CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — For a long time, Adrian Smith was hesitant with the idea of publicly sharing his strong sense – and remarkable experiences – of spirituality.
In fact, he had a “major fear’’ of how he might be judged in penning his most recent book called A Reluctant Search for Spiritual Truths.
In the end, the long-time counsellor felt driven to share. After all, he puts a lot of stock in the Buddhism philosophy that a person has a responsibility to offer one’s personal deep insight to others.
“Why I think that it is important to share is, to me, so much of our world is evidence-based,’’ he says.
“I am trying to show that I believe that there is much more to this world than we are aware of – way more than the physical part.’’
On the shelves
- Adrian Smith’s new book called A Reluctant Search For Spiritual Truths is available in Charlottetown at Bookmark and Indigo and in Summerside at Coles.
- It is also available online at Amazon and Indigo.
- Smith is also the author of Finding Forgiveness.
Smith says he has had many strong spiritual experiences, dating back to early childhood, including two life-altering ones involving the pending death of his mother to cancer and an unsettling discovery about his father’s sexuality.
“And both of those times I find out about it by receiving a message that I can’t explain,’’ he says.
Smith, though, accepts some force lays behind his extraordinary experiences and has grown increasingly comfortable in recognizing those happenings as being spiritual in nature.
“You can’t control it, you can’t choose it, it just kind of happens,’’ he says.
And clearly not only to him, Smith is quick to note.
Since his book hit the shelves in mid-September, he has been pleasantly surprised with the number of people who have already read the book and reached out to him.
“And the most common reaction that I’m getting is … that almost every one of them can relate to having a sense of (spiritual) awakening,’’ he says.
“Most are talking about awakenings they’ve had in nature – kind of liking having an ‘aha’ moment. You go, ‘that’s what it is supposed to feel like, that’s what spirituality is.’’'
While writing his first book, a compelling counselling guide called Finding Forgiveness that blends the author’s personal experiences with his professional insight, Smith was struck by the number of times he’d had spiritual encounters over the years.
He chose to dig deeper into these encounters and what it means to be spiritual.
The result of such determined and thoughtful digging is not only a soul-baring book but a reshaping of Smith.
“I guess right now I can say that spirituality is the biggest thing that defines who I am,’’ he says.
“Right now, it is what is bringing meaning and purpose into my life, and I think that is the greatest thing you can have. I think we all search for that.’’
Smith has a private counselling practice today following 30 years of work in education, including 25 years devoted to counseling and student services.
“The root of what I do is called mind-body counselling, and I have a major emphasis on forgiveness, intuition and spirituality,’’ he says.