E196: Spiritual Habits & How to Incorporate Them, Part Five of The Science & The Spiritual Series
E196: Spiritual Habits & How to Incorporate Them, Part Five of The Science & The Spiritual Series
Part five of our series brings us into a deeper knowing of “who we really are” and how we can become “who we truly desire to be”...
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[00:28] Hello there and welcome back to the Women’s Empowerment Podcast, this is part five of our seven part The Science & The Spiritual Series! Today we’re focusing on building spiritual habits and learning how we can incorporate them.
In case you missed it: this series was inspired – and I guess in a way requested by a listener of the podcast! So if you’ve been loving this series as much as I have, we can all thank Ceri for sliding into my DMs on instagram and suggesting a breakdown of different types of habits and how to incorporate them.
If you have requests or suggestions for the show, I’d love to hear them! Either send me a DM on instagram @vallavignelife or connect with me through my website.
In this series we’re discussing habits that fall under the seven dimensions of wellness. These dimensions are: physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, environmental, and occupational.
Each episode focuses on one of the seven dimensions, and includes three different habits for this specific topic. We use scientific-methods as well as spiritual practices to help you cultivate the different habit examples for each episode.
If you’ve already been following along with the series, GREAT! I know you are going to love learning about spiritual wellness and the tools to bring them into your life!
If you’re new to the Series or the Women’s Empowerment Podcast, WELCOME! We’re so happy to have you! And although you can technically listen to this episode before the others in the series, I strongly recommend listening to the past episodes because there are very different methods and tools discussed in each of them that can also be used for developing spiritual habits!
In episode one we deep dive into the power of WHY and the scientific benefits of doing, and not doing, our habits.
In episode two, we learn about different brainwaves and how to reach a balance between them for optimized growth, expansion, and lifestyle.
In episode three, we discover what self-directed neuroplasticity is and how to use the Habit Loop to create habits.
Episode 192: Intellectual Habits
And in the most recent episode, four, we break down the meaning and function of motivation with behavioural science.
In today’s episode, we’ll take a peek behind the scenes into what it actually means to form a habit in the brain.
[03:03] But first!... Let's introduce our topic: Spiritual Dimension of Wellness.
Spiritual wellness is all about having a set of guiding principles, beliefs, or values that inspire direction in our lives. It includes faith, hope and commitment to your personal beliefs that give you a sense of purpose and meaning. This is also “a willingness to seek meaning and purpose in human existence, to question everything and to appreciate the things which cannot be readily explained or understood.
A spiritually well person seeks harmony between what lies within as well as the forces outside.” [source]
Since you’re listening to this particular episode I’m going to assume that you can identify in some way shape or form as a spiritual person. And as a spiritual, and also very open person myself I will speak to spirituality simply and generally since each and everyone of us has our own relationship with and definition of faith and spirituality. With that being said, you are obviously open enough to be listening to this episode, which is partially part of developing this area of wellness, great job!
As with each of the dimensions of wellness, and each of our examples throughout this series, I am sharing three basic habits to develop. They are options, and meant to be customized to your own goals and lifestyle. My goal for this series is to inspire you to elevate one of the areas of your own health and wellness.
As you’re listening to this series you may feel inspired to take action on something more specific to you, and I 100% support that! If you’re feeling stuck, confused, frazzled, or lost about your habits, I’d love to invite you into my 1:1 Make a Habit Mentorship coaching experience. In this three-month container we focus on you and your unique goals, habits, and routines. It’s the perfect opportunity to really dive deep into exactly what you need to grow and cultivate lasting change. If you’re interested in joining me in this personalized experience, please visit www.valerielavignelife.com/mentorship and we can connect further. I’d love to support you in cultivating your elevated life.
Now back to the three specific examples we’ll be focusing on today:
Spending time alone in meditation/prayer
Seeing opportunities for growth in the challenges life brings you
Listening to your inner wisdom and living by your core values
This already feels deep… but we’re talking habits so we need to keep them simple or we won’t do them - IYKYK from our last episode on motivation.
[05:58] Spiritual Wellness & The Science
When it comes to the science of habit formation and neuroscience in general, Dr. Joe Dispenza is my go-to expert. I mentioned him in episode two of this series, because I love the way he breaks down complex concepts into clear and simple language. He also thoroughly describes and researches spiritual concepts in a very scientific way. I have read many of his books and I am always blown away by his research and discoveries. I think he’s the perfect resource for this wellness dimension because of his passion for neuroscience and spirituality.
Today, I will refer to some of the concepts he describes in his book, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself.
Humans are pretty incredible beings. We process between 60-70 000 thoughts per day. According to Dr. Dispenza, “Of those 60-70 000 thoughts, 90% of those thoughts are the same as the day before.” He goes on to describe a common pattern: “The same thoughts will lead to the same choices. The same choices will lead to the same behaviours. The same behaviours will create the same experiences, and the experience will produce emotions. And those same familiar emotions will inspire the same thoughts. And overtime this becomes an identity or personality.”
He says, “Your personality creates your personal reality, and your personality is the thoughts that you fire and wire in your brain, and behaviours that you demonstrate to reinforce experience that reaffirm those circuits in your brain. And then the emotions that you memorize as those results of who you think you are. So then if you wanted to create a new personal reality, then you’re going to have to examine the thoughts that you’re thinking, the habits or behaviours that you’re demonstrating, and the emotions that you’re living by.”
When we keep thinking, feeling, and acting the same way every day, our biology, our genes, our neurology stays the same or equal to who we already are. Because we will be doing the same things, and making the same choices. And this won’t stop until we make changes.
To really make the changes in our lives, we have to become somebody else, the somebody we want to be. In the podcast I often talk about this as the “Best Version of Ourselves.” And maybe that’s becoming a little bit cliche, but it’s true! And if you have another name for it, that’s okay with me!
To be the person we desire to become and embody, is to step outside of our familiar selves. It means we are stepping into the unknown, stretching out of our comfort zones, and shedding the skin of who we were.
This is hella scary! And often when we feel scared, we revert back to those familiar thoughts, feelings, actions, choices, etc. But this is not how we grow. We will never change if we keep returning back to our old patterns. We will only evolve if we think, act, and live in new ways and with new emotional states. When we do this “our biology reorganizes itself to reflect a new level of mind” [source]
[09:49] Let’s take a moment to use this concept with our habit examples. Of course, our habits are not as simple as “floss teeth” or “go to the gym” however they can be more specific and tangible.
If these habits are new to you and your daily or weekly routines, then OF COURSE these will already begin to pull you out of your comfort zone and unfamiliarity because they are new! So let’s make them more specific and simplify them into more tangible actions.
Our first example is: Spending time alone in meditation/prayer
Perhaps we want to incorporate this habit into our morning routine. This might mean we have to wake up earlier, which is awfully uncomfortable, especially if you like to sleep in. So we can either start simple with waking up 5-10 minutes earlier for a short meditation. OR we can replace an existing morning habit like scrolling on our phones for a 10-20 minute meditation instead.
There is an app called Insight Timer that I really love for meditation. My hot tip here would be to download the Insight Timer app and put it in your phone where your email, instagram, or tik tok app usually is, so that when you wake up and you’re used to going on your phone, you’ll be more likely to open the meditation app rather than social media and start scrolling.
Meditation is such a powerful practice and habit in itself, so be selective in the type of meditations or the topics of guided meditations you choose. Perhaps you search for sessions related to elevating life, conversations with your Higher Self, gratitude, and so on.
Something to keep in mind when incorporating this habit is that most meditation research shows significant changes after 8 consistent weeks of 20 minute meditations.
Our second example is: See opportunities for growth in the challenges life brings you
When it comes to this habit, let’s make it tangible by keeping a daily journal. More specifically, a gratitude journal. This practice can be done before going to sleep at night, or in the morning before you begin the day. Personally, I like doing this in the evenings.
In your journal, write the date and then three to five things you’re grateful for that day. Along with listing the three things, you’ll want to elaborate on why you’re grateful for them.
The ‘why’ is the key because, writing out WHY you felt gratitude, will help you revisit and reconnect to the feeling again. And as we’ve been discussing, your thoughts and feelings are some of the things that encompass your personality + personal reality. So a habit of connecting to the people, places, things, and moments in your life that brought you joy will be an invitation to bring more joy into your life!
Dr. Dispenza says, “[when a] person writes down their intention… they’re telling their brain that they mean business. Less than 2% of Americans actually write their goals and intentions down. But once they write them down, they have an 80% chance of succeeding, because the moment you write it down, it means that you now have a direction that you’re moving towards. The next thing is to have sponsoring thoughts.”
Writing down your gratitude journal from the day works just like when we write our intentions. Those sponsoring thoughts are the reasons and feelings behind our experiences and intentions. This is actually a perfect segway into our third example.
Our third example is: Listen to your inner wisdom and live by your core values
Writing down your core values and making these your intentions for your actions, thoughts, and choices. Your inner wisdom can be your gut intuition, it can be the instinctive urges to take action on an idea, and/or it can be the knowing that you’ve committed to a core value and the choice in front of you is either a HELL YES or a nope when asking yourself, “does this align with my core values?”
This example also reminds me a lot of our first episode in the series because we’re talking about intention. We also discussed this a bit in episode four, when we go deeper into motivation.
Your core values become your intention, and the goal for this habit is to make choices based on your intention/core values. So essentially we’re creating a habit of mindfulness with our choices and not just blindly following, or automatically answering/responding. We are pausing to observe ourselves and make decisions with more meaning and purpose and alignment.
[14:30] Spiritual Wellness & The Spiritual… Tools
I had a little giggle when I was producing this episode and I had made a note that said “Spiritual Wellness & The Spiritual” so I added “… Tools” to that and that made me laugh. Part of this seven-part series is learning about some spiritual tools that could be useful in creating these new habits. The theme for each episode has been using crystals and essential oils. So I’ve found a couple I think would pair well with each habit.
Spending time alone in meditation/prayer
Crystals
[source]
Selenite: “is a powerful crystal associated with the crown chakra. It is particularly beneficial for developing peace, serenity, and universal consciousness.”
Black Tourmaline: is “helpful for repelling negative vibes. It helps shift a negative mindset and is a great tool for meditation.”
Essential Oils
Sandalwood: oil of Sacred Devotion
This essential oil assists with all kinds of prayer, meditation, and spiritual worship. It has been used since ancient times for its powerful ability to calm the mind, still the heart, and prepare the spirit to communicate with God.
Clary Sage: oil of Clarity & Vision
This oil helps us in changing our perceptions. It gives courage to see the truth. It is a great essential oil for our third eye or brow chakra. It opens the soul to new possibilities and experiences.
Seeing opportunities for growth in the challenges life brings you
Crystals
[source]
Grey Botswana Agate: “helps create an internal shift from a problem-oriented mindset to a solution-mindset. This helps us be more thankful for all the opportunities and lessons we have a chance to learn.”
Hiddenite: “is there for us when we feel like there is nothing in life to be thankful for. This gemstone has the power to lighten our mood and banish depressing thoughts. It does so by teaching us to appreciate the path we are on and renews our sense of hope.”
Essential Oils
Spikenard: oil of Gratitude
This essential oil encourages true appreciation for life. It opens the soul to acceptance and gratitude, and helps us see our deeper meaning in life.
Frankincense: oil of Truth
This oil invites us to let go of lower vibrations, lies, deceptions and negativity. It helps us create new perspectives based on light and truth. It assists spiritual awakening and helps us feel the love of the Divine.
Listening to your inner wisdom and living by your core values
Crystals
[source]
Tiger’s Eye: “mental strength is absolutely crucial while dealing with challenging situals and tiger’s eye helps you achieve that… [it] clears doubts and cloudiness in your mind, and over time, it also helps you become a better decision-maker.”
Malachite: “We all need guidance and protection to ensure we’re on the right track… and malachite is an incredible stone in this regard… [it] cleanses your aura and attunes you to higher spiritual guidance… it is considered the stone of transformation.”
Essential Oils
Roman Chamomile: oil of Spiritual Purpose
This oil supports us in discovering and living our true life’s purpose. It helps us to find purpose and meaning in what we do and helps us feel calmer and more at peace.
Coriander: oil of Integrity
This essential oil is the oil of integrity, especially with oneself. It moves us from doing things for the acceptance of others to honouring and living from the True Self.
It does feel a little silly to talk about spiritual methods when forming spiritual habits - they’re already quite spiritual! However I do feel that the examples I’ve shared with you today are actually very practical in nature, and the key with all of them is awareness and action!
Now that you’ve listened to this episode to develop the awareness of what it is you want to achieve, it’s up to YOU to take action on your goals and make the uncomfortable choices moving forward.
And if you feel called to step out of your comfort zone with more support, I would love to connect to see if we’re the right fit for each other and be that support for you to take the big leaps, and make the uncomfortable moves, and stay on your path to becoming the best version of you. If you feel connected to work with me in a deeper, more intimate container, please connect with me at and I’d love to begin this journey with you.
Podcast Host
Valerie LaVigne
Valerie is the creator and founder of Valerie LaVigne Life and the Women's Empowerment Show. She helps busy and empowered women create healthy habits so that they can become the best version of themselves and transform their lives. Learn more about Valerie here!
