Sometimes people get the mistaken notion that spirituality is a separate department of life, the penthouse of existence. But rightly understood, it is a vital awareness that pervades all realms of our being.
Br. David Steindl-Rast
Welcome to Day One of Enliven Your Spirit
You may be arriving at this Pathway looking to enrich an already vibrant spirituality, or you may be arriving skeptical of the very concept. Both lived experiences are welcome here. Our founder, Br. David Steindl-Rast, speaks to the range of our reactions to spirituality when he writes, “The term, spirit, has been so misused that I would be perfectly happy to drop it completely, declare a moratorium on the word spirit.” With that acknowledgment, he then goes on to offer this expansive and inviting way of thinking about what it means to be spiritual: “Whenever we are alive on every level, we are spiritual.” Take that in for just a moment: When we are alive on every level, we are spiritual.
Working with this definition, it makes sense to consider what it is that enables us to feel fully alive — what awakens us from the mundane and increases our awareness of life as a gift. What’s on your list? Playing music or late-night dancing? Deep conversation or serving others? A sporting event or a walk in nature? Participation in a religious tradition or daily meditation? Your list will no doubt include treasured things unique to you, but there’s one universal key to being fully alive, one through line, and that’s gratefulness. You can read more about the centuries-old roots of this through line in today’s deepening resource below; the historian and theologian Diana Butler Bass sums it beautifully when she writes, “Being thankful is the very essence of what it means to be alive, and to know that life abundantly.”
On this first day of the Pathway, we invite you to begin thinking about spirituality in this sense of being fully alive. How might this framing expand and enrich the way you define spirituality? How might it open the door to something that has felt inaccessible or unsustainable to you?
Today’s Practice: Remember What Helps You Feel Fully Alive
When Br. David writes, “The goal [of spirituality] is aliveness in all areas of body and mind — from healthy living habits to respectful ways of treating others, to caring for our environment, and relating to Mystery,” he follows it up immediately with this: “For all this we need skills.” With that in mind, each day of the Pathway offers a tangible practice to help expand your spiritual toolkit.
To set the stage for today’s practice, enjoy this powerful 10-minute film from our partners at Reflections of Life. Listen for any gems of wisdom from Antony Osler about what it means to awaken fully to life.
After watching the film, take a moment to consider Osler’s closing, poignant words: “I don’t feel afraid of being dead. What frightens me is not living fully before I die. That is a terror.” Today’s practice is designed to help you remember, appreciate, and discover meaning in the things that allow you to feel fully awake and alive.
Step One: Make a List
Take a few minutes to bring to mind two or three experiences in your life that have helped you feel fully alive, whether emotionally, intellectually, or physically. These could be one-time events or ongoing practices, relationships, and activities. No need to overthink this step; go with whatever comes to mind, whether something from many years ago or today. Trust what arises for you, and write these down.
Step Two: Describe What Aliveness Feels Like to You
How would you describe the feeling of aliveness that these experiences evoke? What emotions arise? What thoughts or physical sensations? Write down a few words or short phrases that describe how “aliveness” feels to you.
Step Three: Activate Gratefulness
Take a moment to give thanks for the times you have felt fully alive. For just a moment, imagine your life without these experiences and their accompanying gifts. How would your life be diminished? From that place, give thanks, whether through quiet reflection, a written list or note, a phone call, or prayer.
Step Four: Reflect
- When you feel this kind of full aliveness, how does it change the way you show up to your life — to yourself, in your work, in relationship with others?
- How does the idea of spirituality as being alive on every level inform or shape your own definition? What is liberating or enriching? Is there anything uncomfortable or challenging?
- With full aliveness in mind, take a moment to write down what spirituality means to you.
As you get to the close of today’s practice, consider what might shift in your life if you began each day with this simple practice of naming and giving thanks for what makes you feel fully alive.
Scroll to the bottom of the page (or click here) to find the Community Conversation space where we invite you to share your reflections about today’s practice.
Deepening Resource
In this essay, Joe Primo explains how gratitude is a universal through line in spiritual traditions and how living gratefully offers a roadmap to a more meaningful life. He highlights Br. David Steindl-Rast’s lifelong work, scholarship, and articulation of gratefulness as a spiritual practice.
What Our Ancestors Knew: Living Gratefully Is at the Heart of Life by Joe Primo
Research Highlight
In her book The Awakened Brain, Dr. Lisa Miller of Columbia University shares groundbreaking research on the benefits of developing a spiritual practice. She lifts up scientific studies that demonstrate that humans are naturally spiritual beings and discusses spirituality’s tangible benefits. Brain imaging, genetics, and epidemiology all reveal that cultivating a spiritual life protects against depression and anxiety, reduces the risk of alcohol and drug abuse, and contributes to recovering and healing from trauma, including among veterans with PTSD.
Miller, Lisa. The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Enlightened Life. New York: Random House, 2021.
Photo by Ben Hickingbotham
Have come back to express my gratefulness for the vid presented here — I love these vids that embody SO much and are so simply, eloquently moving. Very recently I have been emotionally struggling to what is going on in the U.S. – the anger, fighting, ugliness and, at first, I tried to not pay attention; it was just so scary and to me, far-earlier than the actual election/inauguration, seemed like an overlay of 1939-1943+/- Germany. It’s like, for me, palpable; I could feel it in the air such fear, such injustice like an avalanche, all at once. But I simply couldn’t keep my head in the sand… maybe even the sand was infected with the energy here now. And then, to come upon this vid…and I’m in tears right now… that illustrates someone of my age, a gentle man, in S. Africa in rural area as am I (in the U.S.) and how he is balancing it all, mostly without drowning, but also with an even deeper need than when he was a child for stillness, aloneness, for being just with the cat, the tree, his journal and the rake. I will watch this video many, many, many times – it has hit such a chord in me and is so evocative and alluring, with depths to plummet for me that I only can guess at now. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Maybe *that* is what spirituality is to me … the never ending searching deep inside –not outside– yourself for balance, for compassion to authentically give, for the consistent ability to ‘touch’ the Buddha I meet within each person or the ChristConsciousness position of ‘to the extent you do it to the least of these, my brothers, you do it to me’ And do that reaching out w/out any judgment, any evaluation or distinguishing but simply living soul to living soul. Now that I think of it, I can do that with just about any non-human life form on the planet and they seem more willing to embrace me than be afraid of me, the human. But with humans, in the culture in which I live, I have to be able to do this while also knowing and accepting fully that few in our busy-ness addicted culture will be reciprocating or maybe even understanding it. To find, within me, from what has always existed for each of us that quiet, deep, joy and love that needs no possession, no outside approval or trappings of “success” and to live from there. This FOR SURE was a “deeper dive” vid for which I am SO grateful.
“To find, within me, from what has always existed for each of us that quiet, deep, joy and love that needs no possession, no outside approval or trappings of “success” and to live from there.” YES! Thank you, Creek.
Beautiful video. Agree. The present moment is all we have. It’s a gift. That’s why it’s called “the present.”
Love art, animals, nature, nurture. Into coloring, Soul Collage, writing, photography, creativity and kindness.
Tend to my gardens—inside and out. Bright blooms bring me joy. Fragrance wafts o’er my soul. I am alive.
Pepstar, I love your phrasing “That’s why it is called “the present”.” What a good way to remember that it truly is a gift, thank you!
Thanks for the opportunity to reflect on and pray with being alive. I think of the times when fear has ‘paralysed me’ and when I have retreated into myself to protect myself. I am grateful for the Spirit who guided me in this, inviting me to live life fully, to participate in life with love, faith, humility and courage. I am grateful for all the people who have shown amazing courage and compassion, inviting me to do the same. I am grateful daily for nature and her generosity and beauty, inviting me to be the same. I believe I am alive whenever I am participating in life in this way and at those times I am not, invariably I am invited to reconnect.
I was given a Creed a few years back, called the Creed of the Beloved. ‘I am not what I do. I am not what I possess. I am not what people think about me. I am the Beloved of the Divine One. I can trust the Divine One and share compassion in the world. I am grateful that I can be so each day.
Wow, Michael. THK YOU so much for sharing that Creed of the Beloved… I will cut, paste and print it out for it is a wonderful reminder in many ways…
Thank you for sharing that lovely Creed of the Beloved, Michael!
It’s getting late and I’m already pretty tired at the moment while I’m answering the question. Br. David’s definition is wonderful as it includes everything and does not only focus on consciousness or the true mind. I feel alive when I am with friends, when we cook together and can be totally happy about it or celebrate together, for example. There is always a heart full of gratitude in each of us, for the gift and for the willingness to really listen to each other and the friendship that has grown, which, in addition to the shared joy, has so often made touching encounters on deep levels possible.
What spirituality means to me? i guess to me it means being grateful, sharing, meditation, connectivity and togetherness with all, joy, peace, freedom, non-duality, Love.
Hello, “Dear Ose”. I am smiling.🩷 thank you.🙏
welcome, dear Carol Ann, i am smiling, too! 🙏
Love your comments (tired and all!) You’re a romantic. That’s a lovely quality and makes for richer experiences in life.
Do you think so?🤩
When I first thought about today’s practice, I wrote down a few experiences that made me feel fully alive. They were experiences that left me feeling exhilarated, joyful and fully present in the moment, such as a flat-out gallop on a horse along a ridgeline trail above a lake, or a motorcycle ride along the breathtakingly beautiful “Going To The Sun” Road in Glacier National Park in Montana – but then a different kind of experience came to mind. My father, who was an ordinary, yet so extraordinary man, passed away last November, and experiencing this kind of soul-wrenching grief in its own way also made me feel fully alive. At times I felt paralyzed by the loss, the pain and the sorrow, but I was somewhat surprised when I became aware that I also felt truly alive, connected and fully present in the moment – maybe triggered by the realization that nothing will last forever and that it is so important to live fully, to enjoy and be grateful for every moment of our lives… the good ones and the not-so-good ones.
It does take effort to not get dulled by the daily routines, the mundane, the stress and worries of normal life, but I try to see something awe-inspiring every day and often find there is a lot more than just one thing, and that I can find joy in even the most ordinary of days.
Beautiful. Loved your thoughtful words, especially this ending thought: “It does take effort to not get dulled by the daily routines, the mundane, the stress and worries of normal life, but I try to see something awe-inspiring every day and often find there is a lot more than just one thing, and that I can find joy in even the most ordinary of days.
So agree. It DOES take effort not to get dulled by daily routines, stress and worries of normal life—especially these days! I try not to watch too much news on TV, relax, meditate, go for walks, cuddle my kitty and color—yes, coloring has taken me to the silence and creativity spoken about in this precious video. Art, animals, nature and nurture are my sacred spaces. Ahhh. . .
I will have to try colouring some time – I haven’t yet but I became more intrigued when you mentioned that it takes you to the silence and creativity spoken about in the video. The video was such a good reminder to slow down and evoked a feeling of peace, of being present and appreciating simply what is, didn’t it?
Yes, the video evoked a feeling of peace and appreciating the simple qualities of life, like being present in each and every moment we’re alive.
Tip for you on coloring: buy large image coloring books rather than tiny lines you have to strain to see much less color in the lines. Go to Amazon.com and type in the search bar “Large Print Coloring Books” or “Large Print – CALM” or “Large Print – No Stress” and you’ll be able to see some really neat coloring books that you’ll enjoy coloring in and feel more centered, calm, and relaxed. Happy coloring!
Thank you very much for the tip, that is a good point! I will check out Amazon.
Thank you Uli.I feel for you in your grief
i remember being with my mother as she was dying.I was by myself with her all night.Yet, it was the most alive sacred time, trusting in the flow and the process.Truly alive in every moment.
I have had to retire early due to health issues, and find myself bored and very down.Todays thoughts made me remember what used to bring me alive.I have to find ways to do them again, perhaps in different forms.
Suzy, what a blessing that you were able to be with your mother when she was dying. It must have difficult, but how amazing that you can consider it the most alive sacred time and were able to trust in the transitioning. I wasn’t there when my father passed away as I live in a different country, but he was surrounded by other family members and my uncle, who is a deacon, told me about the beautiful farewell ceremony he performed.
I hope you will be able to overcome your health issues or find new ways to bring you alive again!
Suzy – I am sorry for your healthy issues, that can be such a lonely isolating time. I love the hope that you express as you remember what used to bring you alive. Finding different ways to do the things that used to enliven your spirit is so hopeful. During a time when I had limited mobility and stamina, I was given StoryWorth, a story writing subscription that sent me prompts to write about my own life and experiences. I would think about the question and then ask one or more friends or relatives for their memories and reactions. As I gatherred these stories, my dreams became more vivid, my memories came popping back into my mind, and I found great solace. I mention this only to say, you are searching in a hopeful direction, finding different ways to experience things that bring you joy.
As I was reading your reflection, I kept thinking of the word AWE, especially reading and thinking about your father’s death and the power and mystery of that experience. Thank you for bringing that word to mind. I didn’t include it in my reflection but it is part of those moments that have made me fully alive. A recent one for me was when I told a dear friend that my daughter is pregnant with my first grandchild. She wept and said that her immense joy came from thinking about legacy and how my daughter already carried the egg that became this child while she was in my belly so many years ago. Now I feel this powerful emotion that I think is awe, everytime I think of him. I can’t wait to meet him in April. Your sharing was lovely to read and touched my heart. Thank you.
Thank you for your kind words, Mary, and for sharing your thoughts. I wish you all the best for the arrival of your first grandchild and that he will fill your days with awe, wonder and joy!
Being alive on every level resonates with me as a good explanation of spirituality. I do not have any traditional religious beliefs or rituals, but I am very much in touch with some higher power, which is most easily accessible in nature. The feeling is one of integration between my mind, body, heart, soul, and spirit. I need connection, I need alone time, I need to move my body and exercise my brain. When all systems are in motion, I feel some internal alignment, described by my energy therapist as open chakras and an open heart. I need a balance of quiet and slow time to enjoy my radiance. It is a spectacular day today, warm enough to sit outside in the woods with my dogs. Right now, I feel fully alive.
For me, the experiences that make me feel alive are being (solo) in nature, moving slowly and attentively through ordinary life, and being creative (Jan Phillips says “creativity is your spirit in running shoes”). This aliveness feels like light-heartedness/open-heartedness, gratefulness and peacefulness.
I mentally walk through all of the small (sometimes large) gratitudes from the day when I crawl into bed at night. Many a time I get pulled back into the aliveness of the moment which gets me off track (on track?) as if reliving those moments.
I have a bumper sticker that reads “I’d Rather Be Here Now.” To be fully present in any moment is to make it rich and meaningful no matter the underlying emotions. I use Ken Wilber’s “Integral Life Practice” as a road map for daily living.
Leslie, “moving slowly and attentively through ordinary life” really resonated with me. My life is often way too busy, but when I get these reminders to slow down and be present, it feels like my spirit goes “aaaaahhhhhh”, and I feel alive again. And love your bumper sticker! That really kind of sums it up – if we change our mindset from wanting to be somewhere else or doing something else to one of finding joy in the here and now, life becomes much more meaningful. One of my favourite quotes is by Wayne Dyer: “If you change the way look at things, the things you look at change”. This has become one of my daily practices.
Leslie G., I really appreciate the “moving slowly and attentively through ordinary life” comment. I aspire to more often feel alive in this way.
I love “I’d rather be here now.” Thank you!
Very moving video…by the end of the activities and reflections I had this set of words to describe how I define spirituality through the lens of full aliveness: Present Awake Clear Full Nothing matters but right now and a wrap up phrase from a song came to me……’before your feet life’s pearl is cast…”
I have just started a practice where I bring myself to the present moment by simply saying, “Lord, I’m here.” Just for that moment, I am in the flow of creation. I am fully alive. I am immediately grateful for something in that moment: birdsong, the fact that I have a doctor and medicine for my current back pain, the warmth of our desert winter. Then, of course, I am distracted and return to the usual plans and worries that exist in the past and future. At some point again, I repeat, “Lord, I’m here” and return to Life, Light and Love again.
love this. thank you.
My answer to today’s prompt is deeply influenced by Michael Singer, Anthony De Mello, and Charles Dickens.
Singer and De Mello both describe spirituality as being about “waking up” to (a) who we truly are (Consciousness/Soul/Atman – the name isn’t important and usually serves to distract from the experience of what’s being described) and (b) the mystery and magic of the present moment.
What this “waking up” looks like (to me) is what I call “Scrooge Consciousness.” It’s the aliveness and giddiness Ebenezer Scrooge expressed when he awoke (literally and figuratively) on Christmas morning, to find that he was not dead (again, literally and figuratively). He was amazed at the wonder of the smallest things; he delighted in his interactions with individuals he formerly would have shunned; and he focused on giving away the best of who he was, rather than focusing on acquiring “things and stuff.”
Admittedly, living in this state of Scrooge Consciousness does not come naturally to me, at least not yet! I have an entire lifetime of permitting (unconsciously) my ego to tell me what Life absolutely must deliver for me to be happy and, in almost never getting those things, experiencing anger, frustration, and a 50+ year battle with depression. So letting go of my demands and expectations of Life; getting in touch with (and remaining aware of) my True Self, which has unconditional love as its nature; and becoming fully alive to the mystery, wonder, and magic of simply being here to experience the present moment, even if I don’t “like” the way it is being presented to me – these are the elements of what spirituality is all about (for me). In this sense, and to quote Anthony De Mello, “spirituality is THE most practical thing in the world,” because it teaches us how to live fully. In this sense, I agree fully with Antony Osler: I fear not living my life fully (as I’ve just described it) much more so than I fear death. To not live fully: THAT is tragic, indeed.
I pray I can learn to do live more fully, just a little bit better each day, during the remainder of the time I’m given.
Chris, I really like the term “Scrooge Consciousness” – I feel I need to re-read “A Christmas Carol” to fully feel the aliveness of Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas morning, you described it so beautifully. I don’t think this state comes easily to anybody, we get so carried away by life’s demands, deadlines, peer pressures, and all the things we think we need to accomplish that we often forget to be present and enjoy the moment. One part of my spiritual practice is to try and drop all expectations. I first learned this from a horse I bought 8 years ago and who would only co-operate with me if I was fully present and aware of him, and respected his ideas of how our time together should be spent. This doesn’t mean that we always did what he wanted, but it taught me to not pursue a certain outcome no matter what, but to allow for a different “result” instead, even if that result consisted of simply spending time together (which turned out to be the most spiritually enriching times of all). I try to transfer this practice into daily life and don’t have too many expectations, but to go with the flow instead and see where it takes me as often as possible. I find that it helps me to live more fully and enjoy the moment rather than focus on a future outcome.
Hi Uli. Thanks for your comment! I wish I shared your ability to be able to drop expectations. It’s an area that I absolutely need to work on, as my well-developed ego continuously tries to control and manipulate the world through his demands and expectations. It’s amazing to see how often he tries to control what unfolds in my life, when the truth is, he has no more ability to control the next moment than I do of lifting 5,000 pounds. Letting go and allowing all that is, to be as it is, and to appreciate the experience of this moment – that’s my interior (and ongoing) work.
Hi Chris,
I wish you all the best for your ongoing interior work – it certainly is a work in progress for me as well! We are so conditioned by our upbringing and our social environment to meet expectations, especially our own, that it can be really hard to let go of that thinking, but whenever I am able to do it, it feels incredibly liberating and brings a wonderful lightness and joy with it. I am lucky to have an amazing equine teacher… 🙂
I have to be truthful here – I will come back and do another comment when I am done with doing all of today’s practice. But first, the opening page of this asks what *I* believe spirituality means or means to me. While I do completely agree with specifically what Br. S-R says about it on the next page, that is not quite what the opening paragraph said after asking for *my* definition of spirituality. Indeed, after reading the question, I felt like I was reading the answer as well — and I thought… Why do they ask me the question and then give their definition before I have even had a moment to consider what inside I really do feel that spirituality is? I believe that by giving me what it is not, according to *someone else’s* concept of what spirituality is limits what I can now say here in comments and even limits or directs my thoughts/feelings. In fact, that is actually an example of “leading the witness” (yes, I am a pro bono poverty law litigator) means. Ask a question but then add parameters that direct, in this case, no doubt inadvertently the direction they should (or should not) answer.
What if, when I deeply examine what I feel/think, I do at times envision it as something ‘touchy-feely” [whatever that actually means in this context] or heavenly-lofty, am I not allowed to say that? Why can it not be either or both of those things and enlivening? I doubt that this request will be honoured but I would strongly prefer that the question just be asked and no narrative afterwards that influences what one’s answer may or may not be, for that interrupts my own ability to really examine *my* answer for fear of being not in line with this group–which is not true…. I believe that gratefulness for ALL our gifts, every one of them (including, altho it’s difficult) the challenges – like Kristi with her terrible bout with cancer that led her so strongly to the gratefulness path. What was expressed in the statement of what spirituality cannot be could’ve gotten to the same point of looking beyond common concepts of lofty or touchy-feely … perhaps just ask other questions rather than telling me? Bcuz truthfully, in all transparency, I am afraid that if I do experience some kinesthetic (touchy-feely) response bubble up as part of my answer or some sense of lofty heavenly/invisible but omnipresent source in my gut reaction I will be VERY much trying to push that away bcuz it’s *wrong*. And I do not believe that that is what Br. S-R said in the first quote that followed the question page. Plus, I’m seeing now (and perhaps what prompts this long comment and my level of discomfort) that in the act of writing this out, I do realize, that in fact, I have experienced ‘touchy-feely’ and omnipresent lofty/heavenly sensations when I have deeply, deeply meditated outside in Nature… feeling the sense that the divine creations of forest, trees and all Life forms actually respirating w/me like a Great Oneness. And that was marvelously, stunningly enlivening for I had lost/forgotten that and was in dire-need of that Connection; the well had felt dry for a long, long time despite my continuing to meditate daily. And, in fact, now that I recall it, it was triggered by a song “Life is Still Good” by Gideon Greer that was presented with that day’s Gratefulness.org email probably 10 years ago. In that moment, I suddenly came spiritually aware as I never had before and could understand how one could believe, even in the face of death, that *LIFE* was still good. One can have frightening, painful, deeply disenfranchised life circumstances going on and still be grateful for Life – like Kristi with her horribl bout w/cancer that led her so deeply into gratefulness as a Life path.
If I have upset anyone by being this direct and this long, I apologize
Dear Creek,
It is good to hear such a direct voice in this exploration. Your comments gave me even more to think about and I appreciate your authentic and honest response! Personally, I felt that the intention of today’s reflection was not to define what spirituality should mean to everyone, or to limit what we can say in this exchange, but to provide a framework or starting point from where the exploration can begin – but it was thought-provocing to read how differently it resonated with you. Your description of the “touchy-feely” responses or omnipresent/heavenly sensations triggered by your experiences created a beautiful space where these experiences certainly are deeply spiritual, and I think it is quite inspiring that you were willing to offer your perspective even though it comes with a certain vulnerability. I am looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts and reflections!
Creek– I agree that perhaps it seems a little misleading to title Day 1 “Define What Spirituality Means to You”. In my mind, a more accurate description might be something along the lines of “Exploring Spirituality as Being Fully Alive”
Hi Elizabeth
Wow, I think what you’ve titled it is very nuanced and uplifting! Good point.
A wonderful video and many beautiful questions and thoughts in today’s practice!
I especially love the question at the end of today’s practice: “Consider what might shift in your life if you began each day with this simple practice of naming and giving thanks for what makes you feel fully alive.”
Having that kind of practice might make me more aware of the different things that make me feel fully alive. I might be able to start collecting “what makes me fully alives” like jewels and filling my day with them more and more. It might be neat to end my day that way too, paying attention to the moments in the day when I felt fully alive and what it was that made them that way.
Hello Elizabeth,
I have been writing 5 things that I am grateful for into a journal at the end of the day, but I did not consider thinking about the moments that made me feel fully alive – that is an excellent idea, thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Love is our Power and our Peace.
I feel I am most alive when my Heart and Mind are filled with Abundant Divine Love.
Being alive and present is a gift. I am… Grateful to be alive. Grateful to be grateful. Grateful.