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Healing By Spirituality: 7 Ways
In these days where everything seems to be falling apart and where stress seems to be taking over your personal and work life, it is important to take a step back and breathe. This can be difficult because it is becoming harder and harder to separate our personal lives from our work lives. Let us read more about spiritual healing.
As defined by dictionary.com, spiritual is “of or relating to the spirit or soul, as distinguished from the physical nature.” By finding refuge on a whole other plane of existence, one cannot help but ask if there is more to this life than what meets the eye.
Religion vs. Spirituality
Many people associate religion with spirituality, and although they’re not mistaken, the two do differ. As defined by dictionary.com, religion is “a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by several persons or sects.” As you can see, there’s nothing really about the spirit when it’s put that way.
In actuality, spiritual healing is a byproduct of one’s thoughts. It is more often connected to one’s outlook and interests instead of being told by other people what to believe in. Although the thought of higher beings is normally associated with religion, it is still safe to say that it sure feels reassuring that there may be some divine cosmic source that is the puppet master pulling strings.
The thought that there may be a benevolent god or gods is also quite comforting when nothing else makes sense. In the light of tragedies, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters, it’s always a thought that there may be an astral plane that we are sent to after we die. Whether it be Heaven,
Hell, or just a completely other existence altogether, spirituality encompasses all of it. This is why spirituality is so heavily linked to religion. It allows the individual to believe the doctrines in place and extend this belief to an unseen and immaterial entity.
Now being able to differentiate between religion and spirituality, spirituality is a lot more personal. Here are seven ways that spirituality can help heal you.
1. Spiritual Healing Builds a Sense of Identity
It is up to the person to decide whether they truly believe in the things they choose to believe in. This can range from believing in the institution of religion (Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.) or maybe in something more mundane like veganism or social justice.
Either way, spirituality builds a sense of confidence and can help you choose the path you would like to follow. One thing to remember is that spirituality can become a hobby, but not all hobbies are spiritual. Normally spirituality focuses on a growth mindset and is benevolent to the individual and those around them.
2. Spirituality Builds a Sense of Community
By choosing a more spiritual lifestyle, you will make an impact on those around you. Activities such as yoga (of all forms), meditation, and mindful practices, are great ways to build a sense of community.
The joy of deciding for yourself what is right for you is also great when you are surrounded by other supportive people who think the same way. In a nurturing environment, mindful practices can stimulate others as well as yourself.
3. Finding the Root of the Problem and Fixing It
To heal, we all know that we need to find out what is ailing us before we can fix the problem; either with medicine, kind words, or, in this case, spirituality. Some physical ailments are linked to spiritual and psychological issues. For example, did you know you can die of a broken heart? It’s been scientifically proven and explained.
So how does this connect to spirituality? If we take the broken heart as an example, we know that the heart isn’t broken like a bone would be, but we do know that at some point, the individual’s heartstrings must have snapped, and the heart slowly faded. The mystery stems from a psychological pain that turned physical.
An easy way to avoid this tragic end would be to find a way to fill in the feeling of loss, either by finding a new lover, a new hobby, or finding a spiritual faith group or outlook. Spirituality can pinpoint many issues and is worth talking about to a physician if there is a persistent issue without a physical root.
4. Let It Go with Spiritual Healing
Since spirituality is primarily a mindful practice, it can also impact how we feel overall. When you are having a bad day, you can always go back to yourself and take a minute to breathe and think about the situation. If you are religious, you can do the same thing by visiting your house of worship. Spirituality can also be present when you are feeling happy or fearful.
The outcome will all depend on how much you connect with your sense of spirituality and openness. The best use of spirituality, at least in my opinion, is when faced with grief. Knowing that you have somewhere to turn when nothing else makes sense or when every little thing starts bothering you, it’s nice to blame a flying spaghetti monster or the Devil for your shortcomings. It’s also a lot more therapeutic than other, less desired coping methods.
5. It Teaches and Encourages Virtues
Many virtues can be learned throughout life, and spirituality can help build on them. As previously mentioned, confidence is a bonus of being self-reliant. Respect is another virtue of spiritual practices.
Not only do you learn to respect yourself, but you learn to respect others, their space, and their journey. Honesty, loyalty, compassion, humility, kindness, acceptance, commitment, beauty…the list goes on. When you open your mind, your heart will follow.
6. Opens Up the Mind and Heart
Becoming self-actualized is an end goal for many of us. No one said it would be easy, but there are ways to attain this enlightened state much quicker. Keep an open mind. This one rule will guide you through EVERYTHING. Once you can learn to accept that not everyone is the same, we all share different stories and that each story has worth, the heart will follow.
Understanding that compassion and kindness are the keys to solving many issues will help build that sense of community, will help build trust within this community, and will impact those who surround you who may be going through their struggles.
7. Self-awareness and Self-Actualization
Becoming self-aware and self-actualized is a great feat that many seek. To be able to say confidently that you are okay with who you are, and be happy with everything you do and how you are, is seldom found nowadays, especially with the media shoving unrealistic images of beauty placidly down our throats.
To live carefreely in the life of a wanderlust Bohemian trying to escape the daily grind. We all know that we can’t just pack up and go (although some can) and that we all have responsibilities that we must carry out. There is a difference between being self-actualized and being carefree.
Although both can make you happy, true satisfaction comes with all of your accomplishments, and having the courage to face all odds will make you happier in the long run.
Avoiding your problems will not make the problems go away. It only makes matters worse. Once a person has lived a spiritual lifestyle and has begun to shift their outlook, self-awareness, and self-actualization occur.
Spiritual Healing: Conclusion
Spirituality is a part of our daily lives, whether we decide to follow it or not. Although, of course, the spiritual planes of existence may only be for religious institutes or the hippy tree-hugging folk. Still, one cannot deny the many success stories of people who have turned their lives around by becoming more mindful and expanding their spiritual knowledge.