Spiritual Fitness is the beliefs and practices that strengthen your connectedness with sources of hope, meaning, and purpose. Spiritual fitness is critical to developing overall wellness. Spirituality can be very personal. Spiritual fitness relates to our ability to develop core beliefs, highest principles, and ultimate values, and if we can live our life accordingly.

This framework doesn’t seek to identify “right belief” but asks each individual to assess how they are living up to their own standards, and see if that brings them fulfillment. When our spiritual fitness is misaligned, it can manifest our overall wellness, impacting mental health, social interactions, and family relationships. Spiritual fitness for Service Members also extends to commitment to service and sacrifice, our relationships with family, comrades, unit, community, the Nation, and society as a whole.

Spiritual fitness also extends to our willingness to learn from others and accept alternative viewpoints – do we view the world with curiosity, and how do we perceive people different from ourselves. Being open to different experiences and viewpoints opens us up to new relationships and opportunities for growth. Mindfulness is another aspect of spiritual fitness that can pay dividends across many areas of physical, psychological, and social fitness.