Being a kid is tough. It’s even tougher when the school bully threatens to beat you up after school.  When I was in the 5^th grade, that’s exactly what happened.  Jackie (her real name) would randomly choose her victims to beat up after school.  So it was just a matter of time before she got to me.  Now if Jackie threatened to beat you up, you were beat up.  It was a done deal. You didn’t even think there was the possibility that you might walk away, and she would be the one running and screaming towards home.  She had us.

The chosen place for my butt kickin’ was the candy store we stopped at every day on the way home from school to buy our goodies.  With my Mr. Goodbar in hand, I’d walk home down the railroad tracks skipping and kicking rocks until I got home.  But the day of the announced butt kickin’, my Mr. Goodbar had no taste and my shoes felt like they had rocks in them.

I didn’t tell my parents that night about the imminent butt kickin’.  Probably out of embarrassment, or maybe I thought that there was nothing they could do about it.  But after being distressed for hours, I thought of someone who just might be able to help me.

Our two-bedroom and house was overflowing with 11 people and you can imagine there was little privacy.  Where could I go for privacy?  The bathroom.  I made sure no one was around to hear me, went in and locked the door.  I kneeled down in front of my make-shift altar–the toilet.  I put the lid down, bowed my head and squeezed my hands together as hard as I could.  I prayed, “Lord, please don’t let Jackie beat me up.”

That was the beginning of my spiritual practice.

Life is challenging.  Healing is challenging. And if we want to live our best life, we most certainly should develop a spiritual practice. In developing a spiritual practice, we must get to know ourselves first.  We must communicate with our higher self to gain insight into our lives—how we should live, who we should forgive, where we should go, when we must speak, how we must love, who we should love, and when to say no.

A spiritual practice will help you to get to know yourself and know your God.   When you are constantly examining yourself and improving yourself, you can’t help but improve your family, your community, your nation and finally the world.  That’s what your spiritual self will do—the life of God is good and will cause you to do well.

And by the way, Jackie didn’t beat me up.

Please leave a comment.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I look forward to healing with you,

Cheryl Y. Price, Ph.D.

www.anewwaytoheal.com

cheryl@anewwaytoheal.com