Life becomes spiritual when we become intentional.

I understand spirituality as a connection to something beyond yourself that allows for a deepening of connection to Self. For me, spirituality has to do with meaning, presence, mystery, and the ways we relate to life that cannot always be neatly explained.

Spirituality is often misunderstood or assumed to be synonymous with religion, but I understand them as distinct. Religion can be spiritual, but spirituality often exists outside of religion entirely. For some, spirituality is rooted in a religious tradition. For others, it emerges through relationship, creativity, nature, and a felt sense of connection to something larger.

Spirituality can become important when you are longing for deeper connection—to yourself, to others, and to the world around you. It can offer a way of sitting with questions of meaning, suffering, purpose, and not-knowing.

I've noticed people can have strong reactions to the word "spirituality." Sometimes it evokes openness, and sometimes protectiveness or hesitation. And often, when people begin exploring their own relationship to spirituality, they find it looks and feels different than they expected. It becomes something personal, lived, and uniquely their own.

Spirit can be found in many places—nature, music, walking, meaningful connections, in slowly sipping your morning coffee and noticing the birds. It lives in the ordinary as much as it lives in the profound.

It can be tempting to turn toward spirituality for answers. But I tend to see spirituality less as a place to find certainty and more as a guide in how we relate to ourselves, to others, and even to the systems and structures we exist within.

I believe inner work that makes space for the mind-body-soul-spirit relationship can open a different kind of depth and movement in the healing process.

It is also important to distinguish spirituality from spiritual bypassing. At times, spiritual beliefs or practices can be used to move away from pain and complexity rather than toward them. A healthy spiritual relationship, in my view, does not avoid or suppress suffering; it deepens our capacity to stay present with it, process it, and make meaning from what we carry.

Spirituality makes room for mystery. For the questions that don't resolve, and the experiences that resist easy explanation. Learning to sit with not-knowing and to find something steady within it, is itself a kind of spiritual practice.

For some, a spiritual process may include deconstructing from a religion or belief system. For others, it may involve beginning a new relationship to spirituality altogether.

Spirituality is always welcome in this space if it feels meaningful to you. It can hold immense value in many people's personal journeys, while also not being essential for meaningful and fulfilling therapeutic work to happen.