What is Spiritual Health?
As we continue to celebrate National Wellness month this week we'll focus on spiritual health.
How do you define spiritual health? Some may associate or equate spiritual health with religion or a particular belief system. But that may not be true for everyone. Religion may be a component of your spiritual health but you do not have to follow a specific religion to be spiritually healthy. So what is it?
Spiritual health is not easily defined but some of the components used to better understand spiritual health may include: one's desire and ability to find meaning in life, living with purpose, and connecting with ourselves, one another, and God or a higher power. Spiritual health is just as important as our mental and physical health. Research suggests that spirituality may aid in stress reduction and positive coping strategies.
Spiritual Health
Being spiritually healthy shines through during the most difficult times in life. Grief, pain, and suffering are real but when you can find hope and comfort in the midst of it all that's an indicator of your Spiritual health.
Most recently, I was watching an interview conducted with Justin Hunter. He lost both his parents to COVID-19 last month and his perspective on life is unshaken as a 17 yr old. It was clear to me that his parents planted seeds of life, hope, and purpose and the fruit is their legacy of love and peace that lives on in Justin.
Now there isn't a test per sec to evaluate the health of our spirit but here are a few signs that may indicate distress in our spiritual health:
- Prolonged Fear & Anxiety
- Prolonged Anger
- Guilt
- Chronic Negativity
- Apathy
- Physical Symptoms
- Emotionally Unavailable
- Unprocessed Trauma manifesting in the body and through behaviors
Living With Purpose
In addition, to seeking professional help, there are various holistic practices that we can use to promote spiritual health in our everyday life like the ones listed below.
- Prayer
- Meditation
- Connecting with Nature
- Yoga or Mindful Movement
- Practicing Gratitude
- Practicing Forgiveness
- Serving Others
- Declutter space
- Read
- Write
- Journal
- Unplug
Which practices resonate with you the most? We'd love to hear your comments on this subject. Please comment below.
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