We all know that feeling of the beginning of an anxiety spiral. As soon as we imagine a bad-case-scenario, it can be hard to stop the mental calamity wheels from spinning. The mind gets hijacked.
We all also know the moment of release. It’s a mental-emotional-physical calming. It’s a shift into a trust that calms the inner storm.
As a spiritual person, you have devoted yourself in many ways to the practices and perspectives that bring a sweet current of freedom, a reprieve from the struggle.
The sages, prophets, and wisdom figures through the ages have pointed out that spirituality holds keys to unlock the cages that bind us. (See below for a unique evening I’m hosting with William Martin, who I consider to be a modern spiritual sage.)
When we find our well-being hijacked, here are four spiritual keys that unlock four super powers:
Key 1 - The Spiritual Mind
A healthy spirituality shapes how we think. When we are attuned to the fact that there’s a grand, spiritual source of meaning in the universe, much bigger than our little lives… when we’re attuned to the fact that we’re called to dedicate our little lives to playing a wondrous role in that grand-ness… it helps us place our challenging experiences in a wider frame.
Viewed from a vantage point of Spirit, our problems don’t go away, but they do get right-sized. These verses from Christian scripture (Romans 8) provide an example of a frame that bring us into a comforted mind:
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God.
Key 2 - The Spiritual Heart
The heart is the organ of Spirit. When we are afraid our hearts quicken and contract. But when we remember our spiritual nature, our hearts open up and blossom, and we feel trust and hope.
The quiet heart rests in a knowing that is beyond mere thoughts. A beautiful example of this knowing and trust is expressed through the Sufi prayer:
My heart is at ease knowing that what was meant for me will never miss me, and that what misses me was never meant for me.
Key 3 - The Spiritual Body
When it takes root in the body, spirituality opens up a profound and quiet sensation, an inner spaciousness that arises out of a Still Point. When our body is deeply relaxed and alert, we not only calm our nervous system, we also drop into our Essential Self. We open to the ever-present Still Point and the experience of sanctuary that comes with it.
The poet TS Eliot reminds us that:
At the still point of the turning world, there the dance is. . . . And there is only the dance.
Key 4 - The Spirit of Relationship
Spirituality is always relational. Whether it’s through our mind, heart, or body, it brings us into a relationship with the Source of life. As spirituality opens the cages in which we live, we are free to be in deeper relationships with others and our world.
As Albert Schweitzer beautifully states, others offer the keys that unlock us and free us into a more expanded Spirit:
Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.
So, here are some powerful options for you when you find yourself hijacked by anxiety, fear, overwhelm, or trauma:
Shift your frame of perceptions and place your problems within a wider, spiritual mind.
Drop into your open heart and entrust your life, the world, and others to God.
Breathe into the stillness of your body experience and the sanctuary of the Still Point.
Open yourself to listen for guidance from the Divine, while drawing upon the support and care of loved ones.
The next time the world seems more than you can manage, which key will you choose?
If you’d like to explore more deeply what each of these keys can look like for you, I invite you to join me for An Evening With William Martin, Author of A Path and a Practice
“How the Tao Te Ching speaks to our anxious, changing world.” A casual conversation with the author on Zoom.
Thursday, March 20th from 7:00 - 8:30 pm CST