Spiritual wellness is an integral part of overall wellness. It is about finding your place in the universe–the quest for meaning, value and purpose resulting in hope, joy, courage and gratitude. Spiritual Wellness is the evaluation of personal beliefs.

Today leadership is the most sought after talent by Organizations. The leadership qualities of people in organizations differentiate a ‘Good’ leader from a ‘not-so good’ leader and thus a ‘Good’ Organization from a ‘not-good’ organization. Good leadership originates from your attitude, which is closely intertwined with your level of Spiritual Wellness.

Your “spirit” usually refers to the deepest part of you that allows you to gain strength and hope. Your spirit provides you with a revealing sense of who you are, why you are here and what your purpose for living is. You need to realize that there is abundance of peace, power and purity within each of us. Spirituality is the process of tapping into this ocean of peace, power and purity to gain feelings of joy, hope, courage, comfort, gratitude and the likes, thereby finding inner peace in our life.

If you are not at peace with yourself, you can’t be an effective leader.  Superior leadership requires considerable amount of inner energy, which is the power to pursue your purpose and goals despite the most difficult of obstacles.

If you are engaged in the process of spiritual wellness, you are willing and able to rise above yourself and develop a set of values that help you seek meaning and purpose in your life and the lives of others. Your religious faith, values, beliefs, principles and morals define your spirituality. Your personal relationships with others will evolve. When the level of spiritual wellness goes up; the level of kindness goes up; the level of compassion goes up; the ability to unconditionally forgive goes up, the level of bad ego comes down. You enjoy your spiritual health by having compassion, increased capacity for love and forgiveness, selflessness, joy, and fulfilment.

You can develop your spiritual wellness through Mindfulness-Based Practices i.e. live in the present i.e. keep your mind and body together and do what matters most in life. Here I want state a quote from the Dalai Lama, and it really captures the importance of living in the present.  He said, “The motivations of man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money, then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health, and then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he neither lives in the present nor the future, rather he lives as if he is never going to die and then eventually he dies, having never really lived.”

Our natural tendency is to behave mindlessly or think in a mindless manner. Mindlessness is about being stuck in the past and future. You’re not in the present moment. Acting in a mindless manner, we can really miss what’s most important to us and right in front of our faces, and actually engage in behaviours that we later regret.

 

Numerous research studies have shown that spiritual wellness also helps in stress reduction and increases our awareness so we can do things that are most effective. It actually empowers us to do things that are healthy and actually lead to more effective responses. When we enhance our awareness of what’s happening inside us, we are empowered to make better decisions moving forward– about our lives, how we interact with others, and how we may solve difficult or challenging situations. And when we engage in these types of behaviours through increased awareness, we actually promote our well being. Not only our psychological well-being but also our physical well-being.

 

Evaluate your own spiritual wellness by asking yourself the following questions.

• Do you make time for relaxation every day?
• Do you make time for meditation and/or prayer?
• Are your decisions and actions guided by your values?
• Are you tolerant towards other people’s opinions, criticism?
• Can you unconditionally forgive others?

If you answered “No” to any of the questions, it may indicate an area where you need to improve the state of your spiritual wellness. How? That is a separate subject and would be covered in one the future blogs.

About Sudhir: After 24+ years in the corporate world handling Country Leadership roles with P&L responsibilities, Sudhir has started as an entrepreneur venture in the space of sales consultancy & training. With the growing need for the right healthcare and wellness programs in India, Sudhir has joined a team of ethical medical practitioners to make a difference in the way healthcare is managed and delivered in India.