There’s something transformative about how the mind responds to deep connection—not the kind tied to dogma or institutions, but the kind that pulls us toward something beyond ourselves. It could be the roar of waves crashing against the shore, a melody that feels like home, or the quiet grace of sitting with another person’s pain.

Dr. Lisa Miller, a psychologist and researcher at Columbia University, has dedicated years to exploring the link between spiritual practices and psychological resilience. Her discoveries are profound: individuals who engage in sustained spiritual activities—whether through meditation, prayer, time in nature, or acts of service—actually reshape their brains. Their cortices, particularly in areas related to self-reflection, perception, and spatial awareness, become stronger. On the other hand, these same regions tend to be thinner in people who experience chronic depression.

This isn’t just speculation. Brain scans confirm that those who nurture a spiritual life build a neural framework that protects them from despair, addiction, and impulsive self-harm. Their brains are quite literally wired for endurance.

What It Means to Be Spiritual Today

What does spirituality look like in an era when belief feels fragile? Where old traditions have faded, leaving behind rituals we repeat but seldom question? Miller redefines spirituality not as belief in a deity but as an awareness of something greater than the individual self. It’s the recognition that we are part of something vast and interconnected and that the same energy moving through us flows through everyone else.

And this recognition changes the brain.

Finding Meaning in a Distracted World

We live in a time when the mind is under siege. The architecture of modern life; its relentless speed, its obsession with productivity, its digital smokescreens, keeps us untethered, hovering just above the surface of things. Our attention is fragmented, our nervous systems frayed. Depression and anxiety have become not just personal struggles but cultural conditions.

Despite all the advancements in neuroscience and psychiatry, we often ignore what ancient traditions have long understood: meaning isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. Human minds don’t thrive in isolation; they need connection—to people, nature, something enduring.

Miller’s research presents a bold truth: spirituality isn’t abstract. It’s a biological need. It’s a form of medicine. Her studies show that young adults who identify as deeply spiritual are much less likely to suffer from major depressive disorders. Those who carry a profound sense of meaning are less likely to struggle with addiction or reckless behavior. Spirituality, or the lack of it, is as critical to mental health as genetics, trauma, or access to care.

This isn’t about supernatural belief but how we orient ourselves in existence. Do we see ourselves as isolated, insignificant, or part of something alive and meaningful?

Spirituality for Beginners: A New Kind of Practice

If spirituality shapes the brain, it’s something we can develop—like a muscle, through consistent effort. And it doesn’t require religion. You don’t need to chant in unfamiliar languages or pray to a god you doubt. You simply need to acknowledge something greater than yourself and lean into it, again and again, until it begins to shape your perception.

Spirituality is the act of reaching beyond the self.

It’s standing beneath towering trees and feeling, for a moment, that they hold a wisdom beyond words.

It’s sitting in stillness, allowing your thoughts to settle, and noticing what rises in the quiet.

It’s losing yourself in music so completely that your sense of self dissolves.

It’s offering kindness to a stranger and witnessing their face soften in response.

It’s the deep knowing that you are never truly alone.

These small moments matter. They change the brain, create a buffer against despair, and make us more resilient, present, and alive.

Three Ways to Build a Spiritual Practice (No Religion Needed)

These powerful spiritual practices are simple, accessible, and profoundly effective. 

Make Time for Silence

Modern life rarely allows for stillness. When the mind is constantly bombarded with information, there’s no space for deeper connection. Just five minutes of intentional silence each day—without screens, music, or distractions—can start to create new neural pathways for reflection and awareness. Open’s guided breathing meditations are a great tool to deepen this practice and make the most of those quiet moments. 

Seek Awe

Actively look for experiences that remind you of your smallness in a way that feels expansive. Watch the sun rise over the ocean. Walk beneath a night sky filled with stars. Read poetry that challenges your understanding of existence. Listen to music that stirs something deep in you. Let yourself be humbled by the vastness of life.

Connect Through Service

One of the most powerful ways to dissolve the illusion of separateness is through acts of service. Not for validation, not for recognition, but simply to acknowledge another person’s humanity. Whether it’s volunteering, deeply listening to a friend, or offering help without being asked, these small gestures reshape the brain—replacing self-absorption with a sense of shared experience.

The real question isn’t whether you are spiritual. It’s whether you notice it. Whether you allow yourself to step beyond the limits of the isolated self and into a larger sense of being.

Spirituality isn’t about rules or doctrine. It’s about remembering—again and again—that we are part of something vast, something we may never fully define, but can always feel. And that feeling, when nurtured, doesn’t just change the mind—it changes how we move through the world.