One of my Breakthrough Moments
by Judy Ranieri
As I look at my own spiritual journey, I can’t help but ask, “What caused me to seek out a deeper understanding of life?” It has been a combination of things. In some cases it was an intellectual curiosity or an inner frustration…a question, “Is this all there is?” Sometimes it was from extreme personal pain or a deep awareness of the suffering in the world.
Today, it often shows up as stress. A stress that comes from knowing I must let go of the things I can’t control, like aging, earthquakes, illness, or a dying friend. It is the awareness that something deep inside is calling me, calling me to action. (That’s the paradox) A voice that is saying, “So you think you’re going to retire? There’s work to be done, you’ve gotten lazy again. Have you forgotten how excited you used to get thinking about the mystery of life? How you used to see yourself as this speck of dust in this huge world…you were a kid then? Truth be known, you’re still a kid! Time to spin around and around until you get so dizzy that you fall down on the ground and look up at the sky to experience life from a different perspective.”
What is changing for me is my definition of spirituality and what it means to be on a spiritual journey. In the past, I always felt it had to be “long suffering” filled with ritual that seemed impossible for the masses to do properly. Instead spirituality is an innate energy…God’s will is deeply planted in all of us. It’s about waking up to it!
Judy Ranieri
October, 2002