Spiritual Advice and Guidance Blog: Urantia Book: Ingredients for Spiritual Health

Dawn Obrecht M.D.

One dictionary gave me 14 different definitions for â€œspirit.â€�
The base word is from the Latin spirare, â€œto breathe.â€� Common
uses of spirit and spiritual include â€œpertaining to the
sacred,â€� â€œvital, supernatural being or essence,â€� â€œthe
immaterial intelligent or sentient part of a person,â€� and several
others.

There is more than one route to spiritual healthâ€¦ many doors to
the same room... different perspectives, different ways of saying
the same thing. Here is one door, a simple triad of ingredients:
Donâ€™t Judge, Donâ€™t Compare, and Donâ€™t Have a Need to Know Why.
The End.

If you can do this, no need to read further. You are living on a
spiritual basis.

For those who want a little more discussion, letâ€™s look at
â€œDonâ€™t Judge.â€� As human beings, we are not in charge of the
Universe. Try saying this, â€œThere is a God and itâ€™s not me.â€�
If you find the word â€œGodâ€� objectionable, use â€œForce of the
Universeâ€� or â€œNatureâ€� or something else you want to replace
that three letter word, â€œGod.â€� The sun rises and sets and you
are not in charge of it. The same applies to everything else. The
only things we are in charge of are our own behavior, our thoughts,
and sometimes our feelings.

If we want to judge a situation, another person, anything at all,
we are trying to play God. If we can let God do the judging, we
find we can be more open-minded. We can see what people do as just
behavior, often obnoxious, but just what they are doing, not doing
TO US. If we can be open-minded, and not judge, we can often be of
service and help someone instead of buying into negativity. This
allows others to be more real, to just be human, and allows us to
be the best person we can be. By not judging, we can treat all
people equally and fairly, not see ourselves as victims, and let
God be in charge. When we practice this, we find we are living on a
spiritual basis. This is by no means a suggestion to tolerate
abuse; more on that in a future column. The point is, donâ€™t get
caught up in anotherâ€™s behavior; donâ€™t judge it, donâ€™t be a
victim, just detach from the God job and do your own job of being
the best human being you can be regardless of what the world has in
store for you.

â€œDonâ€™t Compare.â€� Right. When we compare, we either see
ourselves as better than (richer, better looking, smarter, etc.) or
as not as good as (poorer, fatter, balder, shorter, less education,
worse job, dumber, etc.) another. Either way, we cut ourselves off
from others. We are using a psychological maneuver to stay distant
from others, to stay dissatisfied, with ourselves and/or others. As
with many other personality traits, this comes from not being
comfortable with whom and what we are, from low self-esteem. We
find ways to avoid closeness and acceptanceâ€¦ of others and of
ourselves. We isolate, emotionally if not physically. We find
ourselves alone, even in a crowd. Stop it. See what happens if you
just stop comparing yourself to others and simply start being who
you are. Try seeing yourself and everyone else as Godâ€™s kids,
playing down here in His sandbox, chopping wood and hauling water,
doing the best we can with what we have to work with. Accept
yourself, and others, for just who we are, nothing less, nothing
more, and donâ€™t compare!

â€œDonâ€™t Have a Need to Know Why.â€� Many of us operate out of
FEAR, fearing tomorrow, regretting yesterday. Obviously, if we know
what is going to happen, and why, we would beâ€¦ that three letter
word againâ€¦ God. If we know all things, then life might be easier,
(you think?); but we would be kicking God out of His job again.
Living on a spiritual basis requires us to trust, trust that God
has a plan and we donâ€™t get to know what it is until it happens.
We are just players, not directors, of this life thing. If we play
the best we can, being responsible, reliable, honest, kind,
accepting and all those other spiritually healthy things, we get to
have joy and peace, knowing we are being the best person we can be.
Try it. It really works.

Living a spiritual life means living a life of trust. It means
breathing deeply and asking for help in dealing with whatever life
throws at us, trusting God will give us the spiritual strength and
capacity to get through, maybe even to find joy and peace. In fact,
just trusting can be joyful and peaceful!

Dr. Dawn Obrecht is the only MD addiction medicine specialist on
the western slope of Colorado. She is a Fellow of the American
Society of Addiction Medicine and her office is in Steamboat
Springs. She can be reached at 970-846-8479 or docdawn@hotmail.com.

Labels: comparisons, Dawn Obrecht M.D., fear, God, judgment, spiritual health

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