Being More Spiritual Can Backfire!

Most spiritual people are open-minded and easy going, and never bother anyone.  But I keep coming across spiritual people who seem to spend their days on Facebook giving people irrelevant advice about how to be more spiritual.  For instance, I wrote a status on Facebook about how I am in a writing contest (about being a vegan atheist), and that writing it is a labor of love, but having to cut out 232 words in order to make the 400 word minimum is stressful!  Right away, she pipes up:  “It’s only stressful if you let it be (smiley face).”  Constant comments about how I dare have emotions and do not smother them, gives me one more emotion:  annoyance!  I’m annoyed by these pseudo-Buddhists who tell everyone not to let anything in life bother them, and try to “one-up” everyone else with the same advice about turning off any feelings about our lives.  It just feels condescending to me.

I happened, the night of her comment, to have a son who got in some fairly serious trouble, a daughter who is getting married and has turned into Bridezilla, a husband who keeps giving our dog food she is allergic to, a Vegan newsletter deadline, a deadline for an article in our local town’s online magazine, and this contest - on top of working full time.  On top of all this, I am naturally wired to be a worrier.  How can I be expected to have my Zen on all the time?!  "It's only stressful if you let it be" grates on my nerves!

Of course, I just put a “like” on her comment and decided not to rant about it.  After all, I could improve my stress levels a bit; but being told continuously that I am not spiritual enough gets stale.  After all, even on my most stressful days I take time to actively enjoy either the scenery or appreciate the people around me.  But trying to be calmer when someone is critical of me and trying to ignore life’s situations just makes me more stressed!