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Spiritual Inventory: Exploring and Understanding Individual Spiritual and Psychological

Wellness

Anja Higashibaba

Department of Health Sciences, Purdue University Global

HW420: Creating Wellness- Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

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Spiritual Inventory: Exploring and Understanding Individual Spiritual and Psychological

Wellness

Spiritual and psychological wellness is essential for the overall wellness of the individual.

Having an in depth understanding of your own psychological and spiritual wellness is essential

in beginning and continuing growth as a human being. Through the interview of Sara, an

individual who continuously explores her mental health and spirituality, this paper will discuss

ten questions and answers that assist in the exploration of one’s psychological and spiritual state

and the importance of understanding these aspects of human existence.

Question One: What does spiritual wellness mean to you?

This introductory question is pertinent when beginning to explore psychological and

spiritual wellness. It explores the individual’s perception of and relationship to spirituality. For

example, for some, spiritual wellness could be practicing their core values, for others, it could be

their connection with a higher power or faith. Having a general idea of what your personal

spirituality means to you is a foundational steppingstone to further questions.

Sara defined spirituality as uncovering her truths- “finding what’s true for me.” For Sara, her

spiritual wellness lies not in a specific text, but rather, “what my soul came here to do”. Sara’s

approach to spirituality is centered in her soul’s purpose. Her spiritual wellness, she notices, is

ever-changing according to the present. Sara said that “even small truths are spiritual acts.”

Question Two: Where do you feel you are at in your journey with spirituality?

The first question asks the individual to conceptualize spirituality as it relates to them.

This question explores where on the spiritual “spectrum” they are in their journey of

psychological and spiritual wellness. Sara described her current state in her spiritual wellness

journey as focusing on “going back to the basics”. She talks about simplifying spirituality and
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staying present in the moment. She finds peace in the simple things like enjoying her cup of

coffee in the morning. Sara talks about how spirituality is not linear in her experience.

Question Three: What have been some recent obstacles when trying to grow mentally and

spiritually?

“Stress is an opportunity for spiritual growth, when we choose to learn from each situation.”

(Seaward, n.d.). This question initiates self-reflection of the current mental and spiritual state. It

gives an opportunity to reflect on reasons for moods, behaviors, and life decisions. Answering

this question helps to clarify the challenging parts of everyday life. It is difficult to continue

mental and spiritual growth without identifying the challenged faced.

Sara talked about several recent challenges that she has faced when it comes to disrupting

inner peace and spiritual growth. As Sara prepares for applying to a master’s programs, she feels

she is always “rushing around”. Although she feels excited to go back to school, it is also

disrupting everyday habits that keep her mental and spiritual self, grounded. Sara has a sense of

needing to prove herself and caring a lot about her status during this time. This yearning to prove

herself she says, is linked to just “not being nicer to myself”. Sara also talked about her ability to

“bury” her emotions and therefore avoid and not deal with them. She wants to get in touch with

her emotions and make sense of them in a healthy way.

Question Four: What have been some of your recent break throughs in your own personal

growth?

This question defines specifically the positive personal spiritual growth you can identify

in your own life. Often as human beings, even if we receive a hundred kind and positive

compliments, if there is just one negative comment towards us, we tend to focus exclusively on

that one, even though all the other comments were positive. Understanding the rituals, acts, texts
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or simply just being that are assisting in your spiritual development, should be at the forefront of

your spiritual journey (University of New Hampshire, n.d.).

Sara said because she has been rushing around a lot, she’s actually started to become

more intentional in the slower moments. Sara said that judging herself, is a wake-up call to be

more self-compassionate. The more compassion she offers to herself, the more she can feel it for

others. This is an incredible break through because it uncovers what Sara might call, one of her

truths: Loving herself, leads to an easier time of loving others.

Question Five: Do you feel you embody your version of spiritual wellness?

This is an important question for the individual to self-perceive. You may have all the

ideas and theories of spirituality, but are they integrated into your life? Sara answered this

question, “Yes, especially recently”. Sara has had some new beginnings in her life recently such

as new relationship. She has noticed that she’s been recognizing and shedding old patterns in

relationships and embracing fresh perspectives. Sara practices meditation and Yoga every day

and has noticed that this has assisted in grounding her and maintaining her spiritual health.

Question Six: What are some of your core values? Why are these values important to you?

These questions solidify the values that you encourage in yourself and others.

Understanding why these values are important to you, offers a glimpse into your own belief

system and holds you and the people in your life to a higher quality spiritual standard of living.

One of Sara’s key values is “honoring her truth”. Sara said that as a people pleaser, she finds

herself doing what others want or expect from her. Sara talked about doing what’s best for her

and staying true to her own journey is one of her core values. Sara also said honor, trust and love

are some values in her life. She emphasized her appreciation and desire for honesty and open
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communication within her relationships. She also mentioned silliness and laughter or joy as

something that was truly important to her.

Question Seven: Do you believe in a form of enlightenment? Is spiritual wellness

linear?

Many spiritual practices utilize this concept of “enlightenment” to describe ultimate

peace. Often the interpretations of enlightenment are defined as linear-once you are

“enlightened”, you somehow reach a form of “perfection”. Sara said that she does not believe her

spiritual journey is linear. She described enlightenment can be found in moments- the moments

that are full of peace and love. She said that these ultimate enlightening moments “come and go”.

Question Eight: What are some practices you engage in that are connected with/grow your

spiritual wellness?

Practicing spiritual acts or rituals is a common way to ground and continue to develop

your spiritual and psychological wellness. In the context of self-discipline, small, regularly

practiced rituals will assist in strengthening spiritual and psychological wellness (Sicinski, n.d.).

Finding intention in your spirituality through physical acts can improve mental health and

spiritual awakening (Geary, 2014). As mentioned previously, Sara practices meditation and Yoga

every morning. She described that for her, her spiritual, mental, and physical selves are all

interconnected. Sara said that she tries to do something physical every day. Sara surfs, practices

jujitsu, hikes and practices Aerial silks as well. She said that being physical, “clears my mind”.

Sara also like to read texts, but not from any particular religion or spiritual faith. Sara said that

for fun, she picks a book, asks a question and opens it randomly to find an answer. She laughed

when she told me it’s often surprisingly helpful and accurate. Writing poems is also a spiritual

act for Sara. She loves spending time in nature. She described it as “absorbing” what nature has
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to offer. She practices full and new moon meditations each month and spends most of her

physical activities outside.

Question Nine: Do you think your spiritual wellness is connected with your mental and

physical health?

The spiritual, mental and physical selves are all deeply connected. The spiritual-self is

most commonly, the most neglected part of the self (Seaward, n.d.). When you take care of your

physical body by nourishing it well and moving it intentionally and often, you will find that it is

easier to navigate your mental challenges. Actively growing your spirituality is another way to

intentionally heal your mental and spiritual selves (Thorp, 2019). Sara described her physical,

mental and spiritual bodies as “wrapped in one. I’m always pulling one from the other”. Balance

is very important to Sara when it comes to the unison of mind, body and spirit. As we can see,

Sara spends a lot of time balancing the spiritual, mental and physical parts of herself.

Question Ten: Where do you feel the most at peace, content and happy?

Spiritual wellness is not just about self-realizations and awakenings, it is also about

practicing joy and peace. Understanding what makes you truly happy is key to true

“enlightenment”. Sara immediately answered this question with, “My mothers arms. I feel like I

belong there. It’s where I came from and where I end.” Sara has always had a strong connection

with her mother. Sara described another place of peace and contentment as “following my heart”.

She goes back again to describe that she is a big “people pleaser”. When she is able to break free

from what others want for her and truly aligns with her own desires, she feels peace.

Summary and Observations

Sara’s psychological and spiritual practices demonstrates that she is doing well in

growing and maintaining her spiritual and mental health. Through multiple spiritual practices
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both physical and mental and her organic mindfulness, I would not subtract anything from her

current spiritual wellness. Sara already does many acts to invoke creativity and contentment in

her spiritual life.

An addition that comes to mind for Sara’s spiritual wellness, is an exploration of self-

love. When Sara talks about learning to be kinder to herself and breaking negative thought

patterns, various therapy models could be very useful for learning to practice self-love. With

close guidance from a mental health professional, Sara can participate in many forms of formal

therapy such as Internal Family Systems (IFS), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (DBT),

Humanistic Therapy among many others (Good Therapy, n.d.) Diving deep into inner healing is

not only an act of self-love, but also teaches the individual how to offer love to parts of the self

that have been neglected. This can be a life-changing contribution to spiritual and mental

wellness.

Conclusions

Taking spiritual inventory is truly essential when it comes to overall health of the human

being. Having a clear understanding of your core values, challenges and break throughs,

knowing where you are in your journey of spirituality, actively practicing spiritual rituals and

acts, learning what true happiness and content is for you, understanding how your mental and

physical selves are interconnected with the spiritual self, are all ways to explore personal

spiritual wellness. Sara’s exploration of her spiritual wellness was deep and insightful. It was

clear through our interview that growing and maintaining her spiritual wellness is an aspect in

her life that takes high priority. I will be excited to witness where her next steps to her spiritual

wellness journey take her.

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References

Geary, A. (2016, November 22). 7 ways to improve your spiritual wellness. Illinois State

University- News. https://news.illinoisstate.edu/2014/02/7-ways-improve-spiritual-

wellness/.

Good Therapy . (n.d.). Self-Love. Therapy for Self Love, Therapist for Self Love Issues.

https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/issues/self-love.

Seaward, B. (n.d.). The Ego and the soul. Retrieved from:

http://www.brianlukeseaward.com/downloads/ego_soul.pdf.

Sicinski, A. (2018).

The Complete guide on how to develop focused self-discipline. Retrieved from:

https://blog.iqmatrix.com/self-discipline

Thorp, T. (2020, November 12). Daily Practices for Spiritual, Mental, Emotional, and Physical

Well-being. Chopra. https://chopra.com/articles/daily-practices-for-spiritual-mental-

emotional-and-physical-well-being.

University of New Hampshire. (n.d.). Spiritual Wellness. University of New Hampshire-Health

& Wellness. https://www.unh.edu/health/wellnessself-care/wellness-wheel/spiritual-

wellness.
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