Spiritual Wellness is undoubtedly one of the more difficult aspects of holistic wellness to discuss -- because everyone is so touchy (or turned off) by religion. It is important to note that there is a huge difference between being religious and being spiritual. As my Pastor would say, religion is just superstition. Being spiritual, however, resides in you. You can be religious, and not have a spiritual bone in your body. Spiritual Wellness is important, because it is within this realm that we are able to seek and find peace. To exist in harmony. To act based upon our morals and values, and treat eachother with a sense of humanity.
Happy Wednesday everyone! As promised, we are jumping head first into Wellness Wednesday this week. I am hoping that by the end of this series, we all have a more thorough and holistic understanding of wellness, and are able to more fully incorporate them into our lives. Let's dive in!
What is Spiritual Wellness?
Spiritual Wellness is the ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives. We achieve this by developing a congruency between values and actions, and realizing a common purpose that binds creation together.
Why is Spiritual Wellness important?
In a world full of hustle, bustle, drug abuse, hypersexuality, materialism, violence, poverty, racism, and general outlandish foolishness, finding peace, living in harmony, and loving others can be a tad...umm...difficult. Without having yourself anchored in a core set of beliefs or values, it is incredibly easy to be swayed, tossed about, embittered, calloused, and full of self-doubt. There has to be something bigger than ourselves that holds us down, a greater authority that keeps our heads above water when the floodgates open. That is why Spiritual Wellness, although rarely discussed, is so important. We need it more than we think.
How can I improve my Spiritual Wellness?
This is where folks get lost. Pushed away by bullheaded evangelists that are so heavenward-bound, they are no earthly good (more words from my Pastor). I'm not here to tell you to go to church, and that you are going to hell if you don't believe in Jesus. Honestly, I don't have a heaven to put you in, or a hell to send you to. I'm not here to judge your belief system, or insist that my Christianity is superior to your faith base. Spiritual wellness supersedes religion, polity, and politics. If you believe in God, and that Jesus Christ died for your sins then hey, so do I and I'm glad we have something in common. If you don't then you don't, and it is what it is.
Improving Spiritual Wellness is difficult, and requires you to carve out time from your already bursting-at-the-seams schedule. But those 15-20 minutes you set aside will make ALL the difference, and are well worth the sacrifice. Here are some quick tips to integrate time for Spiritual Wellness into your day (modify them, and make it work for you!):
- Find a time that works for you, that you are able to be alone and in a quiet (or low volume), distraction-free zone. A Spiritual Wellness journey doesn't work if you're trying to focus while texting, e-mailing, watching Love & Hip Hop and cooking dinner. I personally prefer early mornings, before I get my work day started.
- Clear your mind. The day will worry about itself, and the person who pissed you off has long since gone on about their business. Don't dwell on what has happened, or what is to come. Keep your mind focused, and your body calm.
- Once you have a time block carved out, set a goal for that time. If you are into praying, then pray. If you have a text that guides your beliefs, spend time reading it.
- Lastly, take something away from that time that you can hold on to when things get rough. Maybe it's a positive affirmation, a quote, or a Scripture. Personally, I always ask God to speak to me through a Scripture. I usually end up highlighting that passage, and writing out the words so they stick. That way, whenever I'm experiencing challenges, feeling flustered, or doubtful, I can always go back and reference His Word.
Spiritual Wellness is a journey -- an intentional one. You have to keep at it. You have to want it. I'm not going to lie -- it may be a bit challenging to engage yourself on this level at first. When I first re-committed myself to my Spiritual Wellness journey, I was soooo easily distracted by the most benign things. A text message. A random song in my head. Wondering what to wear tomorrow. Gosh, that TV show was funny last night. Is my money going to be alright this month? But eventually, I stuck to it and arrived at a place where my sole focus was spending time with God. And this was when I began to receive my biggest blessings.
I am by no means a perfect person -- I am a work in progress. In fact, I don't even spend time (quality time, like I want to) with God every day. I am still working on that. But instead of beating myself up about how I'm not the "perfect" Christian, I thank God that He has brought me from where I was, to where I am. I might not be where I should be, but I am far from what I used to be. My language isn't always clean, and sometimes I have a short fuse, but I know something greater than myself is at work in my heart and in my mind. I know that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and so done with a purpose. How powerful is that?
I hope this inspires you all to pursue your own form of Spiritual Wellness.
Spiritual Wellness & Hair: When you are Spiritually well, you are more focused, balanced, and calm -- which leads to less stress. When you are less stressed, your hair is less likely to fall out. Talk about win-win.
4 Comments
Christina, I just read your Wellness Wednesday Spiritual Wellness blog and I loved it. Just reading it made me more calm and at peace. Wow! You have just the right combination of wit and wisdom in your writing. I'm going to go with this and see how well I do. Getting involved in the Myfitnesspal weight management program truly helped me to get back into my physical health and I've been talking about working on my spiritual health for much too long. Thanks for reeling me in again for my own good. Looking forward to this.
ReplyDeleteYay!!! So glad I could help. There are SOOO many aspects to our entire well-being. I'm glad you're moving in a positive direction. Keep up the great work!!!
ReplyDeleteSpirituality is at the very heart of emotional wellness, and is one of its most important contributors. It is a key component in the emotional healing process, and is a mainstay of emotional wellness in good times - and especially in bad times.
ReplyDeletespirituality affects an individual's sense of purpose in their life, meaning in their challenges, and contentedness to others - a sense that they are part of something bigger and more significant than themselves alone.
I have always been attracted to something supernatural, spiritualistic, superpowers and so on. I used to believe that psychics really did have superpowers. Now I decided to look into this, read a lot of information, as well as this article https://www.kasamba.com/psychic-reading/are-psychics-real/ . In general, I believe that the superpower of good psychics lies in intuition.
ReplyDelete