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Dr. Lisa Miller TODAY contributor

20 hours ago

Lisa Miller, Ph.D., is director of clinical psychology and founder of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Columbia University, Teachers College. The author of "The Spiritual Child," she has spent over a decade researching the impact of religion and spirituality.

Every child is born a spiritual child. We all are hardwired with a natural spirituality. But this inborn capacity can be strengthened into the greatest of all our human resources through parenting.

The most important thing we can do for our children is to support their natural spirituality. Adolescents with a strong spirituality are protected against depression, substance abuse and risk-taking, and are far more likely to have meaning, purpose and thrive. Parenting for strong spirituality can start with early childhood, but we can "jump in" at any point.

To help you as a parent start to explore spirituality in your own family, here are a few exercises that I do with children, adolescents and adults. You may find that your entire family becomes quite at home with these exercises, and comes to count on them for anchoring and guidance.

EXERCISE ONE: HOSTING COUNCIL

The most important exercise I have discovered is Hosting Council in your own inner life. This is a practice that is done by all members of a family parents or grandparents, children and teens. The practice is a reflection, a meditation or visualization. I honor its original developer, Dr. Gary Weaver, who called council with thousands of teens in pain, who were separated from their personal spirituality. It is the most effective practice I have seen at welcoming teens into a personal spirituality.

Breathe in and clear a space in your inner being.

See the article here:

How to raise a spiritual child: 3 exercises to try with your family