Different spiritual practices could be categorised into those that develop circumstances that lead to happiness based on harmonious conditions or life experiences and those that develop happiness due to coming into greater alignment with our true nature in which there can be increased contentment and balance of the mind irrespective of conditions. I feel that both are very worthwhile pursuits in order to create happiness, a life that feels meaningful and to have a balanced mind that is able to navigate and deal with life’s changing circumstances.
Often more immediate benefit can be experienced from practicing methods that create good life circumstances. Working on coming into greater alignment with our true nature is a practice that takes place more incrementally over time and it is also good to do these sort of practices at quite a gentle pace, following your intuition as to how much of this type of practice to do, to allow time for things to integrate and unfold in a natural way.
Law of Attraction methods such as making lists of things that we appreciate and working on changing our beliefs on specific subjects can start to transform the conditions of our life experience for the better and keep us in a more positive frame of mind day to day. Meditation with practices such as observing sensations in the body that arise during meditation can start to bring us into greater alignment with our true nature. With a balanced, calm and non-reactive mind, witnessing sensations that arise in meditation begins to purify the mind overtime by releasing any unhelpful patterns that aren’t our true nature. It could be said the unconditional part of the mind embraces any challenging mental patterns which can start to dissolve and integrate them.
In my work I am passionate about helping people with the relative nature of their lives and also the more universal work of embodying, integrating and allowing more of their true nature. Both types of practices benefit the other type as when we’re feeling more at ease, resilient and happier in our lives it can provide a platform in which to delve deeper into experiencing who we are at the deepest level. Likewise, developing the mind to be more in alignment irrespective of conditions helps us to be more in a positive mind-state which allows more of what is wanted to manifest in our lives.