During 2013 I became so overwhelmed with being a mother, housewife and publishing two novels, that I feel I strayed ‘off the path’ so to speak from my spiritual pursuits. As it turned out I never did. Everything I do in my life relates to my spiritual journey. I realised late on in the year that I spent too much time berating myself for not actively taking time out to meditate, or for ignoring my studies, and somehow equated that to not being spiritual. In truth it is nothing of the sort.

Every day I notice the weather, I feel the energy of Mother Earth, and my daily routine actually revolves around being a spiritual person. I think I confused spirituality with academia and religion in terms of being a studious practitioner of whatever art or path I choose at any one time. I identify myself as pagan, but I still believe in Christianity since I grew up in a Christian family and I always find a sense of peace and love when I visit churches.

Some of my confusion in late 2013 came from my experiences with the church community. When my second child was born I did struggle to adjust to life with two young children. My husband works long hours, and is often out of the house for around 15 hours per day anything up to six days per week when he works overtime. While I have a wonderful close circle of friends with children, we all lead busy lives and sometimes I have found myself feeling isolated on those long days when I am stuck at home with the children.

It is the church community and local parent/child groups that offer solace in times like these. I actually found myself visiting a church playgroup one afternoon quite without planning to, but I felt so much better for doing it. I recognised at lot of the people in there from our regular attendance at my local library, and we were welcomed with open arms. Similarly we have adopted the church café as a venue of choice for a weekly lunch outing. They are very child-friendly and family oriented, and that is important to me right now.

And so I begin 2014 with a new attitude, and a new understanding of what it means to live a spiritual life in a 21st century urban environment. For example, my husband does not identify with any particular religion or path (he is christened Catholic), but he is a warrior for environmentalism. He is a Chartered Waste Manager by profession, we recycle 95% of our household waste, we use cloth nappies, we drive an eco-efficient car, and we make sure our children have plenty of time outside in the countryside or at the beach, even when the weather is not especially pleasant. That is my spiritual journey at the moment. We respect our Earth, our community, and we live comfortably and happily within it.

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*Images courtesy of Pinterest; Mother Earth and Thank You Goddess