What defines “you”? How do you think about the parts that comprise all of what makes you yourself? Many of us get become hyper-focused on one area of our lives like our work or our
family role and lose sight a bit of all the intricate facets that make you, well, you. Your spiritual health is a large part of what gives these facets meaning.
Prioritizing your spiritual wellness can look different for different people. But to constantly make it the last priority or not think about it at all will strip meaning from your life. Thus making the ‘why’ behind what you do less and less clear. At Remain Connected, we believe that taking care of all of you includes your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. All of these work together to build better relationships, a clearer purpose, and a stronger sense of self. The question now is, how do we do that?
What is Spiritual Health?
When I say spiritual health, what comes to mind? Early church services? Praying for hours? Your spiritual wellness could, of course, include these things. However, it is truly all-encompassing. Spiritual health is centered around our search as humans for deeper purpose and meaning in life. It is directly related to our search for the big picture, the existential why, and the fuel when the circumstances around us don’t make much sense.
If we’re spiritually healthy, we feel more connected to people around us. Additionally, we can align our actions better to our core values, and we generally have more clarity surrounding making decisions. Spirituality can include religious practices, but it can also meet you where you’re at in your faith journey. It can be anything that relates to the care of a person’s spirit, however, you think about that.
Things You Can Do to Improve Your Spiritual Health
Read For Your Spiritual Health
Whether you have set spiritual beliefs or not, there are several spiritual practices that anyone can implement that will have a positive impact on your overall health. One such practice is reading daily. Choose a book that will help you with contemplation, such as the Bible, daily devotionals, a book of poetry, whichever you feel most connected to. Then incorporate some quiet time to reflect on the words you’re reading.
This practice can grow your mindfulness- the ability to stay present and grounded-especially if you focus on your breath and body as you read. This practice for your health helps us practice rituals. Daily rituals contribute positively to your spiritual health as they allow for a stable, reoccurring event to add meaning and order to the daily chaos of life. Try to find a quiet place to read. Additionally, try to read around the same time every day.
Improve Spiritual Health With Meditation
Meditation is another daily spiritual practice that can further connect you to what you're reading or separately to a higher power that you believe in. Meditating creates space for self-awareness and awareness of what’s going on around you in the spiritual realm. I know many of us are intimidated by the practice of meditation. But even a simple 5-minute meditative practice daily can immensely help your mental and spiritual health.
Whether you’re meditating as you read or doing it on its own, you’ll practice focusing on your thoughts and allow greater space for your emotions to come through. Meditating can help you calm your breath and give your body a moment to rest. Which often results in people feeling calmer, more hopeful, and better able to take on the challenges of the day. There are amazing resources across Youtube and various mediating apps that can help guide you if you don’t know where to start.
Prayer & Spiritual Health
For those of you that have a relationship with God or a higher power, prayer is a vital way to stay connected to your faith. Prayer is a powerful way to practice expressing your emotions verbally, process events, build compassion, and practice gratitude. Your prayer can be structured or free-form. If we look at examples of prayer from the Bible, they range from ordered like the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-12, to songs of prayer in the Psalms, to emotional and unfiltered prayers of grief as David expressed.
Prayer is our way to commune with God and to share our heart as He shares His. It also helps us focus on the big picture. This can look like expressing your love to the Lord, expressing thanks for what you have, and asking Him questions about what’s to come. We can practice casting our worries off onto God as it says in Psalm 55, which aids in our overall calm and trust that He (Or your higher power) will provide for us.
As A Spiritual Growth Counselor, My Favorite is Journaling
One of my personal favorite ways to take care of my own spiritual health as a spiritual growth counselor is keeping any form of a journal or written check-in for myself. Much like contemplative reading, writing can bring us into a state of mindfulness. Journaling can help us think of our situations in new ways as we write about them. If you’re honest as you write, most people report feeling lighter and clearer on their feelings. So often our emotions can feel confusing living up in our head, with racing thoughts and interjecting comments. Writing can help you organize your thoughts and feelings into a story.
Sharing a story is a part of what’s called narrative processing and can help move events and emotions from your fight-or-flight brain system to your system of higher reasoning. This helps foster a better connection between the varying parts of your brain/body and can help you to feel more in control of yourself and your thoughts. Writing can be an incredibly cathartic experience, allowing things to come to the surface that you may have intentionally or unintentionally suppressed. A few daily questions I like to ask myself at the end of the day and write on are
How did I feel connected?
In what ways d I feel purposeful?
How did I take care of myself?
These three questions directly tie into your spiritual health and can give you a reflection point for how aligned and connected you’re feeling to yourself, others, and God.
Connect With Nature To Grow Your Spiritual Health
Others have also found a spiritual connection through getting outside in nature or getting together with people they’re close to regularly. Any of these practices that expand your awareness, help you feel part of a community, and make you reflect on your purpose and values in life are important.
Final Thoughts From A Spiritual Growth Counselor
Your spiritual health directly impacts your emotional and mental health. How can you feel emotionally well if you feel disconnected from yourself and others? How can you mentally thrive if you don’t have clarity of the significance your life has or how to walk in that? These spiritual practices not only make you feel better in the moment, but they also help you heal faster and be a better person overall.
If your spiritual health is something you’ve never considered, don’t worry. Start small, maybe by implementing one of the aforementioned practices into your routine. Check in with yourself and maybe an accountability buddy for how you’re feeling or any new thoughts or questions that might arise as you’re exploring your spirituality. Take your time and think of the investment of time and energy into your spiritual wellness as an investment into yourself and into your chosen community.
Do You Want Support For Your Spiritual Health in Atlanta?
Finding ways to invest in your spiritual health doesn't have to be difficult. At Remain Connected we offer several options to support your spiritual journey including pastoral care, Christian counseling, and spiritual counseling. Working with a spiritual growth counselor can make improving your spiritual health easier. In order to get started follow these simple steps.
Contact us to speak with a spiritual growth counselor
Schedule your first spiritual counseling appointment at Remain Connected
Start taking care of your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health
Other Counseling Services We Offer in Smyrna & Atlanta
We offer several different mental health services at our Smyrna GA-based therapy practice. Such as teen therapy, anxiety treatment, and Pastoral counseling. Along with life transitions therapy, depression treatment, Christian counseling, and more. With online therapy, these services are available to anyone in Georgia. We look forward to supporting hearing from you.