Spirituality and its Importance in College.

The awesome thing about Spirituality is that you can define it for yourself. After examining the Spiritual scene for a year, I define Spirituality as “the practice of being present in your wholesome and loving self, and realizing that you are perfect as you are.”

I came to this conclusion through books I’ve read, videos I’ve watched, and practicing meditation. I realized that the longer I meditated, the more warmth and comfort I felt. This encouraged me to discover a voice that I have been listening to for the past year. Gabrielle Bernstein calls this the ‘inner guide.’

The inner guide can also be referred to as the Higher Power, as they do in Alcoholics Anonymous’ The Big Book. This voice can also be called God, whether you identify with a specific religion or not. From a psychological perspective, this can also be referred to as our moral consciouness. Regardless of what you call it, the power of the inner voice is crucial to listen to. The inner voice can help make the right decisions, even when it is right to say ‘no.’

The four years that we spend in college are transformational and transitional. We are coming out of high school, and growing into adulthood. This within itself is a Spiritual path. What you do during and after these four years is really difficult to assess due to the major changes happening in society, including the economy. Everyone goes through this Spiritual path in college, whether we like it or not, and it will only continue after graduation.

The Manresa Prayer space at Saint Peter’s University

College is the time when we decide what is important in life, and what is not, and assess which changes we have to adjust to. This is when we have to make difficult decisions, like taking on a job as a student or being a good son or daughter while away at school. This is when we meet new people, and then decide that they were not good for us. If you don’t believe me, read Thought Catalog for 5 minutes and you will know what I’m talking about.

Let’s face it – being a twenty-something in the twenty first century can be scary, but also exciting, and this is when we need the most guidance from something beyond us. Also, as much as we might love our parents, sometimes they don’t even know the answers to our life problems. This is when we begin to see our parents as humans rather than as parents. Am I right, or am I right?

When we undertake a Spiritual path, we also come to the conclusion that our bodies are here to serve others. We are here for ourselves, and in order to understand others, we must try to understand ourselves first. But the goal is to be of service and let miracles happen.

In a TEDxWomen lecture, Gabrielle Bernstein stressed “If we’re not expecting miracles, what are we doing?!?!” When she practically screamed this, I was blown away. She is completely right! We are here to produce and expect miracles.

Let me tell you a story. I was always a horrible writer, and arguably, I still have a lot of work to do. However, my writing in high school was completely awful. I tried to take AP English Composition in my junior year, and I failed my first essay with a huge F. Eventually, I had to drop the class.

Always good to meditate with a pillow, whether sitting on a chair or floor.

In college, I felt like I got a second chance at writing. In my third year of college, I took a News Writing and Reporting course as a requirement for my minor. I was dreading this class. I was still not a strong writer, and I pretty much gave up on any future involving writing. Which, by the way, is completely unrealistic. Whatever you do, we all have to learn to write and write well. I finally decided to try harder than before. I do not know exactly what it was then, but something told me “try harder” and “practice more.” So I did. I did all my homework, I studied my butt off, and I finally got an A in the course, and my professor posted my final article on her student website. I was one of the two students who got their article posted on the website. Not to brag, but this is huge for me.

Although this is a very simple and minimal example, the moral of the story is; miracles happen! We just have to listen to our inner voice. I hope this helps explain a little bit about how I see Spirituality and its importance in college.