Human Qualities vs Spiritual Qualities

Many clients that come into my office for counseling have goals that are based on spiritual qualities, not typical human qualities.
When a client’s counseling goals are to be faithful to their spouse, or more patient with their children, or kinderto their family, or have more self-control with anger, are these typical human qualities they are seeking?
Typical human qualities include our ability to think and use logic. Our ability to problem solve and plan. Our ability to feel, and respond to the external world. Typically, we have values and ideals. We are able to express ourselves verbally, creatively and physically. Like all living species, we have an instinct to survive.
When a client’s counseling goals are to be less overwhelmed and have more peace, or to nag less and be moreloving in their relationships, or not be so unhappy and have more joy in their life, or be less critical and moregentle on themselves, are these spiritual qualities they are seeking?
Spiritual qualities include: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
How do human beings acquire more spiritual qualities so that we can become our ideal self and feel that we are moving toward being the best we can be?
I say, when you want something, go to the source of what it is you seek. Spiritual qualities come from Spirit within, not from other human beings.
How do we connect with Spirit to assimilate more spiritual qualities? One way is through our breath, which comes from the Creator of Spirit and life.
Here is a little exercise I do everyday. I also teach this to clients who are requesting more spiritual qualities.
Begin by finding a quiet place with no distractions. Close your eyes to shut out the external environment. Take in a few deep cleansing breaths. Focus on breathing your oxygen past your lungs, to your lower abdomen. Slowly breathe out and focus on releasing all negativity from your being. When I do this breathing exercise, I say in my mind, “Breathing in peace and calm” when I inhale. When I exhale, I say ”letting go of all negativity from my entire being.”
Once you feel your shoulders drop and relax, allow your breathing to go back to its natural breathing state. I call this ‘sleep breathing.’ This is how our body breathes for us all by itself, when we are sleeping. With your minds eye focus on your ‘sleep breathing,’ for several seconds (30-60). This will put you into an even more relaxed state, so your mind can stop racing and you can allow your imagination to come out. Focus on whatever spiritual quality you are seeking to grow in you being. Imagine with each inhale, you are breathing this spiritual quality into your being. Imagine with each exhale, you are expanding this spiritual quality throughout your entire being. Do this for a few minutes (2-4) until you imagine that this spiritual quality has expanded in you and around you and your entire being is basking in this spiritual quality.
I know you are not going to want to open your eyes, but you have to, because the rest of your day awaits! Now as you go on with your day, be conscious of this spiritual energy expanding in and around you as you breathe, so that the people you encounter can sense this.
Practice this spiritual breathing exercise 5 minutes each day, to grow your spiritual quality and radiate more of this from your being.
Some ways to know that we are allowing Spiritual qualities to be fully expressed through us, include:
• Getting goosebumps, when the temperature in the room has not changed.
• Allowing truth to penetrate past our defense mechanisms, to cause a shift that changes our current belief system.
• Being inspired to go beyond our current limitations.
• ‘Aha’ moments that cause more clarity and understanding.
• Feeling peace during a time that is tremendously difficult to humanly face
• Transcending past our logic by doing something for someone else, with no benefit to ourselves.
We are human, with continuous access to Spirit. Human qualities combined with Spiritual qualities mixing together all the time make us Amazing!
Good by for now Amazing human being
Elisabeth Davies, MC