Spiritual wellness (or spirituality) stems from a personal belief that you are connected to things greater than yourself and you have a set of values that propels how you feel about your place in the world.
Do you feel like you have a purpose or that your life has meaning? This is the main question when thinking about spiritual wellness. Spirituality will fluctuate throughout your life and is greatly dependent on your past experiences and global events. Finding your purpose or your meaning can take a lifetime- and the pursuit certainly has its benefits. Spirituality can ease the burden of life's many choices and provide solid ground during times of change. It also promotes resiliency, grace, and feelings of inner peace. Having a spiritual element in your life may even help you heal if you're suffering from a physical or mental condition.
To begin reflecting on your own level of spiritual wellness consider the following questions from The Laborers of Health and Safety Fund of North America:
What gives my life meaning and purpose?
What gives me hope?
How do I get through tough times?
Where do I find comfort?
Am I tolerant of other people’s views about life issues?
Do I make attempts to expand my awareness of different ethnic, racial and religious groups?
Do I make time for relaxation in my day?
Do my values guide my decisions and actions?
Some activities you can do to strengthen your spirituality is to participate in an organized religion and/or spend time in daily prayer; meditate or practice Yoga; spend time in nature or appreciate music/other art; and, continuing your own reflection through regular journaling. Spiritual wellness has the ability to transform the way you see and feel about your life and those around you. Similarly, environmental wellness has the same power.
Environmental wellness inspires you to respect your environment. When you have a high level of environmental wellness you take care of and value your home, community, and world (and everyone in it). ideally, our environments are clean, peaceful, respectful, hygienic, and pollution-free! Some ways to increase your level of environmental wellness include some obvious ones like recycling, using less paper/plastic products, not being careless with water usage, and conserving energy by switching off lights. Less obvious may be donating to/joining some type of equality movement or organization; abstaining from drinking and driving; donating blood and/or food; volunteering; and, finally- standing up to disrespectful, hateful, or harassing comments or actions that create a negative environment.
Both spiritual and environmental wellness calls you out into the world in different ways than the other dimensions, which is why they're so important and make them very connected to one another. Think of this as your call to step out and start deepening (or finding) your spirituality and believing that you have the power to create a better environment!
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