We seem to live in a time where anxiety has weaved itself into our daily life. We are yearning and looking for something more than just traditional approaches to healing and the way to find ourselves in this vast world. Traditional therapy offers healing rooted in science and structure, while spirituality calls to the deeper parts of us that seek peace, presence, and connection. When we pair Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with spirituality, we tap into a powerful path for calming our anxious mind, finding peace, and reconnecting with our true self.
CBT utilizes the concept of schemas, which are deeply held beliefs that mold our mental framework of the world, ourselves, and others. Schemas can often evolve into limiting self-beliefs, such as “I’m not good enough,” “I’ll always fail,” or “I have to be perfect to be loved.” Through spiritual practices such as self-inquiry or meditation, we start to bring forward the question: “Who would I be without this belief?” This begins to remove the power. We can start to see that we are overidentifying with these thoughts, the way they shape our identity, and see them for what they are…just thoughts.
Spirituality and CBT would invite us to see these beliefs in another way. That our thoughts are not us. We are separate from them. From this perspective, we can notice our thoughts and simply observe them, rather than identify them as real or as part of us. Through mindfulness and spiritual presence, we can begin to release our thinking mind and drop into the present moment. Practices such as deep breathing, meditation, mantras, and grounding exercises can help to ease the mind. As we create more space between us and our thoughts, a greater sense of peace and connection to self emerges. As Ram Dass said, “Quiet the mind, open the heart.”
As we begin to gain more presence, our nervous system can regulate. When we are truly present, we signal to our body, “You are safe.” Over time, this practice restores balance, reduces hypervigilance, and builds a greater way to cope with stress. We can begin to utilize spirituality to envision our future self, exactly as we would like to be. We can deepen our connection to how our future self will feel, think, and act. This is where CBT and spirituality come together in a way to powerfully reprogram the mind through intentional thought, while activating belief and embodiment of alignment. The more we visualize and embody who we want to be – calm, confident, peaceful – the more we train our mind and body to operate from that state.
This is where we move from simply managing our anxiety to transforming the way we connect to ourselves, our thoughts, and our embodied self. We can shift from a mindset of fear, lack, and scarcity to one of peace, abundance, and possibilities. It’s about remembering who you are and stepping into your highest truth. You are becoming who you’ve always been.
