No matter who you are, you will have to confront some challenging concepts like death, disease, and suffering at some point in life. To understand and get through these difficult moments, many of us will turn to religious or spiritual teachings, hoping for (spiritual) help or support. Others will turn towards psychology and science, hoping to regain their awareness through medicine or counseling. Some will even do both.

Because the truth is that we will all have to deal with the inevitable challenges that life throws at us, in moments of uncertainty, fear, anger, or grief, we will seek direction, support, and understanding. Even though most religions encourage some form of community outreach and work, there is an element of appearing to transcend prematurely at play most of the time. As Robert explains, "It means that we have a sense of wellbeing, from our beliefs that often prematurely suppress our human sides. We think we understand." But when it's our turn to face challenging situations, we may realize that we cannot get through it without asking for more love, care, and support. And that's extremely important. It's only natural. The key is to ask yourself how best to care for yourself through this or how you can apply religious teachings or extrapolate what your therapist suggested to reduce your emotional turmoil. It would also be highly beneficial to look toward when your spiritual or religious guides shared how they experienced similar problems. Then, you can learn how they used their traditions and teachings that ultimately helped themselves and others, including you.

It would be extremely beneficial if you could ask your spiritual or religious guides to share experiencing how they used their tradition to help both themselves and ultimately you too.

This is why leaders and teachers across religion, spirituality, and psychology need to model self-care for the mind and body. This can include sharing similar challenges and how they've gotten through them or offering direction and support through counseling or resources. Therapy is often values-neutral, so religious or even non-religiously humanitarian individuals can incorporate most of their learnings to amplify their potential across different spheres. For folks who are fundamentally healthy, therapy might not be fulfilling enough. Sometimes, there's a need to contribute more toward loved ones, the community, or the world at large, which is when spiritual needs become primary.

The core takeaway across the best of psychology and religion is about maximizing your potential. That's how we'll be able to find ourselves and then help others along the way. It simply means that fusing the two will help you make a greater connection to humanity and human issues.

Read the transcription and listen to this episode on The Global Bridge Foundation website.