Spirituality Guide

By: Seeker
Recently I saw a set of rules for living that struck a chord with me. I was watching a DVD I picked out from a bargain bin at the mall about Reiki. I’ve had an interest in it for some time, and the video turned out to be too basic to really teach me anything I didn’t already know, but at one point they showed the five daily rules that they encourage Reiki practitioners to live by.

1. Just for today I will let go of Anger
2. Just for today I will let go of Worry
3. Today I will do my work honestly
4. Today I will be kind to every living creature
5. Today I will count my many blessings

Anger is, like most emotional states, a valuable tool when used correctly and a dangerous state of mind when not under control. It can empower us in a situation of injustice and cripple us when inappropriately experienced.

Worry is similar although probably less dangerous to those around us. I try to deal with worry by putting a limit on how much concern I give to the future. When there’s such a situation, I try to work through all the possibilities I can think of, finding my best course of action to deal with each one. When I find myself beginning to repeat them, I firmly gather up the whole package and picture myself pushing it to the back of my mind to wait for further information.

Doing my work honestly – this could be difficult in practice. I think I provide a good day of work for my pay but when I saw this one, my first thought was of the time I spend on the net and not doing actual work.

Being kind to all creatures is easy when it’s something like a cat, dog or bird. But for most of my life I’ve had a principle in place for insects – bite me and I will kill you. If I see a spider I’m not sure of in my house I will kill it – but, for example, huntsman spiders are harmless – I will endeavour to put them safely outside. I will rescue bees but kill European wasps. This one is going to be hard.

The hard thing about counting blessings comes in two parts; it was a favourite saying of my mother, which puts it over on the negative side of things, and, having suffered from depression, it is sometimes hard to see good things going on.

Lately I have been talking about finding the meaning of your life and finding what you want to do with your life. It was in thinking about these subjects that I got to thinking about how easy it is to get overwhelmed, not only with these big subjects but with life in general as well.

I, too, have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with ‘it all’ lately and have been seeking ways to find happiness and peace both emotionally and mentally. When I try to ignore the feelings of being overwhelmed and don’t address the problem, all that leads to is a breaking point where I am forced to take a break to refocus.

The forced break doesn’t always happen at the most convenient times, so you can imagine why it would be a problem.

There are things you can do, though, to help yourself.

Like when trying to sort thoughts out, you can always turn to mind mapping. However, that can lead to you getting even more frustrated than you were.

Try meditation which will not only help you relax but will help you learn to clear your mind, which is a useful tool.

You can also try drawing, painting, and other sorts of are. Anything that gets you out of your mind for a while and focusing on something else – preferably something you like – is a good thing.

Doing something physical is also a good idea, as it helps expel the stress energy and helps you feel grounded.

Try these things, not just as a one off, and see how they help you.

Now that you have your mind map (or web) and may have discovered some associations that surprise you, what do you do with that now?

As always, that is completely your choice. You can choose to move on and make more mind maps. Sometimes it can be fun and interesting to simply continue exploring through various topics.

You can choose to put it away. It may have not been such a fun exercise for you and you don’t want to deal with it any longer.

Another alternative is to use it to change your life. If your subject was ‘love’ and you have a lot of problems with love but aren’t sure why, this mind map could be the beginning of you facing what issues you have with the subject.

For instance, say you underlined ‘love’ in connection to ‘money’. You may have never realized that you associated love with money, but there it was on paper.

You could choose to ignore it, put it away, forget about it. That’s completely your right. However, you can also choose to pursue it. Why do you associate love with money? Was it because one of your parents was with the other purely for money reasons? Do you think your mate might only be with you because you make a lot of money?

These are the sorts of questions you can begin to ask yourself once you have done mind mapping.

Mind mapping is by no means a miracle cure, solution, or answer. However, it can be used as the first step in finding your base beliefs and opening up. Mind mapping could even be your first step in changing your life, for you can’t change your base beliefs unless you know what they are.

Whatever you decide to do, be well. You have my best wishes to you on your journey.

Now that you have your blank paper and pen, it’s time to pick your topic of exploration.

It’s completely your choice as to what you choose to explore. However, I do recommend that you choose something you don’t have passionately strong feelings about on first go. Again, it’s completely up to you, but I believe in gentle probing as one of the better ways into exploring your own mind.

For this part, I’ll choose a topic to use as an example to lead you through the process. If you have never done a mind map before, think of a large web which you use to connect the words you associate with each other. In the middle of the web will be the word/concept/belief you have chosen to explore.

For this example, let’s go with ‘money’.

The first string of associations you might make are alternative words for ‘money’. So your first line of the ‘web’ might look like:

Money – Cash – Dollars – Change

At this point, I would like to remind you that nothing is ‘wrong’ on this map. Anything goes.

Then you might start with money equals comfort. Comfort equals luxury. So on and so forth. You could come up with anything. Don’t censor yourself. Let your subconscious make the associations.

After connecting money to comfort, money to abundance, to a good job, to the lottery…after connecting it to many things, you might find yourself connecting it to something that surprises you. Money equals sex, perhaps, or money equals power.

Any time you start to write something or write something and it surprises you and/or makes you pause, underline it, circle it, or star it. Those pauses mean you’re starting to tap into the underlying beliefs that are ingrained in your subconscious. Those are the things you are going to want to focus on.

You have your mind map. Now what? That will come in part three…

It’s easy enough for me to sit here and advise you that a good first step on your spiritual journey is to identify your prejudices and determine why you have them. By me saying only that, you are left to wonder exactly how you are supposed to do that.

First, we’ll get rid of the word prejudice. Prejudice is an ugly word that often brings negative things to mind. This should not be an exercise in berating yourself but rather identifying ingrained beliefs. That’s what we’re exploring – unquestioning beliefs.

We’re often raised with certain beliefs. Everything from artificial sugar causing cancer to all other religions besides the family religion being ‘wrong’. Sex, money, gender roles – these are all things we learn about not only by observing but by what we are told growing up. This exercise is about mapping out what connections you make to these things.

You might find something that surprises you.

I have been doing a lot of mind mapping lately for this very purpose – to get to the root of what I believe, what associations I make, and why I am the way I am. I am on a quest to find my true self.

You’ll need a blank piece of paper and a pen for this. Unlined paper is better as it encourages you to be free flowing in exploring your thoughts. Then you are going to have to pick one subject you’re curious about.

Do you find yourself looking at disgust with men and wonder why? Write ‘men’ in the middle of the page. Do you have an obsession with money and wonder why? Write ‘money’ in the middle of the page. Perfection? Love? Sex?

You can do this as many times as you want for any subjects. That is the beauty of it – it’s not limited to one subject, one sitting, or one anything.

Now that you are ready to go, stop back soon for part two of mind mapping.