Define Spirituality?

Editor's note : Part 2 of "How To Raise Your H.Q." will be published shortly. This article felt more inspired in this moment, and stems from a quote I read today from one of my favorite authors, Abraham Hicks.
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Questioner: Is finding my purpose in life more about asking what life wants from me, or what I want from life?

Abraham: It is what you want from life; you are the creator. And, really, the other part of it you can't get wrong anyway. Because, what life wants from me -- oh, such a good question -- what life wants for me is talking about this non-physical energy that is really you.

In other words, who you were prior to coming into this physical body is still who that non-physical energy is (your soul). In other words: So, you came with intention. So, then as you stand in your physical form, you could accurately ask the question, "What does that part of me want from me?" And we would say, "What that non- physical part of you wants from you is new experience. New life, new contrast, new exploration; new conclusions...that what? New conclusions that that part of you can sink it's teeth in; can vibrationally become.

There are a lot of people who are saying, "It is inappropriate to want." And, sometimes we go there, as we visit, because we know, we hear it from many: that there are some philosophies that seem to take issue with the idea of you, egotistically, identifying anything as desire. And, sometimes, as we listen (and we always love to hear the conversations no matter what they are about, because people are earnestly seeking) and, after they talk about how desire is inappropriate and that they have been taught that if they can be desireless, that it will be better and we say, "And what is it that you will gain from this philosophy of letting lose of desire?" and they say, "We'll be happier!" And we say, "And is not happiness a desire?

So, what life (God) wants from you, is joyful expansion!

And, what you want from life (God) is joyful expansion.
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Although people tend to view materialism and spiritualism as polar opposites, there is really nothing in your life that is not "spiritual." You are, by defintion, non-physical God Energy, in physical form. Everything that you do, think, feel, believe, and desire stems from your body, ego, and mind, but on a deeper level, your soul. The degree to which your body, ego, and mind are aligned with what your soul wants is the only variable.

While some religious philosophies tell you that it is wrong to desire anything, this logically does not make sense, as why would a non-physical soul come into physical form in the first place if it did not want to experience life? And to experience and live life, one must have desire. God (or the energy of all that is, that you are also a part of), does not judge your desires. You were born with the intention to experience contrast, draw new conclusions of what you wish to create next, and expand as a result. As you expand in your thoughts, knowledge, and love, the Universe expands with you. That's the purpose. That's the game.

The key is not to not have desires (God doesn't label himself or herself as an "anti-materialist." God is just pure, positive Energy). The key is learn how to have a desire, and then learn to align your thoughts, feelings, and Energy with that desire so you feel the happiness of the desire as well as the happiness of its fulfillment. It's learning to happy in the moment, in the gap between your wanting and receiving. The paradox is that the happier you get in the moment (regardless of the manifestation of what you want), the faster what you want comes into being.

As you expand through your alignment with Non-physical Source energy, the Universe expands with you- it literally experiences itself through your physical experience. Being your authentic self is profoundly spiritual.

Spirituality, then, is simply allowing the Universe to experience more love, more joy, more creation, more everything - through you.

How To Raise Your H.Q.- Part 1

The terms I.Q. and now even E.Q. (emotional quotient, which correlates with emotional intelligence) have long ago made it into the vernacular. But there is another "quotient" so to speak that everyone strives for but not many people really understand. So I'm going to go out on a limb and coin a new phrase: let's just call it H.Q. - or the Happiness Quotient.

What is H.Q.? It's long been understood that some people just have a lower threshold for happiness. You know, those annoying people that derive great pleasure from the smallest of things. Like eating ice cream. Or watching football. Or whatever. Frankly, I never used to be one of those people. In fact, I think I simultaneously despised and envied people that were happy for no reason (I mean, what was their deal anyway?). Weren't they smart enough to see everything that was wrong in their lives and want to fix it? Wasn't it normal to endlessly examine and rationalize one's own deficiencies? To conquer childish optimism and replace it with jaded "maturity"?

Then one day, in my attempts at introspection, I realized that my forced realism, pragmatism, rationalism, and other -isms that I can't think of right now, were only making me more miserable. I had been socially trained to be all those things. Creativity, spontaneity, and passion were mere luxuries - not a normal part of everyday life. And then I began to pay attention to my emotions, and my happiness level (it's hard to quantify, but you know it when you have it).

I began to consciously infuse moments of happiness into everyday life. I would eat an ice cream cone in the middle of the afternoon (there is a great gelato place near where I work); calories be damned. I would take five minutes in the morning before I got out of bed and just lay there and daydream (I prefer to call it "visualization"); alarm be damned. I would sit in a chair in my apartment every night and close my eyes and just breathe; personal phone calls and emails waiting to be answered be damned. Yeah, I know it sounds stupid, but to my surprise, focused breathing was actually pleasurable and relaxing.

And then something interesting happened. As I got happier (for no apparent reason), the Universe seemed to cooperate with me more. I started noticing more favorable coincidences in my life. There seemed to be a positive momentum where my inner happiness seemed to attract more outer happiness (through synchronous people, places, events)- a phenomenon that I thought deserved further exploring.

Were those annoyingly happy people onto something? And does getting happy really influence outcomes and shape our future experience by moving energy, or is merely a change in perception?

Part 2- What's happiness got to do with it?

To Be Continued...