Cindy Brown

Reflection Essay

When I first started this class 8 weeks ago I was afraid to comment on discussions and my
opinion on how I felt. I will admit that I still feel that my personal religious belief is something that I
prefer not to discuss but am a little more comfortable doing so. I was not familiar with any spirituality
of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, or Judaism before this class. I never really sat down and gave it much
thought.

Learning about spirituality through the guidance of Ignatius Loyola contributed some
understanding of spirituality by seeing that God is present and active in my life including the objects
and things that I see, the people that I interact with, and the experiences that I may have had including
the decisions that I have made in my life and that I must accept myself before I help others.

I have learned that there are many ways that I may focus on Christian Spirituality that I never
realized I was doing. Although I never meditated previously, I find myself doing this more since we
have read about it. After a stressful day at work, I come home and do deep breathing and close my
eyes and clear my mind. This helps with my stress level. I also find praying helpful and set aside time in
my day to do this. Before I would pray when I wanted something good to happen or for the ill. I felt
guilty and selfish reaching out to God only when I wanted some help to have a better outcome of
something. Now I thank God for a good day and pray for other things beside what I was doing. I feel
better about myself doing this and more comfortable praying.

Giving was another huge aspect of this course I needed to do. In the chapter where living with
more then what you need really hit me. I look around my house and see many things that were
bought, not because I needed them but because I wanted to have it. I have decided to go through
things and donate the items that are never used and not necessary for me to have.

Friendship with God was a chapter that I felt powerful to me. Spending time with God is
something that I did not do on a regular basis. Spending time with God on a one-on-one basis such as
in praying is how they compared spending one on one time with your friends. So, I have been blocking
out time to spend with God, my friend.

Growing up we went to church on weekly basis. Sadly, I never paid attention to anything and
never learned about God. That is why I struggled with this course. Being honest and only saying what
God wants to hear instead of not being honest will cause my friendship with God distant and cold.
After I read that it makes sense that a friend wants honesty from you so does God.

Respecting the different interreligious dialogue and understanding more about them will be a
positive interaction between people of different faiths. I will continue the diverse types of meditation
about which we have learned. I find myself practicing these at home and at my place of employment. I
will continue to be a friend with God and spend more one-on-one time then what I have done in the
past.

I have learned about spirituality in this class and am currently and will continue to apply what I
have learned in my life.

References

The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything Martin J (2012)