Spiritual Wellness helps you cultivate greater meaning in your life through purpose, passion, and perspective. Spiritual wellness is not tied to a specific religion or belief system. You don’t have to believe in any form of a God and still be spiritually well. Though spirituality is generally related to an organized faith, it doesn’t have to be. Spirituality comes from believing in something great than yourself. That could be a God, the universe, humanity, etc. This dimension of wellness is all about understanding; understanding what and why you believe, understanding other people’s beliefs, and understanding your greater purpose in life.
Spiritual wellness brings harmony and balance in your life. It’s important to be in tune with your inner self because it gives more awareness and ease of decision making. When you believe in something greater than yourself, you are more likely to feel a purpose in life. There is a sense of understanding that what you do isn’t just about your actions but more so a greater good. Spiritual wellness involves having morals, values, and principles that guide the decisions, actions, and reactions that you make in life.
Understanding Your Beliefs
It’s common to grow up in a family of strict faith and simply follow in their footsteps. There’s nothing wrong with that and in fact, it’s quite normal. But, it’s also important to understand why you believe what you do. Is it because you’ve grown up that way and you don’t know any different? Is it because you are scared to explore other options because your family will be disappointed? Or is it because you are rooted in a belief system and it feels like home to you? These are important questions to ask when determining why you believe what you do. It can be difficult and scary to believe (or not believe) in something that differs from what you’ve always known, but it’s also okay to break free from a shell to find your truer purpose.
Understanding your beliefs means asking the hard questions. Sometimes this means you go through some confusing emotions and struggle to navigate what you truly believe. It’s important to note that understanding your beliefs isn’t just understanding the facts of what you believe. it isn’t just knowing the history and technicalities of it all. It’s about understanding exactly why you believe it and what roles your faith, religion, or belief plays in your life. Even though spiritual wellness is often tied to the belief of some higher power, you could still be spiritually well by being able to identify exactly why you don’t believe in anything at all. It gives a sense of contentment and understanding of how your world works.
Accepting Others
One of the largest divides among society is religion. Many people that belong to a specific religion do not accept other religions to be true. They believe only in what they are taught. This is normal and encouraged in places of faith. It’s okay to only believe in one thing, one God, one-story, etc. But, it’s equally important to accept what others believe regardless of how it differs from you as they believe in something that is thought to be the only accurate truth. It’s a weird concept because everyone thinks they are right and refuse to believe anything different, but how can everyone be right on the matter? They can’t and there isn’t a way to prove any of it because much of religion and faith is a feeling within that can be described but not shown.
Being able to accept other people’s beliefs brings unity. It’s crucial to have knowledge of other forms of faith, religion, etc. to fully grasp what you believe and why. if you are taught one thing your entire life, there is no way to fully understand the scope of what else is out there. There is no way to defend your beliefs and there is no way to validate yourself in an argument. Spiritual wellness involves being accepting of what others believe. It’s about being so grounded and strong in your beliefs that nothing will shake that. No other opinion can make you question yourself while also being able to allow space for them to believe what they feel is accurate.
Actively Practicing
Spiritual wellness isn’t about saying you believe in something and then forgetting about it. It includes actively practicing what you say and walking the walk rather than talking the talk. Spirituality can be a difficult dimension of wellness to uphold because it isn’t the most apparent all of the time. It can be easy to give up a spiritual routine once or twice and before you know it, you’ve lost all connection. Creating a spiritual routine will help keep your practice alive. This can consist of meditation, prayer, attending church, organized service, etc. It is also important to freshen up your routine with new concepts. Try going to church on a different night of the week, add meditation into your practice, attempt journalling a few times a week. This will keep your spirituality strong and help you find what you truly love in your faith.
Actively practicing what you talk about includes living up to your own code of ethics. If you say you believe in equality but then segregate other people, then you aren’t living up to your standards of morals. It also means that if you say you believe in a certain religion or faith, you should practice the morals taught. Of course, not every one of similar faith systems believes in the exact same rights but for the most part, it’s easy to decipher what should and shouldn’t be followed. It’s hypocritical to say you believe a certain system of thoughts but then you slander everything related to it. Spirituality should be something you are proud to own and show off. it’s something that defines so much of your life.
Cultivating Purpose
Spiritual wellness often helps give people an identity. It drives so much purpose in people’s lives, helping them create meaning and passion. This dimension plays a huge role in confidence levels. Without it, it’s easy to feel lonely, and as if there isn’t a purpose for living. It doesn’t matter if you believe in a God, the universe, a spaghetti monster (Pastafarians, it’s a religion), or Mother Nature, believing in something will help you understand your place on Earth and purpose for living. Without some sort of spirituality, it’s common to get lost in emotions and struggle to find direction in life.
Creating purpose around your beliefs will help you navigate the decisions that you make. The set of values, morals, ethics, etc. that you form should guide the actions you take in your personal life. This includes the kind of career path you choose, the people you interact with, the words you use, and the reactions you have. When you believe in something greater than yourself, you generally have something/someone to ask for help. This can mean that you pray to a God, ask from the universe, or speak to a mentor regarding advice, help, and guidance. Spirituality helps you cultivate a life that is larger and more exciting. It helps you thrive rather than living day by day just to survive.
