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Today I wanted to give you things I do to connect spiritually\nYou might not affiliate yourself with any one religion.\xa0 Or you might consider yourself to be \u201cspiritual\u201d.\nThis episode is not trying to convert you, just to spark your creativity on how you can connect more to your spiritual side.\nIf you listen to the show you know that I\u2019m a follower of Christ, but I wasn\u2019t always.\xa0 And even today, I\u2019m considered a bit unorthodox by many of my Christian friends.\nMuch of what I believe today is influenced by what I was taught as a child, which doesn\u2019t necessarily match what others think.\nThis might be you.\nSo today I\u2019m going to tell you what I personally do to connect spiritually.\xa0 You can take some of it for yourself or leave it.\xa0 That\u2019s up to you.\nConnect with Nature:\nFirst let\u2019s talk about something that anyone can do, and that is connect with nature.\nWhen I\u2019m feeling disconnected, frustrated, or basically just un-spiritual, I tend to want to go outside. \xa0I like going outside and standing in the daylight.\xa0 I go to my milkweed plants and search for monarch caterpillars.\nJust being outside, soaking up the sunshine makes me feel more connected to God and more spiritual.\nI know I\u2019m lucky where I live, because not only is it sunny most of the year, but also I look out on \u201copen space\u201d in my backyard.\xa0 What that means is that no one can build on the land behind me as it\u2019s set aside for wildlife.\xa0 That set aside is only for 400 feet, but right now I have a whole mountain behind me.\nWhen I go outside in addition to the sunshine, I listen to the birds.\xa0 They are singing whether it\u2019s cloudy or sunny.\xa0 And it\u2019s something about the singing of the birds that calms me down and I\nconnect spiritually to God.\xa0 I don\u2019t even have to talk with God, I\u2019m just there.\nAnd wherever I go, I listen for the birds.\xa0 Even in urban areas, there are usually a few around, chirping.\xa0 And if we listen carefully we can hear them.\xa0 Even crows cawing can soothe your spirit sometimes.\nListening for wildlife around us can bring us a spiritual connection that we don\u2019t have in our urban busy lives.\nYou know what\u2019s interesting, is that I have been training myself to listen for the last couple of years.\xa0 It\u2019s difficult for me because I consider myself to be hard of hearing.\xa0 It\u2019s usually when I\u2019m in a crowded room, the talking all runs together and I cannot make out individual conversations.\xa0 So it\u2019s hard for me to be in big groups of people.\nBut, since I\u2019ve been training myself to listen, I can actually now hear the sounds of my worms eating.\xa0 Sounds gross right?\nBut I have a worm farm in my backyard.\xa0 I started it when I first started growing organic vegetables and didn\u2019t want to put chemicals in my garden.\xa0 Now I just grow milkweed for the monarch butterfly caterpillars to eat.\xa0 But I kept the worm farm.\xa0 There\u2019s something about watching them take food and turn it into compost that relaxes me.\xa0 And now at night when I go out to feed them, I can hear them eating.\nYesterday I was outside and I could hear the flutter of the butterflies wings when it flew by me.\xa0 There was a time that I would never have heard any of that.\nAnd all of this listening is bringing me closer to God.\nPerhaps if you listen more to nature it will open your spirituality as well.\nColor Meditate/ Mind Mapping\n \n\nI attend church almost every week, and I create drawings of the word that the pastor says.\xa0 Sometimes I\u2019ve found that by drawing out the words it helps me concentrate, and then I remember what is being said.\nEven though my pastor is a great public speaker, is funny, and connects with his small audience of about 150 people, I have a difficult time concentrating, and even staying awake during the sermons.\nI\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s because during the week I\u2019m so busy, and on Sundays, I tend to decompress.\xa0 After church,