Maintaining a Spiritual Practice
Reflect on your beliefs. Rather than being a passive believer, maintain your spiritual health by questioning, affirming, and revising the principles of your faith. Write down the things you hold to be true, and write a little bit about them. If something is troubling you, don't hide it from yourself. Share it with someone you trust, and discuss your concerns together.
Meditate and pray. Prayer and meditation are activities you can engage in daily, or many times a day. By incorporating it into your daily routine, you can maintain your spiritual health in the same way that you maintain your physical health. Pray or meditate by yourself or with a group. Join a prayer group at your place of worship. Gather with a yoga and meditation group in parks and other natural places.
Take monthly or yearly excursions to reconnect to your spirituality. It's important to have a daily routine, but you don't want to just go through the motions. To break your habits and get a new perspective, go to a new place and spend a longer time working at your spiritual practices. Go on a silent meditation retreat. Take a trip with a church group. Make a pilgrimage to a holy place.
Study core texts and contemporary takes. Read the earliest texts of your faith tradition, like the Torah, the Tripitaka, or the Qur'ran. Try reading a little every day. Join a reading group or get a study buddy to keep you on schedule. If you are interested in spirituality across religious faiths, read texts from many faiths. Read poetry and song lyrics inspired by the core texts of your faith.
Connecting with Creation
Spend quiet time in nature. Connect with the natural world by going on hikes and walks. Find quiet places to sit and observe the plants, animals, and clouds. Turn your phone off so you can quiet your mind. Don't check your texts or take pictures. Give thanks for the beauty of all that you behold. Bring a journal along and write a few things if you are so moved. Take camping trips so you can wake up far from civilization.
Foster empathy for others. Develop empathy towards all people by paying close attention to the people who surround you. Listen closely during conversations, and ask yourself how the person is feeling and what it is they want. Expand the empathy you feel for those you know to encompass those you haven't met—people in the street, or people you read about in the paper. When you find yourself feeling contempt, disgust, or hatred towards others, take a deep breath and try to see things from their perspective. Think of what they may have suffered, of what they fear, and of the things that bring them feelings of joy and safety.
Express yourself creatively. Creative exploration will strengthen your spiritual understanding. Making things uses parts of your mind that simply reflecting does not. Try singing, dancing, baking, decorating, painting, writing, and even gardening. For inspiration, visit mosques, churches, temples, and other devotional sites that have beautiful artworks, architecture, or music.
Doing Good Works
Volunteer. Focusing on others will help you develop yourself. Find a cause you care about and donate your spare time to it. Look at local organizations that could use volunteers, start a fundraiser, or begin your own volunteer group. Volunteer at a homeless shelter. Teach free ESL classes to immigrants. Get involved in your local union and help other workers in your field.
Be kind to others. Be good to everyone of your acquaintance, but be especially kind to the ones closest to you. Manage your own feelings so that you do not take them out on others. Avoid violence unless it is absolutely necessary to defend yourself or another. Help people out who need help. Check in if you're not sure how best to help the ones you love, but give ideas. Say: "I'm free Sunday if you'd let me trim those hedges for you—but if you'd rather have me run some errands for you, I can do that instead."
Develop a strong sense of gratitude. Take a little time every day to reflect on all of the work others do for you. Express gratitude for them to yourself. Let them know how grateful you are as well. When someone has done something for you, thank them. Tell them how they have helped you so that they can feel the sincerity of your gratitude. Write something you are grateful for in your journal every day, or mention it during a daily prayer or self-affirmation. Feel grateful for the good feelings you get from your kindness to others. Feel grateful that you can participate in their lives, and they in yours.
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