You know, according to the American physicist, philosopher and management expert Danah Zohar, doing what you really want with your life requires what she calls 'Spiritual
Intelligence'. It's about your own, personal, deeper actuating motives.
Zohar says that self-development and purpose/meaning are principles that are central to spiritual intelligence. When you're in touch with your own 'inner universe', you can develop your talents and give full scope to your natural gifts.
As such, you'll live the life that fully matches who you are (which is not necessarily the life that others think you're supposed to live). Within yourself, you'll discover your own
actuating motives and what really inspires and animates you.
Zohar says that when you manage to live your life from that inspiration, you're quite a happy person. This pretty much connects to what the American psychologist Abraham Maslow (who came up with the so-called 'hierarchy of needs' aiming to explain human motivation) called 'self actualization'.
According to Maslow, self-actualization is the ultimate state of human development, a spiritual condition in which people are creative, 'playful', and tolerant. And if you've read our books and articles, you know that these are the very conditions that facilitate the extent to which you can 'work' the 'laws of the universe' (if you want to call them that).
And you know what? There's actually a specific group of people who can teach us a lot about this state of 'creativity', 'playfullness' and 'tolerance', or rather 'spiritual
intelligence'…
These people are children. Kids are almost the very paragon of spiritual intelligence.
Of course, this doesn't mean we should all start behaving in infantile ways. However, we can start to look at the world more like children do. We could start to invent and re-discover the qualities that we so often lose in the process of what's called 'growing up' and 'becoming adults'.
Those qualities are: Being open, Trust, Sincerity, Being genuine, Curiosity, Eager to learn, Generosity, Feeling adventurous, Wonder and astonishment on the least things...
And not to forget: unconditional love.
Let's face it… People who are living life like this are pleasant company, both to themselves and to others.
Spiritual intelligence has got nothing to do with religion or faith. Of course, both are fine if pursuing them makes you feel good inside, if pursuing them is your own choice if it's not imposed on you by others.
No, spiritual intelligence is about self-reflection and intuition. There's a difference between what many consider 'being spiritual' and 'spiritual intelligence'.
You can do reiki, qigong, meditation, burn incense, do rain dances in wildlife outfits all day and read books about 'spirituality'. And of course that's all fine if that makes you feel good.
However, 'spiritual intelligence' rather refers to making the choices that suit you and
actually consciously experiencing and feeling the satisfaction and feeling of fulfillment and self-realization that come with that.
That's what'll make you happy.
So what's potentially the greatest advice of all time?
Remain Child-like...
Be open. Be adventurous. Be curious. Be eager to learn. Be genuine, not least to yourself.
Don't judge. Acknowledge the wonder of life and the amazing experience it brings. After all, it seems so real, doesn't it?
In the words of the late comedian Bill Hicks:
The world is like a ride in an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while.
Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question, is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "Hey - don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride…"
And we kill those people.
We have a lot invested in this ride. Shut him up. Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and my family. This just has to be real."
Just a ride… But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok.
But it doesn't matter, because it's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money.
A choice, right now, between fear and love.”
So what's your choice?
Remain childlike. And enjoy the ride!
Henk J.M. Schram is the author of "Revolutioniz: Harness the Hidden Laws of the Universe". Discover how to align yourself with the universal principles of life, and finally begin to experience total abundance and flow in any area of your life! Let's get started right now...