Reflection About Spirituality

Spirituality, is a concept that everyone in the world takes part in whether they are fully aware of it or not. Personally, I have always considered myself to be a spiritual person; however, I never realized that spirituality does not necessarily have to be part of a religion. I considered myself spiritual because I consistently attended church on Sunday mornings, bible study on Wednesday nights, and youth group activities throughout the weeks. My sense of spirituality has always involved religion of some sort until coming to college. While being in college, I have gained a new sense of spirituality specifically due to this class. Foundations of the Spiritual Life has so far taught me about various types of spiritual practices that I never

Sitting meditation was talked about in Thich Nhat Hanh’s book “Peace is Every Step” throughout pages 16, 17, and 18. Hanh stated “sometimes, we can use meditation as a way of hiding from ourselves” (page 17). I found meditation to be very relaxing as I went through the technique of focusing on breathing in and then breathing out. I actually began to be quite relaxed and focused on the breathing that I was able to fully tune out the outside world. I had my eyes closed, hands folded on my stomach, feet crossed, and laid flat on my back on top of the covers of my bed while I was meditating. Due to not sitting up I could feel myself drifting slightly into a deeper sleep; however, I stayed awake by focusing on the breathing. The first day I tried this practice I had trouble by having my thoughts drift; nevertheless, I did not allow my thoughts to drift after the first day because I became so focused. I did learn throughout the trial of these spiritual practices that it is extremely easy to become distracted or to tell yourself that there is no time for such practices, but there is time. Even taking as little as two or three minutes to take a moment and meditate could be quite refreshing. Meditating reminded me of the insights I mentioned above due to living (thinking) in the moments and just going for it. While meditating things were so free and simple which could also be explored when thinking of the topic