Most of us have become accustomed to categorizing our lives into different sections like physical, social, emotional and spiritual. In my coaching work, with people struggling in life and relationships, I’ve found that their tends to be one of these four areas that we tend to overlook the most, and that is the area of spiritual growth. When times get tough, many of us are much more likely to go to our friends or therapists for healing than to actually turn directly to our God to calm the storms. Research by Dr. Lisa Miller at Columbia University in health and spirituality shows that your spiritual connectedness to a higher power is more impactful to your human health, happiness and thriving than any other influence in your life. Even more important than how you were parented, your friends, your socio/economic status, your gender or your education. Our Spiritual connection with our higher power matters more than any other variable.
So let’s start finding ways to heal our emotional issues by strengthening our spiritual connectedness with our higher power. Here are 5 steps to improve your mental health, through spiritual connectivity.
Hand Your Healing, Spiritual Connections Down
Like Heirlooms, our spiritual benefits can be handed down.
15% of women will suffer from depression at some point in their life, according to research by Dr. Lisa Miller from Columbia University, in her book The Spiritual Child.
Definition: Spiritually connected means they had a living relationship with their higher power. It was experienced regularly, not just intellectualized.
When a women’s mother is spiritually connected to a higher power and her daughter is spiritually connected to a higher power, that daughter has an 80% lower likelihood of having depression than the average female.
The 3rd generation daughter that has a relationship with her higher power has a 90% lower likelihood of depression then the average female.
Take time to share your stories about God, your spiritual insights, your inspirations, your connections with your children.
Pray together, meditate together and help your family find the higher power.
Focus Your Religiosity on Spirituality Connectivity
Religiosity is different than spirituality. Religiosity is your adherence to your faith creed. Spirituality is your connection to your higher power.
66% of people find their spirituality within their faith practice, although 1/3 do not.
Dr Miller’s Research shows that “religious adherence to creed without a spiritual connection to a higher power makes life harder emotionally and more difficult for teenagers.” Teens feel like a fake or a counterfeit and they struggle.
Teens who follow a faith tradition without having a connected sacred relationship with a higher power, does not equate to prevention against substance.
If you’ve ever wanted to make your religious worship more appealing to your children, then show them the power of spiritual connections with God.
Seek Inspiration
Ask yourself and others, “What is the most inspiring thing you saw or heard today?”
In-spired means “In” “Spirit”, so if we want to be more connected to our higher power, we need to be in spirit.
People are craving to be inspired, which is why the most “popular” thing I do every day is the posting of memes and inspirational quotes on my FB page.
Make it a point everyday to seek after things that “inspire” you and share them with people that you care about. Every time you do, you’ll move back to spirit.
A great way to feel a sense of the higher power with God.
Share with those around you about what you found inspiring today.
How many religious people do you know that seem to have lost that sense of being in-spired.
Count Your Many Blessings
So now that you’re sensing so many inspirational blessings in your life, you need to pay attention to them.
Research shows that people who show gratitude for what they’ve been given, usually feel more grateful and happier.
Thank your higher power for all that has been given to you. Show your higher power you see all that has been given you.
Share with others how blessed you have been.
Love Your Way To Peace
The most basic need of people on this earth is to be loved unconditionally.
One of the great blessings of having a higher power to connect to is that you can always tune in to a feeling of love and acceptance.
Use your relationships to extend that grace and love to others. When we share the love we get from our God, we become a more loving being.
Lisa Miller told of some research she performed on some students at Yale University.
They connected the students to EEG’s and asked them to tell two stories.
One story was a story where they were hurt and the other story where they felt the sacred.
The Hurt Story lead them to the exact same section of the brain where addiction lies, where selfish pursuit of their needs and wants resides.
The story of the sacred moved into where we gain perception, vision and direction, where we seek to serve and help, not where we seek to selfishly have our needs met.
By loving and serving others, we naturally get into the “more spiritual” parts of our brain, and distance ourselves from the more selfish parts of our brain.
Dr. Lisa Miller is a Professor of Psychology and Education, Director of Clinical Psychology, and Director of the Spirituality & Mind Body Institute at Teachers College Columbia University. So much of our early education focuses on cognitive skills. We learn cursive and spelling, math and science. But teaching principles that the heart needs to understand is a different matter entirely and a delicate one. Dr. Miller discusses how spirituality helps people develop emotionally.
