Research Paper: Can Spirituality Increase Happiness and Success?

Seventy-four percent of those surveyed are happy with their financial situation and have rated their situation as 3 or 4 on a scale of 5. An astounding 93% of those surveyed are happy with their love life. On 2 participants rates their romantic situation as a 1 or 2.

When people were asked if they were happy with their love life, 93% rated between 3 and 5, being moderately to extremely satisfied. When asked about the state of society today, 48% were middle-of-the-road with all of those rating their fears as a 3. Zero people rated it as a 5, whereas 12 (39%) other people rated their fears as a 2 or 1, extremely worried.

Seventy-four percent considered themselves 4 or 5, extremely spiritual. When asked if they pray, 52% said they pray all the time, 30% pray sometimes. When asked if they participate in spiritual activities, such as prayer, meditation, organized meetings such as church, etc., 42% said sometimes, 19% said all of the time. Forty-five percent said that spiritual activities influence their daily activities sometimes or often, 35% said they are spiritually influenced all of the time.

The Comments

Participants had an opportunity to share some of their greatest challenges and what they would like to discuss, had they the opportunity to work one-on-one with a coach. Topics included debt, fitness and weight-loss, medical and family issues. Result are as follows:

Respondent	Answer
80.98.158.71	My parent´s (specially my mom´s) death.
99.92.136.218	You pretty much know of the things lol, Its Angela.
172.56.16.133	Being so hard on myself. Putting myself in positions I know wouldn’t benefit me. I have a hard time letting go of things.
99.160.9.196	Procrastination
209.121.225.143	My need to constantly pursue achievement in my life.
70.211.6.198	Managing my own business
69.71.164.174	I have an on-going struggle accepting my limitations as a result of medical treatments that caused significant side effects. Every time I think I have come to grips with it, something comes up to send me back into a state of dissatisfaction.
70.197.68.146	Knowing how much I am worth….not really seeing my value. I don’t know who I really am. I feel like I’m always trying to fit a mold….
101.114.61.111	Fear of failure and coping with not fulfilling my potential.
66.215.162.124	I would like work on how to balance career and family.
65.254.221.68	being obese
65.254.221.68	I would like to be able to overcome my fear to heights and learn to forgive people and understand their ways.
216.135.35.68	Professional failure
66.18.137.17	I would work with Jillian Michaels to lose weight
65.254.221.68	TO BE HEALTHIER AND LOOSE MORE WEIGHT.TO STAY AWAY FROM NEGATIVE THOUGHTS, AND THINK MORE POSITIVELY.
71.104.147.204	Change. Overcoming setbacks and mistakes.
65.254.221.68	strength upper body build up …Julian Michaels….pull-ups 25 easy
65.254.221.68	How to become financially free from debt.
173.58.134.75	The overwhelming feeling of being afraid all of the time (e.g. making the right decisions, speaking my mind, to trust, to love, etc.)
65.254.221.68	I would like to be more decisive, not ponder over issues over and over and not come up with a solid solution. This is for both personal life and career wise.
65.254.221.68	My fear of not being able to trust that I’m worthy as a person. I put my belief in everyone around me, but myself. I need to work on that.
65.254.221.68	Fear of being self-employed. Challenges of weight loss.

 The Conclusion

It appears that the spiritual people were most happy with their overall status in life and were centered in the middle and ranged upward into extreme fulfillment and happiness. The relied on faith and their religious practices to propel them forward. Thinking everything would be alright, as God intended, gave them the strength to move through adverse situations and move forward knowing they could overcome obstacles in the present and future.

One subject was of particular interest because he did not see himself as spiritual, as he did not have a particular belief in God, yet he maintained a daily meditation practice which he called secular Buddhism^[5]. While he did not believe in anything ethereal outside of himself, he still spent time in self-reflection and used this practice to remain grounded and receive answers to propel him in his entrepreneurship. Also, he was open to receiving a tarot card reading as a gift for taking the survey, even though he did not see how it could be accurate or connected to him. His tarot card reading was very strong and all of his cards were very powerful and reassuring of his fears surrounding his business endeavors.

While it isn’t necessary to believe in God in particular, the findings of this survey, and the results of the case study of the secular Buddhist, show that having faith of some form indeed does help one overcome life’s challenges and provide you a connection with something that gives you a support system for life that leads to contentment.