Spiritual choices involve acknowledging and respecting the wisdom of a higher power, leading to peace and life fulfillment.
Patients with spiritual backgrounds often report positive coping mechanisms when facing illness and death, drawing comfort from religious/spiritual practices as well as finding strength in supportive communities.
Asking for Guidance
When making spiritual choices, seeking guidance is vitally important. From aligning yourself with God’s will and placing trust in Him to finding guidance on how best to navigate challenging life circumstances, spiritual guidance provides clarity and direction needed for making the right choices.
As your first step to seeking guidance from God, pray for openness to His will and freedom from prejudgments. After experiencing issues or potential actions that interest you, rank them according to preference as they arise; formulate each option into a proposal (what will you do where and when). Ask God to transform your thoughts and desires as you assess their advantages and disadvantages while considering potential options; ask Him also for spiritual comfort such as deeper faith/hope/love for others/confidence in yourself/courage etc.
Ask for signs to assist in your navigation of life’s decisions. While some individuals are more open than others to receiving guidance through external signs, it’s wise to remain patient if no immediate answer presents itself. Keep in mind that when your mind aligns with its true Self, the greater the odds are of receiving high-quality guidance (so long as your ego doesn’t interfere).
By reading and reflecting upon Scripture, you can gain wisdom and direction from God. All Scripture was inspired by Him and is “profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). By reading Scripture regularly and studying it carefully, it helps you discern God’s will in any situation as well as self-centered motives when making decisions regarding how best to move forward with an endeavor.
An alternative way of seeking guidance is turning to your loved ones and praying for their assistance. You could ask Aunt Polly on the other side, angels, totem animals or the universe itself to send their assistance as you make decisions and seek answers.
Setting an Intention
If you want to make changes in your life, an intention is a powerful way to do it. Similar to setting goals, creating an intention can build inner strength and help achieve goals more quickly. When creating an intention, focus on what matters most and allow intuition lead the way toward finding solutions.
Intentions can be powerful tools for reaching goals, as well as changing perspectives. They’re positive statements that reflect your innermost values and beliefs; using intentions as part of spiritual practices encourages people to remain in the present while detaching from outcomes – helping create more fulfilling lives overall.
An intention is a statement about what you want to accomplish that differs from setting goals. A goal entails specific targets you wish to meet while an intention entails an optimistic view of the future that you wish to create. Goals tend to be more tangible than intentions but still precise – for instance setting one may include setting aside 30 minutes every day to meditate; an intention may focus more on desired results like connecting with Divine and finding peace.
Setting an intention can feel magical as the Universe conspires behind-the-scenes to help bring it about. By being clear about your intention, you activate your Higher Self/Source/Spirit/God (you choose!), who then works tirelessly behind-the-scenes to turn it into reality. Even if your intention appears different than expected, it will still work towards its best possible result.
Once you set an intention, it’s essential to revisit it throughout your day. Reciting or writing out your intention on paper could help, as could having someone repeat back to you three times what they heard aloud; hearing your goal repeated back can further cement its power.
Keeping an Open Mind
In order to make spiritual choices, it’s essential that you remain open-minded. This includes being accepting of ideas, experiences and people without prejudging them – as well as opening yourself up to the Sacred. Keeping an open mind allows you to see things from new angles and can lead to more beneficial outcomes.
Due to confirmation bias and its tendency for distorting perceptions, an open mind can often reject information which challenges existing beliefs, so it’s crucial that individuals be cognizant of this phenomenon when making decisions and seek ways to minimize its influence.
By practicing mindfulness daily, you can train your brain to be more open. Mindfulness involves paying attention to thoughts, feelings, and actions so as to identify when your ego is taking over and you want it all under control. Overcoming such urges allows transcendent emotions such as hopefulness, kindness, gratitude and awe to emerge and guide spiritual decision making processes.
An open mind makes it easier to discern God’s will for your life. However, it’s essential to keep in mind that He ultimately decides your path; so if you feel strongly guided by Him it’s crucial to listen and follow his commandments – He never asks us to do something contrary to His words!
If you’re uncertain of your course of action, seek guidance from an established mentor and then breathe deeply and trust that God is with you to guide your steps toward a positive result.
Building a robust spirituality takes time and effort. But finding moments of transcendence through practices like mindfulness, exploring other people’s spiritualities, or seeking the Sacred can provide moments of transcendence that bring hope, kindness, self-compassion and gratitude into your life – helping you connect with your soul and find meaning in it all.
Staying open-minded when making spiritual choices will allow you to expand as an individual and become more sensitive to God’s guidance, while equipping you with all of the resources necessary for successful spiritual journey.
Listening to Your Heart
When making spiritual choices, your heart is often your most reliable guide. While seeking input from others may also be necessary, your intuition should also play a part in decision-making – be it goose bumps, inspiration or chills; intuition manifests through feelings, thoughts and body signals that manifest themselves into goose bumps, chills or tightening of stomach or feeling of contraction; for instance if expanding and expansive are felt that indicates yes while tightening or tightening may indicate no.
Your heart is more than an organ; it is the center of your spiritual and emotional existence, calling to you onward to your true path. Therefore, it is vitally important that when making important personal and emotionally charged decisions it is crucial that we listen to what our heart tells us.
If you’re struggling to listen to what your heart is telling you, meditation and other spiritual practices that help relax the mind may be useful in clarifying its message. Ask God for assistance as well if necessary so you make the appropriate choices – this should not just be done once but throughout every decision-making process.
Test out making decisions using both logic and intuition to see where each leads you, then compare this direction with that suggested by your heart a month or so later. By following both sources of guidance you’ll come to appreciate their individual powers of guidance and wisdom! When you follow your heart it will lead you toward loving, generous actions for both yourself and others! Your heart doesn’t care about money, luxury items or possessions – only happiness, spiritual growth and emotional maturation matter to it!