Spirituality

What is spirituality?

Spirituality is how you understand your place in, and your relationship to the world around you, your family, friends, and the environment. It can be defined and expressed in a wide range of ways. This can be individual or be a shared experience through a group, an organisation, a religion, practice or a culture.

Spirituality can create a sense of wholeness, identity and wellbeing. It's about how you think and feel about life and its challenges, how you approach life, about your actions and having love for others and yourself. It's also a very personal thing - everyone expresses their spirituality differently.

How is spirituality different from religion?

Spirituality and religion aren't the same thing. When some people think about 'spirituality', they automatically assume 'religion' falls under the same category.

One way that might help you to understand the relationship between spirituality and religion is imagine a game of football. The rules, referees, other players, and field markings help guide you as you play the game in a similar way that religion might guide you to find your spirituality.

Kicking the ball around a park, without having to play on the field or with all the rules and regulations, can also give you fulfilment and fun and still expresses the essence of the game (spirituality). That's also okay - it's your choice.

Religion is one way for a person to express and experience spirituality in their lives and for others it's the way they choose to live their life.

Ways you might express spirituality

People express and experience spirituality in different ways and for different reasons. You might prefer to express spirituality through religion (e.g. Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism).

Or, you might choose to express and search for spirituality in other ways (e.g humanism, environmentalism or social action). Whatever you choose, you're asking yourself and the world around you questions about the meaning of life, or seeking connectedness with the world in which we live.

A good starting point might be to spend some time considering what's important to you, your place in relation to your friends, family and your world. Some ways you might consider doing this include:

• Creating the change you want to see in yourself or your world.
• Developing a sense of who your 'authentic' or 'true' self is and the values you want to live by.
• Taking time and space to think about what's important to you. You may do this by walking your dog or sitting in a quiet spot that you find beautiful.
• Gardening, going for a bushwalk, sitting in a park or going to the beach might help you connect with the environment and the world around you.
• Meditating and/or yoga at home or in a class.
• Reading books about alternative ways of finding spirituality in your life.

Tips

Here are more tips about how you can find what's most suitable for you:

Make decisions based on what feels right for you

With something as personal as spirituality, you want it to be meaningful and not just fashionable or seen as 'something to do'. Respecting other people's beliefs and practices is important however, it is also important for you not to feel like you have to follow someone else's beliefs if they are not something that you believe in.

Talk to others

Spirituality can be complex or confusing when you begin to think about it. When you have questions, you might feel overwhelmed or confronted - don't be afraid to talk to others. People to ask might be a trusted family member or friend, teacher, religious leader or someone that you feel comfortable with.

Listening to the experiences of others and being able to make them meaningful for your needs might help you to understand what spirituality means for you.

Keep going!

It may not seem 'cool' to express your sense of spirituality. Some people might tell you to forget it, and that it's a waste of time. But if you really believe there is something worthwhile in exploring your spirituality - then go for it! If you haven't found what you're looking for, keep searching!  Spirituality is a lifelong journey!

Acknowledgement

Thanks to NSW Transcultural Mental Health Centre and members of the Transcultural Youth Mental Health Network for preparing this factsheet.