Week 1 – Mental and Spiritual Progress – What Does It Mean?

At 16 years old I was a boy turning into a man who didn’t know how to process the million thoughts he had.

At 19, I now know how to process and filter my thoughts into those worth my attention and worth actioning.

The difference: mental and spiritual progress.

The question? How did I evolve my mental health and spirituality?

Welcome to Series 2 of Pathways to Progress.

This series spanning from April to June will focus on mental and spiritual progress. My aim is to provide you with tips and tricks to train your minds and enhance your spiritual wellbeing.

This isn’t going to be an inaccessbile, deep spiritual awakening. This is going to be an easy to understand and useful guide to becoming a better self.

But the first step to this is defining our terms. What does Mental and Spiritual progress actually mean.

I am going to define mental and spiritual progress. This will be shown through the journey of 16 year old me to present day me.

First, picture this. You have 700 thoughts going through your head. But you don’t know how to focus on the university assignment / task in your job. This is what Andrew Huberman says to do:

  1. Look at a point beyond your personal space (could be a desk, a point on the wall or your laptop).
  2. Stare at it and focus the attention for 30-60 seconds. This might be easy or hard, but keep at it.
  3. Then move into the state of readiness and shift your attention into the task you need to complete.

What I hope you will gather from this, is that it is possible to train your mind to focus and help your mind stay clear.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at what mental progress looks like. Dan Siegel aims to define a healthy mind and after reading his thoughts, this is my definition:

  • The healthy mind is a self-organising system. This relates the regulation of information and information to the body.
  • This relational process is positive where you can be adaptive towards different environments.
  • There is a sense of dynamic stability where things change as you move along but you don’t fall off the cliff.

At the age of sixteen, I had racing thoughts which changed my sense of direction. Whereas now, my thoughts may lead to different actions but the path is clear for me.

My brain is trained to have intentional thinking, emotional regulation and clear focus.

So what does spiritual progress look like?

Spiritual progress is aligning with your inner-truth beyond ego-driven desires.

You might ask me, Dylan what the hell does this mean – what BS are you talking about. Let me show you:

  • You have thoughts and feelings every single day. This is a stream of continuous commentary in your mind.
  • At some point, you recognise the thought. You become aware of this thought. When you realise this, you also realise what the thoughts sit on.
  • This means, there are some points in your day where you don’t realise the thoughts you have. You feel emotions based on stimuli (a sun setting or a beautiful landscape).
  • This is the area for spirituality. It is a dimension of your mind where there is space for peace and being. No thoughts.
  • Spiritual progress is filling that space with the core values that matter to you. This is regardless of the stimuli you are facing.

Spiritual progress frees you from the intense stream of thinking.

When I was sixteen, I didn’t realise this space existed and so all I focused on was all the thoughts coming into my head.

Now it is clear. I need some time in my day where I don’t focus on my thoughts, I enjoy the space that I’m in and what it makes me feel.

So how does mental and spiritual progress intersect?

It is clear: a calm mind creates space for spiritual insights. On the flip side, spiritual grounding stabilises the mind.

For me, taking a walk has allowed me to make better decisions for myself.

When I decided to do my degree apprenticeship, before I made the decision, I walked in the sun and enjoyed myself. I cleared my head to come back to the key decision lying before me.

Spirituality has an ability to help your mental health. For example, there is this psychological concept called Neuroplasticity. What is it?

How the brain reorganises itself by forming neural connections based on new activities.

If you are stuck in a negative cycle of thinking, break it up.

Instead of starting your day looking at your screens:

  • Wake up
  • For ten minutes, focus on one thing in the day that you are looking forward to and how you are feeling now.

If you do this more often, this process takes place which helps shape your mind positively for the future.

So it’s clear. Mental and spiritual progress intertwine and symbiotically benefit each other.

I realise that whenever I have a decision to make, before I make it, I take an hour for myself. This hour is a walk where I feel the environment and sun around me.

So this week here is my challenge for you:

  1. Analyse your week and think of one thing you want to improve on.
  2. One day, change it and notice how you feel.
  3. Carry this on for a few more weeks.
  4. Notice the impact it has on you and your feelings.

Have a great week 🙂

Dylan