If we can aim for healthy living in our body and mind can we develop our spiritual health. So I reviewed some research material to see if there were some common characteristics of spiritual health.
So, what are the characteristics of spiritual health? According to researchers, the 7 characteristics of Spiritual Health are:
- Belief and Meaning
- Vocation and Obligations
- Experience and Emotion
- Courage and Growth
- Ritual and Practice
- Community
- Authority and Guidance
When you have a strong sense of these 7, you’ll advance your Spiritual Health
There’s quite a lot involved in each of these 7 characteristics. Optimal Spiritual Health doesn’t happen in all of these at once. It takes time to cultivate these and that’s why I’ve listed them with some clear understanding below.
7 Characteristics of Spiritual Health
Many that I’ve talked to feel confused by the term “spiritual Health.” Often, spirituality is a broader term referring to New Age, Yoga, Mindfulness, self-improvement, habits/rituals, astrology, or psychic reading.
Spiritual Health is not those things, but includes them.
Although it may include the above understandings of spirituality, Spiritual Health is a clinically researched, physician employed, discipline.
When we look at these 7 Characteristics, these are one’s that clinicians use to understand their client’s spiritual need through a thing called, “spiritual assessment.”
So here are the 7 Characteristics of Spiritual Health as assembled by Researcher and Spiritual Health Practitioner Dr. George Fitchett [ref]George Fitchett, Assessing Spiritual Needs: A Guide for Caregivers. (Academic Renewal Press, 2002).[/ref]
1. Belief and Meaning.
What beliefs do you have which give meaning and purpose to your life? What are the major symbols that reflect or express meaning for you? What is
Those who have strong Spiritual health often have beliefs which give them meaning and a sense of purpose. Advancing your spiritual health means finding valuable and communicable aspects of your life that leads to a sense of significance. Without belief and meaning we face a spiritual pain called, “meaninglessness.”
Meaninglessness occurs when we don’t have a story or a framework for making meaning in the world.
That’s the historic role of organized religion. If you can imagine Religion with beliefs allowed a person to place all of life into a container. The liquid (your experiential feel of the holy – called spirituality) always takes the shape of the container.
Different kinds of containers means different kinds of spiritualities.
Take the healthcare worldview, it uses “clinical spirituality” – observable, researched, and connected to the physical body.
Take Catholicism as a container, contemplative, franciscan or Dominican spiritualities would make up the liquid.
Take Buddhism as a container, emptiness and the Buddha nature (no-self) might be the liquid.
Belief and Meaning-making are the primary aspects of obtaining Spiritual Health. Here are some signs you may need to more health in this area:
- You feel dislocated from your story
- You are not aware of what your beliefs are for making sense out of the world and adding purpose to your life’s direction.
- You are unaware of how your previous belief systems have shaped your current understandings (i.e. how has growing up as a Hindu shaped your now spiritual worldview, though it may be different).
2. Vocation and Obligations
When you think about your beliefs and sense of meaning in life, do they create a sense of duty, vocation, calling or moral obligation? Do you have any current problems right now that cause conflict or compromise in your perception of your ability to fulfill these duties? Do you feel like your current problem makes you sacrifice your duties?
Spiritual Health carries a responsibility to it. Those who are aware and more conscious in general have more responsibility to that awareness. When you add wisdom in an area of life, you also add to yourself the duty to carry it out.
Duty, responsibility, ethics and morality are all part of the spiritual journey in every major world religion.
But more than that, Duty, Vocation, and Obligation are common features every person faces when fighting illness.
Vocation is really translated as “calling.” Not only can you find meaning and purpose in your life, but that meaning leads to a calling – something you feel you must do for others.
It carries with it a sense that Someone or Something bigger than yourself has invited you to a work a task to accomplish on behalf of others.
Here’s some symptoms you may need to increase your Spiritual Health here:
- You don’t feel a calling to a specific people group, task, or mission.
- You aren’t able to translate your current profession into your current vocation.
- You feel stuck, trapped, and dread the work you current do.
- You feel unattached, uncommitted, and generally unfocused about what life requires of you
- You lack ethical, moral, and value clarity.
3. Experience and Emotion
What direct contacts with the sacred, divine, or demonic have you had? What emotions or moods are associated with these attributes? What kinds of spiritual experiences have you had that have shifted your overall health toward better physical and mental health?
This is perhaps one of the more unique characteristics of Spiritual Health. Often spiritual people are wide open for experiences and to strong feelings.
I come from a pentecostal background, and growing up the speaking in tongues, hearing the audible voice of God, praying for and seeing some healings motivated me and enriched my journey.
Although my experiences and emotions were hightedend and I longed for mystical experiences, I found a weakness developing. I was ungrounded.
What I later discovered is that pursuing mystical experience and intense emotions can not be an end in themselves. My experience and emotions need to be balanced by the a meaningful framework and by my physical and mental health.
If my spiritual experiences are not healthy for my body or mind, then those aren’t healthy spiritual experiences for me.
Here’s some signs you need more work in this area:
- You had some frightening, scary, and terrible contacts with spiritual that result in sleepless nights, paranoia, painful feelings.
- You are unaware of your feelings in general and lack the ability to name how you’re feeling in the moment (i.e. I feel mad, sad, glad, or afraid).
- You have recalcitrant anger, frozen-in-fear, dread, or despair regarding your meaning structures.
- Your former way of praying, meditating, Yoga, and sacred reading (theology), bring up for you intense emotional discomfort. You feel like you can’t use your spiritual meaning, experiences, and practices in the same way you used to.
4. Courage and Growth
Can the meaning of these new experiences, including any current problems, fit into your existing beliefs and symbols? Can you let go of existing beliefs and symbols in order to allow new ones to emerge?
You can think of this as spiritual flexibility. How willing are you to change what you believe to fit new information?
How is your courage going lately? Can you resource all the difficult things you’ve faced for your current challenges?
Are you willing to grow through your current adversity?
Without courage and growth there is no spiritual life. Pushing forward and facing the unknown, especially as it pertains to yourself (i.e. new and old aspects of your history), is some of the more challenging pieces to your spiritual health.
It requires a tenacity toward self-improvement.
Spiritually Healthy means “I’m willing to grow and to adapt in this current crisis. I see this as a challenge towards my inner greatness.”
Signs you may need improvement here:
- You feel fixed, ridgid regarding your belief system
- You can’t seem to integrate new experiences into your current meaning making process
- You feel shut down, afraid, and unable to engage your current challenge/problem.
5. Ritual and Practice
What are the rituals and practices associated with your beliefs and meaning in life? Do your life problems interrupt your current practices?
One of my favorite rituals in the morning is waking up, doing yoga, heating up some tea and doing a short centering prayer meditation.
WHen I have too much going on in life, or my children are sick all those practices get interrupted.
Our morning and evening rituals stabilize us and when we face problems these can get disrupted.
Check some signs in this area:
- You feel confused, disorganized, unstable
- You are lack consistency in your routines
- You have spiritual confusion between what you believe and what you practice (rituals and symbols)
- You feel dry (in terms of meaningful significance), with your old patterns.
6. Community
Are you part of one or more, formal or informal, communities of shared belief, meaning in life, ritual or practice? What is your style or role in these communities?
The truth is we are relational creatures. We need to socialize. We need to feel heard and belong.
Part of belonging is sharing your beliefs, values, and practices within a group who can affirm that spirituality with you.
It’s not spiritually healthy for you if it makes you more isolating, lack in belonging, and lose a sense of self in a group.
Many religious and non-religious alike, face spiritual trauma in faith communities.
Others, are doing all of their spiritual health on their own.
If there’s one major critique I have of “spirituality” or “spiritual people” is the lack of community.
Spirituality has become such a highly individual process where you can get all your needs met through a yoga or meditation app.
We need people. People need us. We complete the group by being part of the group.
Here are some signs that you may need to focus this area:
- You’ve experienced spiritual/religious trauma or spiritual abuse – when religious authorities use the divine to abuse, manipulate, or violate your emotional and physical boundaries.
- You feel isolated, lonely, and lost
- You are working without playing. You lack a sense of childlike joy.
- You lack a hobby to share with others.
- You lack that intimate connection of close friends.
7. Authority and Guidance
Where do you find authority for your beliefs, meaning in life, vocation, rituals/practices? When you face doubt, confusion, tragedy or conflict, where do you look for guidance? To what extent do you look within or without for guidance?
We all need guidance. We all need wisdom for the challenges ahead.
If we just look to ourselves for answers, then that’s mainly what we will find.
Much of Spiritual Health is waking up to what’s within and around you. Spirituality generally places its authority on internal resources. There’s much to say for that. Both Self Psychology and Client centered therapy have noted the emergence of a Self during the healing process.
This Self is confident, clear, compassionate, calm, courageous, centered, has capacity of choice, and is creative. This resource is within and witnessed to in all the major religious traditions.
Then there’s the religious authorities. Religion generally draws its authority and guidance from tradition, theological discussions throughout centuries, and authority figures. This is good for the soul too.
Since we cannot factor in every contingency life will hand us, its best to employ a mix of both the internal resources (inner strength, gut, intuition, Self) and external (books, wisdom throughout the ages, traditions, great thinkers and traditions).
When you can develop your own resources of authority and guidance you can have a stronger more resilient Spiritual Health.
You know you need help in this area when:
- You feel confused and lost intellectually with the content of what to believe
- You seem to be “hitting a wall” with your problems unable to name them or fearful to take them on.
- You’re feeling a loss of connection with your inner authority, always trusting others for making your choices for you
- You deny your internal resources (intuition and feelings) for knowledge in books, research, and mentors.
3 Phases of Spiritual Health
As you pursue your own spiritual health, you may find that you experience phases of attainment and achievement in these areas.
Ideal Spiritual Health would include optimizing all 7 of the above dimensions, it’s more likely you’ll experience each area grow in stages.
Here I found Seidi and her researchers helpful here. In her published article in Health Progress, she thought of spiritual health in 3 stages. [ref]Seidl, L.G. (1993). The value of spiritual health: Spirituality and medicine must find common ground in the new healthcare era. Health Progress, 74 (7). MSU Outreach Partnerships-CSS/SVH ZOOM Team (April 25, 2002)[/ref]
Thriving – This stage is ideal and what we aim for in life.
Safe – This is mid-range spiritual health.
At-Risk – This is low level or even spiritual illness/distress
These stages were examined through four areas. You can think of these areas as four ways to tell if you are experiencing Spiritual Health.
Balance
At the thriving level, you feel the physical, mental, and emotional are all balanced.
At the safe level, you are noticing you could have more balance. You’re off your center, too much is happening or not enough self-connection.
At the At-Risk level you feel overly dependent or too independent with your needs. You are missing that centeredness, calmness, courage, and other qualities of the Self. (put in link to previous post).
Growth
At the thriving zone, you experience reconciliation, a sense of personal effectiveness, enjoyment, appreciation of self and others. There’s a lot of acceptance of yourself and where you are at. Less critical of yourself and others. Meaning-making is quite strong here.
At the Safe zone, you sense the meaning and purpose but vaguely. You are aware that things cannot change, but don’t like it. You have the ability to find meaning but doesn’t seem to be happening as it could.
In the At Risk Zone you feel lost as to what your duties are, what your mission is, and where you are going personally. You lack the meaning and purpose you long for.
Journey
At the Thriving zone, you’re mindful of your rituals, habits, and rhythms you need to connect with the divine. You experience renewal of your experiences and emotion.
At the Safe zone, you sense occasional spiritual practice rewarding. You find community, but aren’t thriving in your role or sense of belonging.
At the At-Risk zone, you are lacking a personal practice, feel confused about where your path is and where you are going. You lack renewal and recovery. You often feel stress, drained, and alone.
Relationships
At the thriving zone, I’ve noticed (for me personally), I am able to forgive others and myself easily. I have a non-judgmental approach to myself. I have frequent mindful connections with my clients and my family. In this zone, I have felt that I have a lot to give to my relationships in service.
At the Safe zone, I feel I can nurture my relationships if I choose to, but not necessarily want to. I’m aware of the potential of connection in these relationships but don’t always have the energy to carry it out.
At the At Risk Zone, I’m seriously lacking friendships at all levels. I haven’t connected with my close friends, don’t have hobby friends, and all my needs are coming out at inappropriate places.
Putting them together: Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Health Characteristics
| Physical Health | Mental Health | Spiritual Health |
| Strength, | confidence | Faith, |
flexibility, | adaptability | Forgiveness |
| Focus | cheerfulness | Hope |
| Endurance | harmony, | Love |
| Coordination, | courage | Kindness |
| Resilience | Harmony | Connection |
| Team work | Communication skills | Higher Power [ref]Kemper, Kathi J. Complementary and Alternative Medicine Therapies to Promote Healthy Moods. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 54 (2007), 901-926.[/ref] |
Related Questions
What is a spiritual person like? A spiritual person is not “spiritual” because of how much yoga, prayer, or social justice they perform. In some ways, every person is spiritual, but may not be aware of it. What makes someone “spiritual” is their commitment to loving themselves, others, and the divine. Second a true spiritual person is not less human but more human – grounded in humility and owning their creaturely limitations.
Why is spiritual health important? Spiritual health is important because spirituality organizes your values, heals relationships, and offers meaning and purpose in your life. Spiritual Health develops meaning and purpose out of your physical and mental health goals. It also connects you with nature, the divine, your ideal Self, and with others.
I’ve spent hours reading medical articles and reviews about spiritual health. To find out more about spiritual health you love: “What is Spiritual Health and why it matters?” In this article, you’ll find out the differences between religion and spirituality, health and healing, and why your spiritual health matters. Click the article here and place a comment with your thoughts.
