From a spiritual perspective, small efforts can be as significant as larger ones. Whether you’re cleaning up a piece of garbage from the park, selecting a spiritual book to read, or picking up your child from school, your level of spiritual awareness and intention determines the spiritual significance of your actions. Increasing your spiritual focus brings greater significance to all that you do.
Add conscious pauses to your day.
Practice drawing your attention into a conscious awareness of yourself and the divine nature of this world. Sit quietly and allow your breath and mind to become calm. Bring spiritual thoughts into your mind by remembering or reading them and then allow those thoughts to dissolve into a peaceful awareness of the presence of spirit.
You can add this simple practice to the beginning, middle, or end of your day, or anytime you find a good space to turn down the outer noise and absorb your attention into the peaceful vibration of spirit. Even a few minutes of this practice can infuse spiritual awareness into your day.
Read uplifting words.
Many wonderful ideas and heartfelt spiritual expressions are available to read today. Sure, some spiritual writings come mixed with certain less helpful words and ideas; however, you can train yourself to be a good editor of what goes into your mind.
Reading uplifting words before going to sleep can help give you good dreams and can also color and brighten your day ahead. During the day, you can also take positive thought pauses and fill your mind with uplifting spiritual words and ideas. You can even post favorite quotes around your work or home space to remind you to spiritualize every aspect of your life.
Bless your day when you wake up.
Offering a moment of gratitude when you first wake up gives an empowered framework on which to hang all the events of your day. This initial offering of blessings for the day can be as elaborate as long meditations, prayers, and rituals or as simple as bowing your head and thanking God for another beautiful day.
What matters more than the outer form of any spiritual practice is the depth and clarity of your feeling.
Play spiritual music to soothe your spirit.
You can play uplifting music while you work, relax, drive, clean your house, cook, bathe, pay bills, or go to sleep. Harmonious sound vibrations are absolutely magical. Why? Because this entire universe is made up of vibrations. Beautiful music can strum the strings of your soul and the world around you.
Do your work with an attitude of service.
You may want to consider adding an official volunteer or service-oriented practice to your life to help you get into an attitude of service. Maybe you’d like to mentor a child, serve food to the homeless, offer service at your place of worship, or help a friend in need.
Even in the midst of your current work situation, you can find opportunities to serve and benefit others, although you may sometimes have to reflect creatively to find ways to do so.
Surround yourself with things that evoke positive feelings.
Your choices of what to place in your environment not only represent the contents of your thoughts, but these outer objects also reflect back into your thoughts and back out into your world — like a big feedback loop. This feedback loop of positive in, positive out gives you a way to bring more good energy into your life by choosing to surround yourself with things that inspire and uplift you.
Be friendly to the people around you.
Friendliness is a form of divine love. It’s an uncomplicated openness of the heart, a feeling of generosity, and an appreciation for whomever God has placed before you.
Along with following general good manners and being courteous to others, you can also go beyond efforts to be polite by also making efforts to connect with their beautiful inner soul. Find joy in greeting others on a soul level with genuine respect and appreciation.
Add symbolic contemplations to your actions.
When you understand the symbolic nature of life, you can use your imagination to spiritualize everything you do, including housework:
As you sweep your floor, contemplate that you’re also sweeping your heart clean of old emotional dust and debris, such as anger or fear.
As you polish your furniture, windows, or mirrors, imagine that you’re also polishing your mind so that it will shine more brightly.
As you tend your lawn or grass, consider that you’re also pruning the unending growths of worldly desires.
Watch your breath.
Watching your breath is something you can do anytime and anywhere. Just pay attention to your breathing — to the feeling of the air as it comes in and goes out of your body.
Watching your breath encourages you to take more deep, long breaths. These deeper breaths invigorate your body and bring calmness and nourishment to your thoughts and feelings. Breath is an important part of your connection with life itself, so whenever you can, take a deep, full, conscious breath of life. (Come on, do it now!)
Use rituals and affirmations to invoke spirit.
Rituals and affirmations give you ways to invoke and connect with the supreme spirit that creates and maintains the whole universe.
Invoke spirit by lighting a candle, burning fragrant incense, feeding the birds, creating spiritual artwork, or folding your hands in prayer.
