Growing Your Spiritual Health

Throughout economic change, progress has re-defined its shape. Today’s business uses creative marketing strategies to compete for our attention. With the advent of artificial intelligence curating a tailored experience catered to our comforts and preferences, it has become increasingly difficult to pay attention and harness focus to the tasks that truly matter.

 While we may not notice the constant wrestle, our brains are constantly overwhelmed with technology, the speed of trends, and day to day decisions. The list is endless. And, while these same advancements try to suggest to us that we can achieve anything, we all have a limited number of attentional resources.

 Focus has become a source of currency for the vendor and individual – the everyday business is competing for your attention to sell its product and an individual’s ability to focus determines their ability to be successful.

Our attentional resources, or working memory is “the retention of a small amount of information in a readily accessible form”. When our working memory is inundated with bits of information related or unrelated to the current task, it can result in cognitive overload.

We can become mentally exhausted and easily overwhelmed by the most mundane tasks. It is no surprise then when we find ourselves struggling with productivity and focus. As discouraging as these moments are, managing distractions are essential to navigating the modern environment.

Implementing self-care practices can not only help us maintain balance amid these stressors, but it will help us preserve our focus to remain competitive in today’s marketplace.

Incorporating spirituality or spiritual practices in our routine has a myriad of benefits to this daily fight for our focus. Unlike generic fitness routines geared to build a desired muscle group, everyone’s spiritual journey is personal and unique. Some incorporate tenets of a religion and others may include activities that center on movement and mindfulness.

Regardless of the method chosen, implementing a spiritual practice has been shown to result in less depression, hypertension, and overall better health. There are various spiritual practices that encourage deep contemplation like meditation, prayer, journaling, and yoga. Through these activities, we have greater clarity on who we are and where we fit in the world. We can disengage from the current demands of our lives and be fully present in a space.

There is a fullness that we can receive from ‘emptying’ ourselves out and becoming fully present to the nuanced states of our mind and body. Very seldom do we receive the opportunity to allow our minds to focus on who we are and how we feel.

Initially, these practices may prove difficult but our ability to implement restrictions on our thoughts and activities can lead to a peace that will prepare us for the day ahead. And, over time, a formidable resilience is developed, callusing our minds to the everyday distractions that would attempt to steal us away from ourselves, our relationships and our purpose. Through the discipline of these practices, we can reclaim the freedom of preserving our focus for purpose.

 If you are wondering where to start and desire to include a spiritual practice into your lifestyle, Transformative Thinking can help answer any questions and identify ways to strengthen your spiritual health.