how to make spiritual content go viral

I grew my audience to 48,000 followers + 3,000 email subscribers.

Most came from spiritual content.

While it worked for me, I noticed most creators discussing spirituality & self-development get lost in the void.

Why?

Spirituality is crowded - most posts sound like copies of copies - the death of a personal brand.

In this letter, I will show you how to stand out - the exact frames, hooks, and prompts, and examples I use to go viral on repeat.

So if you want to build an audience around spirituality & self-development, this is for you🙂 

1) Lead with Past Personal Experiences

If the problem is that spirituality + self-development are oversaturated, what’s the only logical solution?

Your lived experience.

How do you know whether you put in your experience?

Do a simple test - ask yourself:

“Could this be copy-pasted & published by anyone else without edits?”

If yes, you have a problem.

What can’t be copy-pasted?

Your lived experiences

People don’t want to be preached at - they learn through your experience. 

That’s why the writing “Gratitude is powerful” falls flat, and “After my breakup, I forced myself to write 3 things I was grateful for every day. On day 17, my brain shifted” lands.

One is empty preaching, the other is a lesson presented within a story.

Big difference.

Make it uncopyable with specifics only you can claim:

“I spent 10 days in silence with no screens” / “I wasted six years in an abusive relationshi,” / “I worked corporate for 20 years.”

Dates, durations, ages, places, numbers - these details no one can copy.

Here are prompts that unlock “uncopyable posts”: 

• What mistake shaped me?

• What risk changed everything?

• What pain do I avoid writing about?

• What lesson did I learn the hard way?

• What do I wish someone told me 10 years ago?

• What belief do I hold that’s unpopular in my niche?

• What’s the unpopular truth I carry but never say out loud?

• What do most people here get wrong—and what’s my alternative?

Micro-templates

• I spent X days doing Y. On day Z, this shifted.

• When I was 20 I was [state]. At 27 I’m [state]. Here’s what changed.

• I thought A. Then B happened. Now I see C.

Example:

2) Pair Experience + Belief

The formula: 

Credibility + Originality. 

“I did this, and I believe X”

Examples:

• “I studied psychology, and I believe a 60-minute walk in nature will solve most of your problems.”

• “I’ve been on antidepressants for three years and spirituality saved me more than meds.”

• “I have PhD in health research and I’m gonna be honest: ______.” (pair a credential with a truth)

• “I’m a father of 2 girls, and I believe society is rigged against fathers.”

Why it works:

• The experience (“I studied… I spent… I lived… I tried… I failed…”) makes us lean in.

• The belief (“…and I believe… and I’m gonna be honest… and I need to tell you…”) makes us feel something.

• Time anchors (“for 10 days,” “for 3 years,” “at 27,” “after 6 months”) make it uncopyable.

How to write it:

1. Pick one concrete experience: I went to a 10-day Vipassana retreat / I worked in corporate for 20 years / I catsat alone for 30 days.

2. Add a connector: and I believe / and I’m gonna be honest / and here’s the truth.

3. Land one specific brutal truth.

Micro-templates

• I spent X doing Y, and I believe Z.

• I tried A for B years, and I’m gonna be honest: C.

• I studied field, and I believe counter-intuitive takeaway.

3. Use Call-Outs for Tension

An alternative to talking about direct experience is to call out what you disagree with.

I once wrote:

“Big therapy doesn’t want you to know this. The deeper the trauma, the more a spiritual approach is needed. Here’s how to heal at the root.”

It worked because I paired the call-out with a solution.

Frames that spark curiosity

• Big therapy/pharma doesn’t want you to know this:

• The cosmetic industry will hate me for this:

• The food industry is hiding this from you:

• School/University won’t teach you this:

• They won’t teach you this in therapy:

• Your therapist won’t tell you this:

• Your doctor won’t prescribe this:

• Dan Koe/Eckhart Tolle is wrong:

How to make it land:

1. Aim at an idea, not a person.

2. Anchor in you: I studied / I tried / I treated clients / I spent 10 days…

3. Give the alternative: “They say X. Here’s what worked for me (and how to do it).”

4. Be specific: terms, durations, numbers, quotes (“My therapist told me my people-pleasing was manipulative.”)

5. Stay evidence-aware: link a study, a practice, or share a concrete story.

Micro-templates

• Big X won’t tell you this: Y. Here’s the simple protocol I used instead →

• Everyone says A. After B years/days of C, I learned A is wrong because D. Try E.

• “My therapist told me [harsh truth].” It changed how I [action]. Here’s the 3-step fix.

• As a [role], I’m frustrated [field] ignores [missing piece]. Here’s how I integrate it with clients.

4) Hook Structures That Almost Always Work

A hook is the why at the top. The how comes in the body.

Lead with a line that only you could write

There are 6 viral frames you can use to pair with your lived experience. I made a complete newsletter on those 6 frames.

So if you wanna learn the post structures that gained me 10k+ followers, have a look here:

5) Journal → short form → long-form

Most of my viral posts came from my journal.

I’m aware this step is not practical. And journaling isn’t meant to be practical.

Journaling aims at self-knowledge, and ultimately, great writers are observers of the self - the more you understand yourself, the deeper you connect with your audience.

And that’s the power of journaling.

The first pages are usually on-the-surface-level thoughts, but then I find an absolute banger on page 5.

There are only a few feelings that are better in life 😅😅

But journaling is hard to teach, so here’s a rule of thumb for you:

As a writer, you need to use your emotions as a radar.

If you feel inspired, curious, angry, moved, or uncomfortable - that’s your call to capture it (phone notes, voice recorder app, physical journal, it really doesn’t matter)

• when your heart opens or closes

• when the line in the book stings

• when a friend convo hits hour four and you finally say the thing you’ve never said out loud.

Capture it!

Then you have food for a stand-alone short-form post.

If it lands, expand it into long-form.

The simple flow I teach is this: brain-dump → short form → long-form.

My short form out of my journal (one-liner):

Then I made a long-form out of it:

6) New Angles = New Attention

When a post feels “already said” it dies.

Unfortunately, that’s how most posts feel.

What earns attention is a new way of looking at something familiar:

I challenge popular beliefs, show the exception to the rule, and then offer my alternative.

I’m not trying to be edgy, but to be honest about what worked for me.

• I wrote about how the term “letting be” works better for me than the popular term “letting go.”

• I expressed that the more I study biology, physics, and psychology, the more I see God

• I talked about somatic insights we learned from observing animals, or ancient, wordless healing practices that modern therapy often ignores.

The point is:

Your angle should move people.

Anger, relief, wonder - sparking an emotion within the reader is your aim.

And you do this by introducing novelty.

Comedians do this well:

They say what we think but don’t say out loud.

Your job as a creator is to tell the truth you rarely see online.

And you find these angles by reading, journaling, walking & silence. 

Here’s another rule:

Every time I stop reading, walking, and journaling, my content gets worse.

Funny how that works.

Okay, and now let’s get more practical again…

7) Easy ways to go viral with proven formats

These are plug-and-play frames for easy virality.

They work because they’re simple, visual, and easy to write from lived experience.

• Quotes:  

  

  
  

• Ask for connection:

• Bad / Good / Better / Best

Example:

How to create lifelong healing:

Bad: Medication.
Good: Moving your body.
Better: Seeking Therapy.
Best: Listening to the birds chirp.

Presence heals everything.

• “Spirituality is not… it is…”

Example:

Spirituality is not:

• Detachment
• Non-participation
• Minimalistic living

Spirituality is:

• Acceptance
• Full Participation
• Living your true self

• “Spirituality says… X says…”
  

  

• Paradox

• Fun fact

• Refuting popular spiritual beliefs

Example:

"Trust Your Intuition"

Wrong.

Your intuition is full of anxiety & trauma.

Instead:

Heal First. Then trust your intuition.

Ask your audience

Resume:

Easy right?

Everybody serious about growing online should save those.

But even better:

Create one, send it to me, and I’ll give you my personalized feedback. 

Can’t wait to see your posts 🙂

With love,

Heythem

P.S. If you’re a creator looking for guidance on how to create a writing business, join our writers’ community inside Full Circle ⭕for a 7-Day Free Trial where you get viral post templates, live feedback on your posts, free reposts, personalized monetization strategies, weekly masterminds & Q&A’s.