Have you ever grappled with depression, anxiety, or other mental health challenges? Or, maybe you know someone who has? If so, welcome to the club.
Recent reports from The Gallup Organization and the World Health Organization reveal that depression rates have reached unprecedented levels.
As someone who has personally battled clinical depression and anxiety, I understand the struggle. My family history of mental health conditions has given me firsthand experience with the complexities of emotional pain.
Many individuals facing depression or anxiety also contend with related issues like eating disorders or substance abuse.
Standard treatments for mental health issues don't always yield the desired results. Some people find themselves overmedicated, overanalyzed, and alone.
Conventional therapies often focus on delving into our pain, understanding it, and then reconstructing our beliefs and thoughts. While this approach can be beneficial, it's frequently insufficient.
A Paradigm Shift: Depression as a Spiritual Journey
I found another possibility from Dr. Lisa Miller, New York Times bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and professor of psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Her groundbreaking research offers a fresh perspective on depression and mental health:
- Depression may be a natural part of human growth, emerging during specific life stages and transitions.
- It could be a call to engage with higher consciousness.
- We all possess an innate biological capacity for spirituality—a direct connection with a higher power—that can shield us against stress, depression, and addiction.
New Scientific Understanding
Dr. Miller's book, The Awakened Brain, presents a fascinating concept:
The same piece of our genetic wiring carries both the risk of depression and the capacity to be spiritually aware. Depression and spirituality are really opposite sides of the same coin. The condition we pathologize and diagnose as depression is sometimes spiritual hunger — a normal and genetically derived part of human development that is unhealthy to muffle or deny.
— Lisa Miller, Ph.D. —
Our brains are naturally drawn towards spirituality and become more resilient when awakened, leading to more meaningful and contented lives.
This awakening, however, isn't a simple on-off switch. It's a complex interplay of how we perceive and interact with the world around us.
Dr. Miller's research delves into the neuroscience behind this spiritual capacity, exploring how our brains process information, respond to our environment and connect with something greater than ourselves.
To understand this better, here are three key aspects of her findings:
Two Types of Attention: Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up
Miller identifies two types of attention:
- Top-down attention: We scan our environment based on pre-existing ideas, which keeps us focused but limits our perception.
- Bottom-up attention: More open and less selective, allowing us to perceive things we might not have been looking for.
Spirituality activates the brain's ventral attention network, enabling us to transcend conscious control (top-down) and perceive beyond the surface (bottom-up.)
The Awakened Mind vs. The Achieving Mind
Miller's research shows two modes of awareness that see the world, and our place in it, very differently.
- The achieving mind: Activated by stress, it emphasizes control and organization, asking, "How can I get and keep what I want?"
- The awakened mind: Triggered by spiritual experiences, it shows us our connection with others, nature, and greater unity.
Spiritual experiences temporarily disable your achieving mind and activate your awakened mind.
The Science of Interconnectedness
Fascinating studies on brain-to-brain synchronization have shown:
- Interbrain resonance in high-amplitude alpha waves, similar to those generated by meditating monks and individuals who have recovered from depression through spirituality.
- These alpha wavelengths are found throughout nature, including in the earth's electromagnetic field.
This interconnectedness may explain why being in nature has such a profound healing effect.
According to Miller's research, the relational nature of spirituality is closely linked to cortical thickening in the brain, providing a defense against depression.
Divine love and human love are connected. The awakened brain can see its connection to all life and its source.
Cultivating Your Spiritual Capacity
In case you could use some ideas, here are a few suggestions to awaken your brain and tap into your innate spirituality:
- Practice meditation
- Notice and process life's synchronicities
- Spend time in nature
- Engage in quiet solitude
- Journal your thoughts and feelings
- Read spiritual texts
- Attend spiritual services and classes
Consistent daily effort will help you develop the ideal blend of spiritual practices for you.
The Power of Choice
Many years ago, when I finally understood that I could have a direct relationship with higher consciousness, I started carving out more time for spiritual practice.
Journaling, quiet solitude, meditation, reading spiritual texts, and being immersed in wild nature — these practices heal and comfort me and make me feel held in what I now call Holy Love.
Dr. Miller's research demonstrates that we all possess the gift of awakened awareness. By choosing to live with an awakened brain, balancing both achieving and awakened modes, we can unlock our full potential and perception of life.
As Miller writes: "Our individual health and flourishing depend on our choice to awaken. So do the health and flourishing of our schools, workplaces, governments — and the planet."
By embracing this new understanding of spirituality and mental health, we open ourselves to a more holistic approach to wellbeing and a deeper connection with the world around us.
Read: The Awakened Brain | Bookshop
Watch: The Neuroscience of Natural Spirituality | A beautiful 9-minute video on YouTube
Listen: The Surprising Science of Spirituality | Good Life Project Podcast
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ADVICE AND INSPIRATION FOR FEELING FULLY ALIVE
The State of Spirituality in America
Last week, CBS Mornings launched a new series entitled "The State of Spirituality." Journalist Lisa Ling examines the rising number of Americans leaving organized religion, with 70% still identifying as "spiritual."
I've always enjoyed Lisa Ling's work; in this first segment (7 minutes), she speaks with Dr. Lisa Miller, author of The Awakened Brain.
The State of Spirituality in America | YouTube
What Makes Us Proud to Be Human?
The creators of digital media company Upworthy and authors of the new book Good People have built a community on the internet rooted in decency, compassion, and kindness.
"The truth is that we believe in humanity. And we also believe that we'll have a better chance of solving the very real problems of our time if we feel elevated, energized, motivated, and if we move through the world with the sense that we're part of something meaningful, important, and worth protecting."
To that, I say, "Yes, please!"
5 Reasons to Believe in Humanity | Sunday Paper
Is This Relationship Worth It?
Midlife can be a turning point in relationships, experts say, a time when many couples emerge from the daily grind of building careers and a family, and find that they’re in a union they no longer fully recognize.
Therapists and relationship researchers share six questions that can bring couples closer during this stage.
The Midlife Marriage Tuneup | New York Times (Gift Article)
Secrets of an 82-Year-Old Half-Marathoner
Ten years ago, Wilma King was diagnosed with pericarditis (chest pain and irritation of the tissue surrounding the heart), pleurisy, and a valve problem.
Now 82, she's completed the annual Rock 'n' Roll Washington DC half-marathon every year since and has no plans to stop any time soon. Here's how she got from there to here:
Gen Xer Kate Winslet on Life Lessons and Getting Older
She may be a world-famous, Oscar-winning actress, but Kate Winslet is as refreshingly down to earth as everyone says she is.
In this interview, she shares her style, career, and confidence learnings—and how women get more beautiful as they get older.
Life Lessons with Kate Winslet | Harper's Bazaar UK
Little Bits of Light
Words to open your heart and SOOTHE YOUR SOUL
Photos by: Linda Wattier
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