We are told by our participants that the work we do at COR provides the most powerful personal growth experience many of them have ever had. Why is our work so powerful? Why do growth and transformation become an ongoing component of our participant’s lives, rather than another “self help” experience that fades into a frustrating memory? I think our inclusion of the spiritual component of our humanity makes a huge difference.

A few days ago, Britta and I were fortunate enough to have a visit from our friend Khemako, a Buddhist monk in the Theravada tradition. It was a rare opportunity for him to leave the Canadian monastery where he lives and only the second time I’ve seen him in the seven years since his ordination. One thing lingers for me from our visit with Khemako: what an inspiring model he is for spiritual development. Traveling or not, Khemako makes time for his many daily meditation practices.

Whether or not we are a monk like Khemako, commitment to developing the spiritual component of our humanity—a connection to Grace—is an essential part of growth and development as we see it at COR. Britta and I share daily spiritual practices to guide us in opening to Grace.

This month we’ve been looking at this mysterious thing called “the spiritual journey.” It’s perhaps the most challenging but also the richest part of our personal growth.

We fully support and encourage your own spiritual journey as part of you fully stepping into the beauty of who you are. In fact, if you’ve thought of spiritual development as a luxury I invite you to consider that it is actually an essential part of your growth. For many of us, opening to Grace by way of a well-developed spiritual life is the missing piece of our growth and maturity.

If it sounds daunting, do not be afraid! It’s worth the effort. As you deepen or perhaps explore your own spiritual journey for the very first time, I’d like to offer two principals that I see running through all spiritual paths: presence and practice.

Presence, one of our foundational principles at COR, is the ability to be with what is. Sounds simple, right? For most of us, our constant stream of thoughts keep us essentially distracted and disengaged from the reality of life, including our own inner experience and the presence of Grace. 

Practice means cultivating an activity until it becomes a habit. I don’t know of any valuable spiritual path that doesn’t involve a daily practice of meditation or prayer. It’s essential.

I’d like to offer you two resources on your spiritual journey to help you develop presence and practice. The first is a short recording called the Sacred Pause. It’s a presence practice you can use anytime to bring you back to presence.

The second is the Spirituality in Action online program. It’s a 30-day guided program we created at COR to help you create and maintain your own spiritual practice. It’s affordable and very effective at helping you establish or re-establish your own daily connection to Grace.

Whether you use Spirituality in Action or another tool, we highly recommend you establish a daily practice of prayer or meditation. It will change your life. Let us know how your journey is going on our FB page!

All the best,
Lee