This Is Not a Spiritual IQ Test!
What follows is not a quiz, but rather a set of criteria that you might use as a kind of mirror, reflecting back to you where you are in your own spiritual life.
You know that your spiritual IQ is climbing when you:
- Notice that you are less bothered by the ups and downs of your life.
- Remember to ask for grace and guidance from the higher powers at the heart of the universe, and to be open to receive it through surprising channels.
- Realize that you're happier and more peaceful when you stop trying to control every situation.
- Stop worrying about always having everyone's approval.
- Find it easier to forgive your parents, your ex-spouse, the coach who bullied you in high school, and yourself.
- Wake up some mornings feeling grateful for no good reason.
- Treat your feelings of anger, jealousy, and blame as opportunities to work with your own mind.
- Develop inner practices like meditation, prayer, mindful awareness, self-inquiry, and silent contemplation.
- Feel less fearful of situations and outcomes that used to scare you.
- Experience feelings of equality, kinship, and concern for other people, animals, and the earth.
- Are less afraid to speak the truth, and know how to do it gently.
- Finally, and above all, feel a growing connection to your own unshakable Essence, your inner Self or Buddha nature.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. But when you're questioning your life's direction, or wondering how to find out what really matters to you, this checklist might hold some clues. Spiritual intelligence, at its core, is our instinct for knowing what is really important. Some people are born with that knowingness, the rest of us get to develop it through of trial and error. Any moment can be the moment when we wake up to one of life's great secrets: that our spiritual intelligence is the part of us that knows what it really takes to be happy.
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