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Self-Reflection & Personal Growth: Spiritual Practices for College Students

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personal growth

College can be a very busy and stressful time for students. The workload, school environment, and maintaining a social life can push an individual to break down or overall unhealthy mental space. Upperclassmen and graduate students likely suffer the most. Learning to stay on top of your mental health is an important part of being an adult and especially essential for college students. Individuals may choose to take care of their mental health through spiritual practices that require reflection and growth. For some people, their spirituality is a part of who they are. Here are some spiritual practices you can implement in your routine to work on your personal growth. 

  1. Identify your beliefs. 
  2. Pray or meditate. 
  3. Manifest or goal set. 

Identify Your Beliefs 

You do not have to be religious to have spiritual practices. Furthermore, self-reflection does not have to be connected to religion at all. However, if you are religious, adding some specific elements may make spiritual practices and tasks more personal. Keep an open mind when trying to identify your belief system. You may have grown up in one religion and choose to stay with this or find something more suitable for your preferences. Do not feel pressured to find an answer quickly. Instead, enjoy the learning experience and journey. 

Pray or Meditate 

Pray or meditate regularly. Prayer is an opportunity to reflect on your wants, needs, and current reality. For religious individuals, praying also allows them to connect with their God. Taking time to seriously reflect on your current position in life and your wants and needs can be very eye-opening. You may decide that one thing you felt you needed is not a priority, come to forgive someone, become more grateful, or find a resolution to a problem you may be facing. 

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If you are not religious or find that praying is not for you, that is perfectly acceptable. It may be worth looking into picking up meditating as a regular practice instead. Humans have been meditating for thousands of years, so there are many different ways and goals of meditation. There is no right or wrong way to meditate, so personalize the experience as much as possible. You may focus on one problem you are having, connecting with your body, breathing, or feeling relaxed. There are lots of benefits of meditating. Meditating consistently will increase your self-awareness, support mental health, lower stress, and help you find resolution. 

Manifest or Goal Set 

Manifesting is a spiritual practice used by people all over the world. Just like meditating, there is no right or wrong way to manifest. Lots of religious individuals practice manifestation in some form or another. Scholars believe that manifesting originated from Hinduism but can also be seen in Buddhism and Christianity. Manifesting is about focusing on creating the future you want. This can include goals like becoming a better person, buying a home, starting your career, getting married, or purchasing expensive items. Focusing on the goals you want to achieve will encourage you never to stop pursuing them. 

There are many different ways to practice meditation, so you should make this practice as person as possible. When manifesting, you may simply sit and visualize the things you want before bed and in the morning, write about them, or say them out loud. These are some simple ways of practicing manifestation. If you find that this spiritual practice benefits you, you may want to do further research about more intense forms of this practice.  

Manifestation requires a lot of goal-setting. Individuals who are more logically based or do not identify with spirituality may want to just focus directly on their goals—set goals for yourself in your love life, career, social life, and personal growth.  

S- Specific 

M- Measurable 

A- Attainable 

R- Relevant 

T- Time-bound 

Use the acronym SMART when considering your goals so you can be as specific as possible with your goal.  

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