Spiritual Growth
Modern conveniences such as electronic equipment, gadgets, and tools as well as entertainment through television, magazines, and the web have predisposed us to confine our attention mostly to physical needs and wants.
Introspection goes beyond recalling the things that happened in a day, week, or month. You need to look closely and reflect on your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and motivations. Periodically examining your experiences, the decisions you make, the relationships you have, and the things you engage in provide useful insights on your life goals, on the good traits you must sustain and the bad traits you have to discard.
Moreover, it gives you clues on how to act, react, and conduct yourself in the midst of any situation.
Religion and science have differing views on matters of the human spirit. Religion views people as spiritual beings temporarily living on Earth, while science views the spirit as just one dimension of an individual.
Mastery of the self is a recurring theme in both Christian (Western) and Islamic (Eastern) teachings. The needs of the body are recognized but placed under the needs of the spirit. Beliefs, values, morality, rules, experiences, and good works provide the blueprint to ensure the growth of the spiritual being.
Religions that believe in the existence of God such as Christianism, Judaism, and Islam suppose that the purpose of the human life is to serve the Creator of all things.
Religions stress the concept of our relatedness to all creation, live and inanimate. Thus we call other people “brothers and sisters” even if there are no direct blood relations. Moreover, deity-centered religions such as Christianity and Islam speak of the relationship between humans and a higher being. Growth is a process thus to grow in spirit is a day-to-day encounter. We win some, we lose some, but the important thing is that we learn, and from this knowledge, further spiritual growth is made possible.
Meditation is a comprehensive word that stands for deep introspection, mulling, drawing a balance sheet of all the actions of our life and making plans to revamp it. Meditation also involves some thinking and breathing exercises to silence the turbulent mind and give it a new and positive direction. Meditation eliminates all the negative feelings and emotions such as jealousy, greed, lust, anger and so on that torment us day and night.
The best environment for meditation is one that is peaceful, sedative, relaxing, soothing and surrounded by raw nature. Usually meditation retreats are located among cool, serene and natural surroundings, by the side of lakes, rivers or atop mountains. This is what an ideal retreat aims to be.
A Retreats, therefore, is a place where you retire for rest, relaxation and meditation. Obviously these mental and physical exercises can only be enjoyed at some place which is far from the madding crowds’ ignoble strife.
Meditation retreat, therefore, provides you a treat for your tired body and senses. It recharges, rejuvenates and reinvigorates the mind, the spirit and the body of the participant through lectures, programs, demonstrations, discussions and seminars on vital issues of life which are usually ignored and forgotten in the relentless pursuit of money, power and mundane pleasures
Individual Spiritual retreats may help you to rediscover the safe place within, something that is always undisturbed, always unchanged and at peace with itself, a true You. Spiritual retreat center allow you to discover a whole new self and help you in removing the limitations that your mind is occupied with. Spiritual Retreat centers also allow you to discover a whole new perspective towards life. And when you come back home, you bring it with you, helping others to come back home to themselves, helping to change the world.
If you are interested for San Diego retreats the Franciscan Friars invite you to experience spiritual renewal in surroundings of peace at the unique, historical venue of Old Mission San Luis Rey. The Franciscan Retreat Center at Old Mission San Luis Rey offers a place for solitude, healing, and revitalization with a wide variety of spiritual and educational programs.