Do you consider yourself a spiritual person? If so, why? Is it because you meditate regularly, enjoy nature walks, or like books by Deepak Chopra or movies like The Secret? Those things are all quite wonderful, but spirituality is about far more than what you believe or know or do. Spirituality is about how you show up in the world and how you relate to your fellow human beings.
If you are not naturally and consistently expressing the following thirteen qualities,you may not be as “spiritual” as you think. We all have lots of room for improvement. If we’re not careful, it’s all too easy to fall prey to self-absorption and an unwarranted sense of spiritual superiority. Make a habit of checking in with yourself to make sure you’re interacting with others with:
ACCEPTANCE
Love is blind; friendship closes its eyes.
Friedrich Nietzsche
APPRECIATION
People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Bonnie Jean Wasmund
COMPASSION
Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.
Hafiz
DISCERNMENT
If it is not truthful and not helpful, don’t say it.
If it is truthful and not helpful, don’t say it.
If it is not truthful and helpful, don’t say it.
If it is truthful and helpful, wait for the right time.
Buddha
EMPATHY
Suffering and joy teach us, if we allow them, how to make the leap of empathy, which transports us into the soul and heart of another person. In those transparent moments we know other people’s joys and sorrows, and we care about their concerns as if they were our own.
Fritz Williams
GENEROSITY
Do things for people not because of who they are or what they do in return, but because of who you are.
Rabbi Harold S. Kushner
HONOR
Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
HUMILITY
Humility doesn’t mean you think less of yourself. It meansyou think of yourself less.
Ken Blanchard
INTEGRITY
You may be the only Bible somebody else reads.
Mark Twain
INTIMACY
If you had an hour to live and could only make one phone call, who would you call, what would you say, and why are you waiting?
Stephen Levine
KINDNESS
Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.
Mother Teresa
LOVE
To love someone means to see him as God intended him.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
REVERENCE
Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed. I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.
Thomas Merton
ABOUT PHIL BOLSTA
Phil is the author of Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything, a collection of 45 inspiring, life-changing stories from prominent people he interviewed, including Joan Borysenko, Deepak Chopra, geneticist Dr. Francis Collins, acclaimed sportswriter Frank Deford, Dr. Larry Dossey, Wayne Dyer, Dan Millman, Caroline Myss, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, Dr. Bernie Siegel, James Van Praagh, singer Billy Vera, Doreen Virtue, Neale Donald Walsch, and bassist Victor Wooten.
Here is a three-minute video that introduces you to Phil and his book.
Reading this book is like spending a few minutes face to face with each of the contributors and listening to their personal stories. Click here to read unsolicited testimonials from readers. Learn more by visiting the official Sixty Seconds website.
Tags: soul qualities, spirituality
