MY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT
Spirituality reminds me of a field with flowers. Without those flowers, that field is barren and vastly empty. That is how I think of the concept of spirituality.
One might ask why I became so spiritually inclined. The answer is rather quite simple. I realized that life is dominated with more complexities than what can be see by the naked eye. It is deeper in ways you cannot comprehend and when you're aware of that, the more you begin to see things for what they really are. In other words, being spiritual gives you greater depth in literally every aspect of your existence.
My spiritual journey didn't just start from anywhere. It started unexpectedly somewhere in my late teens. This journey started from personal turmoil which had caused pain and suffering in my young life. I had been dealing with depression and anxiety which had been propagated by my negative experiences in middle school. I felt like I had died inside when I became the victim of bullying which had lasted for a full two years.
This pain set in motion a completely different mindset, one in which perpetuated a deeper understanding of what living was all about. Obviously, I was far too young to understand the entire meaning of life at such a fragile age. Yet ironically, the early pain that I had endured gave me a glimpse of what it might be.
I began to see things in a very different perspective. In particular, when I saw a bright sunny day, I didn't just let the hours pass but I let my gratitude multiply. I would tell myself to enjoy that day to the fullest and to reminisce in its beauty! I took no days for granted and celebrated them because suffering could arrive at any given time.
Before I became spiritual, I considered myself a secular Christian. I was never involved in the church and I would just participate in religious holidays with my relatives. After my tumultuous middle school years I soon became agnostic and I started doubting everything that I had read in the Bible. “Heaven was merely a fairytale and hell existed here on Earth!” However, one day I stumbled upon one religion in particular that set the catalyst for my spiritual path.
I began learning inspirational quotes and I particularly remembered several in which set off a flame of curiosity inside my soul.
"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.”
These simple quotes were taught by the teachings of Buddha. My spiritual journey was opened by his teachings and it has created a more rich and collective existence.
Though, many people might assume that Buddhism is another religion that has similarities with other mainstream religions. I could not disagree more.
I don't think of Buddhism as a religion because religion has a central focus and that focus is on a deity. Buddhism doesn't have a deity. What it has is a methodology of life and that your life is the result of your thoughts and overall behavior. So instead of calling the teachings of Buddha a religion, I have decided to call it a spiritual path.
“Bliss can be attained by your thoughts.” I found that to be very true and I have been rewarded by thinking more positively. After all, your mind is your universe!
Unfortunately, my mind wasn't always filled with optimism. I was a perpetual slave of my thoughts and these thoughts were usually always negative.
As my education and knowledge of Buddhism grew, so did my resistance to pessimism. I realized that it was possible to attain a positive mindset through discipline and surrendering to reality.
When my understanding of spiritual philosophy flourished so did my happiness. In retrospect, I was never a very happy person, considering all the depression and anxiety I've felt throughout my life. Yet, as I became more entrenched in spiritualism I eventually came to an important conclusion. I learned that being alive and being human is not a license for automatic happiness.
This realization reiterated itself several years ago when I decided to take an online course. This course was called, "Buddhism and Modern Psychology." I was absolutely awestruck at what I had learned that it became one of the most poignant courses I've ever taken in my life! The key fundamentals of pain and suffering were explained so clearly that for the first time in my life, I knew the answer to why I was always miserable.
I had learned that humans evolved to survive and reproduce and nothing more. Hence, they were not evolutionarily primed for constant happiness!
This made perfect sense to me as I started to recollect all those years of pain and sadness that I had encountered. I had learned that the happiness chemical, 'dopamine' was short lived for a reason. This reason was nothing more then to overcome survival hurdles so that one may thrive. Dopamine essentially allowed the promotion of the self which set the survival mechanism for the entire species.
I had also learned that constantly dwelling on negative thoughts was actually very normal! This was simply a mechanism for survival. In other words, whatever was a threat to you or your family had to be taken seriously so that it didn't threaten your very existence.
Everything that I thought I had known was erased in a blink of an eye. My concept of self and awareness had inevitably changed forever! I was no longer caving into my negative thoughts. Instead, I would redirect them and remind myself that the negativity I was feeling was only there as a defense mechanism.
As I look back, I'm amazed how I survived my dark days. I feel as if I'm lucky to be alive! I've had days where I’d contemplate suicide and in which apathy stalled my future.
Where would I be if it weren't for my spiritual beliefs? I might have ended up as another statistic or I might have been caught up in another whirlwind of unbreakable negativity.
Spirituality has taken me to a higher road and that road is no longer broken! I've had so many months and years where I would feel completely lost. I lacked any real direction in life but my innate beliefs and positivity carved a clear path.
Buddha said, “Suffering is optional.” Sadly, for all those years, I never had to endure such pain!
Through knowledge and spiritual practice comes a transformation. This transformation is so inexplicably life changing that your entire perception of what it means to be alive will change.
Yet without those dark days, I might not have ever seen the light!
One might ask why I became so spiritually inclined. The answer is rather quite simple. I realized that life is dominated with more complexities than what can be see by the naked eye. It is deeper in ways you cannot comprehend and when you're aware of that, the more you begin to see things for what they really are. In other words, being spiritual gives you greater depth in literally every aspect of your existence.
My spiritual journey didn't just start from anywhere. It started unexpectedly somewhere in my late teens. This journey started from personal turmoil which had caused pain and suffering in my young life. I had been dealing with depression and anxiety which had been propagated by my negative experiences in middle school. I felt like I had died inside when I became the victim of bullying which had lasted for a full two years.
This pain set in motion a completely different mindset, one in which perpetuated a deeper understanding of what living was all about. Obviously, I was far too young to understand the entire meaning of life at such a fragile age. Yet ironically, the early pain that I had endured gave me a glimpse of what it might be.
I began to see things in a very different perspective. In particular, when I saw a bright sunny day, I didn't just let the hours pass but I let my gratitude multiply. I would tell myself to enjoy that day to the fullest and to reminisce in its beauty! I took no days for granted and celebrated them because suffering could arrive at any given time.
Before I became spiritual, I considered myself a secular Christian. I was never involved in the church and I would just participate in religious holidays with my relatives. After my tumultuous middle school years I soon became agnostic and I started doubting everything that I had read in the Bible. “Heaven was merely a fairytale and hell existed here on Earth!” However, one day I stumbled upon one religion in particular that set the catalyst for my spiritual path.
I began learning inspirational quotes and I particularly remembered several in which set off a flame of curiosity inside my soul.
"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.”
These simple quotes were taught by the teachings of Buddha. My spiritual journey was opened by his teachings and it has created a more rich and collective existence.
Though, many people might assume that Buddhism is another religion that has similarities with other mainstream religions. I could not disagree more.
I don't think of Buddhism as a religion because religion has a central focus and that focus is on a deity. Buddhism doesn't have a deity. What it has is a methodology of life and that your life is the result of your thoughts and overall behavior. So instead of calling the teachings of Buddha a religion, I have decided to call it a spiritual path.
“Bliss can be attained by your thoughts.” I found that to be very true and I have been rewarded by thinking more positively. After all, your mind is your universe!
Unfortunately, my mind wasn't always filled with optimism. I was a perpetual slave of my thoughts and these thoughts were usually always negative.
As my education and knowledge of Buddhism grew, so did my resistance to pessimism. I realized that it was possible to attain a positive mindset through discipline and surrendering to reality.
When my understanding of spiritual philosophy flourished so did my happiness. In retrospect, I was never a very happy person, considering all the depression and anxiety I've felt throughout my life. Yet, as I became more entrenched in spiritualism I eventually came to an important conclusion. I learned that being alive and being human is not a license for automatic happiness.
This realization reiterated itself several years ago when I decided to take an online course. This course was called, "Buddhism and Modern Psychology." I was absolutely awestruck at what I had learned that it became one of the most poignant courses I've ever taken in my life! The key fundamentals of pain and suffering were explained so clearly that for the first time in my life, I knew the answer to why I was always miserable.
I had learned that humans evolved to survive and reproduce and nothing more. Hence, they were not evolutionarily primed for constant happiness!
This made perfect sense to me as I started to recollect all those years of pain and sadness that I had encountered. I had learned that the happiness chemical, 'dopamine' was short lived for a reason. This reason was nothing more then to overcome survival hurdles so that one may thrive. Dopamine essentially allowed the promotion of the self which set the survival mechanism for the entire species.
I had also learned that constantly dwelling on negative thoughts was actually very normal! This was simply a mechanism for survival. In other words, whatever was a threat to you or your family had to be taken seriously so that it didn't threaten your very existence.
Everything that I thought I had known was erased in a blink of an eye. My concept of self and awareness had inevitably changed forever! I was no longer caving into my negative thoughts. Instead, I would redirect them and remind myself that the negativity I was feeling was only there as a defense mechanism.
As I look back, I'm amazed how I survived my dark days. I feel as if I'm lucky to be alive! I've had days where I’d contemplate suicide and in which apathy stalled my future.
Where would I be if it weren't for my spiritual beliefs? I might have ended up as another statistic or I might have been caught up in another whirlwind of unbreakable negativity.
Spirituality has taken me to a higher road and that road is no longer broken! I've had so many months and years where I would feel completely lost. I lacked any real direction in life but my innate beliefs and positivity carved a clear path.
Buddha said, “Suffering is optional.” Sadly, for all those years, I never had to endure such pain!
Through knowledge and spiritual practice comes a transformation. This transformation is so inexplicably life changing that your entire perception of what it means to be alive will change.
Yet without those dark days, I might not have ever seen the light!
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