Have you ever felt the desire to become a more spiritual person? I mean, I feel like I was born with the qualities that make me what you’d call a “good” person. I try my best to be loving, to spread kindness to others, give to the less fortunate, etc. etc, but do you ever feel like that’s not enough?
When I was younger (high school) I struggled to feel like I belonged into any sort of community. Religion, to me, seemed like a great place to feel connected to others, and to provide a social and supportive meeting place for neighbors. A group of people who come together in times of happiness and sadness? It seemed ideal. My experience in churches, however, was NOT ideal (And I tried 7 churches). I was made to feel like I needed to look/act/be a certain way in order to feel accepted and yet I really wasn’t interested in subduing my style or weird personality. I am who I am, and the only person allowed to change anything about me is meeee…
Fast forward 15 years and you’ve got present day me. I have amazing friends and family, but sometimes I still feel like I’m missing a bit of a spiritual element in my life. SoOOoo I’ve decided to dedicate the next series of artwork to the theme of Spirituality and to the discovery of what my true beliefs are! Pretty exciting right? This means lots of books, questions, and adventures. First stop? Library!
The library recently put on a lecture with a Buddhist monk so Nick and I went to go check it out. It was ok… The guy was nice and funny, but he wanted us to breathe out of our noses during the instructed meditation, which was really uncomfortable for me (I think I need to try a different version of meditation where I can breathe out of my mouth lol). Plus his talk was a bit on the dry side. I’ve never heard anyone speak so slowly in my life which made it hard to pay attention to what he was saying. The whole thing felt a little bit hokey (to me, I totally get it if someone is into that stuff and don’t mean any offence), but I’m not giving up hope that I will find something that I find comfortable for my taste.
Also while I was at the library I got a pile of books about everything you can think of including: Buddhism, sacred geometry, stories of creation, how to be spiritual, mediation, mandalas, secrets of life etc. I’ve only finished a few of them so I don’t have a whole lot to report on yet except one thing…
If you h
ave any interest in this stuff you have to read “The Indie Spiritualist,” by Chris Grosso, it is amazing! The book is his take on what it means for HIM to be spiritual and how you yourself can be spiritual in ANY way that works for you. He’s an incredibly humble guy who is extremely relate-able. He talks about how spirituality saved him from himself and tells interesting stories about his years of alcoholism, self loathing, and rebellion from society. His connection to music (even though a lot of it is punk rock!) is what brought him closer to “God,” and the feelings that life has a deeper meaning than just what we all see here on earth. Read it, it’s cool!
Anywho, this post is getting too long, so leave now and go read that book!
xo Pony