Spirituality can be a confusing concept.  Is it the same as religion?  Is it the same for everyone?

Rev. Mary Martha Thiel, Director of Clinical Pastoral Education at Hebrew SeniorLife in Boston, MA, clarifies the definition of spirituality and provides questions to help us identify our own spiritual resources.  Having these resources at hand can be life-giving, whether we face our own or a loved one's serious illness, or simply life's usual challenges... 

Open almost any health-related magazine these days and you will find an article on spirituality.  But what is it really?  And more importantly, what is your spirituality?  Identifying and drawing on your unique spiritual resources can be life-giving as you face cancer or support a loved one facing cancer.

Spirituality is a personal search for meaning and purpose in life and a relationship to something greater than oneself.  This ‘something greater’ can be many things.  For many people, it is God. For most people, it includes family.  For some people, it includes nature, or one’s country, ethnicity, club or profession.  Whatever it is, it is personally meaningful, and greater than you as an individual person.  

So spirituality is about relationship to ‘something greater’ that give your particular life meaning.  Your spirituality is unique to you.

To identify some of your spiritual resources, ask yourself the following questions:

Who do I love?  Who loves me?   

Consider God, family members, friends, teachers, students, and pets.  Your answers to these questions are spiritual resources.  What can you do to strengthen your relationships with them: visit, write, call, pray?

Who do I trust?  Who trusts me?

These are spiritual resources.  What wisdom do your guides have for you, and what will you do to access it?  What wisdom do you want to leave for those who trust in you, and how will you communicate it?

What do I hope for?

These tell you about what you find meaningful, pointing to spiritual resources.  What is a step you can take to work toward each hope?

When do I feel most connected to others?

Again, these are spiritual resources.  They could include places (the ocean, the mountains, a special chair) or activities (reading, singing, dancing, working, worshipping, writing, praying, having a heart to heart conversation, volunteering).  Which ones can you build into your calendar even today?

In what activities do I lose myself in an experience of joy or meaning or peacefulness?

Again, these are spiritual resources.  Which ones do you want to build into this period of your life?

The invitation is to go with the flow of your own spirituality.  Let go of how others are spiritual or think you should be spiritual.  Take stock of your own connections, resources, and joys.  Nurture them.  One step is better than none.  Strengthening your own spirituality may be one of the surprising gifts of this chapter of your life.

Rev. Mary Martha Thiel is Director of Clinical Pastoral Education at Hebrew SeniorLife (www.hebrewrehab.com ) in Boston, MA.  Her expertise lies in program start-up, interfaith chaplaincy, and pastoral care at end of life.  Also, thanks to the Pink Ribbon Project (www.pinkribbons.org) for allowing WomenBloom to reprint this article.

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