8 Ways to Plant Spiritual Ideas Deep in Your Heart

The fundamental aim of spiritual study is to get facts and principles into the Heart's fertile ground. Ideas must get through habitual and familiar filters; otherwise, the information is diverted from having its full power. It's not how much you read or hear that counts, but how much you take in and make your own.

How can you receive knowledge deep in your core so the principles work for you in far higher ways? Here are eight proven methods that work wonders:

1. Write your own book of development. Gather pearls of wisdom as you read, listen to audio programs or attend talks. More importantly, when YOU have an insight, get it down! You'll find as years go by that the notebook you've created is filled with wisdom that has special resonance for YOU.

2. Contemplate. Picture yourself flying a glider. The tow plane lifts you. Now it's your time to soar. You pull the connection and you're on your own. The winds lift you higher and higher.

The glider is a perfect parallel to the art of contemplation. Focus on a single word, sentence, illustration or experience that matters to you. Put the spotlight of your attention on it. What's in this idea that isn't presently seen? What does the experience REALLY mean?

Then, let go of the thought. Soar in the silence. It is the silence following the focus that reveals the core. The silence takes you beyond what you already understand. Transcend the word, concept or experience and move from theory to revelation. Soar to a higher level of deep and rich understanding.

3. Read aloud. Read enthusiastically and with conviction. You may even wish to stand and gesture freely. You can imagine that you are addressing a large and attentive audience, like your own thoughts that now wish to change. Reading silently exercises your intellect, while reading aloud combines both your intellect and your power of speech.

4. Read with repetition. Take four or five pages from a good book, and read these same pages every day for a week before going on to the next four or five pages. Read them more than once, if you have the time, but at least once a day. Just before going to sleep at night is an ideal time. Something marvelous happens when you do this. Information seeps through old patterns.

I first learned of this method from Og Mandino in his classic book, "The Greatest Salesman in the World. "The benefits are enormous.

5. Be a metaphor hunter. This is wonderful fun. Simply be alert to daily life experiences, historical examples or encounters with nature that have a resemblance or connection to a spiritual principle. For example, let's say you're on a hike. You observe an old tree that has fallen into a stream. The tree is lodged but the flowing water gradually breaks it away and takes it downstream. You think with delight how the flow of Truth clears away old thinking that no longer serves your Heart.

Again, it all comes down to what you plant in your Heart. The same experience happens to two people. One seizes the experience and plants the lesson deep within, the other let's it just bounce off the old and familiar mental patterns.

6. Express the knowledge you gather. See yourself as a conduit of information, like a lake that stays pure by taking in fresh water on one side and releasing it on the other. Refuse to be a stagnant pond! Find ways in harmony with your talents and interests to live and express what you learn, even though you may sometimes be criticized. Write, speak, paint, dance, start businesses, raise healthy children. These are all ways to express spiritual knowledge in action.

7. Transform your automobile into a rolling cosmic university. So much good information is now available on audio CD. Drive time on the less crowded open roads is a great place to absorb these treasures. It doesn't all have to be spiritually focused material. Helpful ideas can be found in programs on efficiency and vocabulary, for example. In all your listening, however, don't forget the enlightening value of a quiet drive as well.

8. Make the most of group meeting opportunities. A group where sincere men and women meet to delve deeply into life's great questions can be a powerful venue for collecting more knowledge. Just be aware that not all spiritual and wisdom groups are true and healthy, and some take dreadful wrong turns. More than a few foster dependency to support the endless insecurities of the "leaders." For example, unhealthy groups pry into people's affairs. Never forget that your privacy is your sacred right and must never be sacrificed. Just because you participate in a group activity does not mean that you owe them any explanations concerning your private affairs. This prying is a sure sign of a false group.

With self-reliance, what is best and true for you has an amazing way of finding you. Groups are temporary vehicles that can be valuable, but only if there is genuine value in the group.

Use these eight methods and watch your secret garden bloom in your Heart. You'll feel joy and cheerfulness reach you at unexpected moments, and more frequently.

Thomas Russell is the author of Several eBooks, including The Power of Vertical Thinking and Seven Secrets to Light Up Your Essence. He is the host of http://www.SuperWisdom.com and the editor of the SuperWisdom E-zine, read biweekly by more than 20,000 people in 42 countries. He assists professional salespeople, entrepreneurs and home based business owners live with greater energy, creativity and spiritual insight. He has been interviewed on more than 200 radio and TV talk shows.

Scripture or spiritual slavery? Ashland Daily Tidings By Gokul Gokani The first and last obstacle to a real spiritual experience is to find out whether we really are part of the whole or separate from it. Are we an island; are we to struggle to find our destiny, work hard to survive or be doomed, ...

Take a Moment for Spiritual Reflection with Goods from WondrousWinds.com Albany Times Union Founder of Warner Ventures, LLC, Charlotte Warner is proud to announce the launch of her online faith and spiritual objects shop, WondrousWinds.com. Customers are invited to browse through an impressive collection of beautifully designed wind chimes, ... and more »

SPIRITUALITY: We pause to honor the brave who didn't waver Muncie Star Press For me, Memorial Day has a face. It is the face of the family members whose loved one made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Since 9/11 I've seen these faces in at least 30 homes in my community. If I could introduce you to these families, ... and more »

Christian Post

The Skinny on Fasting (the Elusive Spiritual Discipline That I Avoid) Christian Post When my 24 hours of self-imposed "spiritual discipline" time was up I would rush to the school cafeteria and pig out again. I would go to bed that night with a full stomach and empty heart. Probably not God's idea of an acceptable fast. and more »

National Catholic Reporter

Crafting a spirituality of family creativity National Catholic Reporter While I would prefer my home to be mistaken for a Pottery Barn catalog shoot, I accept this colorful mess because it fosters creativity, an important developmental skill for children -- and a spiritual practice for adults.

Investment banker to spiritual counsellor Deccan Herald But for clairvoyant, spiritual counsellor and angel-therapist Shivani Sinha Sola, these are not worlds apart and neither does she regard it as a huge transition. “It is actually a natural progression. Also, spirituality is all about integration,” she ...

The Times of Trenton - NJ.com

Artist Bill Plank injects spirituality into landscape paintings The Times of Trenton - NJ.com “He painted the landscape but saw the spiritual aspect of nature and tried to get that feel in his paintings.” “Sometimes I use a bit of symbolism too.” Plank says, referring to his painting in this exhibit, “Waiting for the Light,” which shows a ...

Impending Spiritual Renaissance Heralded in New Book San Francisco Chronicle (press release) Stepping outside duality while embracing a new consciousness, author Cynthia Boulton uses humor in "Your 'Tor-tell-ah's' Upside Down" to bridge the deep divide between religious traditions and a spirituality based within, in this memoir of ... and more »

Globe and Mail

My Conversation With the Dalai Lama: The Convergence of Science and ... Huffington Post It is for this decades-long passion to bring together science and spirituality that he was awarded the Templeton Prize. I sat with him before the awards ceremony. Here is our conversation (with a video slideshow here): by Arianna Huffington by Arianna ... China suffers from "moral crisis", Dalai Lama saysReuters China Rubbishes Dalai Lama Death PlotWall Street Journal (blog) Dalai Lama wins Templeton Prize, says China suffers from 'moral crisis'Christian Science Monitor Pocono Record -The Independent all 1,564 news articles »

Being Indispensable: Willingness + Spirituality = Success Huffington Post (blog) She asked for spiritual assistance on the way to help her get to me somehow. Willingness in action! When she got to the airport, she went to security to find a "courtesy phone" to page me, but one didn't exist. However, the person at security was ...