IW Ep 10 - How having a more spiritual perspective to life can help us transcend suffering and navigate life with greater ease.

There is an abundance of research that demonstrates the tangible benefits of having spiritual beliefs, including the findings that individuals with a spiritual philosophy tend to report greater levels of happiness, demonstrate greater resilience, develop greater immunity to health and mental health problems, and develop more solid support networks.

In the 10th episode of Integrated Wisdom, Tatiana explores how holding a spiritual perspective of life can help us to transcend suffering, navigate challenges with greater ease and transform our relationships to ourselves and others. 

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Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.

Transcript

Tatiana: 0:00

Welcome to the Integrated Wisdom Podcast. I am your host, Tatiana Da Silva. Join me as we discuss what it means to live an integrated life and explore ways for you to create a life filled with greater meaning, peace, and connection by integrating the wisdom of spirituality, psychology, Neuroscience, Epigenetics and Energy Psychology are hoped to empower you to create deeper and more loving connections with yourself and others, whilst also paving the way for humanity at large to be reimagined and inspired to become the very best version of itself. Hello. And welcome to another week of the integrated wisdom podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. Today. Unfortunately, you may have noticed last week. I wasn't able to, to publish an episode. I was actually quite unwell with influenza. Which seems to be doing the rounds. And is pretty nasty, this strain. And so unfortunately it meant that I wasn't able to, to show up last week and I apologize for that. So today's episode, which is the 10th episode, I can't believe we've made it to number 10. Is really. I guess. an essay of sorts on why i believe. Having an understanding and an acceptance of. The spiritual nature of life. Can completely transform the way we, we live our lives, the way we feel about ourselves and others. And. It's a necessary step in our evolution. I think. It is a detriment to. To our species, that science is still very Reticent. To to study spirituality in more depth. I think. there's a misunderstanding. About what it is when we're talking about spirituality. How one would even go about studying it. But it's not impossible, right? Like I've said in previous episodes, there are scientists out there studying this stuff. Already they have been doing so for decades. But unfortunately the scientific community can still be quite reluctant. To kind of review. their our own concepts around. The possibility of a world. That's not 100% material that there, you know, that there are other forces and other influences that exist in our. You know, universe. That are relevant. To the world that we live in and the things that we experience. And I guess that's what I wanted to speak to a little bit today because I'm aware of the fact that. You know, one, if you're listening to this episode, you have some curiosity, at least about spirituality. But I think for a lot of people, even where there is that curiosity. It can still be such a mind blowing concept. Right? It's so hard to wrap our heads around. What that could even mean. About us being spiritual beings. What does that mean? What does that look like? Why don't we have a greater awareness of that. And I think in really practical terms, it can feel a little bit too overwhelming. And so most of us, Kind of try not to think about it too much. If I can't have the answers, if I can't really know conclusively. You know, I'm quite content to put it to the side for now. Which, which makes sense. Right. There's so many other things that go on day to day in life. That demand our attention. It makes sense that you know, the big questions that can't readily be answered. Would be put to the side a little bit. But I guess I wanted this episode to put forward, a little case for what we stand to gain. by. Opening ourselves up To this reality. And I think the very first thing that stands out to me. Is. The fact that Understanding that we're spiritual beings. And that we're here having these experiences, right. We're here playing. A storyline. Of our own creation. For our own. learning purposes. Can help us transcend suffering. In a really tangible, significant way. Right. We encounter experiences in life that can be very challenging, very confronting. Very painful. And if I don't understand. That there is a higher purpose to some of these experiences that there is a lesson in these experiences for me. Then, I don't know, one to go looking for it. And therefore learn the lesson. Hopefully. But also I don't. Feel like I have a lot of power in my life. You know, the surest way to feel victimized by life is to believe that life happens to us. Right. That things happen to us. that, we can't control. That we have no say over. And that just cause us pain. And to believe that is to put us in an extremely disempowered state. It's to feel like we at the mercy of life and fate. And so to know conclusively well, One, I'm not here. Just as this. Physical being like, I am. Not my body. I am not the experiences that I am having. I am. Not the roles that I'm playing in my life. I am this being that's so much bigger than all of that. And that in many ways, Elected some of the experiences that I'm having. In order to grow and to learn. It can have such a peaceful effect. You can understand. That things are really happening for our highest good. Either. To learn the perspective of a mistake that I've made and be able to rectify it. Or to. To be able to let go of the lower order. Emotions and traits that don't serve me, that prevent me from moving towards that path of becoming pure unconditional love. when you have that awareness you can so easily pull yourself out of a victim mentality. And really start to feel like. You have power in your life where you have power, right? There are always going to be elements. Of life, where we don't exert complete control. But when you recognize that there is a lesson, a valuable lesson in most experiences that we have. Then. You can become more empowered. Immediately, you can cease to feel. Like a victim. And start to really put into practice the lesson that you've learnt and start feeling more. In charge. Of your narrative. So I think that's one of the biggest. Benefits of being able to. To accept. The spiritual nature of life. You know, it helps us transcend our own suffering. In our own lived experiences, but it helps navigate grief more effectively. When we lose loved ones, because we understand that any separation that we're experiencing. Is an illusion and is temporary. But, you know, You don't have to take my word for it. There is an abundance of scientific literature. That illustrates that for people who have a faith. And I've said this before, when I am talking about spirituality, And the spiritual nature of life. I am not talking about religion. Okay. I do think the two things are separate. But for some people, their only access to spirituality or to. The concept of a spiritual reality to life is religion. And. There was an abundance of scientific literature that shows. That individuals who have a faith who have a belief in a greater power, not necessarily a religious belief, but have a belief in something. Greater than themselves. You know, force or. Supreme. Being or purpose to, to life. Tend to be. More resilient, tend to have longer lives. Tend to be. More immune to mental health conditions. So there is something even on a physiological level. That is extremely important and dependent on. the belief in a higher. Reality. If you like, we gain as individuals, as a species, we gain significantly. from believing. That there is more to life. Than just what we experienced through our materials senses. And. We could talk about, well, evolutionary speaking, why would this be the case? Right. What, why do we stand to gain all these physiological benefits in believing in something greater than ourselves? If all that happens when we die is we'd go back to oblivion. Right. And the other thing that further supports. The premise of something greater than us being the truth. Is that. This tendency to believe in a higher power. Or to, to have some spiritual kind of leanings. Is universal. You will find it in every nationality, in the world. Right. All indigenous communities worldwide. All first nations people, no matter where they are in the world. Will be deeply, deeply spiritual. They have. Narratives about creation and you know, the purpose of existence, but they also have this innate understanding. Of some of these spiritual concepts that I am describing. And again, I don't think that's. By chance. Right. I mean, they've even found a molecule in the brain that is involved in. Spiritual. Experiences, you know, DMT, Which has been dubbed the God molecule. So the more we learn about our physiology, our biology, our biochemistry. The more. We understand. That there is something. Innate to us. That wants us to believe in a higher power that wants us to believe in a bigger. Context of life to what we see. And in fact, some of the most. Celebrated respected scientific minds. Like. Albert Einstein. And even Carl Sagan, who I think is you know, a poster boy for atheists. But even Carl Sagan himself. and Albert Einstein and many other scientists. It seems to be the case that the more. More progress. Scientists seem to make in in their particular fields, the more they understand about how things work. They're more inevitable. It becomes for them to reach, to get to a point of belief. In some sort of higher. Energy force. Intelligence in the world. You know, both Carl Sagan and Albert Einstein eventually concluded. That the universe is a spiritual place. And I think the second thing that We gain from believing. Or understanding rather that we are, these spiritual beings is it can dismantle. So many of the illusions of divisions. That we've been fed. You know, throughout our existence. The fact that we, we get separated by race, by gender, by socioeconomic status. And we get put in these boxes. And these boxes tend to be given. Values of either good or bad. And particularly at the moment we're being pitted against each other on almost every possible facet that. That can divide us. They're illusions. Right. At the end of the day. We're all. Human beings. We all want the same thing. We all want to belong. We all care about our loved ones and our families. We all want to have a good, happy life. And. When you understand that we're just. Spirits. Having this temporary existence, this temporary lesson. It can fast-track our ability. To find that compassion. For each other. To recognize that oneness. That connects us all. Not just on a human level. But on an all living beings level. We start to understand our connection to nature. To plants to animals. That we're all interdependent on each other in so many ways. If I believe that I'm just here. For myself on this individual. Trajectory. Where the goal is for me to live my best life. And my best life often involves. Goals that tend to be materialistic. That tend to be. Self-focused. It makes it so much easier to lack that compassion. To, to get caught up in greed to get caught up in power struggles. Because we're mistakenly buying into this idea that. This is a game of winners and losers. That life is a game of winners and losers. And you want to be winning. But for you to win, someone has to lose. And I think we're having this massive crisis of meaning at the moment, because. We're in the thick of. Time period in our history. Where we have been consistently fed to this idea. That we're only in it for ourselves. And we're suffering as a result. And it's no accident that spirituality is being discussed more and more everywhere. Right. Because. We're at a point in our evolution where we're being called to remember who we are. It is the only path out of this mess that we've kind of caught ourselves in. The memories. Of the fact that we're one that we're interconnected. That we, we have the power to. To hurt each other, but we also have the power to elevate each other. We do create our own realities and the choices that we make. And that's terrifying because that burden of responsibility can feel so heavy. But at the same time, That is amazing. It's amazing. and incredibly powerful. Because it means we have all we need. To change the world. In the attitudes that we demonstrate. We're not wired. To be leaving each other behind. Right. We're not wired to. win at the expense of other people, You see this all the time in times of crisis. People risking their own safety. Risking their lives. In order to help other people in need. And. You know, the world renowned anthropologist, Margaret Mead. There's a quote of hers that I always find so, so powerful. Where she was asked in an interview, what was the first. Indication. Off civilization. In. In a community. Was it artworks? Was it writing? Was it. You know, some kind of. Ornament or social structure. And her response was that the first indication of civilization. Was finding a broken femur. That had healed. Because what that meant. Right. Is that. for that person's femur to have broken and healed. It meant that other members of the tribe or somebody else had to be with them. Had to take care of them. And nurturing them back to health. Because back in. those days when. We were still at the mercy of the elements. A broken femur, met death to be separated from your tribe to be separated from your pack, even if it's an animal or meant. sure death. And so the fact that somebody cared for that. Individual nurtured that individual, back to health and enabled them to survive and heal. To her. Was an indication of civilization. Because that's an indication of compassion. Right again, The best in us is always compassion. And some of you may say maybe thinking, well, yeah, that's all well and good. But what if you're wrong? Like what if there is nothing after all this. You know, what if the atheists are right and, when you die? There's nothing. There's just darkness. And I will say to you that doesn't really worry me. Because the bottom line is, and as blunt as this is going to sound. If there's nothing. I'll be none. The wiser. I'm not going to know. Right. One moment. I'll be here the next I won't. And I won't know anymore. About that. So no loss. No foul. But if there is, and there is an abundance of information and evidence that's been collated for as long as human beings have existed. That point to the fact that there is. Then. Not only will I be making the most of my time here. By making sure that I'm learning the lessons that I have to learn. I'm going to be navigating life with more ease. Because having that philosophical outlook. Helps navigate. The challenging periods of time. We have to sometimes experience in life. But I'm also going to be ready for that period of transition. And so it's almost like. knowing what comes after this life. Has the power to re signify the way that you go through life whilst you're here. And I'm not going to lie. It's something that I really struggle with sometimes. Right. Like I find myself sometimes in a conflict. Where. The spiritual understanding allows me to transcend some of the. The messages that we've received, day-to-day about what matters. Right? So. Maybe a little bit less concerned withhow I look, I understand my body. Isn't really me. It's just the packaging I'm wearing at this point in time. I've, you know, I've had other packages before I will have other packages in the future. So It makes it easier to hold it lightly. Right. I can embrace the fact that I'm aging. I can embrace the fact that I'm starting to get signs of aging and my body's changing. Because I recognize that this isn't really me. Right. That can make life so much easier. I think. But also. When you remember what really matters I can. I can take that step back and think, okay, well, I don't need to worry so much about. Material success, financial success. All that. I really need is. Make sure that I have a roof over my head that I have. Food on the table that I can provide for myself and my family is needs. Essential needs. And, you know, I. And I can allow myself the. The indulgence of having experiences to make my time here a little bit more. Enjoyable. But I don't have to kill myself or do things that are out of character. For me in order to accomplish a particular benchmark. Of material standards. So sometimes having this understanding can really help. Right. But it's hard because the messages are everywhere and sometimes you think, well, shouldn't, I want more, maybe there should be more to life. You know, gee whiz those. There's luxurious holidays do look. Lovely. And so you want to maybe. Experienced some of that stuff. And sometimes we can get caught up in the rat race of it. All right. Like. The pressure of work, the pressure of achievement, the pressure of legacy. But then you think about it. We stress ourselves and make ourselves sick. Cause stress is toxic. For what?. The legacy we leave behind. Well, at least the only legacy that matters is the legacy of. Did we love enough? Did I somehow make the world better for other people just because I was here. And by other people, I don't mean on a grand global scale. I mean, the people that I interacted with. Some people. Are only here on earth for such a short time. They don't get to accomplish career goals. You know, financial security. Jet-setting lifestyle. Is their life, less worthwhile because they didn't get to do any of those things? Of course not. Right. It's it's horrifying thought to consider that that's the case. That unless you're achieving these amazing. Feats of material success that your life has no purpose. But so many of us buy into this myth. And end up having our lives. not only defined by it, but controlled by that. And then it's not until later in life that we start recognizing actually there's more to life than this. You achieve all these things and something still feels off and empty. Only to eventually realize that really, that emptiness is that. It's all soul's way of saying to us. That wasn't it. We're here to love each other. We're here to love ourselves. And we're here to love each other. To help each other to create. an environment and a time where. everybody. Gets to benefit from being here. You. And if you haven't listened to episode five, I suggest you go back and listen to episode five because it does. Talk a little bit more about that broader context of why we're here on from a spiritual perspective. But what i'll reiterate now is. Earth is still. at the lower. Rungs of the spiritual evolutionary path. And so. The reason that we have so much suffering on this planet is because most of us who are here. I haven't really evolved that much yet. Right. We're still really early in our journey and. We still tend to, to make. Certain mistakes. That add to our suffering, you know, that almost guarantee are suffering. And so when you hear people talking about, we create our own reality. It's true. Not just in the way that it's talked about in manifesting circles, right? Which where they talk about our thoughts, create our reality. And I think too, To a large extent. Logics tend to that's true. But that saying has a much bigger meaning. We create our reality in the actions and attitudes that we embody. We live in a world where things are harsh. Where people suffer. Because the vast majority of us are still embodying attitudes. And behaviors. that create. The conditions for suffering to happen. We still tend towards greed. We still tend towards. Selfishness. We still tend towards. Revenge. We still tend towards. Pride vanity.. Thirst for power. And as long as. The majority of us are still embodying those sorts of attitudes. Unfortunately, we're going to be seeing. These conditions of inequality. of harm happening to other people. Right, but there is a tipping point. And it doesn't have to be the majority of us. If, if we reached the tipping point, But just enough of us start to embody compassion. Start to embody. Selflessness and caring for other people. And wanting to serve and love. And accept. Other people as they are. We can't help, but start creating a different reality. You see this in the new generation that's coming up right now. The souls that are being born now and have been, have been born in the last 10/15/20 years. They're naturally more evolved souls because the earth has reached a point where it's getting ready to, to ascend to the next level. Of evolution. it's going to become a planet of regeneration, way more positive things will happen more. There'll be more good than bad on earth. It will still be some bad, but it won't be the predominating feature. And you see this in the younger generations. They are naturally being born more compassionate. More aware of the collective. Nature of life. There are naturally more spiritually minded. Are they still prone to being misguided about what some of life means? Of course. Right. There's two messages all over the place. That that exists to confuses and misdirect us. And. when we're incarnated as human beings, we're susceptible. To these misdirections. But you can see in their attitudes. Right. Even if they embody some of these values, sometimes in a misguided way. They're still demonstrating the values of compassion of tolerance, of acceptance. They're naturally inclined. To, to have this spiritual perspective. And more and more of the newer generations are going to become like that. So that. You know, in the next hundred years, there will be a significant transformation. In attitudes in values in structure. For how the world. Conducts itself. And so that's exciting. Unfortunately, I don't know that I'll see most of that. Just by, by virtue of my age. But I do believe that I'm going to see some of it. And I think that's what this podcast and my mission is all about. It's about starting to lay the little pebbles. Along with other people who are equally laying pebbles for this path. So that these other generations coming behind us. Can really. Hit the ground running. And, and transform the world and reality, as we know it. But Hey, if we can fast track that process a little bit by raising awareness and starting to embody some of these. These concepts, why not? Right. And I guess that's the hope. So I invite you to start thinking about. What would it mean to you? To consider. That there is more to life than just what we see. In our material world. What would it mean to you? If you are able to accept or entertain the possibility of being a spiritual being. How would that change the way that you navigate life? How would that change the way you navigate your relationships? The goals you set for yourself. The things that you let get under your skin. And the things you won't. When do you most feel. In connection with. The higher spirituality of life, or a grander, meaning to life. For me, it's always, when I'm in nature. Or, when I see a sunset. Sunsets just strike such awe for me. But even being in nature. When I travel and I get to see. Landscapes that I haven't seen before for the first time. And I'm always in awe. Of just what a beautiful planet we live on. Well, when I see the kindness in people, in their attitudes, these moments always help me feel. Most connected. To my spiritual essence. You know, those that have been lucky enough. To go into space. will tell you. That when you're out there and you're looking down, back on earth. You start to understand. That all the stuff that we've been told about borders and nationalities and race. It's all lies. There's no division. There's no demarcation. It's all one living biosphere. I mean. If you haven't seen the video of William Shatner after he came back. From. The the ride up to space. I encourage you to find it on YouTube. The, awe in him. The emotion that he, that he became overwhelmed with. At the beauty of it all. Astronauts that have gone into space. will tell you. They all come back. Completely changed. I think it's impossible to witness the beauty. Of life of the universe of our planet. Of the constellations. And not be struck. By how we can't just be. Particles of matter. That there is more to all of this than just that. And what does that mean for you then on a practical level in your day-to-day life? For me, it's about the way I navigate my relationships. It's always trying to find peace. Quickly. To not sweat the small stuff, not worry about things that don't matter. To love fiercely. To serve and to help where I can. But to still enjoy life. Because life used to be enjoyed. Right. This isn't about ministering moral. Maxim's to any of you. It's like, it's still important to enjoy life. But I guess when you've got this understanding of the spiritual nature of life, What it does is it helps you redefine. what living a good life. Means. What enjoying life means? And often you find that it's the simple, it's the simple things that give life them biggest, meaning. That bring the most joy. So I encourage you to reflect on that today. I would love to hear your thoughts and questions about this episode. I know that these topics are heady. And may not always. Resonate very quickly. And so if there are any. Burning questions. Or even, you know, contradictory perspectives. I welcome them. You know, please feel free to engage with me on Instagram. You can DM me. At integrated underscore wisdom. And. I would love to have this chat with you. I really welcome. Your feedback and your. Questions. So I thank you yet. Once again. I wish you all a wonderful week. And I will see you next time. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Integrated Wisdom. It is my sincere wish that today's episode may have intrigued and inspired you to reclaim your power and step into becoming more fully integrated spiritual beings. New episodes are published every Wednesday. And I hope you'll continue to join us as we dive deeper into what it means to live an integrated life. So if it feels aligned to you, I invite you to hit subscribe and share it with others who you feel may benefit too. You may also find me on Instagram at integrated underscore wisdom. Remember, each moment is an opportunity to embrace your divine potential and create a world that is more frequently inspired. So for now, stay connected, stay inspired and keep shining your light. Into the world.