{"id":1111,"date":"2016-07-01T10:34:33","date_gmt":"2016-07-01T10:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wellness.winonastateu.com\/?p=1111"},"modified":"2021-10-18T15:35:16","modified_gmt":"2021-10-18T15:35:16","slug":"achieving-spiritual-health-with-or-without-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/blog\/achieving-spiritual-health-with-or-without-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"Achieving Spiritual Health &#8211; With or Without Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 100%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-1111 gallery-columns-1 gallery-size-full'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1579\" height=\"1173\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/07\/prayer.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"silhouette against sunset\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/07\/prayer.jpg 1579w, https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/07\/prayer-300x223.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/07\/prayer-768x571.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/07\/prayer-1024x761.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/07\/prayer-1080x802.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1579px) 100vw, 1579px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p class=\"normal\">When people discuss spiritual health, they often center on religious ideals and beliefs. Be it about gods, prayers, or church services, it\u2019s often said that one cannot have spiritual health without being involved in a religion. I\u2019m here to say that\u2019s not the case. Spiritual health is something that everyone can achieve, with or without religion. Simply put, spiritual health is all about yourself and the life you choose to live.<\/p>\n<p>For much of my life, I was in between religions. Raised Lutheran, I became disenchanted with some of the ideals the church supported. I wandered and studied for several years before finally coming upon Zen Buddhism in my freshman year of college. The thing I realized in my many studies is that spirituality is not inherently about praising a deity or regularly attending a church. While those things do help many people, not everyone will be religious. And that\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n<p class=\"normal\">Spirituality is, in a way, the most human aspect of each and every person. A person\u2019s spirituality can stem from a number of sources, and not just what they are taught in Sunday School. It\u2019s about connecting with the people around you and seeing who they are, what they do, and who they can be. It\u2019s about forming bonds with not only you friends, but those who may not always be in your favor. It\u2019s about love, not romantic love, but the love of life and where you are.<\/p>\n<p class=\"normal\">Some people pray every day to connect with their spiritual side. Some meditate. Some read scientific texts. Every one of these options is just as good as any other. It\u2019s important to see life as a journey, and one with its ups and downs. And everyone is on that same journey. While they may take others paths, everyone is headed to the same place in the end. During this journey, you will make many choices, and pursue many different beliefs. While you may follow a religion, religion is not necessary to have spiritual health. When you find that reason for your existence, spirituality will come.<\/p>\n<p class=\"normal\">More than anything, spiritual health is the connection to something bigger than you. Whether it\u2019s God, the trees, the stars, your friends, or the world you live in that leads you to feel connected, what matters is to feel that you are a part of something and able to contribute to something better. We all have a strong connection to this planet, and will likely never see another. It\u2019s the bonds and beliefs you form throughout your life that form your own unique spirituality. And that\u2019s the most important aspect. It\u2019s your spirituality, not anyone else\u2019s. Everyone\u2019s beliefs will differ. It\u2019s the journey, which formed those beliefs that make us who we are, and we should be proud of them. So embrace them. Embrace your life, embrace your thoughts, and embrace your own unique view of the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Winona State University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":2810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[512,509,1,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social","category-spiritual","category-wellness-blog","category-winona"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/07\/spiritual-wellness-300p.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PQJv-hV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1111"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4643,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111\/revisions\/4643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/wellness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}