Many of us want to be more spiritual, but we might not know where to start on our spiritual journey.I find it helps to start with the basics.I like to teach my students about the basic spiritual principles for true happiness from which all spiritual practices stem.
It’s just like learning any other subject. You don’t want to jump into the complex parts first!
There are many spiritual principles for true happiness, but here are 5 basic ones that on their own, can help you change your life.
These principles build on each other, so it’s best to start at the beginning and branch out as you start to master them, one at a time.
How to Get Started with Principle for True Happiness
Remember, this is a practice! We learn and implement these principles by learning to notice our thoughts,feelings, and behavior. That helps us notice whether we are aligned with these principles or not.
Start by learning about them so you are aware of them. That is the first step to adopting them as part of your regular mindset. Remember them, and practice bringing yourself back to these principles when you notice that you’vedriftedoff track.
These principles for true happiness might seem lofty or complicated, but they’re quitesimple.Keeping focus on them means practicing them and this is where the rubber hits the road.
Have you ever heard that when your posture is perfect, your body is lined up in such a way that your head feels weightless? Holding yourself becomes effortless. It feels so much better to be in alignment than to slouch and let your shoulders droop.
It does take some practice though. At first,it takesconstantly remindingyourself to hold your head up, square your shoulders, even your weight on your feet, and tuck your pelvis.
Before long though, those things will feel more natural and become a habit.
Adopting these spiritual principles is the same.
5 Spiritual Principles for True Happiness Everyone Can Adopt
Love
The first and most fundamental spiritual principle is love.
Love for yourself for others, for all beings, all plants, all objects, for the planet, for creation.
Love for all things.
True, high-level love is about appreciation, nonattachment, respect, and genuinely desiring the best for all.
When you’re in alignment with love, you take care and are attentive.
If you’re loving toward yourself, you’ll take care of yourself and want the best for yourself. If you love nature, you’ll be more conscious of how your choices impact the environment and adjust your actions accordingly, guilt-free. And, iff you love your significant other, you’ll respect them, appreciate them, and want the best for them, even if what they want isn’t what you want.
A note about romantic love:Romantic love is fun and can feelreally good, but on its own, it’s not usuallytruelove.
Romantic lovetends to beabout possession. When we fall in love we tend to want and expect things from our partner.Notice howlove songshave lines like,“You’re mine. I want this from you and you’d better give it to me, and if you don’t, I won’t love you anymoreand/or I’ll fall apart.”Too often, we see our romantic partners as wish fulfillment centers.
Ask yourself:Do you want the best for yourself and for your partner?
Union, Connection, and Non-Duality
This one confuses people at first because it’s so different from what we’re used to.
We’re used to working in the material plane, where there’s a clear right, left, up, down, and separation between you, me, a leaf, a chair, and a dog.
I see you as separate from me. The chair is separate from me. The sky is separate from me.
On the spiritual plane, it’s all connected. There’s no separation. I can’t do anything without it impacting everything.
Say I say something mean to you. There’s no way to say something mean to you without hurting myself, because saying mean things takes me out of a state of love.
And it hurts to not be in a state of love!
When I’mnot behaving lovingly, I’m hurting myself. I’m not in alignment with Universal spiritual principles for happiness. My energydiminishes if I’m hateful or mean. I won’t feel happy, open, or vibrant.
Instead, I’ll feel closed and constricted.
This works with objects as well. If your coat is dirty, you could throw it on the floor or treat it like a rag, which is not loving your coat.
Or you could take it to the cleaners. You could clean it and donate it. You can do things that are more respectful of the resources and labor that went into that coat.
Do you see what I mean?
Ask yourself: Do you feel connected to the world around you, or separate from it?
Open vs Closed
When you’re in a loving state, you’re open.Being open means you are not operating out of fear.
Yes, therearethings out there that are dangerous. Life is a dangerous business.Whenyou’re openyou can discern dangerso you can interact with the universein a self-preserving mannerinstead of hiding from it.
Being fearfulmight sound like a goodway to staysafe.butinfactit actually invites more of what you are afraid of into your life.
For example, if you’re on a hike and realize you’re nearing a cliff, you can simply move away from the cliff.
But if you’re closed,you may feel terrified during the whole hike anticipating the “danger” that could lie ahead, thereby missing out on the beauty that surrounds you. Oryoumay avoid going anywhere that there might be acliff, which means no hiking, traveling, driving, or biking. You’d miss out on a lot of wonderful things!
Being closed is beingunwilling to riskbeing harmed, physically or emotionally.Being closed is being unwilling to accept the inherent dangers and challenges of being alive.There are no guarantees in life. Life contains many uncertainties whether we like it or not.
Ask yourself:Am Iin a state of openness, oram Iclosed off?
“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”
-Nelson Mandela-
Abundance vs Scarcity
This spiritual principle is a little different, because it’s not about getting into this state. It’s just about realizing thatwe’re already in this state.
Abundance is a mindset. It has nothing to do with our circ*mstances.
We’re always in abundance whether we know it or not because the here and now is abundant.
We have air, sunshine, and so many things that are abundant. Sometimes, we just forget about that abundance because we want something other than what we have right now.
We say “No, what I have right now isn’t abundance. I want THAT. That other thing is abundance.”
Without the mindset of abundance, what do you think happens when we get that other thing we wanted? That’s right. We still don’t feela sense ofabundance in our livesbecause we’re not inanabundant mindset.
Abundanceis oursinevery moment.
By the way, abundance doesn’t mean that we will never want anythingon the material level.
It’s remembering what we have right hereandright now is abundance.Remembering to be grateful for allthat we have.
Ask yourself:Do feel unhappy because I don’t have what I want, or fear that I can’t get what I want? OR Am I grateful and happy for the abundance that is mine in this moment?
Generosity
When we’re in a state of love and abundance, we feel generous. We want toshare our abundance withothers.We’ll want to share and care for each other because that is our true nature.
The opposite of generosity, of course, is hoarding, greed,withholding,and holding onto more than you can use.
The word “hoarding” might conjure up images of horrifically messy houses, but we can also hoardour generosity, or our love. When wewithhold ourlovethere is a way that we are diminished.Loveis our essence and when we don’t express it, we harm ourselves as much as we harm others.
When behave in a way that is greedy, we cut ourselves off from love and will likely feel pain.Weaccumulateall this stuff, perhaps trying to create a sense of security. But we can never have enough stuff to feel secure. Stuff comes and goes.If we havemorefoodthan we can usethe food will rot. It’s of no use.
It’s only useful to have as much as wecan useand to share what we have, with things and emotions like love.
Ask yourself:Am Ibehaving generously or miserly?
Remember, this is practice. Ask yourself these questions and noticeto what degree that you are operating from the principlesfor true happiness, love, union, openness, abundance, and generosity. Notice how you feel when you veer from these principles.
Then,choose. Choose whether you want to stay on your current path or whether you want to come into alignment with your values.
Related Posts:
- What Does Growth Really Mean?
- Do you have a good relationship with YOU?
- How Positive Thinking Affects Your Health
