“You’re trying to fix yourself,” Tom, my spiritual mentor said. “And you’re angry because you can’t do it.”
I’d been lamenting about how a colleague was twisting the truth and sowing lies about me.
“I’ve tried to pray for the guy.” I chewed my lip. “I’ve prayed the Serenity Prayer and chanted the words, bless him, heal me, over and over. But my anger won’t let me go.”
“Remember the nursery rhyme ‘Humpty Dumpty’?” Tom asked. “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.” He glanced up with a gleam in his eyes. “Humpty Dumpty has something to teach you.”
“What do you mean?”
Tom explained we’re all Humpty Dumpty. We’re perched on life’s great wall. We struggle to carry our baggage—jobs, families, bills—throughout the day.
But sometimes our daily burden is too heavy. We get overwhelmed. Sometimes people hurt us. They tell lies. We crash headfirst towards the concrete pavement below.
As we lie on the ground broken and bleeding, we might try to numb the pain with food, alcohol, or some other addiction. We might try to drown our sorrow by distracting ourselves with social media, buying the latest gadget, or diving into our work. We might use a mantra to think our way to healing. Sometimes we become overly religious. We try to make God love us by following all the right rules and doing good, look-at-me deeds.
But it’s all for naught. Neither we nor life’s distractions can put us back together again. Instead, we need to get out of the way, stop overthinking, open our hearts, and let God’s grace do the inner work to transform us. That’s what spiritual practices are for.
Somewhere along the line, our faith traditions abandoned teaching spiritual practices—the practical tools we can use to quiet our minds and listen with our hearts so we can hear God’s voice of loving guidance. Like our bodies need exercise to stay healthy, our souls need regular spiritual practices to stay connected with our true selves and God.
There’s a smorgasbord of spiritual practices we can choose from including starting the day with meditation, taking nature walks, and spiritual reading, among others.
The important part is for us to find those practices that are life-giving and integrate them into our daily lives.
By engaging in spiritual practices, we let our minds sink into our hearts where we can experience God’s loving embrace and wisdom. With regular practice, our hearts get into the natural flow of peace and happiness. We experience joy-filled lives.
Tom taught me these three practices that have become supportive of moving into Divine Flow for myself and many others over the years:
- Our breath is the pathway to inner peace;
2. Daily meditation unlocks the door to our Inner Self and God; and
3. The heart, not the mind, is the inner guidance system we’ve been given.
I’ll be teaching the above three spiritual practices in an upcoming free workshop: 3 Essential Keys to Quieting Your Mind, Practicing Gratitude, and Discovering Inner Peace.
Please join me so you can learn how to integrate these practices into your daily life.
Like Humpty Dumpty, we can’t fix ourselves. If we try to go it alone, we’ll get distracted by life. We’ll tumble from our walls and stay broken.
Our human hearts are designed to connect with the Divine Heart so we can continue the ever-deepening journey of living our best lives.
By learning the time-tested spiritual tools and practices that are life-giving for us, we let our minds rest, open our hearts, and let God fix our Humpty Dumpty brokenness.
—brian j plachta
brianplachta.com
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