3 Major Spiritual Phases

We will all experience these 3 major spiritual phases in our lifetime. I call them spiritual phases because they have to do with what you think about life and your place in it. They overlap a great deal and follow this order…

• What is life all about?
• What do you want from life?
• Learning to enjoy what you have.

Typically you’ll move from one phase to the next because they are cumulative and build on each other.

What is life all about?

What is the meaning and purpose of life? Why am I here? Is there a god? This is the phase that establishes your place in reality. This is your first spiritual crisis, the big one. Most people have it early on and it establishes their overall direction in life.

This is where you resolve your issues about the big picture. If you don’t resolve it now it might come back later in life and you’ll have to deal with it again.

What do you want from life?

This is the more personal version of the earlier phase, determining your direction and purpose in life. It can run concurrently with the first phase and will last longer because you have to learn about life and your tastes and your abilities before you know what you want.

When you finally know what you want you’ll spend your time and energies getting it. You may not even realize it but you have a direction and you are working towards your lifetime goals. You are fine tuning them as you go. This could be the longest phase, particularly if you decide early on in life what you want.

Either of the first two questions can come up again later in life in the form of a mid life crisis. At which time you will reassess your direction to see if you’re on track or if you need a change. They might even come up a few times.

You could still be questioning and experimenting with your overall direction but most of your energies are spend on learning the skills and doing what you need to succeed. This is a time that challenges your motivation and self confidence because your goals are off in the distance.

This is a phase that will never end. Instead you’ll gradually change your focus as you begin achieving your larger goals. You will turn your attention to the closer day to day activities. This is when you’re living in the moment and enjoying the fruits of your labor.

Learning to enjoy what you have

This is perhaps the most difficult phase of your spiritual life because you have most of the answers so there are few unknowns left. There is no where left to go. You have to learn to be content and to enjoy what you have. This is life at it’s peak and you need a firm mental and spiritual foundation or else you’ll waste away this best part of your life.

This is the phase of life that I’m at. I have almost everything I need and I’m spending my time and energies learning to live in the moment. And this is the purpose of my blog: to learn by teaching. Writing helps me explore my thoughts and come up with ideas and solutions. It makes me delve into my own thinking and brings my focus back to the moment.

It can be a challenge to change your focus from planning for the future to living in the moment. But this is what you work all your life to achieve. And sometimes it can be your most difficult challenge.