What does it mean to have spiritual wellness? What does a spiritual person look like? For many of us, what springs to mind is an image of someone unlike ourselves. Perhaps we’ll visualize a monk or nun, or iconic figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Oprah, Gandhi, or Mother Teresa.
It’s easy to think of people who have done a great deal of visible good in the world as spiritual … but do we think to look in the mirror?
Spiritual Wellness Definition
Spiritual Wellness is a personal matter involving values and beliefs that provide a purpose in our lives, according to the well-respected UC-Riverside.
The National Wellness Institute says spiritual wellness follows the following tenets:
- It is better to ponder the meaning of life for ourselves and to be tolerant of the beliefs of others than to close our minds and become intolerant.
- It is better to live each day in a way that is consistent with our values and beliefs than to do otherwise and feel untrue to ourselves.
The path to spiritual wellness may involve meditation, prayer, affirmations, or specific spiritual practices that support your connection to a higher power or belief system. Yoga and meditation can also help you develop spiritual wellness.
Having compassion, the capacity for love and forgiveness, altruism, joy, and fulfillment help you enjoy your spiritual health. Your religious faith, values, beliefs, principles, and morals define your spirituality.
Spiritual Wellness Within Ourselves
Do we consider the ways in which we ourselves are spiritual people?
Considering this possibility represents a powerful paradigm shift. So often, we believe that we must be different and better in order to qualify as “spiritual”.
But as Elizabeth Gilbert wrote in her spiritual memoir Eat, Pray, Love:
“God dwells within you as you yourself, exactly the way you are …. God isn’t interested in watching you enact some performance of personality in order to comply with some crackpot notion of how a spiritual person looks or behaves.”
Your spiritual journey won’t look exactly like anyone else’s … it isn’t supposed to! Rather, it will be unique just as you are unique.
That said, you can learn a great deal by reading others’ accounts of their journeys and the wisdom they’ve gained along the way.
Spiritual Wellness Bloggers We Love and Respect
Here's our list of the top 24 spiritual wellness bloggers, in no particular order, to inspire and encourage you in your spiritual path.
1. Louise Hay
Louise Hay is an internationally-lauded author and speaker who focuses on how positive philosophies and affirmations can help people to heal their lives. She began her healing work by speaking in church, and later chronicled how she healed her physical body from cancer through emotional work, nutritional support, and therapy.
2. Lori Deschene
Lori Deschene is the founder of Tiny Buddha, a popular online community devoted to “reflecting on simple wisdom and learning new ways to apply it to our complex lives”. The site features guest posts from individuals all across the world to help readers cultivate happiness in their own lives.
3. Leo Babauta
Leo Babauta of Zen Habits was among the first personal development bloggers on the web. He writes about minimalism and the concrete, real-world habits that promote happiness; recent posts include essays on mindful walking and eating. He emphasizes clearing the clutter to allow for a greater focus on what matters most.
4. Ilchi Lee
Ilchi Lee of Change Your Energy writes about unleashing positive transformations for the mind, body, and soul. He offers various courses, videos, and products designed to increase your energy and thus improve your quality of life.
5. Marianne Williamson
Marianne Williamson is an acclaimed, bestselling author and speaker who penned the much-beloved, oft-quoted paragraph that begins: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…” She writes about the spiritual journey from suffering to enlightenment.
6. Mary DeTurris Poust
Mary DeTurris Poust of Not Strictly Spiritual is a Catholic writer, speaker, blogger, and communications consultant who writes about finding the Divine in the everyday, healing from grief, developing spiritual friendships, and more.
7. Luminita Saviuc
Luminita Saviuc of Purpose Fairy writes about the intersection of personal development, spirituality, and psychology; her work focuses on cultivating happiness as a skill and “shining light on life’s hidden truths.”
8. Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra is a well-known spiritual teacher, author, and alternative medicine advocate. He writes about holistic healing techniques such as meditation, yoga, and consciousness. He also founded the Chopra Foundation, which is “dedicated to improving health and well-being, cultivating spiritual knowledge, expanding consciousness, and promoting world peace to all members of the human family.”
9. Bodhipaksa
Bodhipaksa (birth name: Graeme Stephen) is the creator of WildMind, a blog centered around Buddhist meditation. The name “Wildmind” is a reference to the mental chaos of thought that one learns to still during meditation. The site also evokes a return to nature and a wilder state of being, and it’s helpful for those seeking to learn and deepen their meditation practice.
10. Lisa Erickson
Lisa Erickson at Mommy Mystic writes about chakra-based meditation and energy work; topics include embracing your feminine power and healing the subtle body from sexual abuse and trauma.
11. Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual teacher with an emphasis on awakening to your life’s purpose. He’s the author of the internationally bestselling books The Power of Now and A New Earth, which have helped millions of people to gain greater fulfillment and peace as they shift their consciousness and let go of ego-based thinking.
12. Danielle LaPorte
Danielle LaPorte is a popular speaker and author whose work helps readers practice self-compassion and bring their dreams to fruition. Her recent book The Desire Map was designed to connect people with their core desired feelings and write goals from that standpoint.
13. Jim Tolles
Jim Tolles of Spiritual Awakening Process is a healer and spiritual teacher who writes about healing traumas, opening the heart, and finding and releasing the root cause of issues and upset.
14. Sarah Lawrence Hinson
Sarah Lawrence Hinson (also known as Mom on a Spiritual Journey) blogs about intuition, alternative health, and modern spiritual practice. Her site features information about energetic sensitivity, homeopathy, essential oils, and more.
15. Frederic Brussat
Frederic Brussat of Spirituality and Practice provides resources for people on their spiritual journeys. The website is multifaith and inclusive, with a mission to serve people of all the world's religions and spiritual paths and those with no tradition too.
16. Spirituality & Health Magazine
Spirituality & Health Magazine offers content on a wide scope of topics from a number of authors; categories include faith, religion, and Eastern philosophy, as well as nutrition, holistic medicine, and social justice.
17. Dr. Wayne Dyer
Dr. Wayne Dyer passed away in 2015, but his healing legacy lives on through his website, which offers readers help transforming their habits, using affirmations, and manifesting their desires. This renowned speaker and writer left behind a library of books on motivation, self-improvement, and living from the Highest Self.
18. Krista Tippett
Krista Tippett is the host of On Being, NPR’s award-winning broadcast about what it means to be human. It’s perfect for those who are seeking meaning beyond the easy answers. As the show’s website notes, “We pursue wisdom and moral imagination as much as knowledge; we esteem nuance and poetry as much as fact.”
19. Teal Swan
Teal Swan is a spiritual leader with a focus in Metaphysics; specifically, Teal uses her extrasensory abilities to empower others to find their personal purpose and happiness. Her recent writings delve into the concept of authenticity, helping readers to stop pretending and be real.
20. Kimberley Jones
Kimberley Jones calls herself a midwife for modern mystics, and her work focuses on helping to bring the Divine Feminine energy into this world. She also works to raise awareness around the concept of the spiritual crisis or spiritual emergency.
21. Jodi Chapman
Jodi Chapman’s tagline is, “Let’s soar together.” She teaches people how to listen to the voice of their own souls and align with their own truths. As she writes, “I want to show that dreams really do come true, that miracles truly are all around us, and that our lives really are a direct reflection of our choices.”
22. Dandapani
Dandapani is a Hindu priest and speaker who offers spiritual tools for life. He spent a decade as a monk in Hawaii and has since relocated to New York City in order to teach and coach from his experience in understanding the mind.
23. Wendy van Eyck
Wendy van Eyck at I Love Devotionals began writing personal essays to share the lessons she learned through her husband’s cancer diagnosis and treatments. Her blog explores topics such as faith, doubt, Christianity, church, and healing.
24. Liara Covert
Liara Covert of Dream Builders Australia writes about simplifying and transforming your life, harnessing the energy of your dreams, and more. Her catalyst for creation was losing everything and needing to start over again from scratch.
As the Principles of Spiritual Psychology remind us, physical world reality exists for Spiritual growth. We commend these 24 bloggers for helping us to see the connection between the events of our daily lives and our spiritual evolution.
Want to learn more about integrating spirituality into your recovery process? Then be sure to follow The Clearing’s blog. Each week, we publish new posts that take on addiction treatment and mental health issues from a holistic perspective.
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