Re-Visioning Spirit is Now Available from BARNES & NOBLE : )

If you are interested in being more aware of your own spirit and the spirits of others, spiritual health and well-being, and spirituality, my first book is for you.

It is now available from BARNES & NOBLE here: Re-Visioning Spirit: A Brief Introduction to Thumotics

Why not be among the first of those bold enough to re-vision spirit?

How to be Mindful of Our Own Spirit

Purpose

The purpose of this fundamental exercise is to simply be with our own spirit with complete openness, full acceptance, and kind curiosity. It's to turn our attention to our own spirit and calmly hold it there with no expectations of outcomes.

Benefits

This exercise affirms, heals, and strengthens our spirit. These benefits increase as we do this exercise on a regular basis over time. 

Resources Needed

We need nothing special to do this exercise. We do not have to do this exercise at a predetermined time. We can do it anytime we choose. We do not have to go to or create a special place. We can do this exercise anywhere we choose. We do not have to learn to sit a special way or do anything out of the ordinary with our legs, hands, or posture. Any posture is fine. There is nothing to buy- no books, special clothing, jewelry, images, or paraphernalia. We already have everything we need to do this exercise. 

What to Do

Remember, in thumotic spirituality we understand spirit in terms of the Ancient Greek concept of thumos. Our thumos, spirit, is quasi-physical. It is located in the center of our chest, behind our breast bone and between our breasts. We often call it our heart. 

Focus your attention there, in the center of your chest, your heart. That's where your spirit resides.

If it helps to close your eyes, close them.

If it helps to put one or both hands over your heart, do so.

If it helps, imagine breathing into and out of your heart when you inhale and exhale.

If your mind wanders to other things, simply return your attention to your heart.

Be aware of your heart beat. You might or might not feel increased warmth in your heart. Either is fine.

Take note of the thoughts, mental images, physical sensations, and emotions as they come and go. They might express the life-affirming desires of your heart. But let them come and let them go.

Continue for as long as feels right to you.

When you stop, try setting your intention to take mindfulness of spirit breaks periodically throughout the day.

It's that simple.

In my next post I will describe how to be mindful of the spirits of others.

Thumotic Spirituality: Basic Practices

Some of the basic practices of Thumotic spirituality include the following:

- Mindfulness of one's own spirit and that of others

- Awareness of the current condition of one's own spirit and that of others

- Awareness of spirit to spirit connections

- Knowing in one's spirit

- Identifying one's own life-denying activities and diminishing them

- Identifying one's own life-affirming activities and developing them

NOTE: Affirming life in a life-denying culture is not a matter of 10 easy steps. There is no short cut. There's not even a map.

Little, if anything, is more challenging than diminishing life-denying habits and developing life-affirming habits.

Engaging in the challenge is an elitist endeavor that demands heroic effort. Few Westerners take it on. Fewer succeed.

Nurturing Euthumia, Well-Spiritedness

Euthumia is characterized by general healthiness, freedom, the ability to provide for ourselves, being productive, and living a relatively harmonious life with others. 

My current opinion is that most of us are naturally euthumic. 

However, just as maintaining our physical health is an ongoing process, so is maintaining the health and well-being of our spirit. 

Euthumia is not a constant state we strive to attain and then enjoy. Throughout our lives we face constant challenges to our basic, natural euthumic condition. Even so, we can develop the following practices that nurture the wellness of our spirit:

Mindfulness of spirit: being intentional about paying attention to our spirit and its condition.

Assessing the condition of our spirit: evaluating our spirit in terms of the three general categories of euthumia, athumia, and dysthumia and the more specific conditions in these general categories.

Choosing whether or not we want to change the condition of our spirit.

Knowing what to do to regulate our spirit: knowing what lifts, calms, strengthens, softens, collects, opens, expands, or otherwise regulates our spirit.

Regulating our spirit: actually putting our know-how into action.

Future posts will go into more detail about these practices that help us regulate our spirt.