Healing Corner Spiritual Assessment Adapted from Taking a Spiritual Inventory by Kathleen Dowling Singh A spiritual assessment is a helpful practice, which seems to arise naturally in the course of the profound psychological and spiritual transformations while living with an illness. Since we all share the same human condition, many medically ill people report asking themselves the same questions. They are questions that pierce through the frivolousness at the surface of life and confront us with the value and significance this precious gift of a human life offers. For individuals with medical illness it is never too late to take stock of our lives, And for those of us in the midst of life, in the apparent safety and security of our health, it is not too early. No matter how much time we have left to live, the answers to the following questions, voiced in the quiet honesty of our own hearts, provide direction to the rest of our living. Who have I been all this time? How have I used my gift of a human life? What do I need to "clear up" or "let go of" in order to be more peaceful? What gives my life meaning? For what am I grateful? What have I learned of truth and how truthfully have I learned to live? What have I learned of love and how well have I learned to love? What have I learned about courage, strength, power, and faith? How am I handling my suffering? If I remembered that my breaths were numbered, what would be my relationship to this breath right now? Who am I?