Spirituality at the Movies

Tags

growth, leveling up, spiritual goals, writing

Welcome to the first post in our ‘mid-week’ series of guest posts by #spiritchat members, tentatively categorized, “spiriflections”. I hope that you enjoy the author’s efforts, and maybe even contribute a comment (to encourage them) and/or contribute to this series in the future. Thank you. – Kumud

Spirituality at the Movies – by David Tumbarello

I sat in the dark theater and watched a beautiful movie about growth and strength. About battling demons, learning about sacrifice, and learning about love. The main character began the story literally and figuratively without a body. She was also soul-less. By the end of the first act, she was given a body. After battling a demon, this replacement body was destroyed and she was given a second, upgraded body. This one was more mature and she integrated with this one far better than the first. In a moment, she “leveled up”. Due to her desire to fight for justice, she acquired accessories that integrated with her body. She brought these accessories to battle and “leveled up” once more.

I sat down the other day to watch another movie, this one twelve years in the making. During those 12 years, the protagonist grows from a boy to a man. As a six year old, he rides a bike, and then as a 16 year old drives a car, and when he graduates from high school, he drives off to the university. His parents divorce, they remarry, and divorce again. He struggles with his classes and learns he is an artist. This doesn’t happen overnight. It takes 12 years for him to be okay with his art. It also takes 12 years for him to grow from boyhood into something close to being an adult.

I think about maturation versus leveling up. For me, spirituality does not fit with the model of a person leveling up. A spiritual deposit today will not increase the size of my spiritual bank account tomorrow. My deposit today, however, may contribute to my growth.

It has been said, “When you open your heart and mind up to allowing yourself to experience the doubts, tension, and discomforts associated with facing fears and making changes, you allow the possibility for real growth to occur.” Should we shy away from pain, discomfort, loss, and fear? If our mindset is growth, we should find ways to embrace these difficulties because in their purest form, they are not barrier but rather gates to growth.

I recall sitting in therapy one afternoon and the therapist and I talked about trying out new behaviors. She turned to me and said, “It’s a stretch.” She wasn’t asking that I change overnight or level up. She was asking that I consider doing something just a bit outside my comfort zone. Something that would stretch my self-care muscles. Something that would help me grow.

As I write today, I embrace my flaws, blemishes, bruises, and aches. Even with these spiritual difficulties, I aspire. Without them, how would I stretch? How would I grow? I write today to address spiritual weakness. For me, writing today is a stretch. I address weakness and with this stretch, I grow. Will I have aches? Yes. Will I stretch and grow? Absolutely.

And when you mature, when you truly grow, others around you will notice and in the right circumstances they are changed as well. You change, they change. Would you want it any other way?

– David Tumbarello (@davetumbarello)

David Tumbarello is a technical communicator with over 50 years in the growth industry, with 49 of those years communicative and on two feet. When he is not technically communicating, he enjoys hiking, biking, and writing. Feel free to connect with David on LinkedIn.

Spiritual Reflections (photo by @AjmaniK)

A Spirit of Trust

Tags

spiritchat, spiritual goals, trust

We began the third year of our weekly #SpiritChat conversations last Sunday by having a discussion about New Beginnings. It was a dynamic dialogue, and one theme that emerged in the context of “what factors prevent us from making new beginnings” is what we will expand on this week – a Spirit of Trust.

Our daily lives may invite us to experience, examine and practice trust in our small and big decisions. At some level, we invoke trust in even the smallest act – say, that of turning on the tap and trusting that the water will flow, be available. Before we talk more about trust, maybe we can try and define the word, trust. The dictionary defines trust as:

Trust – a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something

Belief. Reliability. Truth. Strength. Those are some powerful words. And when we connect those words to a someone or something, they have the ability to energize us. And when we raise our energy levels, it helps us focus on the goodness, the positive in our lives and the lives of those that surround us, in our community, and in the world at large. According to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (in his book titled “The Art of Stress Free Living”), this propensity, to look and focus, and stay focused on goodness in the world, is one of the paths which leads us to higher Trust.

So, how do we raise our energy levels, and keep them in an elevated state, so that we are continually strengthening our Trust in that someone or something? What happens to our spirit when we perceive that our Trust has been compromised, or even broken? What is the best way to find out if we can trust That someone or something? If our ability to trust requires courage, how and where do we find more courage? How does our connection with community – physical and virtual – affect our ability to trust?

I hope some of these questions energize you, your mind and your spirit. If so, I invite you to join the #SpiritChat community on Sunday, August 4th on twitter, for a discussion about trust – a space where we can gather, raise our energy levels, and believe that little bit more in each other.

Thank you for reading – Namaste, and Be well.

Kumud

Update: Here are the questions asked during the chat. Enjoy, and feel free to answer in the comments… The full transcript and statistics are available at http://bit.ly/sc-tr-0804

Q1. Trust. visualize it, listen to it, feel it. What do you see, hear and feel? #SpiritChat

Q2. Trust in someone or something. Why is it important for us to trust? #SpiritChat

Q3. Our Spirit may say, trust. Our mind may say, wait. How do we decide? #SpiritChat

Q4: How do we balance trusting too much and not trusting enough? Do we need to? #SpiritChat

Q5. We hear “Trust yourself”. Does that prevent us from trusting others? Why or why not? #SpiritChat

Q6. What are some ways that we can build trust – in ourselves, in others? #SpiritChat

Q7. “Trust, once broken, is tough to fully restore.” Agree or disagree? Why? #SpiritChat

Q8: What is the connection between Trust, prayer and meditation? #SpiritChat

Final Q9. Action step. I will practice more trust in my life by… #SpiritChat