intensely into my Yoga and Meditation training and dreaming of the day when I could be independent as a Meditation Teacher. I had made my bathroom in my apartment very soothing and beautiful. I had a few Meditation “clients” coming on a regular basis. I had been given a little book for Christmas 1994 – Daily Meditations for 1995 by Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov.

I put the little book in my bathroom, made a lovely bookmark, and started 1995 with the intention of reading my meditations every morning for the year so that I would be the sincere and dedicated student my teachers deserved. I resolved to grow and evolve steadily and patiently and to look back through the book every two or three months to assess my progress.

What I didn’t expect was that everyone who visited me in my apartment during that year was enjoying doing the same thing! I got used to people asking if the bathroom was free as soon as they arrived and disappearing for 5 minutes or so quiet time on their own…

Before I give you my 3 simple insights for (almost) effortless spiritual growth, I’d like you to know one very important and fundamental thing to guide and support you on your path of development.

And it is this: Your teacher, guru or your master knows you are not neurotic. Your teacher knows that all you have to do is sit…  meditate; sit in stillness or contemplation, and your Buddha nature will awaken – your divine self will shine through. And you must be sincere in your practice, for you do not come to your guru on your ground… you come to the teacher or master on his or her ground. And they will allow you to have evolved a little more every time they see you.

3 very simple ways to grow and evolve on a daily basis

Read daily inspirations:
Choose a source of inspiration that you can draw on consistently: our Karma Cafe area on the website has a daily quotation for your inspiration http://suzenyoga.com/karma.html. Or you could follow one or two poets – my suggestions would be Rumi, Pablo Neruda or Kahlil Gibran.

Give up one weakness and grow one strength every day:
You were born with wisdom. You are a being of energy. You were also born with “shadows”. Your shadows are your weakness or neuroses – we all have them. You can consciously take control of yourself and keep moving from the shadow to the light by strengthening the good stuff and letting the weaknesses wither away and die.

This practice takes a few minutes contemplation every day and keeping a journal helps to see what makes you bigger and what makes you smaller. An example of wisdom energy would be: having a profound sense of spaciousness; and the opposite weakness would be: getting very absorbed in a small world. Another wisdom would be: seeing the big picture and having a large view; and the corresponding weakness would be: being rigid and tight and dogmatic.

Give up one expectation – especially about relationships – every day!
As you now know, you are potentially a Buddha and not a neurotic to your teacher in Zen as long as you are sitting in Meditation regularly. Your friend, “other” partner, lover etc. is also a Buddha . . . give up one expectation in your relationships every day and give the people in your life the respect your teacher gives you in allowing them to have evolved a little every time you see them.

So, I’ll leave you with this thought: evolving and growing spiritually creates magic in our lives, so that we can know the miracle of setting ourselves free . . . and here’s one of those Daily Meditations I told you about to set you on your path for the coming year, namaste…enjoy!

“Knowledge must be lived if it is to remain with you for all eternity. The only thing that will not disappear, the only thing that you can take with you into the next world, is the knowledge that you have proved for yourself in your own life; the knowledge that has become an integral part of your being.”
~ Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov, Daily Meditations, February 19th 1995.

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Connect with Susan at: http://www.suzenyoga.com