Spiritual Wellness Is An Important Part Of Your Overall Wellness
What is Spiritual Wellness? Spiritual wellness is beyond the wellness of the body and the mind. It is about living with faith, hope and trust.
It is about turning to spirituality and realizing the truth. It is about realizing that God is not who we think God is, but a Power, a Power that is Supreme and Immortal. It is about realizing who we are, and what the purpose of life is.
The body, mind, and Soul appear as a human being that is alive on earth. What do we all seek? We seek happiness and peace, and this reflects in our desire for wellness. However, unless we experience spiritual wellness, it is difficult to be truly peaceful or happy. Spiritual wellness is an important part of our overall wellness because spiritual wellness is true wellness.
The first step towards spiritual wellness is to realize our true self. Are we this body that will die one day? When the body dies, people will say that we passed away. The body is burnt or buried. It turns to dust. Who passes away? Thus, we realize that we are not the body. Ironically, we pay so much attention to making our body beautiful, that we forget to focus on spiritual wellness. While it is important to eat healthy and to exercise, there is much more to physical wellbeing than fitness and looking good. In fact, Yoga, which is commonly used as a synonym for physical exercises, is actually a spiritual term that comes from the word Yuj, which means to be ‘in union with God’.
If we are not the body, are we the mind? Unlike the popular belief that the mind is king, the mind is actually our enemy. It constantly bombards us with thoughts, creating fear, stress, and anxiety. We must tame the ‘monkey mind’ and make it still by observing it. We must stop it from jumping from thought to thought. So, how can we tame the monkey mind? If we look at the word MONKEY, it has a tail, the EY. We have to cut the EY. The EY is Ever-Yelling and Ever-Yearning. When we tame the monkey mind, when we cut its tail, it becomes a MONK. Then, we achieve peace of mind. Otherwise, the mind itself robs us of our peace.
However, if we go a step further, we realize that the mind is an illusion; it is just a bundle of thoughts. Where is the mind? We know where the brain is, where the heart is, where the lungs are. But has anyone seen the mind? No. The mind doesn’t exist. Therefore, neither are we the body, nor the mind that we can’t find. Then who are we? We are 'That,' the power within. We are the Soul, the Spirit, the Atman.
The purpose of life, our goal, is to realize we are the Soul. The realization of the truth creates true wellness. We realize we are not the body and mind and therefore, are free from the pain and misery that comes with it. The realization of the truth not only liberates us from all suffering while we are alive, but also from the Karmic cycle of death and rebirth. We realize that this world is a cosmic drama; that we are actors that come and go. We start looking at the world just as we would view a movie or a play. We do not get disturbed about things happening around us. We live with acceptance, and surrender to the 'Divine Will'.
Silence is food for the Soul. The spiritual bliss of the Soul is experienced through silence. Silence leads to awareness, consciousness, what the Buddhists call mindfulness. And it is in this state of consciousness of the truth, that we experience true bliss; SatChitAnanda.
If there is wellness of the body and mind, our life will of course be qualitatively better. All that is toxic will be eliminated. We will live with positivity. But despite that, we would not have discovered spiritual wellness, and therefore, true wellness. It is time to realize that wellness, true wellness, in everyday life, is about spiritual wellness.
