Read

November/December 2006 Living Now
Street Smart Spirituality: Walking Tall Inside and Out

by Pat Baccili

I grew up in the Bronx and I knew about street smarts. But I didn't realize that it could be applied to spirituality until much later in life.

What does it mean to be street smart? Does it mean you know your way around? You can handle yourself in tough situations? You're able to read people? Sure it does. Street smart is used to describe everything from investing in financial markets to protecting oneself against identity theft and more. But as spiritual beings, how do we protect ourselves from thoughts, beliefs and actions that don't serve us and keep us from our greater good? That is exactly what street smart spirituality is about.

My personal journey began as a skeptic, so being spiritually savvy required a down-to-earth approach before it was going to make sense to me. Because of that, I have poured through more books on spirituality than most people would ever read in a lifetime, and yes, all the theories can be mind-boggling, and it can be difficult for people to shift long-held beliefs that may not have been serving them.

I realized much later in life that I didn't have to spend years cloistered away in a monastery to understand my connection to divinity and that the pathway to thriving in life was within my reach. The perception some people have about being spiritually smart is that they have to be a mystic before they can call themselves truly a spiritually enlightened person. That just isn't the case.

Street smart spirituality represents the idea of closing the perceptual gap between self and spirit and identifying and enacting universal principles in a way that a two-year-old can understand. Street smart spirituality teaches self-defense against thoughts, beliefs and actions that stop you from experiencing joy, abundance and love in your life. For example, you would not walk down a dark alley in New York at 2 a.m., so why would you refuse someone's act of kindness or a thank you? One explanation might be that you simply don't realize that by saying, "Oh that's nothing," or another dismissive statement, you send a message to the universe that you really don't need the gratitude.

At some point in my life, I realized that I could break down the concept of being spiritually savvy in a way that made sense to me. There were a few key lessons I discovered along the way. First, I learned that I must be confident in the power of the universe to deliver to me whatever I asked. This means that I had to be steadfast in my conviction and continue to ask.

Second, I had to be vigilantly mindful of what I was asking for. Third, I realized that regardless of what came into my life or how it came in, there was only one response: Thank you spirit. Now, this was the most difficult of all -- learning how to say thank you even to a chronic illness or the loss of a loved one.

I don't know about you, but I want to know in the most direct way possible what will build the strength of my spiritual conviction and what will deplete it. Street smart is that directness which provides compassion and loving support while helping others learn how to live life full out and with exquisite passion.

To learn more about Dr. Pat Baccili and her radio show, visit www.thedrpatshow.com.