self-indulgence
The Spiritual Importance Of Releasing Resentments
I went out for lunch today and had a bad service experience with the waitress. It was as if she didn’t care much to listen to what I wanted. She seemed distracted and careless.
Two and a half months ago, I had a similar experience at another restaurant when the server packed the wrong items for me to take home. I felt ignored, even disrespected. Today’s experience brought back the same feelings and memories.
I was so upset that I decided I was not going to leave her a tip. But then, in the middle of my meal, while feeling angry and somewhat sorry for myself, I overheard a nearby customer calling her friend by the same name as my late mother.
This caused me to pause and reflect on my toxic thoughts about the careless waitress. You see, my mother was also a waitress many years ago. It was how she put food on the table and put us through school.
Perhaps today’s events were meant to remind me during the holiday season how many of us go through life with unhealed “mother wounds.”
Spirit now had my attention and proceeded to make me aware that my waitress had her own issues with her mother growing up, and that she is now a single mother herself, barely making ends meet. This realization instantly changed my perspective and my petulant attitude.
The Spiritual Importance Of Self-Nurture
We live in a challenging world. As true as that may be, Spirit teaches us that there is much that can be done to rise above any challenge, to become empowered in the process, and thus to manifest a better future for ourselves. One of the keys to this is self-nurture.
Why should we nurture ourselves, and more importantly, how do we nurture ourselves?
Self-nurturing is often confused with self-indulgence. However, self-nurturing is not an act of selfishness or vanity. It is simply taking care of yourself, both spiritually and physically, to keep your mind, body, and soul strong and able to meet the challenges of everyday life.
As a result, you will be better equipped to meet the challenges of everyday life and to contribute more to society.
Here are some good ways to take better care of yourself.
Feed Your Senses
Make sure that what you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch each day is mostly positive, uplifting, and as nourishing as possible. True, this may not always be easy because we live in a noisy, troubled world. But it can be as simple as reading an uplifting book, listening to uplifting music of your choice, or watching a movie that you find particularly authentic and positive.
Spiritual Self-Care Or Ego Indulgence?
Spiritual or metaphysical practice is a pursuit designed to help bring greater meaning and fulfillment to our lives. It is a lifestyle that requires us to be very honest with ourselves and very intentional about the choices we make. But lately I’ve seen a lot of discourse around spirituality that basically encourages you to do pretty much whatever you want in the name of ‘free will’ and ‘self-care.’
Free will is sacred. Yes, it’s true that we are divine, spiritual beings who get to enjoy this incredible adventure of physical life. We get to choose how we move in the world, what we want for ourselves, and how we want to live. But there are two sides to this coin. Yes, we can choose what we want to manifest and how we wish to live our lives, but that does not absolve us of our karmic responsibilities and the consequences of our actions.
I’ve written before about karma and how it’s not meant to be a punishment, but rather a teacher. There are to metaphysical laws that are the basis to our karmic responsibility in this lifetime, namely the universal law of cause and effect and the spiritual law of karma.
The universal law of cause and effect is that for every action there is a reaction. There is a natural order in the universe in which our actions always have consequences, both good and bad.
The spiritual law of karma is a more specific application of the law of cause and effect. According to this law, the totality of our actions in this life, as well as all of our past lives, determine our future. This means that our actions create the conditions for our future experiences, both good and bad.