How much time do you try to set aside each day for God or for whomever your Higher Power is? Better yet, as you head to bed to end yet another day, how much time have you actually spent trying to connect with either?
These are questions I often ponder when people tell me their life sucks. They’re also questions I think about just as often when I see people spending most of their days being negative, judgmental, gossiping, backstabbing, cursing, lustful, greedy, or vindictive. Why do I ask myself these questions when I see those conditions? Simple. I used to be one who thought my life sucked completely where I spent most days acting out in each those unspiritual character defects. While my life is far from being a walk in the park at the present time, that’s not how I live the majority of my days anymore. I believe there is one and only one reason for that. The main difference between my life then and my life now is the amount of time I actually spend each day trying to connect with my Higher Power, whom I choose to call God.
There are 24 hours in a day and each of us occupies them in different ways. For a person recovering from an addiction-prone life like myself, connecting to a Higher Power in some part of those 24 hours is essential. Ironically though, I am seeing now that to live a fully spiritually life, I must maintain that connection throughout my ENTIRE day. So what does that look like? In my case, it currently involves waking up each morning asking God to guide all my thoughts, words, and actions for the day. It also involves praying for strength to stay away from all addictions and self-centered behaviors and several forms of meditation and mantras as well. And that’s only what I do in the morning to start my day with God. Throughout the rest of the day, I write spiritually motivated articles in this blog, go to AA meetings, talk to newcomers, and help my sponsees out by sharing my experience, strength, and hope in recovery with them, all to help me connect greater with God. Beyond that, I also try to look at everyone in the world as having a piece of God within them and do my best to treat each of them with the same love and light I would of myself. When I finally end each of my days, I write in my gratitude journal, I spend time in prayer, and I ask for continued direction to even come during the hours I’m asleep. And when I awake the next day, I do it all over again.
I know all of this may seem like a lot to do for some of you reading this. For me it’s not only because it’s become a way to help me get through all those days where life isn’t a big bouquet of fresh roses or bright blue skies. I still have many frustrating days because of the spiritual healing I’m going through from the toxic life I once lived. But I’m not feeling like life sucks on a daily basis anymore nor am I acting out in any of those unspiritual traits with any type of regularity either. I know that’s only due to my spiritual routines I do daily to connect with the God of my understanding.
Every time someone approaches me now and is overly complaining about some facet of their life, the first thing I usually ask them is who their Higher Power is, and the second is how much time are they spending each day trying to connect with them? Their answers always do seem to be the same. They either don’t have a Higher Power or if they do, they aren’t spending much time regularly trying to make that connection.
So if you happen to be someone who is feeling like your life sucks or is living with any of those unspiritual traits, I encourage you to take a moment, breath, and ask yourself how much time have you spent lately with God or whomever your Higher Power is. I’m convinced your answer will be all you need to know and hopefully that will lead you more to a life where you are connecting to a Higher Power throughout your ENTIRE day…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson