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Lisa Miller a psychologist and scientist whose work focuses on the nexus of spirituality and mental health. She’s a professor at Columbia and the New York Times bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and The Awakened Brain, which I finally just read and loved so much.
Today, we talk about some of the latest research and clinical science showing how spirituality is incredibly protective against depression. And we’ll get into what we mean by spirituality. But, interestingly, as Lisa will explain, there is nothing that is a quarter as protective against suffering as spirituality. Beyond the statistics, though, Lisa tells a few really poignant stories of experiences she had with patients that changed the way she thought about mental health, and how we might make better sense of our lives.
We talk about different ways to open up to spiritual awareness, growth, and meaning. And we also talk about how to help our kids do this—and why this is particularly important.
Perhaps not surprisingly, we talk about synchronicity, and the power of small moments in our lives. Lisa outlines three steps you can take to become a more active participant in synchronicity—which she says is not merely a spectator sport.
Lisa takes me through something she calls the red-door, yellow-door practice. And she outlines three times in our lives where we tend to experience what she describes as developmental depression—or an invitation to awaken to the deeper meaning of life. This hits around college age, then midlife, and then as we ascend to become elders. I found Lisa’s framing of these life chapters so helpful and intuitive.
I hope you love this conversation, too.
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