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Spiritual Growth
The Inner Path to Emotional Freedom and a Thriving Life
Back in 2006 I was invited to write the chapter on Spiritual Growth with EFT for the book, Freedom at Your Fingertips . As a special free bonus for you, here is a PDF of that chapter along with an audio recording of me reading the book and doing the tapping sequences. Enjoy!
Download PDF of the Spiritual Growth Chapter
- How do we grow spiritually?
- Do I have to use the name “God” to describe this spiritual connection?
- How can I start having spiritual experiences?
- Is blind faith required?
- Do I have to become religious to be spiritual?
- So, how do I connect with God?
- How do I ask to grow spiritually?
- How can I know that God always answers?
- How do I allow myself to experience God and grow spiritually?
- What should I expect to feel as I allow?
- Does spiritual growth require much practice?
- What are some of the practices I can use for spiritual growth?
- How does meditation help?
- What role does mindfulness play in spiritual growth?
- What is the role of prayer?
- Where do I go from here?
Originally published October 5, 2008
Companion Guide
Spiritual growth begins with the sense that there is more to being alive than what can be measured from the outside. Rick uses the word God for a source of creativity, compassion, guidance, love, and well-being. You may use Spirit, Source, life, inner wisdom, the sacred, or no name at all.
The name matters less than whether it opens a sincere connection in your heart. Words such as God, faith, trust, and love can also carry painful history. Tapping gives that history a place in spiritual practice rather than demanding blind belief.
This Guide Helps With
- wanting spiritual connection without accepting someone else’s doctrine
- working with fear, doubt, impatience, or religious injury
- recognizing spirituality in ordinary daily life
- using meditation, mindfulness, prayer, and gratitude as practices
- discerning a peaceful inner guide from a punishing inner critic
You Are Allowed to Choose the Language
If the word God evokes judgment, abandonment, control, or hypocrisy, start there. You do not have to use it. You can ask for a name—or a wordless experience—that feels congruent with your own heart.
Religion can offer community, tradition, and external guidance. Spirituality can also develop outside formal doctrine. Neither requires you to surrender discernment or pretend that past harm did not happen.
Spiritual Growth Becomes Ordinary
One measure of spiritual development is integration into work, play, family, friendship, money, creativity, sexuality, and conflict. Connection is not only a peak experience. It may feel like relief, patient stillness, kindness, forgiveness, inspiration, or the capacity to respond with more love in a difficult moment.
Growth may happen below the surface for a long time. Doubt does not disqualify you; it can keep the inquiry honest.
Tapping: Finding a Spiritual Connection That Feels Like Yours
Side of the Hand: Even though I do not know what to call the spiritual connection I seek, and I may dislike what “God” has meant in my life, I ask to be guided toward what feels true in my heart.
Even though other people have defined spirituality for me, I choose to remain open to a broader range of experiences.
Even though I have doubts—and who wouldn’t with some of my life experiences—I am open to the possibility of connection without forcing belief.
Top of the Head: I do not know what to call this.
Eyebrow: I am not sure I like the name God.
Side of the Eye: There is so much baggage.
Under the Eye: I do not like what it has meant to me.
Under the Nose: Part of me fears I will find nothing.
Chin: Part of me needs help now.
Collarbone: I can let the old definitions loosen.
Under the Arm: I welcome a name—or no name—that feels right to me.
Top of the Head: I am ready for a sincere connection.
Eyebrow: I can listen without demanding certainty.
Side of the Eye: I can notice peace, kindness, and creative aliveness.
Under the Eye: I can let spiritual experience unfold at my pace.
Under the Nose: My path is allowed to be uniquely mine.
Chin: I choose curiosity over coercion.
Collarbone: I relax and allow what feels loving and true.
Under the Arm: I am open to more than meets the eye.
Take a breath. Notice which word or phrase feels expansive, neutral, contracted, or simply not yours.
Practices for an Inner Path
- Meditation: sit and listen, perhaps beginning with ten minutes and the breath.
- Mindfulness: bring compassionate attention to an ordinary activity or feeling.
- Prayer: express fear, longing, anger, need, appreciation, or thanks to what you experience as sacred.
- Gratitude: name what is honestly appreciable. On a hard day, “At least tomorrow is another day” may be enough.
- Tapping: include the body while you voice doubt, desire, religious hurt, or the qualities of connection you want to feel.
These are invitations, not measures of spiritual worth. Practice helps you learn the difference between a voice that coerces and one that feels peaceful, grounded, loving, and consistent with your values.
Go Within, Listen, and Follow Your Heart
Teachers, books, communities, and rituals may arrive at useful times. Keep the inward relationship alive while you learn from them. No external authority gets to replace your own safety, conscience, and capacity to choose.
Spiritual growth is not leaving your humanity behind. It is allowing the deepest qualities you cherish to become more present in the details of being human.