In two recent conversations, individuals have raised essentially the same question: How do you know if you are called to a spiritual path?

The question later gave me the opportunity to try and put to words what I feel like I carry around in my heart all the time.

1. Are you breathing? If you are, you are already on a spiritual path. Our very words “spirit” and “spiritual” have roots in Latin words that have to do with breathing. We take breathing for granted, but when our breathing stops, so do we. Just take your next breath. That breath allows you to carry on with two very important things.
2. Meaning and connection. To me, this is the core of the spiritual path. We go through life capable of making meaning out of things. Because things become meaningful to us, we begin to establish important connections. The value of our life then begins to grow around the meaning we make and the connections we establish. This happens in human relationships all the time, and because it does, we too often fail to notice this as spiritual practice.
3. Intention and awareness. When we begin to see that there are things and people in our lives that are meaningful to us, that we work at establishing connections around that meaning, we begin to realize that we can do this with intention. “I’m going to the grocery store. I wonder who I will meet there today?” The question suggests an intention. Let’s say that the teenager who bags our groceries is looking a little tired.  We might notice: “you are looking a little tired.  Long day?” She tells you how she has been at school all day, then had volleyball practice, and is now working until 9 PM. You listen, and as you leave, you wish her all the best making it through. That’s intention. A week later, you run into her again, and because of her name tag, you remember: “Hey Chandra! How’s the volleyball going?”  She lights up and tells you about the big win they just had. That’s awareness. It’s also meaning making and making connections on a very simple, very human level. It’s part of the spiritual path. 
4. This belongs to us. The spiritual path belongs to the human being like breathing does. We are meaning makers. We cannot live without making connections with each other. We place our highest values around the people and things that are meaningful to us.

I tend to believe that all human beings are on a spiritual path. For some, the intention and the awareness may not be at a level, yet, to be obvious to them. I know from personal experience that every time I search for meaning, I find some, and it helps me make deeper connections in life. When I do that with intention and awareness, it happens more frequently. Practice helps!

Where to start?  Ask yourself what is meaningful to you in life. Make a list. Is there one that stands out to you? When you are done, you will have sketched out the shape of your spiritual path. And there will likely be some surprises waiting there.