spiritual growth
Painting As A Powerful Spiritual Practice
As a visual artist, I find painting to be a powerful tool for spiritual growth and manifestation. Art has been used as a medium for self-expression and energy channeling for centuries. Painting in particular is an enlightening way to tap into one’s innermost thoughts and feelings and connect with your higher self.
One of the ways that painting can be particularly helpful in growth and healing is that it offers a way for us to let go of what no longer serves us. We too often hold onto old traumas, fears, and limiting beliefs that keep us stuck in negative patterns. Channeling these toxic thought patterns and emotions into art can help us to release it and create space for new energy to flow in.
The act of painting itself can be deeply meditative and calming, allowing the artist to quiet the mind and tap into their intuition. When we allow ourselves to be mindful and entirely present in the moment and focus solely on the act of creating, we access a state of energetic flow that is incredibly soothing, healing, and transformative.
Additionally, painting can be used as a powerful tool for manifesting. When we create art with a specific intention in mind, we are essentially using our thoughts and imagination to give physical form to that intention. Making an original painting is much more powerful and intentional than creating a vision board, for example. By painting images and scenes of the things we desire, we are sending a clear message into the universe that we are ready to receive it.
True Spirituality Is About Everyday Existence
It is often assumed that to lead a truly spiritually aware life we must increasingly distance ourselves from the material world and be more fully immersed in the spiritual world. We must reduce our involvement with all things physical, and instead focus exclusively on the non-physical or metaphysical.
This is, however, not what being truly ‘spiritual’ is about. True spirituality is in fact quite the opposite. It is about living this physical life to the fullest. It is about being present in every moment and living with joy, appreciation, and gratitude.
Spiritual living is about honoring and expressing the love, grace and compassion of God, Source, Spirit, the Divine in our everyday existence. It is about relishing in the divine beauty and abundance of creation, and embracing the unconditional love and light of divinity in our lives every day.
As spiritual beings in physical form we do need material things in order survive in this physical reality, and ensure a more fluid, comfortable existence. And while we are busy focusing our time and energy on acquiring those material things that we need, it does not mean we are no longer being spiritual, or not being ‘spiritual enough.’
For instance, most of us need to work to earn a living, to put food on the table and a roof over our head. Going to work every day and being of service is just as much a spiritual act as spending time in transcendental meditation, for example, or participating in a prayer circle.
Time Truly Does Heal All
Time truly does heal all. With time most things do get a little easier or less bad than it originally appeared. And most of the things we worry about usually never happen. Time does have a way of making it better, so we can move on and experience other things.
Time doesn’t make it go away, but it does help us to eventually see things in another perspective or from a different angle. It always ends up filling in the blanks.
Time is also a great teacher. In time, we learn a lot from the many challenging situations and experiences we go through. There is no failing. Only learning. Overcoming the setbacks and hurdles that live brings is never easy or without pain, but there is always learning and growth. We especially become more grateful and there is always soul growth.
Some losses and traumas require more time than others. We should never rush our healing. It will happen when it is supposed to happen. The most important self-healing and personal growth is supposed to take longer.
There are many ways time can heal. It can help us heal through taking the time to learn a new sport or art form, or joining a support group or recreational club that connects with others. It is important to keep busy and talk with others who are maybe going through the same thing as you. Through connecting with others, we can heal them, and they can heal us, through just listening and talking.
Why Do Old Souls Return To Earth?
Evolved souls have many options to choose from when they reincarnate, so why do we choose to come to this world? After all, planet Earth is a highly challenging environment for advanced soul growth.
The energy conditions here offer an excellent spiritual ‘classroom’ for younger souls. Earth offers many experiences to learn from. Justice and injustice. Love and hate. Pain and joy. Feast and famine. Wealth and poverty. The magical experience of having children is also very appealing and unique to Earth.
These learning opportunities are a strong pull for young souls, but for the older soul the physical experience here tend to be frustratingly slow and dense. Existing in a frail human body is an added challenge.
There are other planes of existence where a physical body or constant efforts to maintain a raised vibration are not at all needed. In those higher dimensions there is no time-space limitation, nor dense material form. There is only pure consciousness. There are also other planets in the Universe, beyond our solar system, where the energy vibration is much higher and lighter, and the expansion of consciousness much more evolved, and less taxing.
So, why do some old souls choose to repeat the human experience once again, and sign up for another difficult life journey in such a spiritually inhospitable place here on Earth?
The Mystery Of Past Life Memories
Reincarnation and past lives continue to captivate the metaphysical community, while skeptics believe it’s mumbo-jumbo. As a certified hypnotherapist who does past live regression work, I am a strong believer in past lives. Based on my experience, I have no doubt that past life phenomena are real. However, what I am not entirely certain of is its true nature and origins.
For example, if I do a past life regression with a client and she recalls the execution of Joan of Arc in 1431, does that mean she was actually present at that event? If so, who was she at that time? Was she the subject, an observer, or an agent. In other words, was she Joan of Arc herself, one of the crowd, or the executioner, clergy, or the British soldier who gave Joan the impromptu crucifix for her to hold?
There is growing evidence in the science of epigenetic inheritance that our genes may have imprinted ancestral patterns, specifically due to the effects of trauma. Researchers have not only found that events in someone’s lifetime can change the way their DNA is expressed, but this change can potentially be passed on to future generations. Evidence for this has been found linked to traumatic events like famines, wars and genocides.
It is therefore possible that my regression client is not seeing events from her own past life, but instead an imprint from her ancestry. It could be that she did not experience the event herself, but that she is merely consciously recalling an unconscious imprint of a traumatic event one of her ancestors had experienced.
Interestingly, most past life memories tend to be of violent deaths. Young children between two to five years old especially seem to remember such past life deaths. Some also have recurring dreams of the tragic events. There have been many cases reported where further investigation confirmed the historic facts of the child’s unusual memories.
The Path Of Personal Development
Personal development is an essential part of our spiritual mission and soul purpose in this lifetime. It is a lifelong process of self-improvement that involves setting goals, taking steps towards realizing those goals, and learning from our experiences along the way. It is an ongoing journey to becoming the best version of ourselves.
To fulfill this mission, we must develop various life skills, knowledge, insight and wisdom by growing socially, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. Personal development is thus a commitment to reach our highest potential in our current incarnation by striving to live a life of fulfillment and purpose.
The path of personal development is not the same for everyone. We all have unique personalities, traits, talents, interests, wishes and dreams. Our path is further determined by our values, beliefs, and life experiences, as well as our soul contract and calling in this lifetime.
It is a journey of physical, mental, and metaphysical self-discovery, in which we explore, uncover and evolve our true potential. It is a process of constantly learning and growing, which can take many forms.
To venture down our path of personal development we must take action and progress towards achieving your goals. It involves setting goals, creating plans, and taking practical steps to reach those goals. On a practical level this might include activities and pursuits like learning a new language, getting a degree, starting a business, achieving physical fitness, participating in a sport, volunteering, taking an art class, travelling abroad, pursuing a spiritual practice like meditation, divination, journaling, or dreamwork, and so on.