How to Strengthen Your Spiritual Foundation for Greater Peace and Joy
When people think of improving their health, they often think of improving physical, mental, and emotional health. All these are good and essential, however, it doesn’t satisfy a deeper health that we all innately have – our spiritual health. Just as we can do strength training for greater physical stamina, we can also work on strengthening our spiritual foundation.
Wherever you stand in terms of spirituality and religion, there are some basic understandings and skills needed to connect with your spiritual side.
Firstly, it’s important to say that spirituality doesn’t mean you need to be religious, but both can be harmonized. Spirituality is the very personal relationship between you and your higher power. Your religious affiliation has probably been deeply shaped by your upbringing. Yet the same way that no two people are exactly the same, each individual’s experience of spirituality – even if they share the same religion – is unique. Deepening your spiritual connection will lead to a more focused and joy-filled life.
There are four essential areas to pay attention to when strengthening your spiritual foundation:
- Mindfulness – paying attention intentionally to the present moment, without judgment
- State rehearsal – intentionally rehearsing specific helpful mental/emotional states. These can range from worship and awe to courage or concentration.
- Strong code of conduct and ethics – having some notion about what this is.
- Connect with something bigger – ideas about how the world works and, perhaps, faith in the fundamental Mysteries of Life.
Strengthening your spiritual foundation can be as simple as creating time and space to be more aware of the spiritual power of the present moment. Use prayer, meditation or spiritual principles to establish and deepen divine connection or to cultivate positive states or virtues rather than focusing on external goals or things. Albert Einstein made this insightful comment:
“True religion is real living; living with all one’s soul, with all one’s goodness and righteousness.”
When you’re emotionally moved with gratitude, wonder, awe, joy, or love, these “higher energy states” naturally allow you to notice your connection with your higher power more easily. This is why many people feel more spiritually connected when out in nature or in beautiful surroundings.
Research has shown that people who have an active spiritual life are generally happier. Two important parts of this are the feelings of joyful peace and the sense of meaning that connecting with one’s higher power brings.
If you want to grow this part of your life, start by giving spirituality more time and attention. This may mean reading books, talking about it, attending services, spending time in nature, or setting time aside for pray or meditate. A person who spends an hour a day in a spiritual activity is bound to be more connected than a person who doesn’t give spirituality a thought.
Integrating all of your Parts and living with wholeness of body, mind, and spirit takes time and mindful practice. A good health plan must take a holistic perspective around everything about you. I invite you to learn how Somatic Coaching can help you tune into what your body is telling you and how you can give it exactly what it needs when it needs it. If you need to go even deeper, Somatic Therapy can get you where you want to go.