Spirituality & Interests and Passions
Week 5: Spirituality & Interests and Passions
- Identifying what brings you peace, love, and joy
- Daily practices, prayers, and presence
- Cultivating gratitude and positivity
- Rediscovering hobbies and passions
- Making time for personal interest
You’re doing a great job! You have thus far completed the first half of your pie chart with specific goals. Now we tackle the second half…
Spiritual practice refers to activities and rituals that individuals engage in to cultivate their spiritual well-being and connection to something greater than themselves. It can take various forms such as prayer, meditation, mindfulness, yoga, engaging in religious or philosophical traditions. Here are some key reasons why spiritual practice is so important to a well-balanced life:
- Finding meaning and purpose – this provides a framework for understanding the deeper questions of existence, the nature of our reality, and the interconnectedness of all beings. By finding our purpose we get a sense of direction to our lives.
- Cultivating inner peace and calm – these are areas that promote relaxation, trust, stress reduction, and inner peace bringing us tranquillity in the midst of life’s challenges.
- Enhancing self-awareness – by exploring our values, beliefs, strengths and areas of growth we gain insight to our emotions, behaviors, and priorities.
- Fostering compassion and empathy – developing a greater sense of empathy, understanding and connection with others can lead to a more harmonious life.
- Nurturing a sense of interconnectedness – recognizing our connection to others and to the natural world we live in gives us a sense of responsibility, belonging, and community.
- Provides solace and support – during difficult times we can experience comfort, peace, gratitude, and build resilience and coping skills. With hope and healing we can better cope with grief, loss, or adversity.
- Cultivating gratitude and appreciation – this helps us to be present These help us foster a sense of contentment and acceptance.
- Promoting ethical and moral values – since many traditions emphasize values and our actions further support our contribution to others and society.
Spirituality is a deeply personal journey and can bring numerous benefits. Here are some examples of spirituality and goals:
- Meditate daily for 10 minutes
- Yoga three times weekly for an hour
- Journaling daily every morning
- Attending church services every Sunday
- Joining a spiritual or religious group to attend weekly
- Reading material that lifts my energy 10 minutes daily
- Reading books or magazines such as reading 1 book a month
- Chanting 10-20 minutes every evening
- Joining a musical group that performs songs consistent with my beliefs
- Purchasing items to place on an alter
- Getting tarot card readings once monthly or learning to read them
- Purchasing motivational cards
- Making a vision board
Interests and Passions include hobbies and extracurricular activities you either already love to do or want to learn to do for purposes of relaxation, connectedness, and pleasure. These are typically things that provide a break from our work life and might or might not connect us to others. As mentioned earlier in the course, many of these areas might overlap such as our interests providing stress relief, improve our mental health, enhance cognitive abilities, and increase focus. Developing our unique talents has a positive impact on our sense of life satisfaction and increases our ability to problem-solve.
Some examples on your list under this section might include:
- Learn violin by taking weekly lessons
- Join an orchestra
- Buy a skateboard and skateboard weekly
- Work on a puzzle for one hour a night
- Join a volleyball team
- Take French lessons weekly
- Travel to 3 countries in the next 12 months
- Learn to ride a motorcycle and get my license
- Take painting lessons
- Buy a circle a word book
- Join a book club
- Buy a new cookbook and cook one new type of meal a week