Now. Here. This. Your “spiritual” experience is right now.

I sometimes catch myself believing that my “spiritual life” will finally come into existence at some vague, indescribable point in the future. A future moment in this life when spiritual enlightenment has fully blossomed in my consciousness and I permanently see the world through some elevated, glowing lens.

When I notice myself drifting into this kind of reverie, I have to gently interrupt it and remind myself that the spiritual life, as I see it, and the ongoing journey that comes with it, are actually happening right now. Here. In this and every moment.

Right here. Right now. This.

What I am experiencing in this moment. Walking down a normal suburban street on a warm summer day. Responding to urgent emails from my desk. Hurriedly driving the kids to soccer practice. Writing a blog post in a coffee shop on a chilly weekend afternoon.

In my opinion, these moments, and all moments in life, constitute the “spiritual” life we are so often searching for somewhere else or believing requires special conditions to manifest.

I think it’s worth pausing to ask yourself what your definition of a spiritual life actually is, assuming that’s something you’re even aiming for. What do “spiritual” and “a spiritual life” mean to you, personally?

Is it the idea that you’re sitting in a half lotus position at the corner of Broadway and 44th Street, undisturbed by the chaos around you for hours at a time? Is it living in a cozy cave high in the Himalayas, punctuated by gentle hikes along the Ganges? Is it sitting high on a stage as thousands of devotees shower you with flower petals in adoration? Or perhaps residing in a commune, raking the sand of a Zen garden each morning as the rising sun illuminates the naturally present smile on your perpetually serene face?

Do these attributes make up ten percent of your life or eighty percent to qualify as “spiritual”? Does it need to be one hundred percent? Is there a culturally accepted minimum requirement no one told us about?

It can also be helpful to examine what we even mean by a spiritual experience or a life lived spiritually. Are we trapped in the Matrix and none of this is real? Is everything, including us, an expression of God or the Divine? Are we just hapless chess pieces being knocked around by higher powers who enjoy dramatic plot twists?

Or is it simply where you hold your attention, looking around and seeing that everything, including yourself and every situation, is a product of the Divine (or whatever word you prefer to use to refer to a higher power)? (Hint: this is my preferred option.)

I’d suggest that if you’re focused on living a spiritual life, then every moment really counts, whether you’re actively focused on spirituality or not. Which means this is it. This here-and-now, 24/7, 365 experience.

It’s the moment-by-moment nature of our existence. All of it. The glory and the terror. Whether experiencing exalted moments alone in nature or waiting anxiously in a dentist’s waiting room.

And I want to caution that this definition in no way involves judging yourself or the situations of your life. That includes judging yourself as being in a higher or immoral frame of mind in any or all moments, or deciding that you are a “good” or “bad” person. These kinds of beliefs only create conditioning and inner conflict. In my opinion, much of the spiritual life involves taking a look at, and figuring your shit out. That is a difficult task for almost everyone, and I applaud anyone who is willing to take even one step in this direction.

So the question becomes: are you here for it? Present, aware, and available as it unfolds? Or are you waiting for a future version of life that feels more suitable, more spiritual, more Instagram-worthy?

Does it require better circumstances? Quieter conditions? Or perhaps being dressed in your finest yoga attire before it officially counts as a spiritual moment?

As Jon Kabat-Zinn said so well, “Our life is a collection of moments,” and the situations created by those moments change constantly. So often the mind is replaying the past, stirring up wave after wave of emotion, or drifting into some imagined future.

It’s easy for the idea of a spiritual life to get lost somewhere in those daydreams.

And where, exactly, do we draw the line between the mundane and the spiritual?

Have you ever stopped to consider what you actually want from a “spiritual life”? I suspect most people would say they’re looking for a steady sense of peace, both inwardly and outwardly.

The question is whether that peace is dependent on external circumstances, internal ones, or both.

There’s no right or wrong answer here, but whatever answer you land on can quietly shape how you see the world.

As much as we might try, we can’t control the world or most external circumstances. What we can influence, and perhaps the only thing we truly can, is our state of mind, moment by moment.

Life will throw hurricanes and tornadoes our way. Our minds and egos will get knocked around. But we can work with how we respond, even when it feels like we’re entirely at their mercy.

So What Does a Spiritual Life Actually Look Like?

Peace happens inwardly. It is a moment-by-moment choice. “Choice” is the operative word here. I will write more about this concept in the future. Pay attention to see if you had a reaction to that statement. I know I did the first time I heard it.

This doesn’t mean that getting to peace is easy, especially when life is genuinely hard.

It’s worth checking in. Do you feel like you have any choice over your thoughts? Or does it feel more like they just happen to you, dragging a whole parade of moods along with them?

Do you base your sense of inner peace on external circumstances? Do you require the “right” conditions before you allow something to feel spiritual, or better than other moments?

If your focus is inward peace, then external circumstances matter far less. You don’t need to be in a church, ashram, or temple to be in a peaceful state of mind.

You can be in unpleasant circumstances, with people or in places and situations you don’t particularly enjoy, but inwardly you can be quiet, still, focused, and present regardless of the situation. 

It’s the mind and ego that label things as like or dislike, enjoyable or dreadful.

So how do you come to see the bulk of your life as spiritual? I believe it comes down to where you place your attention and how you frame your experience.

If you move through life seeing what you encounter as spiritual in nature, whether you label it good, bad, or neutral, then perhaps your life becomes “spiritual”. If you see the world as a constant hellscape, always at odds with you, then that’s the world you end up living in.

I invite you to try this for yourself. Create a simple way to remind yourself to see everything as spiritual. That might mean using a mantra like “All of this is the Divine”, or “Now. Here. This is all spiritual”.  Set up random alerts on your phone throughout the day to check in and reinforce this concept.

I’ve found that the more often I do this, the more the world opens up. Opportunities to see things differently seem to appear everywhere. You can also try framing everything as a hellscape, but I don’t recommend it.

Living spiritually doesn’t mean bypassing pain, ignoring difficulty, or pretending life isn’t messy. It means meeting whatever shows up with honesty and awareness, even when it’s uncomfortable, inconvenient, or deeply human.

Mindful Moves

Things you can try:

• Review your beliefs about what you consider a “spiritual life.” What activities shape that belief? Are they realistic or even valid?

• Revisit your definitions. What does “spiritual” mean to you?

• Notice how these definitions shape your judgments about what is “good” or “bad”.

• Ask where these beliefs came from. Personal experience? Stories you were told? Cultural inheritance?

Drop a comment and share what comes up for you.