Going through a post-idealistic Quarter-Life Crisis motivated by temporary existentialism

Recently I've felt that I need a makeover mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  I've been raised to ascribe to the Roman Catholic doctrine but lately feel I have been failing it as it concurrently fails me.  I'm not looking to abandon the Roman Catholic faith but am looking for a mechanism by which to give myself a spiritual/mental/emotional "re-alignment," if you will...something that will get me back on track and help me boot my "stinkin' thinkin'" to the curb (including my saracasm, which works perfectly as a defense mechanism but has the heinous side-effect of really making you feel like a grinch and a half sometimes!) and help me re-focus on the truly important parts of life. 

My ultimate goal is to restore my personal homeostasis in terms of those intangible pieces of me that make me inherently human, in the hopes that it helps increase my happiness and makes me more able to explore the world to find what will bring me fulfillment.

Any suggestions where I might start?

Shanks!

er wow...this post is very...uh...formal? is that the word i'm looking for?

so basically, you're not sure if the catholic church is for you, but you aren't sure you want to write it off quite yet either?

anyway, i just read Ask and it is given by esther and jerry hicks. i swear, it has changed my life. it's probably not for everybody. actually, it's definitely not for everybody. but it struck home with me. i left catholicism and christianity a long time ago, but i think this book can help christians and non-christians alike.

May I recommend the church of reality. OK, sort of tongue in cheek, but it's the closest I personally come to organized religion.

Though within Roman Catholicism, I do have a soft spot for liberation theology. Might want to check it out if you want to find a purpose.

Hey jules I loved "Ask and it is Given"

Shakti Gawain's "Living in the Light" is quite good.

There are so many fine avenues of thought to explore.

Keeljm you are questing, such adventure awaits you.

It's not a matter of what you will hang onto, or get rid of, but where the path of finding takes each person to the unique destination of ones true spirit.

Find out who you are and your proper spiritual path will follow. Find out what you like to do, what you want to accomplish in this world, and how you can set about doing it.

I suggest starting by sitting down in a comfortable spot, turning off all noisy appliances, and with a notepad and paper write down things you want to do. Are they tangible things? Are they emotional goals? Are they skills? Just write them down.

Religion will not bring you fulfillment... but religion just might help you along that path, if you only start walking.

Wow....I am way too grumpy and chocolate deprived to even begin to try to explore anyone's homeostatis....

*double checks to see if she wondered into the wrong forum by mistake*

awesome bagga! i'll have to check out that shakti gawain book. i've definitely heard of it! and your dog (or the dog in your gallery) is gorgeous!!

i've been reading care of the soul by thomas moore.  it's a secular way of looking at spirituality and soul, and it has some very concrete suggestions toward getting in touch a personal spirituality.  i like it!

I know Eckhart Tolle is getting "too cool" now that Oprah and itunes have gotten ahold of him, but I read "The Power of Now" four years ago and it truly changed the way I think about my life and spirituality. It's not, strictly speaking, a spiritual book, but it is about how your thought patterns affect every aspect of your life. It's great, because it fits in with any religion, and getting what Tolle is saying doesn't mean you have to abandon things you may have been brought up with. But you may have to question the motives behind some of them.

Anyway, I can recommend it, and personally know a lot of people who have benefitted from reading it.

I find journaling really helpful for staying in touch with myself.  I write every day, and try to pay attention to making sure my everyday actions line up with my general priorities and long-term goals.  

I've had a few times in my life when I've had to do an emotional/philosophical realignment.  During these times, I found doing volunteer work to be especially rewarding.  Something about turning outward and focusing on helping others helped keep my own problems in perspective and let me feel like I was doing something valuable with my life.

Good luck and try to enjoy this time of change.  So much unhappiness is caused by stagnation.  Just the fact that you're motivated to evaluate your inner world is a good sign that you are actively engaging in your own life.

Original Post by keeljm:

Recently I've felt that I need a makeover mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  I've been raised to ascribe to the Roman Catholic doctrine but lately feel I have been failing it as it concurrently fails me.  I'm not looking to abandon the Roman Catholic faith but am looking for a mechanism by which to give myself a spiritual/mental/emotional "re-alignment," if you will...something that will get me back on track and help me boot my "stinkin' thinkin'" to the curb (including my saracasm, which works perfectly as a defense mechanism but has the heinous side-effect of really making you feel like a grinch and a half sometimes!) and help me re-focus on the truly important parts of life. 

My ultimate goal is to restore my personal homeostasis in terms of those intangible pieces of me that make me inherently human, in the hopes that it helps increase my happiness and makes me more able to explore the world to find what will bring me fulfillment.

Any suggestions where I might start?

Shanks!

 

Fundamentally, the pathways to the existential, tangential and roullete table all meet at the secular level.  That being said the conundrum of the finite details circumscribe the volitility of the atomic theory.  Inversely, you may want to deflate the orifices heretowith and furthermore in order to transcend the inner lubricant that is the sequeway to the common denominator known as the fortitude of the magnitude and the holy ghost.  Thus, one must ponder the pontification AND the gesticulation of the message and therefore, theorhetically magnify the possibility that a bird in the hand equals KFC.

 

 

theorhetically magnify the possibility that a bird in the hand equals KFC.

 I'm going to keep that one! That's funny.

 

On a serious note, a book that helped me along a spiritual path is "Conversations With God" by Neal Donald Walsh. There are now about 7 books in the series. The original 3 really got me thinking. They were liberating.

A website I love with lots of good information and links is www.religioustolerance.org.

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the suggestions--seems like perusing my local Barnes & Noble seems to be a place to start with an issue like this.

I also wanted to take a second to refute the statement that this post is formal.  The very title of my post "...post-idealistic quarter life crisis motivated by temporary existentialism" is, to me, funny.

Saying I'm going through a post-idealistic phase is adapted from a line Dionne says in the movie Clueless about Cher's ex-step-brother, Josh.

A "quarter-life crisis" is a mockery invented by one of my undergrad professors a few years back in relation to how young people now want to try to "find themselves"--she said we were just ripping off older America's idea of a mid-life crisis and making it our own because young people are greedy, unimaginative, and self-centered--that we can't even let our parents be the ones with the identity crisis--now we have to have one as well.

...and asserting that I'm experiencing temporary existentialism is a rip on myself--I'm not always deep and philosophical.  It's a fleeting thing (hence the temporary), and I'll bet by 10:30 p.m. tonight I'll be so wrapped up in who's getting the boot from Tila Tequila that my spirituality will take a back seat to wondering whether or not Tila really is a bisexual.

And last I checked, "stinkin' thinkin" and "grinch and a half" aren't very formally developed thoughts...

...but I suppose jaded humor/sarcasm can't be conveyed in written words...

still, the issue is real and I haven't figured out how to approach it.  People have given really great ideas--I'm not a big book reader and don't typically stay motivated to read cover-to-cover unless the book is a biographical account of a pop icon I find interesting (last book I finished was Edie Sedgwick's biography), but mayhaps I'll give it a shot...

I don't know how anyone can pursue a spiritual journey without exposing themselves to other ideas. This is easiest done with books. I suppose you could interview people of various faiths, but then you'd only get their opinion of what they think they know about their religion.

I've found that quite a few people who follow specific religions actually know very little about how their religion got started, what the principle beliefs are, how the traditions or rituals came about, what the actual recorded history of it is. I have more experience with meeting people of various christian proclivities. I recently moved to a geographic area with high catholic population and it constantly amazes me how few of them actually know where their traditions, rituals, and policies come from. They just believe whatever the priest tells them without any research.

You might want to start with your own since you're catholic. You might just be amazed at when the bible was written and who wrote it. The web site I gave above has a wealth of information in it and is written by a group of people who do independent research. They list all of their sources. They do not try to change anyones opinions. In some cases they provide cold hard truths that some people would rather not know.

I send an open-armed invitation towards you to study and become one with the Flying Spaghetti Monster. 

Once you've been filled with the grace and serenity that only a personal touch from His Noodly Appendage can bring, your life will be changed for the better.

RAaaaaamen.