Being a psychology student, made me thinking why is it nowadays that everyone seemed overworked and stressed? Why is everyone acting like a humanoid and not like an actual human being? Why everyone is chasing something or the other? Why everyone is competing with each other? So I started to delve myself into finding some answers for it, if not answers then at least some strategy to cope with it!
As a University Counselor, many students come up to me to help them overcome with issues they are facing and at times it leaves me amazed to see how some of them are finding it difficult to even deal with trivial issues (issues which I cannot mention due to the protocol of being a psychologist).
Interestingly from a very young age, I was always inclined and fascinated towards the idea of spirituality and this made me thinking how can I incorporate spirituality into my counseling sessions and help my clients cope with their issues. And voila! It worked wonders.
Now you might think I am going to bore you with all ideas of religion, philosophy and what not. Well not exactly. Because Spirituality is a broad concept with room for many perspectives. In general, it includes a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, and it typically involves a search for meaning in life. As such, it is a universal human experience, something that touches us all. People may describe a spiritual experience as sacred or transcendent or simply a deep sense of aliveness and interconnectedness. After a lot of research and brainstorming, Spirituality came as a refreshing idea for me to infuse in our mundane lives.
Spirituality means something different to everyone. For some, it’s about participating in organized religion: going to temple, church, synagogue, a mosque, and so on. For others, it’s more personal: Some people get in touch with their spiritual side through private prayer, yoga, meditation, quiet reflection, art, listening to music, writing poetry, reading or even long walks.
Spirituality may refer to almost any kind of meaningful activity, personal growth, or blissful experience.
After my researches and interacting with a lot of people who practices spirituality, I came to the conclusion spirituality in students plays a great role in facilitating the development of students’ positive qualities.
It is all researchers’ shared belief that spirituality provides a powerful argument for the proposition that higher education should attend more to students’ spiritual development, because spirituality is essential to students’ lives.
Assisting students’ spiritual growth will help create a new generation who are more caring, more globally aware, and more committed to social justice than previous generations, while also enabling students to respond to the many stresses and tensions of our rapidly changing technological society with a greater sense of equanimity.
Moreover, educational experiences and practices that promote spiritual development by exposing students to diverse people, cultures, and ideas through cross cultural studies, interdisciplinary coursework, service learning and other forms of civic engagement helps students value multiple perspectives as they confront the complex social, economic, and political problems of our time.
Meditation, contemplation and self-reflection are among the most powerful tools for enhancing and promoting students’ spiritual development.
Providing students with more opportunities to connect with their “inner selves” facilitates growth in their academic and leadership skills, contributes to their intellectual self-confidence and psychological well-being, and enhances their satisfaction with life.
Students become more spiritual and that growth is linked to a number of positive academic and personal outcomes.
Here, I use the term spirituality broadly, to mean people’s inner, subjective lives.
Helping students develop personal values and enhancing students’ self-understanding and efforts fit the concept of spirituality I want to convey.
“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from our own actions.” – Dalai Lama
One of the great gifts of spiritual knowledge is that it realigns your sense of self to something you may not have even ever imagined was within you.
Spirituality has become a powerful tool in my life that keeps me away from all the negative vibes around me. It has also helped me overcome many difficulties. I hope it works wonders for you as well.
All the Best for your future endeavors!
Allow yourself to be filled with inspiration, which also translates into love, joy, wisdom, peacefulness, and service.
