How We Can Find Meaning, Purpose, and Joy Through Our Awakened Brain
You are literally hardwired for spirituality
In Hold the Light Episode #2, I delve into the work by Dr. Lisa Miller, author of “The Awakened Brain,” and her discovery that spirituality is not external but intrinsic to all individuals. As she says, spirituality is hardwired into our neural circuitry, with genetics accounting for 29% of our capacity for spirituality. (!) I talk about how Dr. Miller discovered that cultivating a robust spiritual life and engaging our awakened brain can lead to various benefits, such as mental well-being, connection, compassion, and personal growth.
And I suggest five practices that I feel can reinforce our awakened brain.
Take a listen or read the full transcript below. ~ xo, Laurie
How We Can Find Meaning, Purpose, and Joy Through Our Awakened Brain
“We can see our choices and the consequences of our actions through a lens of interconnectedness and shared responsibility. And we can learn to tap into a larger field of awareness that puts us in better touch with our inner resources, with one another, and with the fabric of all life.” – Dr. Lisa Miller
Let’s start with the word ‘dysthymia.’ In the book “The Awakened Brain” by Dr. Lisa Miller, Dr. Miller explains ‘dysthymia’ as “the low-grade feeling that life is unfulfilling. It feels like emptiness. Hunger. Disillusionment. Life is not what you’d hoped.”
Have you ever felt that? Or, do you feel like that … right now? As if life should feel like more: more joy, more meaning, more purpose. Like, if I just do this one thing or get to this place in my life, then I can be happy, or stress-free, or fulfilled.
If so, the question is: how to move beyond this feeling? According to Dr. Miller, it’s through cultivating a robust spiritual life.
Dr. Miller discovered something about spirituality that I had never heard before.
She says, spirituality is not something outside of us; it’s within us. That we are all universally equipped – literally hardwired – for spirituality.
This is about our capacity to consciously connect to a life force that, as she says, “moves in, through, and around us.”
So before I go into why an awakened brain is important to living a connected, expansive life, some credits: who is Dr. Lisa Miller?
Dr. Miller is a psychologist and professor in the clinical psychology program at Teachers College, Columbia University; she’s the founder and director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, which is the first Ivy League graduate program in spirituality and psychology, and she’s the New York Times bestselling author of “The Spiritual Child” and “The Awakened Brain.”
In a nutshell, she studies the connection between spirituality and mental health, from a researcher’s lens.
In her book, “The Awakened Brain,” Dr. Miller shares her research – from MRI studies to genetic research to epidemiology – on how our human capacity for spirituality is innate.
The MRI findings that she and her team discovered show that our capacity for a personal spiritual life is 29 percent heritable. Meaning one-third of our capacity for spirituality is inscribed in our genetic code, like our eye color or fingerprints. 71 percent is determined by our environment.
An awakened brain is available to all of us, it’s literally in our neural circuitry – however, as Dr. Miller says, we “have to choose to engage it. It’s a muscle we can learn to strengthen, or let atrophy.”
So, why is an awakened brain and robust spiritual life important?
Well, the MRI findings showed that the “high-spiritual brain was healthier and more robust than the low-spiritual brain. And the high-spiritual brain was thicker and stronger in exactly the same regions that weaken and wither in depressed brains.” Dr. Miller says that an awakened brain…
Appears to protect against mental suffering
Enhances our individual, societal, and global well-being
Helps us to feel more fulfilled and at home with the world
Helps us to move from loneliness and isolation to connection; from competition and division to compassion and altruism
It moves us from an entrenched focus on our wounds, problems, and losses to fascination with the journey of life
And, we begin to live beyond a splintered, fragmented view of who we are to one another, and to cultivate a way of being built on a core awareness of love, interconnection, and the guidance and surprise of life.
And when we choose to engage our awakened brain, she says that our brains “become structurally healthier and better connected, and we access unsurpassed psychological benefits: less depression, anxiety, and substance abuse; and more positive psychological traits such as grit, resilience, optimism, tenacity, and creativity.”
Can you guys imagine how helpful this would be to teach our kids? To have them connect to a spiritual life at a young age? To believe that they are connected to something greater, and that they are never alone? But of course, all of us at any age can benefit. Dr. Miller believes that the problems we have in education, leadership, social justice, the environment, and mental health are different issues of the same problem: unawakened awareness.
Here’s the good news: while the problem may originate within, the solution does, too. We all have the ability to cultivate and strengthen our spiritual lives.
Here are five things I think we can do, starting today, to reinforce our awakened brain:
Practice Meditation: Start with two minutes, five minutes … any minutes a day. There are so many meditation practices you can try, but if you just want to start today, take a moment and sit in silence. Focus on your breathing. Focus on the bird chirping outside. No judgements on how you’re doing or what thoughts or emotions float in and out of your thinking. I do Transcendental Meditation and meditations by Dr. Joe Dispenza, but I’ve also tried many other ways throughout my life such as Headspace, or meditation with Deepak Chopra, and more. Discover what works for you right now – you can always iterate upon it.
Cultivate Friendships and Relationships: Spend your time with people who elevate your life, who honor and respect your time, energy, and your authenticity. Really the people who have your back. Find those who are also on a spiritual path. A community of like-minded people on this topic will enrich your life immensely.
Embrace Self-Reflection: Tune in to yourself every day. Journal, write Morning Pages a la The Artist’s Way, sit in stillness and silence. Allow yourself to hear your inner self, your intuition. Ideally do this every morning, like after meditation, or before you go to bed each night.
Spend Time in Nature: Walk outside, surround yourself with nature, feel the sun or even the moon. Leave your podcasts and music at home and walk in silence. Listen to what’s around you. Even if you live in a city, find a park and seek out some trees!
Practice Gratitude: Write things that you are grateful for everyday. If it’s easier, find a journal that prompts you, like The Daily by Spirit Daughter. Try to make it different every day – look for the small things that bring gratitude.
As I wrap this up, I want to leave you with this quote from Dr. Miller:
“Each one of us has the ability to fully develop our innate capacity to live through an awareness of love, interconnection, and appreciation of life’s unfolding. Beyond belief, beyond a cognitive story we tell ourselves, the awakened brain is the inner lens through which we access the truest and most expansive reality: that all of life is sacred, that we never walk alone. Our brains are wired to perceive and receive that which uplifts, illuminates, and heals.”
Thanks for listening. Keep holding the light.
About Dr. Miller:
Dr. Miller is a psychologist and professor in the clinical psychology program at Teachers College, Columbia University; she’s the founder and director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, which is the first Ivy League graduate program in spirituality and psychology, and she’s the New York Times bestselling author of “The Spiritual Child” and “The Awakened Brain.” Learn more here.
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