Self-Renewal always comes forth in the form of a great gusto for me in the Spring. The first warm breeze that stirs up from the south catches my attention and I instinctively know spring is just around the corner. So I start the spot check; how am I faring physically with my weight? Where is my Spirit and what have I accomplished in the line of emotional improvement that has helped me with finding Joy, Peace, and Serenity? How is my mental state? Am I relaxed and going with the flow of how my life is going? Or am I back to swimming upstream against the current with my children, friends and associates?

To some people, having a meaningful life means being busy all the time. While it's true that we need activities that get us outside of ourselves, we can easily become too busy – and which can account for the numerous projects that remain unfinished. Even when we commit to making resolutions to change, to work, to accomplish a goal, being too busy with life can continually be the culprit of not finding deep meaningful time for ourselves to bring about this dedication to being able to bring forth within ourselves, a sense of self-renewal. It is only in the quiet mind that we can come to know the peace of a truly meaningful life.

We need to acquire the discipline of learning how to cultivate the habit of becoming quiet through prayer and meditation. We need to practice freeing our minds of the thoughts that compete for our attention. In silence will come our knowledge of God. Our serenity and security reside in our quiet moments.

When we retreat to our quiet interior spaces, we grow in our understanding of God and life's mysteries. The richness we come to know through our spiritual life simply is unexpected.
Spiritual leaders from all faiths have suggested we go within to know God and, thus, ourselves.

Our well-being is the result of concentrated effort. While we may know people who appear to be secure, happy, and serene all the time, we are seldom privy to all the work they have put into this attitude. Spiritual exercise pays off. Taking some time every day to be alone with our prayers and thoughts is a good way to begin developing a trusting relationship with God. Developing this kind of relationship fosters the guidance we long for throughout our lives. And this kind of guidance has never steered me wrong.

Coming to believe that God is always present, we can respond to all of our experiences with peaceful and loving hearts. We won't live in fear of people or events when we have exercised our trust and reliance on God. Hence my yearly self-renewal is based on my re-connection and realignment on the state of my spiritual connection to the universe. When my spirit is in alignment with the rest of the world, my body and mind are also.

Excerpt from: Silent Screams from the Hamptons
Calling All Angels Chapter 19

In the grips of my alcoholism, I was close to spiritual death. I began attending a church for the first time in 35 years in search of spiritual direction. I had heard good things about the new Pastor and his wife, just arrived missionaries from Equador. Through them I learned about a God of second chances. This stirred a sense of divine spirit that filled the empty void in my life with a power of love. I started to become quieter in my thinking
and move from my heart.

The alcohol recovery program requires the addict to put their faith in a higher power of their choosing. Although I was still drinking, I was beginning to understand that many of my problems stemmed from the sheer strength of my self-will. The acceptance of my powerlessness over the people and events in my life was the ticket to freedom.

Excerpt from: Silent Screams from the Hamptons Written by: Christa Jan Ryan
www.silentscreamsfromthehamptons.com

Christa Jan Ryan was born into a chaotic family enduring alcoholism, drug overdoses, and violence. The youngest of six children, three of her sisters are triplets, all born with Cerebral Palsy. She has been a professional landscape designer and consultant to the rich and famous of the Hamptons for the last thirty years. Following her heartwarming first book, From the Depths of a Woman's Soul, Ryan is writing her third and fourth books with a renewed sense of purpose. She now lives in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, while pursuing her film adaptation of Silent Screams and play production, which she hopes to make a musical.

Christa can be found at www.christajanryan.com and/or www.silentscreamsfromthehamptons.com

For more articles by this author or articles on different topics visit the Applaud Women Library.