Simple Ways to Strengthen Your Mind and Soul Through Spirituality

When discussing spirituality and wellbeing, it’s important to define and clarify a few terms such as spirituality, wellbeing, their relationship, and the role of religion in this context. Spirituality is a broad concept that often involves belief in a higher power, frequently referred to as God, who is thought to oversee the universe and our destinies. It’s about personal quests for life’s purpose, meaning, and a connection to the universe. While spirituality is universal and cuts across different cultures and beliefs, it’s also deeply personal and unique to each individual.

Religion, in contrast, is like spirituality organized into a system—it includes specific beliefs, traditions, and doctrines. To stay true to their core purpose, religious institutions sometimes need to revisit and rejuvenate their spiritual foundations.

When we talk about mental health, it involves more than just avoiding mental illness. It includes having a well-adjusted personality that contributes positively to society. Important traits for good mental health are responsibility, flexibility, a high tolerance for frustration, and an acceptance of uncertainty. It also means having the courage to take risks, the peace to accept things you can’t change, the wisdom to know the difference, and maintaining good relationships with yourself, others, nature, and perhaps a higher power.

Psychologists have had varied opinions about the role of religion in mental health. For instance, Sigmund Freud thought of religion as an illusion and a kind of neurosis, but Carl Jung believed that our psyche could reveal deep truths, embedded in our unconscious. Religion also plays a big role in how we understand and approach mental health issues—it can affect everything from identifying and diagnosing disorders to how they’re treated and their eventual outcomes. Recent studies show that religious beliefs and practices help cope with life’s stresses and benefit mental health.

Researcher J. Scott Tonigan has studied 226 alcohol-dependent patients and found that spirituality predicts behaviors like honesty and responsibility, which promote alcohol abstinence.

As mental health and spirituality gain mainstream attention, the term “spiritual health” is often used but sometimes misunderstood as synonymous with spirituality. However, spirituality refers to diverse experiences or states of being unique to each person and accessible to all. In contrast, spiritual health, as defined in a 2018 study, is something one can actively cultivate, applying to any form of spirituality or religion. It represents a concrete spectrum indicating how well an individual integrates spirituality into their life.

Understanding Spirituality at Its Core

Historically, religious practices were often linked to mental illness, with psychologists like Freud and Charcot viewing religion as a sign of pathology. As a result, psychology avoided religion and spirituality for many decades. Today, this perspective is seen as contrary to the human condition. Spirituality is a nearly universal human trait, approached in diverse ways but with common goals: finding meaning in life, making sense of existence, and connecting with something greater. Spirituality helps people deepen relationships, find purpose, seek comfort during difficult times, understand concepts of the afterlife, and cultivate hope.

Here are some traits that can help you effectively handle life’s challenges:

• Reserved and thoughtful emotional reactions to difficult situations: In response to a heated debate, pausing to consider all opinions before offering a constructive solution.
• A healthy ability to feel and express emotions, especially in times of grief or loss: Sharing feelings of sadness openly at a support group meeting after experiencing a personal loss.
• Daily practices to process hardships, changes, and emotions: Setting aside time each morning for meditation to prepare mentally for the day’s challenges.
• Kindness and understanding when facing challenges from others: Responding with patience and a calm demeanor when confronted with an irate client at work.
• Flexible beliefs that adapt to new circumstances or information: Adjusting a long-held stance on dietary choices after learning about the latest health research.
• Mindfulness and presence during activities like eating, exercising, working, and spending time with loved ones: Focusing on the sensation of breath during a yoga session to enhance concentration and relaxation.
• The ability to explain one’s inner state to others when necessary or desired: Communicating feelings of job stress during a team meeting to seek support and collaboration from colleagues.

If you don’t recognize these traits in yourself, that’s perfectly okay. They take time to develop, and either a spiritual leader or a mental health professional can help you strengthen them through practice.

-Sugandha Dutt is a certified Psychologist, counsellor and therapist.