Spirituality and Meaningfulness: Key Components of Mental Health and Happiness. A keynote address
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
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| Description | Positive psychology and Indian psychology share similar concerns regarding ultimate goals of human life. Indian system of psychology rooted in the psychologically relevant spiritual practices has long and valuable tradition, in which spirituality plays a significant role. Recently, spirituality has become an important issue to consider also in Western psychology and its research on psychological well-being. Concepts such as spirituality, meaningfulness, hope, gratitude, and forgiveness are generally valued principles in both cultures and religions. In several research studies, we have investigated how spirituality, meaningfulness and positive personality traits get reflected in mental health and well-being of students, adults, and old people in Central Europe. We have found that meaningfulness and hope were closely connected to subjective well-being of university students. More hopeful students were also more grateful for the good things in their life, and were more forgiving when they got into conflict with others. In elderly people of around 75-80 years of age, meaningfulness and hope appear to be one of the key factors of 'healthy aging', closely related to better health and higher life satisfaction. Recently we have studied the role of spirituality and meaningfulness in well-being on a large sample of 1,400 Czech respondents aged between 15 and 80. We found that more spiritual people, who perceive higher meaning in life, are more hopeful, more satisfied with life, maintain high-quality interpersonal relationships, and are also healthier. Detailed analysis shows that the happiest people are those who engage in volunteering activities and strongly hold on to their spiritual values. Results of our studies show that spirituality, perceived meaning of life and hope are significant predictors of psychological well-being. The findings indicate the importance of eudaimonic perspective on well-being and optimal functioning of an individual and society. |