23^rd March, 2000      Healing Today Magazine

When I was asked to write an article for the magazine Healing Today on my spiritual reflections I began to put under the microscope how I felt about my spirituality and how within all the experiences I have had, which one stood out from the rest. Also I needed to see how I integrated this experience into the world which I live in on a daily basis. The experience, which immediately sprang to mind, was a trip taken several years ago to Northern India and the boarders of Nepal.

As I sat in a group high up in the Himalayas surrounded by the natural spirituality of that splendid environment, rituals and ceremonies took place which led me deep inside to the silence within, connecting me with all that is, and it was powerfully overwhelming. During this time I was able to spend the early mornings listening to the birds beginning to wake from their slumber, watching the sun slowly begin to stretch until it slipped over the horizon to light the day. I was able to sit and watch the first evening stars begin to peep shyly out from their invisibility, and sit very silently as the silvery moon crept over the horizon where it spread an ethereal glow over everything. There was no pressure to be anything other than just being and it enabled feelings to stir inside me of expansion as I felt my mind stretch to take in the entire world and the whole of the cosmos. As this expansion went further words formed in my mind ‘This is what I am all part of, and everything that is, is also me.’ The expansion went further and it became not just a thinking exercise but the actuality of being one with everything began to permeate the whole of me until I no longer existed. This lasted for such a short moment in eternity that words can not begin to describe it as it was beyond words.

That feeling does not go away and you really know you are everything and everything is you, there is no separation .

There are many places around the world I have been where these precious moments in eternity have happened, where the beauty and spirit are so close. The sacred places where for hundreds, if not thousands of years people have gathered for spiritual ceremonies. All the praying, and worshipping at these sites make them so special, they are like gateways to heaven where the veils are so thin you can just close your eyes and be at complete peace in the silence and stillness. There are also places in nature where perhaps they are not known as sacred but they have a magic which transports you upwards in consciousness within moments of being there.

Although it is wonderful to be able to spend time in such places the majority of my life is spent on my home ground and in my local community. Within this there is also so much beauty, although sometimes it is a little harder to see it, because I am ‘used to it’. But it is in this environment of my ‘normal’ day to day activities that I believe the focus of my spirituality is more important to maintain. This is where I face the trial and tribulations of human existence, where I fight the good fight, where I am tested and where I have to be doing as well as being. Making my environment as ‘spiritual’ as I possibly can helps to keep my focus. I have tried to create a peaceful garden where I can sit watching and linking in with nature as well as creating that space just to be sometimes at the beginning and ending of the day. I have reminders around the house which, when I look at them they focus me on my spiritual essence. It is ‘on my home ground’ that I have received many an insight into my spiritual nature.

In my every day living it may not be appropriate to greet others, in the way I would perhaps in the Himalayas. I may have to change my actions and words to suit the circumstances, but I still try to see the divine in all I meet. I try to treat others as I would like to be treated, being open, responsible, loving, honest, caring and the many other qualities that reflects spirituality. Bringing all this as much as possible into all my transactions with others keeps me connected to the sacredness of life. Being mindful when I walk on this planet that I share it with all forms of life, giving constant thanks for the food I eat, and all the blessings I have, I try to adopt an attitude of gratitude.

As much as I love my spirituality I also love my humanity and being able to experience the times of stress, sadness, chaos, excitement, and happiness are just as important. Having the ‘high’ moments balance with the ‘low’ moments are all part of my journey here on Earth and during the times when it is hard to keep my spiritual focus I remind myself that I am a spiritual being having a human experience and I love it all. So I feel when I am experiencing being joyful and loving in the present I am living a spiritual life wherever I happen to be on Mother Earth.