Spiritual Living Post #2: Why Start the Spiritual Living Category in my Blog?
There are various schools of thought, frameworks, or models of thought used to guide discussions-
At the end of 2023, I posted my first blog on spiritual wellness under a new sub-section of the website called Spiritual Living. Why did I carve out this niche though? My blog will be talking about therapy work, mental health, and holistic health. Did I need to make a section catering to the metaphysical in particular?
Yes. I did. And I do.
I can write about my career, the industry, and share what knowledge I am learning and unlearning through this blog, but it isn't worth it if I avoid addressing the more intricate matters that hold everything together- faith, fear, hope, hatred, love, desire. All these things are very spiritual. They are human. That's why it's important to have space for them and to listen and explore those topics from the eyes of different experiences and pockets of knowledge.
When I started Eden, it was going to be a place where I only talked about my journey as a young mental health therapist professional- and how I got here- and my DHH experiences and knowledge. It was going to be a place of both reflection and learning with my readers. However, as I’ve been praying in my own spiritual life, and practicing surrender, I realized that I’ve never given my creative platforms to God to work through and with for the benefit of society.
Over time, other categories of the blog arose to reflect more of the 8 Dimensions of Wellness I love so much! From having only a Deaf Living category, the main blog page for all things mental health, and the Dear Diary section, the Spiritual Living section came into being alongside the Physical Living category. I’m sure in the future a section for Environmental Living will appear! Why all of these sections are worth their existence, will be shared in the future. This is for Spiritual Living.
As I’ve mentioned in my first post in Spiritual Living, some of the benefits from having a healthy practice of spirituality include feeling content, safe, hopeful, with increased resilience and a sense of purpose. If this term is too ambiguous for you, or with negative attachments, you can replace spirituality with phrases like “healthy inner living,” “clear personal orientations in life,” “strong and positive personal and life values,” and so forth. So it is vital to spread information about spiritual wellness and how people can access this part of their well-being.
Benefits of Spiritual Wellness
Just in case anyone is wondering how spiritual wellness interacts with mental health, here are some of the benefits to having inner awareness and a healthy relationship with the more abstract parts of life- meaning, identity, and values.
There is a positive relationship between mental health, spirituality, and behaviors related to health-pursuits
Helps you cope with the trauma of diagnosis and treatment
Reduces anxiety, stress, anger and depression
Enhances the quality of your life
Increases feelings of inner peace and hope
Improves subjective experience of well-being
I can’t in clear conscience not consider the influence mindset and philosophical teachings can have on an individual, community, societies, and entire nations. As an intellectual, as a professional, and also as a Christian, I have to learn about different faiths and moral systems, and how it will influence people in their societies- and abroad!
So this category exists now.
And I invite us all to practice such an open-minded Learner’s Mindset, since it will lead to an increased mental and emotional capacity for discourse, curiosity, learning, and different experiences- moments which will be out of reach with rigid and defensive thinking.
My Christian Call to Witness
I will be honest about having a spiritual practice, so over time, as I share about Christianity, and what I’m learning from other faiths (with references, of course!) I will share what I’m personally learning in my own faith walk as a Christian. This is both the practice we’re called to in our faith called witnessing and evangelism. Both are similar, but the latter is towards non-believers while the former is to either people of the faith or without it. What my witness would entail includes my personal testimonies- what I’ve experienced and learned- and witnessing experience of other people’s lives or stories.
This is another rationale for this Category- to be a virtual platform where I can practice witnessing to the world online. I’m very excited to grow in this skillset and to replicate it in the real world as well!
Engage in my various posts in this Category from a place of curiosity and with a benefit of a doubt (regarding intentions to harm or destroy someone else- this would be the last thing I’d desire on another person!). I am interested in learning from you too.
Future Topics of Interests in this Category
I look forward to learning more about these topics! What else would you like to learn about related to spiritualism, religion, and spiritual wellness?
Philosophy
Spirituality
Religion
Meditation
Mindfulness
Ethics
Morality
Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Hinduism
Buddhism
New Age
Science
Justice
Identity
and more!
Conclusions and Reminders
Feel free to comment down below topics you’re interested in learning about in this category, and which ones from above you’d like to see first! I wish everyone a safe, brave, and fruitful exploration of their own spirituality, their inner realms, and the spiritual world.
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