Ahh, January. New beginnings. New intentions. Newness anew.

January always brings such a breath of fresh air, and there is no better way to honor it than to talk about one of the words to define joy—spiritual radiance.

Keep reading to learn more about this term and how to incorporate it into your life this month and this year!

Definitions of Joy

In my very first post, I talked about the definitions of joy. While there—as expected—isn’t one all-inclusive definition, I really enjoyed the “definition” put forth in the book, The Book of Joy.

The Book of Joy shares that “joy” can be defined through several different other words. These include:

• Bliss
• Wonder
• Gratitude
• Excitement
• Spiritual Radiance

To kick-off the year, I am going to focus on 12 different of these “joy terms”—focusing on one each month in a new series of posts. It is my hope that that month is a good time to invite and practice living that word.

This month is going to focus on spiritual radiance, why January is a good month to focus on it, what it is and different ways to add a little more spiritual radiance to your life!

Why Focus on Spiritual Radiance in January?

So, why is January a good time to make the intention to focus on growing your spiritual radiance? I think it is two-fold:

1.) The Freshness of the Year: January kicks off a whole new year—full of possibilities! It’s a wonderful time to focus on growing your intentions for the year. It’s a new beginning, and spiritual radiance just seems to fit that (at least for me). Finding and rooting in your connection with spirit and then moving forward sounds like a joyful way to start the new year.

2.) The Time to Go Inward: Winter gives us fewer activities, chiller weather, and warmer homes which in turn lets us settle down into going inwards more. Growing your spiritual radiance is something that is truly an inside job. It’s going within to see how you would like to view life. January seems like a great time to do this when the world feels a little slower outside.

Consider this January—or at any time during the year— focusing on growing your spiritual radiance (and therefore your inner joy!)

What’s Spiritual Radiance, Really?

Ironically, if you were to look up the definition of “spiritual radiance” on Webster’s wesbite, there are no results! Combined there doesn’t seem to be an actual/official definition.

So, I broke up the two words to get a better idea of what this joy term actually means. While I think we most likely have a good idea of what these terms mean—I always find it helpful to hear what an “official” source defines words to mean to get a better picture/idea.

First is “Spiritual” which Webster’s defines as, “of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit.”

Then, is the idea of being radiant which Webster’s partly characterizes as meaning, “vividly bright and shining”

Combining these two definitions, it seems the idea of spiritual radiance is the idea of having a belief in spirit/ a higher power that shines through you. I think for me this can best be summarized—at least in part—as having faith.

Faith is an interesting term—at least for me— because I used to think of it as looking like one thing/one way of practicing it. In reality, having faith isn’t meant to look any certain way. It shows up in its own ways.

One of my favorite desccriptions of faith comes from Brené Brown’s book, The Gifts of Imprefection (faith and intuition are actually one of the guideposts in the book–along with gratitude/ joy!) She identifies faith as meaning the following.

“Faith is a place of mystery, where we find the courage to believe in what we cannot see and the strength to let go of our fear of uncertainty” -Brené Brown

Faith, spirituality, spiritual radiance all of these words have one thing in common. It’s a connection to something higher than you; it’s a belief and a trust that brings you the inner joy that is being alive!

It’s trusting. It’s believing. It’s surrendering.

Speaking from my personal experience when I have felt the connectedness of all of us and to a higher power—it has brought and increased my joy in ways I could never have imagined before!

Faith and spirituality have long been interwoven into our society. Sometimes this spirituality and faith in our culture has been for the better–like how faith and spirituality make up a large part of the 12-Step Program when it comes to recovery. And sometimes for the worse (if you have had some difficulties in practicing your faith/spirituality due to some of these worser interweaves, check out this video on Brené Brown talking about what her research has found on people who have faith scars).

When wanting to invite the glow of being spiritually radiant, I think it is first and most important to define what it means to be connected to spirit to you and how you want to view being faithful. This is your life—how do you want to feel (and what do you want to believe) when it comes to living your life connected to spirit?

When you identify this for yourself, and you start practicing ways to connect to your spiritual radiance—and joy!— watch your soul and life take on a whole new level of meaning and purpose!

Ways to Add Some Spiritual Radiance to Your Life

There are many different ways to add more “spiritual radiance” to your life whether it be on a moment-to-moment, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or lifetime basis.

Here are some that come to mind:

1. ) Shift to the Now moment: whenever you find your mind has wandered to the past or the future (and it will countless times during the day!), make the conscious effort in that moment to come back to the right Now. The present moment. It’s amazing the peace and joy that can come from taking the time to practice being in the everlasting spiritual Now. There is magic in it, there is power in it, and there is joy in it!

2.) Meditate: Meditation is a powerful tool to connect you to the higher spirituality. For me, personally, it slows everything down inside of me—and outside of me—to allow me to connect to the greater spirituality in my life. It makes me see how things are connected, how we are here for a purpose, and truly allows me to tap into my own inner joy in incomprehensible ways.

3.) Prayer: This is a touchy subject for many because we have often been made to associate prayer to look a certain way or sound a certain way. For many, prayer can look like that! For others, it may look completely different. If you are someone who prayers multiple times a day or someone who has never prayed, consider how prayer looks to you, and who (or what) you want to pray to. Prayer connects us to whatever higher power we believe in, and it offers us a chance to speak out loud, even if out loud is just in our head, what we wish and hope for. It gives reminds us of the power of how we are all connected, and to surrender to something that is larger than us.

4.) Listen to Some Spiritual Music: Have you ever listened to a song that just connected with your soul? Find songs/music that resonate with your spiritual side and listen to them—see if it increases your spiritual radiance!

5.) Join a Spiritual Community: Another powerful way to connect with our spiritual radiance is to become a member of a spiritual community. This may look like a synagogue, a mosque, a church, or perhaps it’s a group of like-minded people who you feel remind you of the spirituality all around us. Find a group that truly makes you expand your faith in a higher power/ force and makes you feel the joy of being connected to something larger than you!

6.) Attend a Spiritual Outing: Think about how you can expand your spiritual radiance from somewhere outside of your home base. Ponder about attending a spiritual outing that will connect you with new people, new perspectives, new places, and new breakthroughs in your spirituality. Find an outing that resonates with you, whether it be a church camp, an Eckhart Tolle retreat, or a Dr. Joe Dispenza event. Discover something that will put you outside of your normal life to expand your spiritual nature!

7.) Read a Spiritual Book: To help see things from a new and different perspective, consider reading a spiritual book to increase your feelings of spiritual radiance. When first starting out in seeking a life filled with more joy, spiritual books were a way for me to see things in a whole new way that I never thought of before.

8.) Listen to a Spiritual Podcast/ Watch a Spiritual Movie: Is there a podcast that reminds you of just how grand this life is? Or a movie that really just invigorates your sense of wonder about our world/self? Consider seeking those out when you can to keep expanding your limits and sense of what’s possible!

How can you add a little more spiritual radiance to your life? Comment below!