The big thing that’s missing in our conversations about wellbeing

These days it’s all about mental health, wellbeing, and self-care. 

At least it seems that way to me. Maybe it’s because I’ve been focused on wellbeing ever since I became a parent coach and started writing about wellbeing for magazines. But more and more in the media and on social media, I see messages about wellbeing. 

How wonderful that is. It’s so good we live in an era where more and more people are speaking up about their struggles, and sharing solutions. 

However, there is something missing from our conversations about wellbeing, and it’s the biggest, most fundamental aspect of our entire reality. 

Spiritual truth. 

Growing up in a pretty much atheist family there were no conversations around the dinner table about the spiritual realm. 

However when I grew older and started getting into yoga and meditation, the spiritual input I received from an otherworldly place left me in no doubt. 

I had a moment where it appeared my husband’s deceased father spoke to me, and where time and space disappeared. I went to a breathwork weekend where my deceased grandmother came out of a tunnel. I was told accurate information about the gender of my daughter before she was born, and had a vision in my mind of the phase of the moon she would be born in. A psychic even told me about how my great grandfather kept spaniels, something I had never known until my aunt got out some notes she’d written down while visiting a medium and there it was written on the page; spaniels. 

The spiritual realm is very real. 

We are so much more than flesh and blood and there something beyond what we can perceive with the five senses.

If you’ve noticed, spirituality is not absent from the wellbeing conversation. In fact it’s becoming more and more present at an ever increasing rate.  

If you want to stay calm and relaxed you can try yoga, mindfulness, and meditation. If you want to learn more about yourself and your life you can try astrology, numerology or human design. 

There is a pick n’ mix selection of spiritual practises, to take you into deeper and deeper into personal development. 

Open up a glossy magazine and count the number of spiritual references mentioned whether it’s manifestation, hypnosis, or yoga. 

But there’s one thing that I can guarantee won’t be mentioned. 

God.

To many people, and myself included, until recently, god is a swear word. god is the non-existent being to blame when things go wrong, when you’re stuck in traffic or spilt the milk. 

He’s most definitely not the person to thank when things go well, or to ask for help when you’re struggling. 

Why is that? 

Well God, is religious, and in our culture we are offered up a smorgasbord of different spiritual practises so that we can pick and choose, anything except God. 

Yet these different spiritual practises have their roots in religions and belief systems like Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism. 

I read a lot of wellbeing magazines, and it started blowing my mind how many different practises and spiritual philosophies will be mentioned. 

Anything and everything except God. 

During the COVID lockdown I began to get curious about the Bible. I was seeing information online about Biblical prophecy and coming to the conclusion that there was darkness in our spiritual realm as well as light. 

I really began to want to know, what is actually objectively spiritually true about our existence? 

I was following psychics on YouTube, and beginning to realise that sometimes what they shared was accurate but at other times wasn’t getting it quite right. My truth radar was asking, where is the truth and where is the lies. 

One day I decided to say the Lord’s prayer and I instantly felt the presence of God. It was so different to all the spiritual feelings I’d ever got from doing yoga, breathwork, meditation etc. I instantly knew the God of the Bible was true. 

Yes, the spiritual realm is real, but that doesn’t mean we should dabble in it, any which way. 

Cooking is a way to prepare delicious food, but that doesn’t mean I use knives with my fingers in the way, or put my hands in the flame. 

As I began to learn more about Christianity I realised that the Bible warns against contacting mediums because evil spirits can masquerade as loved ones. They can share accurate information about our lives, and even our futures, to convince us to trust them, but that doesn’t mean it is safe to do so. 

I started watching ‘new age to Jesus’ testimonies on YouTube, and heard stories of people who thought they were speaking to spirit guides, aliens, or dead loved ones, and they were actually talking to demons. 

I learnt about the dangers of manifestation, and how trying to get what we want from the spirit realm while denying God, can lead to spiritual warfare - negative repercussions. If you play with matches you will get burnt. 

Christianity doesn’t sound very appealing, I get it. I thought it was a boring religion for unspiritual people. Then I met God and realised he was real. I realised that I had completely misjudged Christians and Christianity, and now I know the reason why. 

We are separated from God because of our sin. The idea of God makes us feel icky, because deep down, we know that we have done wrong. The Bible says we have God’s law written on our hearts, and we know that we have lied, stolen, hurt others, and denied our creator. 

It’s a bit like being a teenager if you’ve had a wild party, and are terrified of facing your parents. You know you’re going to be in trouble. So it might be easier to just go out drinking and face the music later. But eventually you have to. 

But a loving parent, wants you to come home, no matter what you’ve done. And God is the ultimate, loving parent. In fact the whole, parent-child thing, it’s modelled on the relationship God wants to have with us. Because God created the world that way. 

Growing up in a kind of ‘Christian’ country, we sang hymns in assembly every day at school and went to church at Christmas. Yet I never, ever heard the Gospel. When I heard a line in a Patti Smith song about how ‘Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine,’ I had no idea what she was talking about. Or maybe I had heard and had a mental block on it all because I didn’t want to know. There was fun to be had in rebellion. 

It’s not meant to be about religion. It’s meant to be about a relationship with Jesus, who loved us so much he literally died to pay the price for the collective mess that humanity has made of our reality. It’s not meant to be about guilt and shame, and getting stuck on what we’ve ‘done wrong.’ But it’s about being freed from this and turning to live a new life.  

So as someone who has written a lot about wellbeing, sometimes leading people down false paths, it seems only right that I share this. 

It is hard to put into words how much happier I am following Jesus. Yes there are still struggles and life as a Christian is not easy. However God is helping put my life in order, leading to more joy in the present, and less fear about the future. I have more physical energy than ever, and less physical pain. If you read my full story here I share more about my struggles and why practises such as yoga and meditation actually do more harm than good.

In this life so many of us deny our creator and therefore carry a huge burden of suffering. Spiritual practises can lull us into a false peace where we think we are happy but are missing out on so much.

Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ Matthew 11.28.

If you’re looking for a better life, to heal physical or mental suffering, then it needs to be about seeking spiritual truth. 

Belief systems in our culture are presented as personal choice, but ultimately there is an objective truth about our spiritual realm just as there is about the physical one. 

Being open to the truth is the first step. 

Here are some further resources to help you on your journey.

Metanoya - Resources for the Christ Curious

A Case For Christ - Film about the evidence for Jesus’s life, death and resurrection.

Ex-Psychic Saved - An ex psychic reveals the dangers of opening up to the spirit realm.

New Age To Jesus Testimonies