How To Balance A Spiritual And Material Life

How to balance a spiritual and material life is a question I get often in my workshops. A few days ago I was chatting with a friend who is struggling with finding her path in life. She’s a very spiritual person but is unable to take action to find her path and purpose. She’s been struggling with:

• How do I know that the decision I will make will be the right one?
• How can I find my purpose in life?
• I know I need to make a change but I don’t know where to go

How To Balance A Spiritual And Material Life

I think many people struggle with these questions. Finding a balance between spiritual and material life is not easy.

Over the past 12 years working in Asia I’ve been helping people find their path and purpose in life through workshops and one on one coaching. From my experience, I can tell that most people are focused on material life instead of the spiritual. However, this lady was more spiritual than material.

So the question is, how do we find the right balance?

I personally believe our spiritual life comes first because it’s the essence of who we are. We are here on earth to learn, grow, and mature spiritually towards self-realization. In Buddhist philosophy, they refer to this as enlightenment.

From a Suited Monk perspective finding balance is achieved by following your Monk and then building a Suit around it. This will help you to balance your spiritual and material life.

Here are a few steps on how to apply this:

1. Your values are part of your Monk and inner self. The most important element is understanding your values. For example, my value is FREEDOM. I used to work as an expat in China for a global shipping company and my value of FREEDOM was not nurtured. I had to be in the office early and leave late in order to achieve business results and expectations. It is only when I decided to pursue my passion ”helping people” that I became an entrepreneur managing my own time and schedule that my value was nurtured. So listen to your values first and then build a Suit around it.
2. Action. I personally believe that action stimulates motion. Each time you take an action, life or the universe will help you to find your path and purpose in life. Without action, there is no motion. So for the lady described above, she can keep reflecting and thinking but if she doesn’t take action, nothing can / will happen. I think for most people FEAR is one of the biggest challenges, that holds us back from moving forward. 
3. Patience. The Universe and life vibrate at their own pace… which means that life has its own flow. It is not fast it is not slow, it is just perfect and in alignment. In Taoist philosophy, it is the alignment of Yin and Yang. I can best describe it by looking at nature. Nature doesn’t speed up growth, it just grows. I feel business and the material world are based on fast-paced action. There is always more to learn and achieve. Sometimes we forget to take a step back and be patient and let life take its own flow. When you take action (Step 2), be patient and let life take its own flow.
4. Find a mentor who is familiar with balancing the spiritual and material world. Someone who is successful in his career but is also very spiritual. What kind of actions do they take in the material world and then apply spiritual principles for themselves to find that balance. There are 100’s of people who are practicing the alignment of the spiritual and material.
5. Daily practice. Living a fulfilling life is the ability to master the alignment of the spiritual with the material. This is something that has to be practiced daily. It was Aristotle who says that you have to habituate the virtues. It means you have to learn and master the spiritual principles daily in the midst of external challenges. Daily practice will lead you closer to alignment with your true self.
6. Philosophical counseling. Being able to balance a spiritual and material life requires a deep understanding of life itself. Philosophical counseling is a practice in which the counselor helps the individual on his/her life journey using wisdom and tools from philosophers such as Plato, Aristole, Lao Tzu. You can learn more about its benefits here

Take this 2-minute free questionnaire to discover your happiness score

Summary:

Make a list of your top 10 values. For each value, identify if there are areas in your life in which you are NOT living a life true to that value. Brainstorm on actions you can take to make decisions true to that value. Secondly, when you make decisions in your life, listen to your Monk intuition first, what feels right for you in your gut feeling. This is the spiritual world. Secondly, apply your feeling in the material world. In this way, you will find more balance between the spiritual and the material.

If today you feel your material and the spiritual world need more alignment, you can take this 2-minute FREE questionnaire designed by Prof. Dr. Mike Thomson from CEIBS (China Europe International Business School) that will help you identify the Gap between your internal and external worlds. Take your free check-up here now.

After you practice these principles for a few weeks you will find more happiness and peace within. You will be able to live a life true to yourself and find more alignment between your spiritual and material.

About the Author

Raf Adams – The Suited Monk, is a practical philosopher helping people align their internal and external self and find their path in life. He has been living in China for 10 years, doing workshops and seminars, and is the author of The Suited Monk and Suited Monk Leadership.

# How To Balance A Spiritual And Material Life