Spiritual wellness is not just about being religious. Although, that can be the center of spiritual wellness for many people. Beyond religion, spiritual wellness is also about exploring and nurturing what brings meaning and purpose to your life.
What Makes Life Meaningful?
How do you get curious about meaning and purpose in your life? The best way to explore this is to get clear on your values. What really matters and resonates with you? Are there experiences that recharge you? What actions or themes define who you are, and how you want to live in the world? Consider taking a free “values assessment” or “values quiz” online to begin this exploration.
Flexing your Spiritual Muscles
Just like exercise helps to improve our physical wellness, living life with your actions aligned with your beliefs and values will support your spiritual wellness. If you identify that service is a value of yours, then volunteering will restore your spirit. If humor and connection are values, then heartily laughing with a friend will give you that spiritual recharge.
Essentially, explore your values, and then aim to honor those values with your daily actions. Brené Brown, an emotions researcher, gives more clarity:
“Living into our values means that we do more than profess our values, we practice them. We walk our talk—we are clear about what we believe and hold important, and we take care that our intentions, words, thoughts, and behaviors align with those beliefs”
Aligning Actions with your Values
You can also learn to explore your values through reflecting on experiences. For example, you are driving home from work or a get-together, and you notice you have a strong feeling. Do you feel content and peaceful? Or do you feel empty and frazzled? What was it in that experience that triggered the emotion? How does that relate to your values? Did you act in line with your values?
These questions can help you identify not only your values, but also sort through the actions that align or do not align with them. Consider talking with trusted accountability partners in this area of your wellness. Who is someone who knows your values and supports your efforts to live into them? This could be a friend, co-worker, spouse/family, or spiritual leader.
Takeaway
When our actions are in line with our values – they are our guiding compass. Your values root your decisions and actions in a purpose greater than yourself. Our values give our lives both direction and meaning.
Some of my top values are integrity, humor, and health. What are your values?
Written by: Stephanie Anklan, Registered Dietitian
