Just Add Spirit: A key to living in the changing paradigm

By Sandra Krempl

The world over, organisations structure their business plans around vision, mission, and values statements. However, these are not economic words! They are motivational words that describe qualities of spirit – important for wellbeing, and to reach our potential. Yet how many organisations include the fostering of spirit in their processes?

Spirit is the essence of life itself. We all experience it. It is the inspiration behind sustainable creativity and innovation. It helps us empty our busy minds and enjoy moments of happiness, wonderment, a feeling of oneness with the universe. Some refer to it as being in the zone. Empathy, and meaning are qualities of spirit. In the last few decades, neuroscientists have made significant discoveries about its inner workings.

This book takes us on a journey through different spheres of life. Through various concepts, we get to know each sphere and move between their physical, relational, and metaphysical dimensions. We do this every day of our lives, but this time we become more aware of each layer as we get to know them by their names and traits.

Within these pages, there are treasure troves of experiences, different ways of knowing, being, and doing, waiting to be unlocked… and the keys are there in plain sight.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781922788894

Book preview

The world over, organisations structure their business plans around vision, mission, and values statements. However, these are not economic words! They are motivational words that describe qualities of spirit – important for wellbeing, and to reach our potential. Yet how many organisations include the fostering of spirit in their processes?

Spirit is the essence of life itself. We all experience it. It is the inspiration behind sustainable creativity and innovation. It helps us empty our busy minds and enjoy moments of happiness, wonderment, a feeling of oneness with the universe. Some refer to it as being in the zone. Empathy, and meaning are qualities of spirit. In the last few decades, neuroscientists have made significant discoveries about its inner workings.

This book takes us on a journey through different spheres of life. Through various concepts, we get to know each sphere and move between their physical, relational, and metaphysical dimensions. We do this every day of our lives, but this time we become more aware of each layer as we get to know them by their names and traits.

Within these pages, there are treasure troves of experiences, different ways of knowing, being, and doing, waiting to be unlocked… and the keys are there in plain sight.

To find out more about this book

including the paperback edition, please visit:

www.vividpublishing.com.au/justaddspirit

Copyright © 2023 Sandra Krempl

ISBN: 978-1-922788-89-4 (ebook edition)

Published by Vivid Publishing

A division of Fontaine Publishing Group

P.O. Box 948, Fremantle

Western Australia 6959

www.vividpublishing.com.au

V. 1.0. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Universal Wonder

Chapter 1: The Five Dimensions of Favourite Places

The First, Second, and Third Dimensions: The physical world

The Fourth Dimension: The relational world

The Fifth Dimension: A space of universal wonderment

Chapter 2: The Connectivity Matrix

The Community and Corporate Spheres

The Community Sphere

The Corporate Sphere

The Community and Corporate Spheres viewed together

The Nature and Spirituality Spheres

The Nature Sphere

The Spirituality Sphere

The new sciences shedding light on this thing we call spirit

Self-interest and selflessness

Chapter 3: The Three Modalities of Spirituality

Being: The transcended mode

Doing: The mode of action and behaviour

Hoping: The catalytic or creative mode

Chapter 4: The Spirit of Giving

Chapter 5: Silence

From silence to silence

The Seven Stages of Silence

Chapter 6: So, What is Spirit?

Acknowledgements

Notes

About the Author

TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Table 1: The Five Dimensions of Favourite Places

The Connectivity Matrix Spheres

The Identity Wheel

The Identity Wheel – another version

The Collaboration Wheel

Table 2: The Community and Corporate Spheres

The Nature Wheel

Table 3: Nature, Community, and Corporate Systems

The Spirituality Wheel

Table 4: The Connectivity Matrix

Table 5: The Three Modalities of Spirituality

The Spirit of Giving

PREFACE

Recent local and global events have caused communities, business, and government agencies to make many difficult changes. It’s not all bad news though. There have been some amazing advances in science and technology, growing acknowledgement of the diversity within our communities, and improvements in our ability to care for each other and the natural environment. Our own personal experiences through the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in many of us rethinking aspects of our lives and wanting to lead a more meaningful life. There seems to be a real need to reflect, find the constants amidst the change, connect in more purposeful ways, help make a difference in our community and the natural environment, appreciate the simple things of life, and experience wonderment more often.

There have been many times in my working life when I found the going very tough and was bordering on total burnout. Caught in that spiral, I thought the only way to survive was to be more detached and machine like. It didn’t work. Then I decided to take a different approach, and I discovered that living a more balanced life wasn’t that hard. The work did not change. It became more inspired, creative, and productive. I was a lot calmer and more resilient – by just adding spirit!

Research I conducted through Curtin University, concurred with research from leading universities around the world, and showed that most people experience spirit regardless of whether they had a faith tradition or not. The research showed that each person expressed spirituality in their own way ranging from practices of mindfulness and wellbeing to nature-based activities, faith-based practices, and creativity. The expressions encompassed values, empathy, and hope.

Even in our working world, spirituality is all around. Organisational plans include vision and mission statements. These are spiritual words. They are inspirational and motivational – qualities of spirit. They are not economic words.

Science has found evidence that people with an awareness of spirituality are better able to protect themselves from depression and are more resilient (Miller 2021). In addition to IQ (intelligence quotient), which is about cognitive abilities, and emotional intelligence, which measures behaviour, science has found the existence and roles of spiritual intelligence – measuring the capacity to enquire, to search for meaning, and to be motivated and creative (Zohar and Marshall 2001).

If we don’t recognise the existence of spirituality in our lives and work, we will not consider it important. This could diminish our own lives and deny benefits for others. The least we can do is find out more about it and approach it with an open mind.

INTRODUCTION

My story is, in essence, not very different from that of every person I’ve ever met. Each one of us has experiences that only we, or just a few people, know about. These are our private worlds. When I was a teenager, I had a special tree in the nearby bush that I would escape to. Sometimes I would take my guitar or a note pad to scribble in, at other times I wanted to do nothing but just hang out there. It was my private world. A world to me is like a bubble, a place that I visit. It is special because it holds its own unique memories. It could be a place that I go to on my own. Some places involve groups of people, or maybe animals, special landscapes, and objects. Then there are other worlds that we share with the various communities we engage with. Each of these worlds has its own special language, quirks, nuances, and knowledge about things that outsiders don’t easily understand because they have not shared in the experience. My family is one of my worlds. We have signs and jokes, stories and memories that would mean nothing to anyone else. My classmates from so long ago, are another one of my worlds. Even though we are now scattered around the globe, when we come together, even if it’s on a zoom call, we seem to time travel through the decades, and embody the spirit we had when we were in school uniforms. We happily remember the stories and the spirit from those times as if it was now. Friends and colleagues from different work contexts belong in different bubble worlds, and some cross between a few.

There is another type of world. It is not formed around shared stories, memories or family and friends. These are worlds for which we need to adapt our thinking styles to participate in that dimension. The world of work is one such paradigm. I find that I must block out thoughts of my family and friends and anything that can become a distraction. The focus must be on the information or situation at hand so I can complete the tasks asked of me. Time in the natural world seems to be very different to time in the work world. It requires a shift in mindset. I can stand next to a total stranger who is watching the same sunset, and I can sense that that person is in awe of that scene just as I am. Yet I know nothing about that person, and neither of us has said a word. The stranger and I are in a completely different world. I wouldn’t be able to appreciate the sunset if my brain was switched into work mode. The sunset would still be there, but I would not notice it enough to experience the awe that comes with it.

There are worlds outside of nature where we seem to experience something that we can’t easily explain. This is because there is nothing physical to see. It is an experience rather than a thing. Here’s an example of what I mean. There was a time when I used to give many public presentations. On a few occasions I was in the zone when speaking – totally wrapped in the moment. I felt I was speaking from a place deep within me, and I could feel that the audience was spellbound. Perhaps it was the perfect blend of good acoustics, well-balanced sound equipment, a good story and a touch of the mystery that happens when we allow our spirit to rise above the words to convey a message. Years later, a colleague recalled one such occasion and mentioned how much she enjoyed my presentation. I asked if she remembered what I was talking about. She did not but recalled that it was profound. That place where I delivered the presentation was in the built environment. It was not in nature, so it had to be a different world that we were transported too. Perhaps it is a place where the mind goes, past our normal reality to who knows where? Is this some sort of dream world? This experience is more common than we might first think. There are many good times that I have shared with friends where I remember the feeling of enjoyment but do not remember what the conversations were about. On one of these occasions, I was with a group of musician friends, we had just finished our performances at a folk club, and we decided