Spirituality Resilience

We face different challenges in life. It can be a loss, work stress, health issues, or problems with relationships. While challenges are necessary for personal growth, they can break a person— spiritual resilience prevents this from happening.

Spiritual resilience helps you cope and work through life challenges. You can survive and move forward when you are sure of your why and life purpose.

In this article, you’ll learn about spiritual resilience, its importance, and ways to strengthen it.

Spirituality and Resilience

Before anything else, it’s important to have a clear grasp of spirituality and resilience first.

Spirituality is a divine feeling of wholeness. Its very essence is to find meaning beyond the restraints of the material world and the human form.

Spirituality is also subjective. Everyone can have a different definition of spirituality. For some, it is a spiritual awakening. For others, it is finding your truest self in life’s mundane activities.

When you are spiritual, you connect with the universe. You understand the cosmic world and live a life of greater joy regardless of the spiritual path you’ve chosen to walk in.

On the other hand, resilience, according to the American Psychological Association, is the process of successfully overcoming and adapting to challenging situations through emotional, behavioral, and mental flexibility.

It also pertains to how you adjust to internal and external factors that affect one’s life.

Being resilient doesn’t mean you won’t face tough situations or stress. You’ll still do, but you can overcome them no matter what.

According to Katie Hurley, resilience is not inherent as it can be learned, cultivated, and practiced. It also takes time, strength, and support from the people around you to build resilience.

Spirituality and resilience play a great role in the endurance and adaptability of individuals to life difficulties. And from spirituality and resilience comes spiritual resilience.

Spiritual Resilience

David Klaasen defined spiritual resilience as having clarity about the purpose and meaning of your life.

It is also about the meaning and purpose of your contribution to the world and how you can bring a positive change to others.

Aligning your values with your meaning and purpose is also integral to spiritual resilience.

When you are clear about these aspects of life (meaning, purpose, and values), you have a clear direction and won’t be easily swayed by the storms of life.

You know the meaning of your existence, which strengthens your resolve and ability to cope with stress and pressure.

The Importance of Spiritual Resilience

It can be hard to stay positive during difficult times. Spiritual resilience prevents you from succumbing to negative factors brought on by stress and pressure. It also lowers the risks of acquiring mental health issues.

Spiritual resilience changes your perception.

Spirituality resilience leads to a change in your worldview. You rise above daily stressors and pressure. You do not overly worry about mundane things, as your resilience helps you focus more on things that truly matter.

When you are spiritually resilient, you bring forward your courageous self. Your courage motivates you to adapt to tough situations.

You see life’s challenges as opportunities to learn and grow personally. You don’t see yourself as a victim of your circumstances.

Spiritual resilience helps lower stress levels.

According to Mayo Clinic, resilience won’t solve your problems, but it will help you overcome adversities with a positive (not toxic positivity) attitude. It can help you protect yourself from various mental health issues like depression and anxiety.

Spiritually resilient people can cope with tough life situations through positive emotions and courage.

A study conducted by Trejo et al. in May 2022 showed that people with coping capabilities, emotional intelligence, and resilience have better overall wellness and life satisfaction than those with lower resilience.

Spiritual resilience leads to happy living.

Happiness is a thread connecting spirituality and resilience. Spirituality promotes simple and happy living, while resilience indirectly builds happiness. 

Spiritual resilience uses positive emotions to help you cope with and fight stress and anxiety during adversities. It helps you see that a situation happens to you to make you stronger and not fail you in life.

When you are spiritually resilient, you appreciate life’s complexities more and the people who supported and stood by you.

Spiritual resilience leads to self-discovery.

Spiritual resilience helps you discover who you truly are when adversities bring you down, as moments of vulnerability force you to meet your real self. 

While undergoing life adversities, you will discover your inner self, strengths, and weaknesses. You become aware of how you perceive life and how you react to it.

No one can mask a tragedy; that’s why resilience uses our strongest traits to help us overcome things with a clear mind.

A clear mind provides you with new perspectives toward yourself that are not molded by external factors. 

This way, you realize your individuality and your life’s unique purpose. You become the master of your fate. 

Spiritual resilience strengthens relationships.

Spiritual resilience is never achieved alone, as you can only completely attain it through the help of the people around you.

Adversities can bring out the worst in us, which sometimes leads to miscommunications and broken relations.

When you are spiritually resilient, you can keep your emotions at bay and prevent hurting the people around you. Together, you can work things out peacefully and with great collaboration.

How to Strengthen Spiritual Resilience

According to Mayo Clinic, you can strengthen your resilience by connecting with others, making your daily life meaningful, learning from your experiences, remaining hopeful, taking care of yourself, and being proactive.

Everything takes time, and it’s important to note that building resilience is a trial-and-error process, so be patient and kind to yourself.

Connect with the people around you.

Building a meaningful connection with your loved ones and the people you deeply trust will provide you with a support system.

Establish important connections by joining or volunteering in communities that will help you enrich yourself and your capabilities.

Always find meaning in your life.

Every day, do something that makes you feel fulfilled and accomplished. Set daily tasks aligned with your short and long-term goals. You’ll see how your daily accomplishments create a sense of anticipation for the future.

Your daily accomplishments do not have to be grand; simple tasks like decluttering your space and doing your laundry are already enough.

Learn from your experiences.

The world is a great source of knowledge. Your daily experiences, the people you meet, and even yourself can teach you something about life.

Think about how you and your loved ones overcame challenges in the past. Think of the methods and coping mechanisms you did to get through tough situations. You can use them in the future or consider them a reminder that you are strong and courageous.

Consider keeping a journal to keep track of your life and see how you’ve fared well from the past up to the present.

Be proactive.

Being proactive means planning for the future while focusing on the things you can control. It also means you’re taking responsibility for yourself and your life.

Always remember that no season is eternal. The tough situations you’re in will end, and you’ll be able to recover no matter what.

Take care of yourself.

When building resiliency, you should remember to take care of yourself. You first have yourself before anyone else, and it’s important to be mindful of your well-being.

You can start planning how you can improve your overall wellness. You may participate in self-help groups, do physical activities, or involve yourself in meaningful and creative endeavors that enrich you.

Final Thoughts

Facing life challenges can break your resolve; that’s why building your spiritual resilience is important.

Spiritual resilience helps you cope and work through life challenges. You can survive and move forward when you are sure of your why and life purpose.

Forming meaningful connections with others would be best to have a  guide and support system during good and bad situations. 

You must also take care of yourself and learn from your daily experiences to be spiritually resilient.

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