Committing to Your Spiritual Path

Susan found so much joy in learning and growing as a person, a teacher, and a spiritual seeker. In writing Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, she shares so many of the lessons she learned along the way. But most of all, she wanted to inspire all of us to find our own spiritual path and learn how exciting that journey can be. Here is an excerpt that shows just how enthusiastic she was:

There is so much excitement and wonder in front of you. Sometimes you will experience the ecstasy of being in the flow. Sometimes you will experience the agony of being way off course. Remember you are not alone. This is a world filled with an abundance of support systems that are there for the taking whenever you are feeling troubled by life’s experiences. One of my students said to me, “I read and read, and I assume one day one of those books is going to take!” I shot back, “No. Nothing is going to take unless you take it!!” And so it is with this book and every source available to you. DON’T WAIT FOR IT TO TAKE! TAKE IT! USE IT. LIVE IT. ABSORB IT. Unless you use the muscle that lifts you to your Higher Self, it will weaken—just as your body weakens when it is not used. If you think you need additional help, then by all means, enlist the aid of a professional. Take action. Nothing is going to work for you unless you do the work.

Say yes to life. Participate. Move. Act. Write. Read. Sign up. Take a stand. Or do whatever it takes for you. As Colette, the prolific French author, famously said, “No one asked you to be happy. Get to work!” Get involved in the process. To become involved is to reduce our fear. We become bigger, we move away from that “feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making [us] happy.” We move into true adult status, where we have much to give to this world.

As Rollo May wrote in Man’s Search for Himself: “Every organism has one and only one central need in life, to fulfill its own potentialities.” He goes on to say that joy is the result of using our powers to their fullest, and for that reason, joy, not happiness, is the goal of life.

And what is joy? It is something that expresses the ebullience of the spiritual part of ourselves. Joy is characterized by lightness, humor, laughter, and gaiety. Lighten up. If you have ever been around a person who is centered and enlightened, you are struck with their humor and ability to laugh at themselves. All the brittleness is gone and only fluidity remains.

So commit! Commit yourself to pushing through the fear and becoming more than you are at the present moment. The you that could be is absolutely colossal. You don’t need to change what you are doing— simply commit to learning how to bring to whatever you do in life the loving and powerful energy of your Higher Self.