I want to get an idea on how we all approach reading, if at all. Please let me know!

📖 "Let one not seek others' faults, nor what others have done or left undone. Rather, let one consider what one has done or left undone." — Dhammapada, Verse 50 🤔 This teaching encourages self-reflection rather than judgment of others. Focusing on others' flaws can create negativity and distract us from our own growth. By turning attention inward, we nurture humility and personal responsibility, fostering inner peace. 🏃🏻‍♀️ Today, if you find yourself criticizing or judging someone else, pause and bring the focus back to your own actions and attitudes. Reflect on what you can improve within yourself, cultivating empathy and reducing unnecessary judgment. 🧘🏻‍♀️ "May I look inward and focus on my own growth. May I release judgment of others and turn my energy toward compassion and self-awareness."

Today, my mind was on one! Ever have one of those days where you feel like your own worst enemy?! Where you can remember every single time you fucked up, or fell short? Where every thought that comes up is laced with mean sarcasm on who and how you are? Well, today was that for me. I tended to spiral into the negative vortex when this would happen. However, lately, I've been making sure I notice these thoughts before they become hurricanes. It's become very interesting to me to see WHERE the thoughts come from. A lot of times it's from an experience I'd completely forgotten about, and that gives me the opportunity to dive into that feeling/experience to be able to address any unmet needs, and really feel what I had blocked out. Doing that allows these thoughts to no longer hold evidence or weight on what the story they try to tell me.. Sometimes though, it's just our mind trying to fuck with us to see if we will give into to the despair it's used to. So to that, I had my handy mug to remind me that not every thought is something we have to analyze.. it's obviously messing with me.. so every sip of coffee helped my mind chill tf out.

As per Google: Spirituality is the personal, non-religious search for meaning, purpose, and connection to something greater than oneself, such as nature, the universe, or a higher power. It is a subjective experience focusing on cultivating inner awareness, compassion, and presence, rather than following strict doctrines. It often involves exploring deeper truths about existence, consciousness, and one's place in the world. In my opinion, Google was pretty spot on. I grew up in a home where there was only one way to experience spirituality, "the right way", through religion. Even as a kid i was attracted to more esoteric or occult practices and knowledge, but it was quickly shut down due to it being "evil". Pretty much anything that challenged the religious dogma, was evil. There was no free thinking or questioning, as questioning would mean you were defying God. After having a moment of...."wait a minute" a lot of things in my life started to make sense. Life, to me, became about remembering who I am, realizing we are all connected and have more in common than not, understanding that there were so may different ways to reach God or Source. It became clear that connection with the higher power was not through religious rules or practices, It was about going inward and uniting with with this Power at a deep and personal level. In the process of this realization, I also was able to see my own traumas and "shadows". These parts of me that were hurt, rejected and disowned. Things I thought were "normal" that now looking back, were definitely not lol. Gathering the courage to look at these parts of me and address them, was probably harder than I care to admit, But super worth it. I have now integrated several different practices, that I pulled from different types of religions, rituals, ceremonies. These come together to help me be able to get into the state of mind where I can continue to search for answers and apply what i learn to my every day life. That's what spirituality is to me, the ability to freely connect with God in a way that is tailored to you as an individual, without having to conform to anyone else's idea of how to do so.