Understanding This Will Change How You Experience Your Entire Life

Lisa Miller, Mel Robbins, and related research propose a view where spirituality is integral to the human experience, deeply embedded in our brain structure from infancy.

Spirituality Is Innate to Humans, Hardwired In Our Brains From Birth

Miller asserts that everyone is naturally spiritual by design, a claim backed by her experience as a leading expert on the neuroscientific benefits of spirituality.

Research Suggests Spirituality Alters Brain Activity, Showing It's an Innate Capacity, Not Just a Belief

Miller’s research shows that spirituality changes the brain for the better. She indicates that humans possess an innate capacity for spirituality from birth, supported by scientific evidence such as twin studies. These studies show that just like other inborn traits, the human capacity for spirituality is innate, suggesting that spirituality alters brain activity.

Dr. Lisa has been looking at brain scans of people experiencing spiritual moments, exploring what spirituality looks like biologically and physiologically in the brain. The scans reveal a spiritual perception system that activates regardless of individuals’ religious or spiritual backgrounds, pointing to this capacity as an inherent feature of human beings.

Spirituality: Perceiving Life's Sacred Nature and Relating To It

Miller discusses spirituality as integral to human existence, reflecting on its multidimensional impact on our perception of life and reality.

Guiding Presence, Transcendent Unity, Profound Purpose

Spirituality, according to Miller, is an innate ability to perceive guidance, synchronicities, and the profound purposes in one’s life. She describes the brain as functioning akin to an antenna and suggests that spiritual flourishing involves living in alignment with a deep, ...

Spirituality Shields Against Depression, Anxiety, Addiction, and Suicidal Tendencies

Lisa Miller emphasizes that spirituality is a fundamental antidote to the mass mental health crisis, protecting against conditions such as hopelessness, depression, addiction, and anxiety. She suggests that the sharp decline in mental health is tied statistically to a lack of personal spirituality. Mel Robbins provides statistics that underscore high rates of mental health issues, reinforcing the notion that a rich spiritual life acts as a powerful defense against these diseases of despair.

Lisa Miller's research points to changes in the brain associated with spiritual practices like nature walks, meditation, prayer, or service. She indicates MRI studies show a thicker cortex in brain regions tied to spiritual awareness in those with a strong spiritual life. Conversely, these regions tend to be thinner in individuals with recurrent major depression. Miller argues that spirituality leads to a healthier and more resilient brain.

Miller contends that there's nothing as protective against deep depression as a strong spiritual life, and in the path of trauma and addiction, a transcendent relationship is curative. Science suggests that people on a spiritual quest are generally happier and possess more meaningful, fruitful lives, according to Miller.

Lack of Spirituality Can Lead To Emptiness and Despair

Miller implies that without spirituality, individuals might feel a sense of disconnection, stuckness, or a void marked by negative emotions. She expresses concern that two-thirds of depressions are manifestations of spiritual hunger, a yearning for a deeper, fuller way of living and connecting with life's forces. She describes this not as a lack of material abundance, but as an existential emptiness.

Miller also tackles the confusion and conflation between spirituality and religion. She warns against dismissing spirituality due to dissatisfaction with religion, suggesting that one risks losing out on the stability, guidance, and meaning that spiritual practices provide for wellbeing. Emotions like guilt or sadness, she argues, can signal the necessity for spiritual realignment, and res ...

Lisa Miller and Mel Robbins explore how individuals can incorporate spirituality into daily life, emphasizing that spirituality transcends specific religions and can be cultivated through diverse practices and perspectives.

Spirituality Transcends Specific Religions, Cultivated Through Diverse Practices and Perspectives

Simple Activities Like Prayer, Meditation, Nature, and Service Can Strengthen Spiritual Awareness and Connection

Miller introduces practices that can engage individuals with the concept of a higher power and inner guidance, even for those who may be skeptical or feel disconnected from spirituality. She clarifies that spirituality can be found within one's faith tradition or through alternative designations such as the universe, source, or God. Spirituality is innate and can be given language and direction through religion or alternative means. Robbins explains that religious practice provides not only community, guidance, and belief systems but also a connection to deeper forces.

Lisa Miller acknowledges the value of finding a religious home to nourish spirituality via a language of transcendence and a sacred roadmap. Nonetheless, she emphasizes inclusive practices such as meditation, prayer, pilgrimage, and even open-mindedness to the use of hallucinogens, which can help individuals return to a spiritual presence.

Openness and Curiosity as Guides to Align With Life's Currents

Synchronicities, Intuitions, and Letting Go: Pathways to Spiritual Attunement

Dr. Miller's work serves as a guide on living an inspired life, tied to incorporating spirituality into daily life. Miller's practice involves imagination to establish spiritual connections, and she suggests letting go of the need for control to trust life's flow as part of a spiritual practice. She regards curiosity about one's spiritual path, regardless of past experiences with religion or spiritual figures, as crucial.

Miller encourages the exploration of God or a higher power based on individual lived experiences and invites openness and exploration to discover how life's deepest force has manifested in one's life. She speaks of synchronicities as guidance and e ...

Spirituality plays a key role in parenting, influencing various aspects of children's development and well-being, as per Lisa Miller’s insights.

Parents Model and Transmit Spiritual Values To Children

Parents are crucial in transmitting spiritual values and setting a foundation for family environment deeply connected with spirituality.

Transparency in Spiritual Journeys and Empowering Children's Exploration

Miller suggests that parents be transparent about their own spiritual journeys and empower their children's exploration. She advises that parents meditate in a visible place, invite children to sit alongside, read poetry in nature, and say prayers out loud. This not only shows children that spirituality is a tangible and significant aspect of life but also encourages them to engage in their spiritual reality.

Furthermore, Miller believes that each person is built with the capacity for an awakened brain, suggesting that spiritual values are an innate part of human capacity and can be modeled and actively transmitted by parents to their children. She implies that recognizing and embracing what resonates with an individual from various faith traditions is a way parents might model and transmit spiritual values. Miller emphasizes the need for this in a setting that feels alive and truthful, whether it is a house of worship or through individual practices.

Spirituality Provides Children With Meaning, Belonging, and Resilience

Fostering Spiritual Awareness in Children Buffers Against Mental Health Issues and Societal Problems

Miller relates the concept of "awakened awareness" as an emotional and psychological buffer for children, contrasting it with "achieving awareness," which often makes children feel that love is contingent upon performance. She refers to Dr. Sunil Luthar's research that emphasizes the pressure to achieve, which can lead to anxiety and depression ...