How to Make Space for Your Spiritual Life

The strength of your beliefs can make a difference when it comes to saying no to the trivial, unimportant, and unnecessary distractions

Photo by Ksenia Makagonova on Unsplash

Would you like to make more time for meditation, prayer, quiet contemplation, or yoga, but find you’re constantly distracted by the demands and amusements of everyday life?

I mention “amusements” because it’s not just busyness that blocks one’s spiritual pursuits. Consider all the addictive television series and endless on-demand movies, as well as forums for various topics on social media, and the constant chitchat with friends via phone or text, as just a few examples.

Let’s not label any of those as “bad.” We need fun, relaxation, and connection in our lives to be healthy humans.

But let’s also consider:

• Is it the main point?

• How does it connect with your true purpose in this life?

• How much time do you really want to spend on those kinds of activities?

A rich spiritual life requires some degree of renunciation. It means giving up at least some frivolous and unimportant activities, and especially, the actual deterrents to your spiritual endeavors.

You don’t need to go to extremes. You don’t have to cut off your family and friends or live alone in a cave.

But something has to go if you want to make more space for your spiritual quest.

Renunciation, giving things up, however, rarely works when it comes in the form of forced discipline. The call of distractions can be so powerful, and the force of one’s habits so strong.

Genuine renunciation, the kind that doesn’t fizzle out the moment you see the latest Netflix ad, must be born from a deeply-seated inner conviction.

Let’s look at two beliefs that could fuel your desire to make more time for your spiritual life.

1. Attachment and Aversion Bring Suffering

Ordinary people live their lives immersed in attachment and aversion, clinging to a strong belief in the self as a real, unchanging, solid entity. But living from this strong sense of a solid “I” with countless hopes and fears brings about constant suffering.

A spiritual person knows that their freedom lies in letting go of the projections of the mind and heart, and identifying instead with the pure awareness that lies behind and beyond it all. This pure awareness resides in the present moment. It doesn’t embroil itself in never-ending mind-stories that have no basis in reality.

It’s only through time spent in spiritual practice (mindfulness, meditation, contemplation, yoga, and other practices) and study that you’ll be able to tame your wild mind, learn to let go of attachment and aversion, and begin to take your “self” less seriously.

Once you understand that you’re the one who creates most of your suffering through how you perceive, learning to calm your mind and open your heart will become the most critical task of your lifetime—one you’re willing to commit time and attention to.

2. Everything Changes, So Where Will You Invest?

As you go about your strikingly familiar daily routine, it’s easy to forget that change is inevitable. But sooner or later, the universe will wake you up: Your company may downsize you out of a job, your spouse may ask for a divorce, a relative or close friend may die unexpectedly, or something else along those lines will occur.

The universe will show you, sometimes rudely, that something you’ve deeply invested your entire self in is actually transitory and can fall away in the blink of an eye.

Not to mention that you could die in the next minute, tomorrow, or the next day. It will be too late to start your spiritual practice then. You’ll be off to your next life, taking along all the karmic baggage you didn’t attend to in this one.

Maybe you think you’ll take care of your material life now and focus on the spiritual later, when you’re older. But who knows if there will be a later? Sand passes quickly through the hourglass. Before you know it, your time may have run out.

Consider this Tibetan Buddhist axiom:

“Whatever is born will die,
Whatever is gathered will be dispersed,
Whatever is joined together will come apart,
Whatever goes up will fall down.”

We all have to make a living, but if you’re driven primarily by ambition, you’re bound to be disappointed. You might achieve your goals and rest on your laurels for a while, but as the verse says, “Whatever goes up will fall down.”

And when you die, you’ll be forced to leave whatever you created behind. So does it make sense to invest all your time in material success at the expense of your spiritual evolution?

You’ll have to say goodbye to family, friends, and possessions, too. There’s only one thing that can help you at the moment of death: a clear mind, an open heart, and a spiritual perspective. It takes time and practice to develop those spiritual qualities, which is why you need renunciation now.

Most of the frenetic activity of life is meaningless and leads to nowhere. Once you see this and truly recognize the transitory nature of all things, your desire for renunciation will multiply exponentially

Two Aspects of Renunciation

In Tibetan Buddhism, it’s said that renunciation has two aspects:

1. A disgust or revulsion for “samsara” — the endless cycle of attachment, aversion, and clinging to a non-existent self, which causes us to take rebirth again and again.

2. A desire, longing, or yearning to be free of samsara.

I know “disgust” sounds intense, but reflect on it, and see what you think. Remember, it’s not disgust for being alive but for all the attachment, aversion, and clinging to self that makes us suffer, and causes us to act in ways that bring suffering to others.

Of course, our spiritual and daily lives are not necessarily separate. However, most people require dedicated time in individual spiritual practice to cultivate the qualities that will enable them to become truly spiritual individuals in their daily lives.

Try out these prompts for journaling and reflection to help you gain further clarity on the topic of renunciation:

• What would you like to achieve spiritually in your lifetime?

• How much time will you give to it each day, month, or year?

• What would you be willing to give up to make more space for your spiritual life?

• What will your practice look like and how will it evolve over the years?

• What will you do now so that you’ll feel prepared to meet the moment of death?

Setting goals or making a plan may seem antithetical to spirituality, especially since it’s often referred to as the path with no goal. The key is not to hold your aspirations too tightly and to continually return to your present-moment awareness.

Final Thoughts

If you want to make more space for your spiritual life and achieve any level of spiritual realization in this lifetime, you need renunciation. You can base your renunciation on a firm inner conviction rather than a forced sense of discipline to effectively help you draw a line when it comes to the trivial, unimportant, and unnecessary.

You can use one or both of the two principles shared above to deepen your sense of renunciation and strengthen your desire to practice. Or reflect and find an inner motivation that will drive you to engage in your spiritual practice with greater fervor.

Whatever you choose, reflect on those truths again and again until you have embodied them.

Lately, I’ve been reminding myself at odd times throughout the day that all this, all that is happening in the moment, is transitory. While I haven’t let go of all my attachments, this self-reminding helps me turn my mind toward the spiritual.

I would love to hear your thoughts. How do you make space for your spiritual life? How do you see renunciation and integrate it into your daily life?

Enjoy weekly inspiration to help you cultivate a calm, clear mind and an open heart, and live fully in the present moment.