Becoming aware of our spiritual nature taps into a longing we often unaware existed. For many, simply re-remembering this forgotten knowing within them, reawakening to the knowing that we are all more than our physical selves, offers relief and opens the door to countless possibilities. Like a seed enveloped by the first raindrops after a long drought.
We are lucky to live in a time of relative openness to spiritual exploration, tools, perspectives, and beliefs beyond organized religion. Mindfulness and meditation are taught to children in schools, and almost every community has members who offer healing using alternative, complementary spiritual tools.
At the base of weaving spirituality into our everyday family life is our personal perception of what spirituality is. Your personal beliefs, life views, and the way you sense spirituality are just as important, if not more, than many accepted definitions and notions. While we are all spiritual beings on a human journey and carry many shared elements to our adventure to Earth, we each also bring our personal soul contracts and expectations. Exploring what spirituality is for each of us is the foundation of any weaving of spirituality into our everyday human lives.
For me, at its core, spirituality is about walking our essence, path, and beauty. Our gifts can be expressed in countless ways. The most spiritual walk is walking your deep truth, your subjective truth translated into you of this lifetime. Being spiritual is not about using spiritual tools but about being attentive and connecting to our inner truth. To the truth that walks with us beyond one lifetime or another and expressing it as part of our everyday human experience, including in how we raise our children and the examples we provide them.
Here are five simple ways to weave spirituality into your family:
Cultivate a Sense of Gratitude
What is gratitude, and how do we cultivate and give our children an example of feeling and expressing gratitude?
There are many ways to cultivate gratitude. Some families have a gratitude tree, adding notes of gratitude as leaves, or a shared gratitude board. It is important to cultivate gratitude all year and not only during the holiday season. Discerning between an expected “thank you,” and gratitude drawn from profound expression helps us teach our children the same.
Gratitude is a multi-layered construct. The deeper we explore it and the healing that deep gratitude offers, the more empowering an example we will be able to offer our children.
Spend Time in Nature
Mother Earth, the weather, the plan people, the four-legged or winged ones – is where Spirit is alive and not confused. The more time we spend together in nature, the more its elements, beings, and ways can be internalized within us. Thus, becoming our compass and informing our shared dance as a family.
It can be about hiking or a picnic at the park or beach, visiting national parks or learning about them, or connecting to the hidden language of trees. It can be about stones and crystals or about growing your own food. The possibilities available for us to become one with nature are endless.
Devote Time to Be Together
Why and how is spending time together related to weaving spirituality into our everyday family life?
One of the greatest challenges of Western cultures is the growing separation between us.
As spiritual beings, we might cherish our quiet time and enjoy being alone. However, that does not contradict our need to connect, have shared experiences, meditate, go on nature walks, or prepare a sacred meal together.
Remembering the importance of connection to our human self, intentionally creating opportunities, and cultivating the connection among our family members is a crucial piece to the puzzle of weaving spirituality into our family life.
Be Kind to All Beings
Life is so fast that we often forget our kind, compassionate spiritual essence.
Weaving kindness and compassion into our daily lives often starts with making time, breathing, and learning self-compassion and self-kindness.
Being an example of self-compassion and compassion to others, and self-kindness and kindness to others, is a powerful and empowering teaching that the children of now, yearn for. A reminder of their essence is this very confusing Earthly plane.
Be the Love We All are
When we walk the Love that we are, see and acknowledge the Love that everyone in our life is (and yes, this can be challenging with some folks), we open to our most innate essence. When we honor this luminous essence, we naturally allow more of our spiritual self to express itself in our mundane.
With each small, unique expression of our spiritual self in our daily chores, obligations, needs, and choices, we raise our frequency. We can shift our frequency intentionally by changing our space (lighting candles, growing more plants, letting go of unneeded stuff, or changing its placement) or through inner work and self-care. Both are always the best.
As we raise our frequency, our energy communicates with that of our living space and the energy of our family members. Eventually, we will notice that the frequency of our family members is rising as well.
Once our frequency rises, weaving spirituality into our lives will no longer need to be a conscious, aware daily choice but will become the way.
