THE PERSONAL SIDE
Spirituality
Your own sense of meaning, purpose, and connection to something larger than yourself. It might be God, nature, the people you love, or a quiet sense that your life matters.
MEANING, HOPE & CONNECTION
Faith and Spirit
There are many ways to find your footing. Yours is welcome here.
For many people, getting through hard times isn’t only practical. It’s also about meaning, hope, and something to hold onto when the bills and the bad news pile up. People find that in very different places, and all of them are welcome here.
Spirituality and religion
are not the same thing.
THE SHARED, ORGANIZED SIDE
Religion
A tradition with its beliefs, teachings, practices, and community, often gathered in a church, mosque, temple, synagogue, or other place of worship.
Some people live both. Some are spiritual without belonging to any religion. Some draw strength from religious community and tradition. Some hold no spiritual beliefs at all and find their footing in reason, family, work, or service. Each of these can be a real source of strength.
USE WHAT WORKS FOR YOU
Many ways to steady yourself
Prayer
Speaking honestly with God or a higher power, alone or with others.
Meditation
Sitting quietly and paying attention to your breath and thoughts without judging them.
A mantra
Repeating a word, phrase, or verse that calms and centers you.
Scripture or wisdom reading
A few lines from a sacred text, a poem, or a book that speaks to you.
Time in nature
A walk, a sunrise, or working with your hands in a garden.
Gratitude
Naming three things each day that are still good.
Silence
A few minutes with no screen and no noise.
Service
Helping someone else, which can lift the helper as well as the person helped.
None of these needs to replace the others, and none is required. Use what works for you.
A PLACE FOR EVERY PATH
How this fits in a Harvest Circle
Circles are open to people of every faith and of no faith. Some circles choose to open or close with a moment of silence, so each person can pray, meditate, reflect, or simply breathe in their own way.
No one leads others in a particular prayer or tries to change anyone’s beliefs.
“Respect every faith and no faith; no one pushes their beliefs on anyone.”Read the Harvest Circle ground rules
YOU CAN REACH OUT
If you’d like
spiritual support
If you belong to a faith community, its leaders—pastors, priests, imams, rabbis, monks, and others—may be glad to help in hard times, even if you haven’t been in a while.
If you don’t, a counselor, a chaplain at a hospital or veterans’ program, or a meditation group can also be a place to start. You can ask whether their approach fits your beliefs and preferences.
If you’re in crisis, you can call 988 or text 988 in the United States.
Need help now?