How to weave spiritual principles into your daily life

There are many spiritual principles. They include but are not limited to the following: honesty, openness, willingness, patience, love, tolerance, humility, and gratitude. When viewed in black and white, they can seem a bit overwhelming. And imagining weaving them into everyday life feels like an impossibility. Take a deep breath and relax. It’s not that sinister.

Let’s travel through an imaginary but fairly typical day and see how even mundane activities offer the opportunity to practice spiritual principles. It’s 5:00 am and your alarm clock rings. Instead of moaning and burying your head under a pillow, you can pray or read a daily meditation. This starts a positive attitude for the day. As you shower and get dressed for the day, you won’t have racing thoughts about everything you have to accomplish that day. Instead, you will focus on the moment. You have not yet left your house, and you are already practicing patience and disposition.

While waiting for the bus to go to work, you notice that the wind is cold and the bus is late. Before you can allow yourself to complain and feel sorry for yourself, she takes a deep breath and reminds herself that it is what it is and making you miserable isn’t going to change it. And so, you have practiced tolerance and openness.

Then he continues with his work day. And since no day is virtually wave-free, you run into some minor issues. The topic that caught his attention the most was a co-worker gossiping about another co-worker. You don’t think gossip is the right thing to do, and you don’t want to be self-righteous or judgmental either. Difficult call. So just tell her that you don’t feel comfortable talking about this co-worker’s business and that it would be best if he talked to her directly. In that prize, you have practiced honesty and love.

As his work day progresses, he makes a mistake. We are human and imperfect and mistakes happen. Instead of trying to hide or deny it…or worse yet, blame someone else, confess. You clearly and concisely tell whoever is responsible for what happened and what you will do to rectify the situation. Then go ahead. You just practiced honesty, openness, willingness, and humility. And by doing so, you have grown spiritually and have a sense of serenity within you.

When you return home from work, you discover that your partner has prepared dinner. It happens that it is a food that you do not particularly like. Now instead of whining or verbally hitting. Or nonverbally sulking, she hugs him and says “Thanks for making dinner. I really appreciate it.” And so, you have practiced love, gratitude and tolerance.

These are just small examples. Imagine how many different situations you can find in your own life. Weaving spiritual principles into your daily life is a beautiful way to live. You will find that you no longer make mountains of mole hills and that you are more loving and patient with everyone in your life. It’s a win-win. You are better for others and you feel better about yourself. And look… it’s not as overwhelming as you thought it would be!