SGM June 2016 Meditation of the Month: “Boost Your Spiritual Energy!”
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“Spiritual Vitality”
Press the play button or click here (right click + save target as) to download the audio file
Welcome back to the June 2016 Edition of Spiritual Growth Monthly. I’m Kevin Schoeninger. It’s great to have you with us here at SGM!
Feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or rundown? Or, maybe, you just wish you had more energy, guidance, inspiration, and enthusiasm? In this week’s message, I’ll guide you on a meditative journey that will infuse you, your life, others, and the planet with Spiritual Vitality.
Spiritual Vitality is a gift that is given simply by being open to receive and welcoming it. It becomes a practice as you pay attention to Life in a spiritual way: being grateful for each day, appreciating the natural beauty and gifts of the Earth, seeing the divine in every being, and creating, sharing, and enjoying inspired art and service. It comes from seeing everything as an expression of Spirit.
What if your spiritual path is not something you engage in after all your other duties in life are fulfilled, but, instead, it is a way of life in itself? What if you are essentially Spirit, temporarily living in this body for the purpose of refining and sharing Spiritual Energy? As we see life in this way, our spirits are fed and we live from a place of renewed inspiration, enthusiasm, guidance, and service.
I invite you to join me in receiving and sharing Spiritual Vitality in the following guided meditation.
You can follow along with the guided audio in PART B of the recording above.
Enjoy your practice!
“Spiritual Vitality”
Please join me in sitting comfortably upright in a quiet, private environment. Rest the soles of your feet flat on the floor and parallel to each other. Rest your hands palms cupped one in the other in your lap, with the tips of your thumbs touching lightly. Lightly close your eyes. Take a few slow, deep breaths to relax into the present moment.
Now, I’d like to invite you on a meditative journey that will infuse you, your life, others, and the planet with Spiritual Vitality. Spiritual Vitality is a Gift. It is not given because you have earned it or deserve it. It is given because that is the nature of Spirit, to give, share, connect, and love you unconditionally. All you have to do is let go, be open to receive, and welcome it by paying attention to all the ways Spirit is expressed in life.
So, if you will, imagine that it’s a bright sunny blue sky day with just a few wisps of white cloud gently floating across the sky. You are standing on a hill taking in the sky, the clouds, and the sun. Imagine greeting the sun with a smile of appreciation and gratitude. You feel in its nurturing warm rays on your forehead and face and take them in through your eyes. You allow that nurturing warmth to flow down through your neck and throat, down through your torso and arms, down through your legs and feet, and down into the ground.
You feel your bare feet on the grass and absorb the vital energy of the earth up through the soles of your feet, up through your legs, and up through your torso, head, and arms.
You feel a gentle breeze cooling you and you breathe in the vital energy in the air. As that vital energy enters your lungs, you feel it circulate out to all your cells—infusing your whole body with Spiritual Vitality.
You notice in front of you a crystal clear pool shimmering with light. You kneel down, cup your hands and take a drink from this sacred pool and feel its vital energy wash down through every cell.
You stand again and feel the energy of the Sun, the Earth, the Air, and the Water infusing your whole body at once with Spiritual Vitality. You appreciate and soak in this vital energy, absorbing it deeply into every cell of your body, every energetic fiber of your being, and every vibration of your soul.
You realize that you are, in Essence, a Spiritual Being . . . on a spiritual path. You are part of One Life we all share. Every moment of your life is an opportunity to express yourself as Spirit. Every moment Spirit gives you guidance on what that means. Every moment is an opportunity to receive and share Spiritual Energy in a new way, in a way that is unique to the needs of that moment.
As you do that more and more, you refine your energy and raise your vibration. As you resonate with Life rather than fearing it or judging it, opportunities to express yourself as Spirit arise. It’s up to you how you choose to respond.
You record that information deep in your body and soul. . .
Now, you notice the gentle breeze picks up and carries a leaf at your feet up in the air and off to your right. You follow the leaf and notice that it is blown down a trail which you recognize as your spiritual path.
The leaf beckons you to follow it, down the hill, and into a light-filled aspen forest. As you follow the path, you hear the birds singing, the crickets chirping, and all kinds of life playing in the forest. You feel and hear the breeze through the leaves. You see brilliantly-colored flowers lining the path and appreciate how the sunlight reflects in the drops of water that glisten on their blossoms. You feel the vibrant life energy of the forest rising up through your feet and legs, continuing to infuse your whole body with Spiritual Vitality, further raising your vibration.
Ahead on the right, you notice a friend who is slumped against the foot of a tree crying. You stop and sit with your friend and listen to their story. You reach out and touch their shoulder and feel vital energy move through you and through them. They smile and thank you. As your energies resonate together, you feel another level of Spiritual Vitality rush through you. Together you get up and walk down the path for a bit, until you hug and wave good-bye at a fork in the path. Your friend walks away on the right-hand path and you follow the left.
Shortly, you come to a break in the forest and you enter the town where you live. At first, you feel as if the Spiritual Vitality of the elements, of the forest, of your friend, has left you. Then you realize that it is still inside. You carry it with you. IT IS your Life. You take a deep breath to refresh the energy and walk on.
You come to some street performers. A young woman is orating poetry with grand style, breathing Spirit through every word, transforming all within earshot with a marvelous wit, wisdom, meter, and rhyme. The frenzied world around seems to come into a blissful order for all who take in those spirited words. You kneel and leave a return gift in her basket, smiling, and moving on. Spiritual Vitality rushes through your veins.
A bit further on, a guitar virtuoso closes his eyes as he bows and sways with an energy that flows through his fingers and dances on the strings. You close your eyes, too, and feel where he is coming from, feel where he is. Another blissful space opened by art that listens to the deeper sustaining currents.
You open your eyes and see a crowd has gathered. Smiling at the guitarist, you kneel and leave a return gift in his case and move on.
Next you notice a street sweeper rolling a trash cart and whistling a fine tune. You smile and thank him for his joyful service. He smiles back with a sparkle in his eyes. Then he continues on, kneeling down to pick up an empty bottle someone left behind. You slide a few dollars onto the top of his cart and move on.
As you leave a few dollars here and there, it occurs to you that all your purchases are spiritual exchanges. You are saying thank you for making this and please more. Every purchase is a vote for what you would like to see more of in this world. Viewed and acted on in this way, commerce is spirituality in action.
With this thought, you feel a rush of inspiration. You think of your work in the world in a whole new way—as a service, as an expression of Spirit in the world. You contemplate how that might change what you do or the way you do it—and definitely the way it feels. . .
Just at that moment, lost in your reverie, you bump into an old adversary, who glares at your inconsiderate nudge. Just as you are about to say “sorry,” you recognize who it is and stop with your mouth wide open.
“Lost for words again?” your adversary questions.
“Uhh” you reply.
“You didn’t think I would forget, did you?”
“No, I didn’t think you’d forget. . . But, I am sorry. . . and I would like to make things better. I’ve thought about it a lot and I would like to understand how you felt, you know, when that happened. And, when I said what I said back then.”
Your adversary is a little taken back. Then, shakes their head and launches into their story. This time you just listen. They seem to notice that. They hesitate and then keep talking. You look them softly in the eyes, which also begin to soften from a glare to a moist glisten. As they go on and you listen, their defiant posture softens, too.
“Hey, thanks for telling me your side,” you say. “I never would have known. I guess I was caught up in defending myself. Really, I felt bad about what happened and scared about what might happen next. Would you accept my apology?”
“Yeh, sure. I can see how I might have put you on the defensive.”
You smile at each other a little awkwardly. Then reach out and touch each other’s shoulders, nod, and move on. You feel the resonance between you, and that raises your vibration yet again.
You walk a bit farther, noticing how this usual place where you’ve walked so often, now seems different—more spiritually alive. The places and events are the same, but you see them in a whole new light. You stop and sit down on a park bench, taking in the whole scene as a Spiritual Being. You notice the spiritual opportunities present everywhere around you. You understand that, as you resonate with Life, you discover how you feel called to respond.
You close your eyes and see yourself once again on that hill greeting the Sun, standing firmly on the Earth, breathing in the Spirit in the breeze, and drinking the Sacred Water glistening in front of you. Once again, you feel the energy of the elements infusing your cells with Spiritual Vitality. You smile in appreciation and gratitude.
You wonder, “What if I could feel this Spiritual Energy more and more of the time?”
You decide to record that feeling in every cell, so you can remember it and return to it whenever you need. You vow to remember that you are part of One Life we all share.
Now, slowly open your eyes and take in the space around you. Walk into your life as a Spiritual Being resonating with Life wherever you go.
Well done!