At first glance, you might think from the title that spirituality is related to religious beliefs.  Surprisingly, it is not. A few years ago, I also believed that the word Spirituality was simply talking about religion, and I lived it like that unaware that, once I entered the world of happiness, the meaning of this word would change radically, and would have a significant impact on my life. My journey of rediscovery of the spiritual dimension began a few years ago, from the hand of my mentor Tal Ben-Shahar. Happiness encompasses a significant number of virtues and values which allow us to flourish as human beings, such as gratitude, generosity, kindness and, of course, love. What struck me most was the concept of purpose. My life up to that point had been influenced by what my parents and relatives thought was good for me and my future. Thus, I grew up in an environment where the most important thing was to study for a career that would make it easier to enter the job market, work for many years, and then retire. Accordingly, that's what I planned for myself. However, under the pressure of my husband and daughter, I decided to withdraw from my job and give myself the opportunity to search for something more meaningful. This quest led me to HSA’s Certificate in Happiness Studies, along with a host of other resources that led me to explore what I really wanted to do for the rest of my life, and I found the way to my purpose. It is this work which makes the concept of Spirituality much more meaningful. In the middle of this journey, I picked up a book that our mentor had recommended, “The Awakening Brain” by Dr. Lisa Miller (www.lisamillerphd.com), and it was revealing. In the book, Dr. Miller recounts her personal story entwined with her research in neuroscience, to show the connection between science and spirituality. She demonstrates that the brain reacts to the spiritual experiences we experience in three significant ways: 1. An involuntary reorientation of attention; 

2. A feeling of love or deep connection through intimate relationships; and 

3. A perception of ourselves as differentiated beings and at the same time part of a single transcendent totality. 

The interesting conclusion of her research is that when we transcend the usual perception and come out of ourselves, we have a sense of connection with each other. Moreover, the most unusual thing is how you get to this spiritual level: with practices that are within our reach, like altruism, love of neighbor and self, a sense of unity and having a transcendent purpose. All of this combines to give love to the world. 

In addition, when we develop these practices, we strengthen the structure of our brain which facilitates neural connections:

• The brain’s ventral attention network is where we see that the world is alive and speaks to us; 

• The frontotemporal network is where we feel the warm and loving embrace of others and of life itself; and

• The parietal lobe is where we know we matter, that we belong and that we are never alone.  

We thereby experience psychological benefits, including less depression, anxiety, and addictions and more positive psychological traits such as courage, resilience, optimism, tenacity, and creativity. As Dr. Miller writes in her book:

  “When we live with an awakened consciousness, we make use of other parts of the brain, and we literally see more, because we integrate the information that comes to us from multiple sources. It allows us to perceive more possibilities and opportunities, to feel more connected to others, to understand the relationship between different events and experiences, to be more open to creative inspiration and moments of revelation, and to feel more attuned to the purpose and meaning of our lives.”

Thus, there is clear evidence that spirituality goes beyond a religious practice to put our lives on purpose. When each of us finds that purpose for which we are in the World, we work on it and make it available to the world, thereby contributing to the construction of a better society. And indeed, continuing with my personal story, when I started the process of being aware of my reason for being and what I wanted to do in the future, I worked on my process of self-discovery. I tapped into my inner child to list all the things I enjoyed doing and I solicited and received feedback from others about the strengths they saw in me. In the end, I discovered what I had been preparing for all my life and had not realized, which is to support people in their personal growth to work on finding the best version of themselves.

Once I found my purpose and started developing it, I saw with greater clarity that spirituality is intimately related to happiness. And yes, I'm happy to develop what I do, and I learn every day from the people who cross my path. So, I invite you to develop your personal spiritual dimension, to illuminate your way and to work together in building an ever better society.