This spring I realized I was missing something to have a complete calm mind, and I understood it was something spiritual I was missing.
I’m an atheist, I really can’t believe in some kind of uber-human entity etc etc.

But I see how respect for life and nature and their rythms can have a “sacred” thing to them, how there can be something like a collective unconscious or at least some common archetypes with which we’ll all have to deal with. Most of all I see the importance to take care of these things for matters of personal serenity.

Now, how can spirituality for an atheist be? (Very different from religion which, to me, not only stands for a codified and recognized system of beliefs and uses, but also for something much more close to the original meaning: being tied to something, re-ligo… brrr).

To me spirituality means stopping for a moment and asking myself questions about where I want to go in life, means being happy because I have a home and food to eat, taking care of my creativity or at least of what makes me feel good with myself and the others, living in harmony with the things of the world. And how do you do that?

1. Taking fice minutes a day to really ask yourselves “Everything’s fine?”
2. Make personal projects and try to follow through
3. Giving yourselves goals and reaching them
4. An hour a week to take care but of yourselves and what you love to do
5. Light a candle and/or an incense
6. Paint, cook, write, sew, create something, sculpt, sing, play music, dance, learn Gimp
7. Do something creative
8. Throw away things that don’t make you feel good
9. Giving yourselves the chance to live your feelings and deal with them
10. Tell people what you feel
11. Say no when you can’t do it
12. Make a vision board
13. Keep an hippie blog 😛 trying to help others a little
14. Learn to respect yourselves
15. Meditate, visualize, radicate, centrate
16. Do yoga… or kick boxing
17. Running in the park
18. Watch the fog
19. Keep silent
20. Drive for the sake of it, alone, with no direction
21. Talk to yourselves, out loud
22. Tidying up stuff and priorities
23. Read a book
24. Read philosophy
25. Discuss world systems
26. Question yourselves about the depths of the Universe or just stare at the stars
27. Walk in the mist, scrunching leaves
28. Pet an animal
29. Play
30. Make love
31. Have dinner with friends
32. Go to the movies, to the theatre or to a museum
33. Cultivate your culture and your tastes
34. Update your mp3 reader
35. Listen to new music
36. Make donations to scientific research
37. Repeat a self-written mantra or prayer
38. Organizing something for a cause you trust
39. Watch your eating habits
40. Do some sport
41. Trust your sixth sense
42. Being with people and confront them
43. Asking yourselves deep questions and find your own answers
44. Dive in an ice cold river or float in the sea
45. Walk in the woods or in a field and pick up pebbles, fruits, roots, flowers, herbs…
46. Collect something
47. Play snowballs or sand castles
48. Sunbathe
49. Howl the full moon
50. Enjoy the wind
51. Eat local and seasonal

I’m not saying you have to do them all, I don’t, but just one of these can make the difference and help to feel better If you pay attention, in the end are but ways to keep up, physically and mentally, acts of love towards yourselves, a little bit more of attention to creative let outs etc… Nothing complicated. They might seem shallow, but to me it’s not.

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