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Spiritual Goal Setting Examples From 13th Century Mystic [Rumi]

By Effluo | Published October 13, 2022 | No Comments

Your life consists of many different areas that make you a whole being.  These different areas paint a complete picture of your life and consist of your: relationships, career, physical health, intellectual development, social environment, and spiritual and emotional health.   They all contribute to your overall personal growth.  

To grow as a fully rounded human being you should pay attention to these different areas of your life.  Once you identify areas to work on, you can create different types of goals related to each area. To develop your career you set career goals. Likewise, to develop spiritual and emotional health you need to practice spiritual goal setting.  This is an important practice to improve spiritual health to live a fulfilling life.  

What Are Spiritual Goals?

Spiritual goals are any goals related to the development of your spiritual and emotional health.

A good place to begin your spiritual path journey is defining what spirituality means to you.

You may believe in a higher power in general, or you may subscribe to specific religious beliefs.  In a long run what matters is that you continue to search and question for the truth.  Trust that it will reveal itself to you, so do not stop seeking.

Spiritual goals, therefore, are goals that are designed to grow your faith and your spiritual practice.   They cover habits, intentions, and actions related to spiritual growth.   

Why Should You Set Spiritual Goals? 

You have a divine nature within you, along with specific spiritual gifts that were given to you.  Your goal then is to discover these gifts and identify your God-given purpose.  Following God’s path will give you a new perspective on your life and on this world. 

As spiritual beings, focusing on spiritual goal setting will enhance your spiritual lives.  The main thing to remember is to avoid legalism and continue growing.  In other words go from ‘I should’ to ‘I get to’. 

Start discovering a whole new world as God opens it to you.  Do not be afraid to ask questions, God will not be offended, and there is no question that you can ask that will stomp Him.  Relying on God’s divine power you can let go of your vices, get out of your comfort zone, and take intentional actions to live out your life’s dreams and accomplish amazing things.

You have the divine energy within you, this makes you a spiritual person.  As such this focus on spiritual development is just as important as setting any other personal goals or financial goals.

How To Practice Spiritual Goal Setting?

Spiritual goal setting is not very different from regular goal setting.   Just remember to add these to your overall life goals.

1. Think big
2. Write down your goals
3. Break down big goals into bite size portions
4. Take action
5. Reflect and Review

Think big

When thinking through your spirituality goals, think big.  You may be tempted to start small due to your own self-doubts.  Put those aside, just remember big goals can be divided into smaller ones, and therefore when setting a new goal, think big.

Effluo Goal Achievement Planners are designed to assist you in dividing your big goals into bite sized achievements.  You will be able to note your big goals on a vision board and then go through the next steps identified here.

Write down your goals

After figuring out what goal you would like to set, write it down.  This is a simple and yet very powerful step in your goal achievement journey.  Follow the SMART goal setting guidelines when setting your goals. 

The free downloadable PDF will assist you step by step way to set your goals effectively.

Break down big goals into bite size portions

Once you identify the goal and determine your ‘why’ behind the goal, you can move to the next step of breaking the goal down into bite size increments.  The downloadable Goal Details PDF has the area for goal break down.

These steps are critical to success, therefore do not rush through the planning process. 

Take action

Next step is to prioritize your steps and begin implementing them.   Stay flexible and agile.  You don’t always have all the information during the planning process.   As you begin your journey to goal achievement you will become more knowledgeable and experienced.   It is OK to adjust your steps as you move ahead.

Reflect and Review

Finally, remember to review your progress on regular basis.  Effluo Goal Setting Framework is designed for a three-level review.   Daily review is necessary to reflect on what good work was completed in a day.   Three week interval review provides a higher level review of the progress made .  Finally quarterly review provides an overview of how close you were able to get to your goal achievement.

Review consists of asking yourself three questions:

What went well?  What did not go well? And what changes should be make going forward.

Spiritual Goal Setting Examples

• Develop my spiritual practice so I will be able to live a fulfilling spiritual life
• Steps to take
  • Improve my prayer life by spending time with God daily for at least 10 min
  • Read a spiritually uplifting book
  • Create a bible journal and write down thoughts about what I read during the bible study
  • Decrease my social media time by 10 min per day and use that time to practice these steps
  • Find worship music that will uplift me as I listen to it
  • Begin a gratitude habit and practice daily gratitude journaling by writing down three new things I am grateful for

• Grow my connection with people who have strong spiritual practice so I can learn from them and grow in my own practice.
• Steps to take
  • Research different bible studies available in my area
  • Visit a local church
  • Join or host a small group
  • Sign up to support or go on a mission trip
  • Give to a charity, or volunteer time with a charity

• Read through the entire bible in a year so I can get a full understanding of God’s word.
• Steps to take
  • Find a system or an app that provides a calendar for the bible study
  • Determine if reading or listening works better for my study habits
  • Create a personal schedule for reading the entire bible
  • Keep track of the progress for accountability

Who Is Rumi?

Rumi was a Sufi Mystic and a poet that lived during the 13^th century.   Today his poetry is admired by people worldwide.  He was a deeply spiritual person who was able to find the meaning of spirituality beyond the borders of religion.  He had a Muslim upbringing and went to school studying the law of Islam. 

The beauty of spirituality, however, that it is greater than any religion.   It is all about your relationship with God and with people around you.

Rumi was very close to people of different religions, and was greatly admired by all.   It is said that people who attended his funeral were representatives of all major religions of that time, specifically Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.  

The reason that Rumi was able to transcend the borders of religion is because he was a student and a teacher of Love.   His poems talk of the great power Love has in each person’s life.

Spiritual Goal Setting Examples from Rumi

The following spiritual goal setting examples from Rumi were taken from his writings.   They can be applied by any person who is interested in enriching their spiritual journey. 

Pray and Meditate

Doing prayer and meditation at a particular time, fasting, and going on pilgrimage are outward statements of inner intention.  –   Rumi

Prayer and meditation is an extremely powerful practice to include in your daily life.   You can set a goal to practice meditation and prayer from 5 min a day to an hour a day.   Prayer is when you talk to God and tell him all of your thoughts, concerns, and worries.   Meditation is when you spend time in silence listening to your thoughts and doing self reflection.

Practice Fasting

Doing prayer and meditation at a particular time, fasting, and going on pilgrimage are outward statements of inner intention.  –   Rumi

Fasting has been practiced across all religions and has been a part of human custom since prehistoric times.  It refers to willingly abstaining from food for a period of time.   No, it was not done to lose weight (i.e. intermittent fasting).  Instead, it was a way to cultivate mental discipline.  Fasting makes prayer and meditation a more powerful experience.  It is practiced in Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism religions, just to list a few. 

As you work on deepening your spiritual practice, consider incorporating periods of fasting to enhance your prayer and meditation practices.

Go On a Pilgrimage

Doing prayer and meditation at a particular time, fasting, and going on pilgrimage are outward statements of inner intention.  –   Rumi

You are defined by your society and your culture.   It is often difficult to differentiate yourself from your culture.  It is not easy to figure to figure out if you think a certain way because you truly believe that or because it is a part of a specific societal norm.  

Pilgrimage is a journey of spiritual significance.   In other words it’s a journey of self discovery.  Not many are brave to take on such a journey, but the few who do are never left disappointed.   Pilgrimage is different from tourism.  Tourism is simply visiting a place during your vacation, often with family and friends.  Pilgrimage, on the other hand, is often done alone and contains a spiritual expectancy.

Different religions have sacred places that the faithful chose to visit. 

• In Buddhism they are places related to Buddha’s time on earth.   
• Hinduism pilgrimage places are associated with legendary events from various gods. 
• Christian pilgrimage often includes places associated with birth, life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. 
• In Islam pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam and a mandatory religious duty for practicing Muslims.  Their main pilgrimage is to Mecca. 
• In Judaism there are three pilgrimage festivals where men were required to visit Jerusalem and offer sacrifices during Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.   Today the Western Wall or ‘Wailing Wall’ is the most sacred and visited site for Jews.

When you decide to go on a pilgrimage, choose a place that will have the most meaning to you.  Do your research and go on a journey of self-discovery.

Practice Giving

Giving to charity and giving up jealousy are ways to say how it is inside us.  –   Rumi

To experience life to the fullest and to enrich your spiritual health, consider a practice of giving.   You give not because God needs your money or time.  He created money and time, He has no need of it.  You give not to enrich someone else, but to enrich yourself.    

According to Cleveland Clinic giving has very specific benefits for your health. 

These benefits of giving can include:

• Lower blood pressure.
• Increased self-esteem.
• Less depression.
• Lower stress levels.
• Longer life.
• Greater happiness and satisfaction.

Therefore, it would not make sense to look at giving as something that you have to do.  Instead look at it as part of your spiritual growth, as something that you get to do.

Practice Gratefulness

Giving to charity and giving up jealousy are ways to say how it is inside us.  –   Rumi

Second part of the Rumi’s recommendation is to give up jealousy.  

The best way to combat jealousy is to practice gratefulness.   Gratefulness focuses your thoughts on what you are blessed with.  Having your thoughts filled with what you have leaves little room to look at others and be jealous of what they have.   You begin to look at your life from point of abundance rather than point of lack. 

If you do begin to feel jealous of someone, pay attention to what exactly you are feeling jealous of.   Do self-analysis to figure out the root cause of what is driving that specific feeling.   Then take steps and set goals to remedy the feeling.   

Practice Hospitality

Serving food and welcoming guests into your house are actions that mean, I feel so close to you.  –   Rumi

Forming connections with other people in your life can be a meaningful part of your spiritual journey.   When you practice hospitality you are really practicing giving in a specific way.   You give your time for food preparation; you open your home to guests and spend time connecting with them.  This type of connection is truly special. 

You can host few friends or a small group, the size does not matter.   It is your time and energy invested into creating meaningful relationships that will help you reach that other level of spiritual growth.

Use Spiritual Goal Setting to Find Your Priceless Jewel

Any time you exert yourself by going somewhere, giving money, or taking time to pray, you are saying, There is a priceless jewel inside me.  –   Rumi

Rumi summarizes the reason to practice spiritual goal setting in a beautiful way.   He notes that any time you practice any of these goals you are discovering that priceless jewel inside of you.  So step out of the comfort zone, practice prayer and mediation, practice giving and gratefulness, go out on a pilgrimage and discover who you are and what you are capable of.

Poem Excerpt from Rumi’s Masnavi 

How We Move In Grace

Doing prayer and meditation at a particular time, fasting, and going on pilgrimage are outward statements of inner intention. 

Giving to charity and giving up jealousy are ways to say how it is inside us.

Serving food and welcoming guests into your house are actions that mean, I feel so close to you.

Any time you exert yourself by going somewhere, giving money, or taking time to pray, you are saying, There is a priceless jewel inside me. 

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