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UNDERSTANDING SPIRITUAL HEALTH AND GROWTH

Understanding Spiritual Health and Growth

Michael A. Salcedo

Purdue University Global

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UNDERSTANDING SPIRITUAL HEALTH AND GROWTH
Understanding Spiritual Health and Growth

Understanding spirituality can be just as difficult as making the decision to grow and

develop our spiritual health. It is a subjective dimension of wellness that has no one right way to

go about it in terms of developing and growing. Before making the decision to improve our

spirituality, we must first make an attempt to understand it and the benefits it provides.

Psychologytoday.com (2013) suggests that “Spiritual people are gracious, optimistic,

compassionate, and self-actualized.” Understanding this can give us a deeper appreciation of the

concept, as these are all traits that can benefit us in some way.

Additionally, we must also take an introspective look at ourselves and understand how

healthy we are spiritually. This takes an extreme amount of focus to listen to and be truthful with

ourselves in order to gauge our spiritual health. Another way to determine a person’s current

state of spiritual wellness is to ask them questions. Bhardwaj (2017) writes “Questions are an

important part of life and the spiritual journey as well” and moves on to say that “If you consider

yourself to be on a spiritual path, you must be having conversations with your soul already.” The

following ten questions are designed in a way that prompts the interviewee to look at themselves

to help a practitioner better understand and determine their spiritual health. As the questions

further along they should ultimately provide us the necessary information needed to determine

their spiritual health.

The first question is “What does spirituality/spiritual health mean to you?” This is a

baseline question as it allows the person to brainstorm in order to provide a clear understanding

of how they perceive the concept of spirituality. The second question is “What impact does your

spiritual health have on those around you?”. This questioned is designed to have the person

analyze their current state of spirituality and think about how it may affect the people around
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UNDERSTANDING SPIRITUAL HEALTH AND GROWTH
them both at home and in their workplace. This should also get them to start to believe how

spirituality, or the lack thereof, can impact people in a positive or negative way. The third

question is “How would you describe your spiritual health?” Although this is only the third

question, by now the person has had the time to think about the idea and how it relates to those

around them based off of the first two questions. This should give them a general idea of how

they view their own spirituality and spiritual health, which allows us to ask the question up front.

The fourth question is “What experiences have most shaped your spirituality?” This helps

continue down the journey of the persons spirituality to further understand the certain beliefs,

morals, and values they hold true that affects their spiritual health. The fifth question is “Do you

have spiritual beliefs that help you cope with stress?” Again, this helps to further understand how

they think and may also provide insight on their possible education and knowledge of the topic if

they engage in spiritual activities such as meditation. The sixth question is “What gives your life

meaning or purpose?” I chose this question because the answer may differ from person to person.

If we truly understand the definition of spirituality as a “connection to something bigger than

ourselves” or a “search for meaning in life” then clearly understanding what gives purpose to a

person will help in achieving this. (University of Minnesota, 2016). The seventh question is

“Where does your happiness derive from?” At this point in the questionnaire I as a practitioner,

am trying to get the member to understand the deeper meaning behind spirituality and how it

affects us. Through these questions I am aiming to get the member to think introspectively in

order to connect the dots between spirituality and connecting to a higher power bigger than

ourselves, whatever that may be for them. To continue down this line of thinking, question

number eight is “How do you believe spirituality affects other aspects or dimensions of health

(physical, emotional, psychological, etc.)?” This shifts the focus back to the person to understand
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UNDERSTANDING SPIRITUAL HEALTH AND GROWTH
and analyze how their spiritual health, or lack thereof, may have an impact on other areas of their

overall health, both positive and negative. The ninth question is “How deeply are you connected

to your heart and soul?” This is to try and assess the persons mind-body-spirit connection in

order to enhance their spiritual health. Lastly, I finish the questionnaire with “In what ways could

you develop your spirituality?” This shifts the focus back to the member and how they view their

spiritual health to continue to understand how they think. It also gives them a sense of

empowerment and encouragement in providing different ways they believe they can develop

their own spiritual health.

To better understand how effective these questions would be, I used them to conduct an

interview with my wife. Overall, the result was what I expected. I felt I was able to get her to

ponder on the idea of spiritual health and come to determine her own spiritual health status. The

interview sparked good conversation on the topic of spirituality and how each person

understands it differently. The introspective questions led her to come to the determination that

her spiritual health is not where it should be at, and that there is certainly more potential for

growth and development. Personally, I felt that some of the questions may have been a bit too

deep for a first-time encounter and/or interview. I decided to add a few more questions that

broadened the scope of questioning, but still kept the overall focus on spirituality and spiritual

health. These questions were “How do you believe society and/or the world views spirituality?”,

“How do you feel psychology relates to spirituality?”, and lastly “How does spirituality help us

develop and grow?” I chose these questions to be added or substituted in lieu of some of the

deeper questions depending on the person. The first questions may be great for someone who is

in good or great spiritual health, as they may be more inclined to be in touch with their deeper

side emotionally and psychologically. However, those who are new or have little knowledge on
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UNDERSTANDING SPIRITUAL HEALTH AND GROWTH
the topic may not understand the scope of the deeper questions and may be intimidated to

answer.

In conclusion, we must take a unbiased, open-minded approach to spirituality as a

dimension of wellness. We must learn how to understand its meaning and the benefits it provides

to us. The sooner we can do this, the quicker we can begin our journeys to develop and enhance

our spirituality. As practitioners, we must learn how to help people along their journey by

conducting an “inventory” in order to gauge and determine their spiritual health, making

suggestions for adjustments as we see fit. In doing this we can teach those around us to embrace

the benefits of spirituality in order to develop ourselves and grow, find our connection to

something bigger than us, and ultimately enhance our overall health and wellness.
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UNDERSTANDING SPIRITUAL HEALTH AND GROWTH
References

Bhardwaj, C. (2017, December 6). 21 questions for a spiritual seeker. Retrieved from

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/21-questions-for-a-spirit_b_5276120?

guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer

_sig=AQAAADs9VfodZKaRHUH4f04wXLsUskMd0h1jcIckfF1UXZ1kiTo8GG8Olgqs

NJSJDQ3VSwy_2T-

VaYxNQdzsYdMQjjY5o0V8m8Ft1bpCXg1i5PrkbwcQySvtzt3CUgQkZC22xywN3y6L

eQB8Nthd21uIwo1QHnHJ-YDtXunAZ4XBWCIC

Psychologytoday.com. (2013, February 27). Why be spiritual? Five benefits of spirituality.

Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cant-buy-

happiness/201302/why-be-spiritual-five-benefits-spirituality

University of Minnesota. (2016). What is spirituality? Retrieved from

https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/what-spirituality

Saguil, A., & Phelps, K. (2012, September 15). The spiritual assessment. Retrieved from

https://www.aafp.org/afp/2012/0915/p546.html