A robust spirituality is one that:

• Holds on to integrity; knowing that honesty is the only path to the true heart of things.
• Finds the opportunities for gratitude, even within pain and sorrow.
• Greets the world with an open and generous heart, in sheer delight at the interconnectedness of all that is.
• Uses self-awareness as the seedbed of empathy; the first hint of what it means to be a part of a world filled with the richness of emotion and held together with the power of love.
• Honors the self and others equally, recognizing each as a gift in the great exchange that is life.

Friends who demonstrate this robust spirituality – regardless of how they define belief or non-belief – keep me grounded and full of hope. They are not dependent on any particular future. Instead, they they have learned to treasure the now. Their very breath – the movement of the spirit of life within them – sustains each precious moment.

[photo by Joy per cc 2.0]