Wellbeing

Spirit: Life advice for atheists

Our soul diva Alice Grist shares what she’s learnt through her spiritual experiences

The most incredible, life changing stuff I have taken from my ‘spiritual path’ has been the down right sensible, the obvious, the ‘tips for life’ that take more from a therapeutic, humanistic approach than they do a magical or paranormal one. The afterlife can wait and so here are my favourite must-know tips, for the living, about living…
1) “An it harm none, do what thou wilt” These eight words are a part of the Wiccan Rede, which is a law of sorts for pagan types. It summarises all you need in less than a tweet. It’s a licence to live life how you wish, but with the rigid precursor that nobody gets hurt.

2) Clear your head. I’m not going to mention the benefits of meditation here for fear of boring you. Clearing your head can mean going for a nice walk, turn the TV/radio off, examine your own thinking. Sit in silence a while and get to know what you really think and feel about life. Give yourself some pondering space and allow untapped brain energy to bubble up and say boo.

3) Reaction is bad. You can’t control life but you can control how you act within it. Next time you feel angry, frustrated or hurt, instead of venting, seething or taking it out on someone instead simply sit in the feeling. Mull it over and do nothing, say nothing, see what happens.

4) Refuse to do any of the following; criticise, judge, bitch, moan or whinge. Refuse to join in the office gossip. Banter you may, chatter chat you might, but turn your volume down when it comes to spite! Let people be, allow them to make their mistakes, allow them to wear bad clothes, let them have character flaws that rub you up the wrong way. Let it all pass, take a deep breath but don’t breathe a word of it to a soul.

5) Love everyone as you would your loving mother. Great Buddhist advice… We are all someone’s child and we all deserve a chance. Know that your kind, loving actions ripple out more than you might presume.

6) Usher out a little forgiveness. All of those grudges you hold, forget them, drop them. See how much better you feel when you choose to release unforgiveness. Forgiveness is about making you whole and happy.

7) Embrace the chaos in your life. Sometimes life is on a spin cycle and you feel dizzy, distressed and out of control. Know this… chaos often brings about the change we need. It clears paths and in its wake we can restart and reinvigorate our lives. Whether this is fate, destiny, or just the way things go, it is nevertheless true.

8) All things are connected, everything on the planet. Whether you believe in the spirit of plants and bees or you simply see that all things come from and go back to the earth as matter and energy, we are all one and the same thing. We are a planet constantly recycling itself and coming up with something new. Take a moment and be humble.

9) Be in nature. So simple, so often forgotten by urbanites and city dwellers. Be in nature, let it be your cathedral. So simple!

10) Say a little prayer. If not to a god or goddess say it to yourself. In prayer we come to recognise what we really truly want and what we need. Prayer can be empowering, it gives your thoughts some structure, it can help you make sense of life.

11) Embrace a little unconditional love. There is no limit to our love capacity, so dip in, find that it is boundless, slosh it around the place willy nilly, make people smile!

Article by

Alice Grist

Author

Alice Grist is the author of three books: The High Heeled Guide to Enlightenment and Prediction Magazine Award Winning The High Heeled Guide to Spiritual Living. Alice’s third book, Dear...

Discover more

Article by

Alice Grist

Author

Alice Grist is the author of three books: The High Heeled Guide to Enlightenment and Prediction Magazine Award Winning The High Heeled Guide to Spiritual Living. Alice’s third book, Dear...

Discover more