The world we live in is fast paced, it’s driven by technology, and it has never been easier to ignore our inner selves. Your spiritual wellness, whether it’s meditation or traditional religion, has long-lasting positive effects on your overall health and wellness. It influences your self-esteem, physical health, mental health, and can even help you cope with anger management.
So, how can you be sure spirituality is right for you? First things first, it’s important that you understand that while it is a loaded term for some, it isn’t what you think it is. Spirituality is personal, and the role it plays in your life is entirely up to you.
More importantly, how you define it for yourself is entirely in your hands. If you aren’t a religious person, then your spirituality doesn’t have to be entwined with religion. Spiritual wellness is simply about being connected to something bigger than yourself. It’s having principles, a purpose, values, beliefs, and moral. That is what guides your words and deeds. Let’s examine the benefits of being spiritually well.
· Fights stress
There are a wide variety of events, situations, and people who create stress for us. It may be a major event like a divorce that does it. It could be a big project at work. While stress is natural and normal, it can go beyond that when it becomes chronic. Maintaining your spiritual wellness is an excellent way to fight stress because it focuses your energy on positive behaviors.
Meditation, one of the main forms of improving spiritual wellness, is influential in relieving stress (https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/meditation/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858). It will provide you with instant stress relief if you are feeling under pressure.
· Relieves symptoms of depression
Guilt. Hopelessness. Sadness. When you experience these feelings persistently it may be indicative of a mood disorder such as depression. This can interfere heavily with your daily life. Depression can be treated with therapy, exercise, diet change, and medication. Often, people with depression can find symptom relief by improving their spiritual wellness through practices such as meditation (or prayer, yoga, etc.).
Meditation requires deep breathing, focus, and acceptance. Yoga relies on the same things, with the added benefit of movements.
· Increase Social Connections
Your social connections and relationships are important to your overall health. Loneliness kills and having a lack of social connections increases the risk of a host of health issues (https://www.aginglifecarejournal.org/health-effects-of-social-isolation-and-loneliness/). Spiritual wellness helps you build stronger relationships.
· Long Live!
There have been studies specifically pointing to the fact that people who attend church live longer than those who don’t (https://time.com/5159848/do-religious-people-live-longer/). The point, though, is that meeting with like-minded people or pursuing spiritual activities, whether meditation or prayer, can extend your lifespan. As you embark on a journey of improving your spiritual wellness, consider joining a yoga class to spend time with like-minded people.
· Balanced Blood Pressure
Maintaining your spiritual wellness can also help you lower blood pressure. Stress has been linked to high blood pressure and as we noted above, spiritual wellness can help reduce stress levels. When your blood is flooded by the stress hormone cortisol it causes a spike in your heart rate, which narrows the blood vessels thus increasing blood pressure. Maintaining spiritual wellness can, therefore, reduce your blood pressure.
You can see from the benefits above that it isn’t a question of whether spirituality is right for you or not. It’s for everyone, whether you acknowledge it or not. We all possess a spirit that requires nourishment and nurturing. It’s up to you to determine how you will achieve spiritual wellness. Here are a couple more ideas: Some fun ways you can nurture your spirit
· Step out of your comfort zone
· Volunteer
· Meditate
· Find your spirituality
· Feed your passions
· Spend time with your loved ones
Step out of your comfort zone from time to time. Not only does this build resilience, but it feeds your spirits sense of adventure. That voice that tells you that skydiving is too dangerous may be correct in stating the inherent dangers of the activity. But it’s a ride you won’t soon forget. Your inner voice may tell you that you’re not good enough, strong enough, or brave enough to take that cross-country train ride on your own, but that voice needs to take a hike every once in a while. No matter what it is you want to do that’s outside of your comfort zone, put your toes in from time to time.
Find ways to volunteer and be generous. Women's shelters, Habitat for Humanity, and your local SPCA are always looking for volunteers. These organizations do hire people for the day today, but they survive, thrive, and complete their missions thanks to the armies of amazing volunteers. Not to mention, every time you volunteer, you step into a new potential adventure. Plus, generosity comes from freed and generous spirits.
Meditate regularly. Yea, this may be the most commonly given piece of advice in this niche but do it. There is a plethora of benefits, and there’s no downside. Furthermore, you may find your spirituality in your meditation. For some, Sundays is a day of meditation. For others, spending time around a bonfire under a full moon elicits one’s sense of spirituality. Your spirituality can be your belief in an all-seeing all-knowing superpower, or it can be your understanding that you’re part of something larger and important.
Spend time with your significant others. A significant other is an important person in your life: Sister, mother, brother, friend, neighbor, child, niece, cousin, etc. These are the who you care about the most, and who you can be around without being drained.
Some relationships are toxic, and some people are vampires: They’ll suck the joy right out of you. But, most of the people we spend time with energize us in some way. If you’re an introvert, spend time with the significant others in your life who don’t drain you or tire you out.
Feed your passions. If your passion is writing, then write. If you find yourself best out on the trail, then hike it out. If volunteer work is your passion, then double the fun. Find what you love to do and do it.
It doesn’t matter if it’s collecting and building model cars and planes, walking dogs, visiting the local nursing home, thru-hiking the AT, climbing El Capita, conquering a fear every now and then, reading new and unheard-of authors, cleaning, cooking, or working on that old Chevelle you promised yourself you’d fix-up. Feed that passion.
Nurture your spirit.
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