I very much enjoyed Tamara Levitt's blog piece, "Spiritual Materialism and Where to Point the Finger." She brings up a lot of issues I've had with the new age/self-help world:

I’ve kind of had it “up to here” with spiritual materialism: people spending $200.00 on yoga outfits, the abundance of self-proclaimed gurus taking ancient Eastern spiritual principles and repackaging them into fragmented Cole’s notes versions, and films that suggest if we simply repeat our daily affirmations we’ll attract the perfect partner and a high paying job. And if it doesn’t attract them, we must be doing it wrong. Suddenly, personal growth is all about outcome. Everybody’s jumping on the spiritual bandwagon. But hey, it’s hip. It’s cool. It’s fun. Let’s all chant, “Namaste,” together!

While part of the problem is that some people seem to be jumping on the spiritual bandwagon because it's trendy (I see this a lot in Los Angeles), for others spiritual materialism isn't so much about having a Gucci yoga mat as it is about the quick fix.

We live in a fast food world with instant gratification as a perpetual presence. This makes us an impatient, expectant populace.

Back in the day, people wrote actual letters. You'd write a letter, it would take a few days to get there, and then it would be another few days (at least) before you got a response. Now with email we correspond at lightning fast speeds, but even email is too slow these days. Text messaging or Twittering is where it's at.

Even entertainment is sped up. It used to be if you wanted to watch a rerun of your favorite TV show, you might have to wait a few years for it to come out in syndication. Now you can login to a website and watch the show the next day. Actual show length is shorter, and you can even go to websites that condense shows into "minisodes" that only show the highlights from the episode.

So it's no surprise that these days, personal improvement is sold as an instant remedy. If you want a better body, don't exercise. Get yourself a lap band or suck out your fat in a single liposuction session. If you want a better life, you don't need to work for it, just affirm it and believe it to be so, and it's yours. (Or so they say.)

The problem is, your life isn't the same thing as a television show. You can't condense your personal growth into one "mini-therapy" session that will fix everything. Real personal growth and self-improvement takes time. Building character takes time. And fixing life's problems can take time.

Taking time gets a bad rap. It's not a bad thing to take some time to get in touch with yourself, reflect on your progress, and make plans for a better future. Putting one step forward day by day, instead of expecting the big pay-off to happen tomorrow, can actually be less stressful and more fun, if you approach it from a spirit of adventure.

So even though spiritual shortcuts might seem to be the thing to do, remember that what is truly of value often takes time, energy and effort. And you are worth that time, energy, and effort. So slow down and go deep - that's where all the juice is.