Category: Spirituality

Case Analysis

This case is about whether religious and spiritual expressions should be incorporated in the workplace, particularly with regards to for-profit organizations. The main issue of interest is to determine whether private companies should be allowed to outwardly express faith-based priorities and whether it is correct for organizations to discriminate against certain employees based on their spirituality or religious beliefs.

The case revolves around two companies, namely Hobby Lobby and AutoZone Incorporated. David Green, the founder, and CEO of Hobby Lobby established the privately held company on a firm Christian foundation and continued to associate the companys success with its commitment to faith-based ideas. However, the introduction of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 presented new challenges for the company because Green felt that the section mandating organizations to provide contraception coverage to employees goes against the Christian principles on which Hobby Lobby was founded. Green believed that the government was intervening unnecessarily in a faith-based company and hence moved to court to overturn the mandate by requesting a determination on whether a for-profit organization qualifies as a religious employer.

The issue of AutoZone revolves around Frank Mahoney Burroughs, an employee of the company who converted to Sikhism only to find that his mandated religious attire conflicted with established AutoZone policies on dress code. The employee was the subject of continuous discrimination from colleagues and some managers due to his religious attire, with some associating him with terrorist activities. Upon reporting the discriminatory incidence to the HR department, Burroughs was asked for documentation from his place of worship detailing the reasons for his religious attire; however, he was fired weeks later for what was termed as job abandonment. Although Burroughs received an out-of-court settlement upon successfully suing AutoZone for the termination, the question remained on whether it was justifiable for companies to discriminate against certain employees based on their faith or religious convictions.

Problems

The first problem relates to deciding on whether privately-owned companies should be exempted from complying with U.S. law based on their commitment to faith and values. The second problem relates to determining whether it is justifiable for some employees to express outwardly their faith and spirituality in the workplace even when it is clear that not all employees or employers share the same beliefs or values. The next problem relates to whether it is correct for organizations to change their policies and dress codes to accommodate the religious orientation of a few employees. The last problem concerns deciding whether privately-owned companies should be allowed to limit their employees access to government-legislated health benefits just because they do not share the same religious beliefs.

Introduction

There are various standpoints on spirituality across a variety of disciplines and discourses, including culture, sociology, philosophy, and religious beliefs. The meaning of spirituality has advanced over the years, with each generation attempting to evaluate the existing belief systems. It may refer to a religious process where believers hope to reconcile with God in the end of their lives. The modern-day perspective focuses on the experience of the sacred dimension hinged on the belief of the supernatural that exists beyond the observable realm. Hence, a persons religious consciousness can impact their personal experiences and health.

Description of Spirituality

In sociology, spirituality is the realm that surpasses humans knowledge of themselves and the universe. It is a system with unified beliefs and practices to bring together a singular moral community (Büssing, 2017). Spirituality affects human lives and verifies the communitys cultural practices. The religious aspect defines the culture of the particular individuals who subscribe to the specific belief. In philosophy, spirituality can be described as the way people find comfort, hope, peace, and the meaning of life. Philosophers repeatedly emphasize the need for meditation, self-introspection, and analysis of ones purpose in life (Büssing, 2017). Nonetheless, spirituality is mostly a personal experience, although it is a social institution.

Spirituality and Wellness and Their Relationship to Scientism and Postmodernism

Religious beliefs and practices promote the health and well-being of individuals within a society. The benefits of well-being stem from the social and emotional support one acquires from religion. Spirituality provides a coherent belief system, existential meaning, moral code, and a sense of purpose. The beliefs in a supernatural being in varied ways integrate wellness in its ideology. Scientism and postmodernism play a remarkable role in healthcare and well-being. The two concepts are interrelated, where scientism is founded on the idea that the scientific description and analysis of reality is absolute and is the most plausible explanation. On the other hand, postmodernism argues that society has ceased to hold permanent social institutions as they were in the past. Postmodernism suggests that a single rationality is unfounded; thus, there is no absolute truth (Broom, 2020). The lives of people are subject to change and can be influenced by their religious dogmas.

Although there is no direct relationship between the beliefs and health, the former impact ones sense of wellness. An individual experiencing positive thoughts, meditation, prayer, and strength drawn from religion can better understand well-being (Büssing, 2017). Spirituality equally plays a remarkable role in patients understanding of their diseases (Büssing, 2017). Religious convictions affect the healthcare decisions of patients in response to the treatment modes. Some patients need to consult with their pastors and priests before accepting such services as organ transplantations or brain surgery, while others require alongside physical treatment. Therefore, spirituality considerably determines health of people and their soundness.

Analysis of the Application of Spirituality in Understanding the World

From the previous analysis of spirituality in the various contexts mentioned above, one can boost their understanding of reality. Prime reality refers to the revelation of infinite and all-knowing God in the Bible. As such, God is a transcendental, immanent, good, and sovereign being. Worldview is a spiritual orientation, which involves the mind and lies deep within the inner recess of the human self and consciousness (Hill, 2016). The world appears to originate from Divinitys act of creation since the modelling was done in an orderly manner. The world and humans are a part of The Almightys of the universe, with the latter made Yahwehs in image and likeness. However, there is no clear direction at the extinction of existence which defines the next phase of life. Biblically, when a person dies, they are transformed into a higher state within the spiritual realm. The transformation is dependent on their observance of the commandments of the Father. From the discussion of prime reality, the universe is meaningful because of the presence of the Lord.

Consequently, the Scriptures offer insightful guidance on human familiarity, the discrepancy between right and wrong and relevance of humans history. The ability to know everything in the universe is related to the concepts of biblical creation. Humans were made in consciousness and rationality of God; hence, one can assert similar knowledge. The design in His image further explains how to determine between right and wrong. The consciousness of good or bad is drawn from Gods shared relationship, whose morality is abounding. Moreover, human history provides the insights into the purpose of God in the lives of His people. In this worldview, the life-orienting commitment of a Christian is to fulfill Gods will.

Reflection on Spirituality

The belief in the Divine helps me discover that I am an influential part of the environment, and my cooperation with people cannot be ignored, promoting the sense of connectedness, human existence, and a general purpose in life. Understanding of these concepts improves my interaction with others because I understand my responsibility to develop relevant skills and meet the expectations of patients and the hospital. It is also necessary to study patient beliefs and support them in their intentions to obtain well-being and avoid health complications. Therefore, spirituality is my personal strength that guides my practice and shows what people suppose to get when they address hospitals.

Conclusion

Spiritual wellness impacts health, and individuals learn to build and develop inner resources and thought to give meaning to their experiences. Spirituality plays an essential role in how people face suffering, chronic illnesses, and loss. Hence, there is a need to address individuals emotional wellness to better care and improve peoples health. Spirituality influences myriads of significant facets of human functioning. These individuals are optimistic even in hardships and illnesses since they have established a sense of purpose in life.

References

Broom, B. (2020). The practice of whole person-centred healthcare. In R. Anjum, S. Copeland, & E. Rocca (Eds), Rethinking causality, complexity, and evidence for the unique patient (pp. 215-226). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Büssing, A. (2017). Measures of spirituality/religiosityDescription of concepts and validation of instruments. Religions, 8(1). Web.

Hill, J. L. (2016). After the natural law: How the classical worldview supports our modern moral and political views. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press.

Personal and Ministry Spiritual Health at the Start of the Course of Religious Studies and Theology

The importance of personal and ministry spiritual health is rather high because it determines a multitude of aspects of the further spiritual development of an individual and a group. Some of the aspects that depend on spiritual health are ones integrity, attitude, desire to move forward and grow, desire to help others, inspiration, and motivation.

Assessing my spiritual health at the beginning of the course, I must admit that it was not the best. It began with me noticing that I was not feeling well physically  my level of productivity was lower, I became more difficult to manage the tasks throughout the day; I felt tired in the mornings and completely drained in the evenings. At first, I felt that my issues were just a mild seasonal depression. However, soon I began to notice that they started to impact my inspiration, optimism, and motivation throughout the day. Moreover, patience became hard work, and my close ones started to point out to me that I began to criticize a lot. This was when I realized that my spiritual health needed assessment and healing.

In terms of ministry spiritual health, I started to lack activity, and the levels of motivation started to drop. It became harder to encourage and inspire. My feeling of powerlessness transferred to my ministry and produced a negative effect in the form of the loss of interest, breach of togetherness, and the weakening mutual support.

Reading course literature helped a lot on my way towards the improvement of personal and ministry spiritual health. Discussing the assessment of ministry health and the rates of the love for God, Hawkins and Parkinson presented it as the measurement of the heart where the size of the heart meant the level of the spiritual health of a person.¹ Also, they noticed that the complexity of such concept as ministry spiritual health and its dependency on a variety of factors such as the composition of the group of church attenders and versatile moods and states of mind that can be found in the group.

In other words, a ministry is a complex and multifaceted community with a variety of internal and external impacts and dynamics that determine whether or not the whole group or certain individuals may fall behind in spiritual growth or have poor spiritual health. Hawkins and Parkinson specify that leadership is a crucial factor when it comes to the stimulation of the spiritual growth; namely, a leader may help encourage it when providing reflections on the Scripture, explanations, and guidance that would enable more individuals to read the Bible, comprehend it and effectively apply the valuable knowledge it offers.²

To be honest, with my lack of inspiration and reluctance to take action at times, my ministry started to demonstrate the same behaviors. More precisely, the people there began to seem disinterested in the wisdom of the Scripture, a couple of times I heard complaints that the Bible does not provide the answers people sought, and thus seemed to them as inapplicable to their lives or the modern world in general. These moods were frequent in my ministry. Some of the believers attempted to provide guidance and help to others, but it only caused more friction, divide, and alienation. The people lacked mutual understanding, togetherness, and a sense of community.

The Spiritual Truths Gained from the Courses Materials

In his book titled The Spiritually Healthy Church, Peter Scazerro explores the importance of emotional maturity as a factor enabling spiritual growth and the appropriate development of an individual in terms of faith and spirituality. The author provides a tool helping the reader to assess their level of emotional maturity through completing a smile inventory that establishes whether one is an emotional infant, adolescent, or adult.

The author emphasizes that emotional maturity is critical because it is the key to self-awareness and stands for ones ability to recognize and acknowledge their own emotions, appropriately express them, and distinguish the emotions of the people around them.³ Scazerro emphasizes the danger that can be represented by a spiritual leader without self-awareness.

The author mentions how frequent and easy this case is because the focus of the spiritual leaders is usually directed upward and outward as they put a lot of effort into growing their church, influencing people, and training new leaders.⁴ Besides, another massive barrier on the spiritual leaders way towards taking a look inward is the belief that they are already doing it; the author points out that most leaders are blinded by their illusions of being self-aware when in reality they are avoiding the truth that lies much deeper in their hearts than they ever looked.⁵

Being disconnected from ones emotions or perceiving them as distractions and harmful influences is a sign of emotional immaturity that is likely to drive a believer off of the right spiritual path. Emotions can be powerful and sometimes overwhelming, but they are an essential part of every human being, they are the result of Gods intelligent creation and are there for a reason. In that way, shutting them down, avoiding, ignoring, or denying goes against human nature as intended by God.

Scazerro offers the readers doing an easy exercise that could improve their level of emotional maturity; it is based on the focus on ones body and its reactions to the outside circumstances and situations.⁶ This approach is easy and comprehensible for the people who find it challenging to acknowledge what they feel. While emotions and feelings can be complex and vague, the physical effects and sensations are much easier to recognize and characterize as pleasant or unpleasant and then attribute to certain external impacts making valuable connections and learning about the true nature of ones responses and emotional state that is directly connected to their spiritual health and development.

Apart from emotional immaturity, Hawkins and Parkinson name two distinct obstacles to spiritual growth  they occur when the believers are stalled or dissatisfied (sometimes, both obstacles may appear at the same time).⁷ The former issue is in effect when the believers spiritual development is almost non-existent; the people are normally dissatisfied with its slow pace and identify it as a problem. The second barrier is present when the individuals are unhappy with the role of the church and the spiritual leaders play in their development as this contribution seems ineffective or insufficient.

Strategies for Personal and Corporate Growth

Stalled and Dissatisfied

The obstacles to the spiritual growth outlined by Hawkins and Parkinson are highly important factors for a leader to address to ensure steady growth of faith and the improvement of spiritual health within the ministry. The individuals with stalled spiritual growth can be found within any ministry. Attempting to handle this issue, it is important to assess the peoples state of mind first and distinguish exactly which of the community members identify as being stalled in their development. Further, the stalled people require an individual approach and assistance.

Practically, they are stalled because they lack guidance and cannot move on with their spiritual path because they either do not see where to move or do not know how to get to the next stage. Very often, this lack of vision and inspiration is caused by the difficulties these people face in their family and professional lives. Scazzero points out that God intended to include multiple challenges in the spheres of work and interpersonal relationships.⁸

That is why one must be prepared for the difficulties and know that they are supposed to be there and that God can be trusted not to allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear.⁹ In other words, one strategy to help the people who are stalled is to reflect on the Scripture and provide them with the tools to understand it and find the keys to their further spiritual growth.

When it comes to the dissatisfaction of the churchs contribution to the peoples spiritual growth, the reflection on Scripture may provide a solution to this issue as well because active Bible reading and explanation is likely to strengthen the spiritual leaders involvement in their ministrys life, ensure vivid communication, and bring a higher level of trust. Via the frequent and active communication, the people will sooner develop a stronger relationship with the leader as a person in whom they could confide.

Self-Awareness through the Physical Sensations

When spiritual health in the ministry is poor, it is likely that many people also experience the physical effects of this phenomenon. As mentioned in the first section of the paper, I first noticed that something was not right when I made the connections between my physical feeling of weakness, low mood, and the lack of spiritual health. The same or some other signs could be found in the church community and used as demonstrations of the most basic ways to start practicing self-awareness for the believers.

Communication is the key to this strategy. Namely, the leader is to rely on their emotional maturity and begin sharing their experiences with the community telling about personal sensations and feelings and making connections to the spiritual aspect of life. For instance, one particular sensation such as being tired in the mornings and drained at the end of the day could be used as an example.

Then, the community could be asked to think of similar experiences of their own, and possibly, name some of them  there could be a lack of appetite, apathy, irritability, distractions, the overall physical feeling of weakness, minor depression, lack of focus and inspiration. Further, the leader could help the community connect their experiences to the spiritual health and see how the body can communicate the restlessness of the heart and soul.

In his book, Kosicki provides several pairs of concepts and sensations that reflect the signs of low spiritual health and the ways of healing; for instance, the author says that fear can be healed by trust in Gods will, shame  via mercy toward self and the others, and the spiritual weakness  via gratitude.¹⁰ These insights could be shared with the ministry to equip the people with the techniques and tools that would help them to heal themselves by strengthening their faith.

Recognition of Emotions

Mental health is a question raised in the Scripture. In particular, Lukes Gospel explores the subject when telling about the practices of healing people by Jesus who helps many individuals with mental problems. The issues of this kind are presented as possessions by demons that cause the isolation of the affected people, their alienation from society and such consequences as the feeling of loneliness, depression, anxiety, and some other kind of emotional sufferings.¹¹

In this way, the importance of emotions is recognized in the Scripture. Jesus practices mental healing through faith as the source of confidence, calmness, peace, and content. Thus, the meaning of relaxation and calm focus is acknowledged as the key to effective behavior whereas stress, worrying, and panic are connected to ineffectiveness due to frustration. McDaniel refers to the raging emotions and psychological instabilities as the internal storm that needs to be calmed and can be calmed effectively with the help of faith.¹²

As a strategy to improve the spiritual health within a community, this wisdom can be applied to the individuals who can admit that there are emotionally disturbed for some reason and the ones who notice the signs of emotional tension reflected in their bodies  headaches, clenched jaw, restless hands, loss of sleep or focus, sweating, heavy breathing, and fast heart rate. To help such individuals find peace and relax, the leader could discuss the reasons that make them worry and then explain how to practice faith in these situations. For example, one could sit down for a quiet prayer (alone or with close people  whatever brings more comfort); another way is to find trust and acceptance of Gods will within oneself and be confident that Gods intention is good.

Diagnosing and Assessing

While scanning ones own body and listening to the signals it sends is a very simple and comprehensible way to connect the physical experiences with the emotional tension and spiritual wellbeing, there are some more ways of assessing ones spiritual health. These approaches include the use of inventories and tests designed specifically for this purpose because regardless of its abstract nature, a persons spiritual health can be measured.¹³

Scazerros test for emotional maturity is one of the useful tools that would help the believers find out their level of emotional maturity and the potential ability to analyze their feelings and behaviors in an unbiased and objective manner. Whitney uses a slightly different approach that is more suitable for people with a higher degree of emotional maturity; this approach relies on a sincere and open conversation with self that is conducted through asking questions about faith, behaviors, feelings, habits, and the relationship with God.¹⁴

This set of questions for self-evaluation in terms of spiritual health can be applied as a strategy to guide the community towards a better understanding of where they are on their spiritual paths. The first question refers to what the author calls thirst for God  it is recognized as one of the main determiners of the spiritual growth or its absence.¹⁵ The next few questions focus on the relationship with God including sensitivity to Gods presence, governance of Gods word, and love for others.

Further, the focus moves on to the needs of the other people and their recognition by the individual taking the assessment, finally, the inquiry transfers to the issues of forgiveness, shame, and grieving over sin  the behaviors that cause stress and anxiety in the believers lives and may discourage them from following the word of God in the future and growing spiritually. The questions help the believers understand which of their actions and behaviors cause distress and mislead people on their way toward the spiritual wellbeing.

Training the Future Leaders

The principles and techniques outlined above can be used not only for self-assessment and the provision of guidance to the community but also as the tools to equip the future spiritual leaders. A spiritual leader is to learn how to evaluate his or her level of spiritual health in order not to let the distress and apathetic moods penetrate the hearts of the people in the ministry.

Being a spiritual leader is a serious pressure that is likely to affect the individuals in charge and cause their discouragement and depression. A leader is always required to have answers and know what to do regardless of the complexity of the situation he or she is facing; a leader is to handle the emotions of others and remain calm and focused. Dealing with the pain of others, watching their sufferings and frustration can serve as a massive stressor that makes the journey of a leader extremely complicated.

That way, while the church attenders require these strategies as assisting tools, the spiritual leaders need to rely on the daily because they are exposed to many more dangerous influences that can affect their spiritual health and development negatively. A spiritual leader is to constantly assess their emotional maturity and spiritual growth and adjust their behavior accordingly. In turn, this ability required a high level of emotional maturity which can only be achieved through an ongoing self-development.

Conclusion

The spiritual leader is in charge of their ministry. It is possible to say, that in some way, the leader is responsible for his or her peoples hearts and health. The internal storm that affects everyone can be handled with the help of faith that is the key to confidence, calmness, and relaxation. The spiritual leader needs to be equipped with the techniques to help the people find their path and continue to grow spiritually.

However, at first, the leader is to assess their spiritual health and wellbeing because it is directly connected to that of the community. These two concepts are deeply interrelated and intertwined and can affect one another. Just like Jesus once said that a doctor should heal himself¹⁶, a minister is to fix their spiritual health before he or she attempts to help the community to handle their problems because an unhealthy atmosphere in the ministry is often caused by a spiritual leader lacking inspiration and confidence.

Bibliography

Hawkins, Greg L. and Cally Parkinson. Move& What a 1000 churches reveal about spiritual growth. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.

Kosicki, George W. Divine Mercys Prescription for Spiritual Health (Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 2002.

McDaniel, Thomas R. Dr. Lukes Prescriptions for Spiritual Health. Oceanside: Magnus Press, 2000.

Scazerro, Peter. The Emotionally Healthy Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015.

Whitney, Donald. Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health. Cambridge: Tyndale House, 2014.

Footnotes

1. Greg L. Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, Move& What 1000 churches reveal about spiritual growth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 13.
2. Ibid, 19.
3. Peter Scazerro, The Emotionally Healthy Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015), 60.
4. Ibid, 73.
5. Ibid, 74.
6. Ibid, 79.
7. Hawkins and Parkinson, Move& What a 1000 churches reveal about spiritual growth, 170.
8. Scazerro, The Emotionally Healthy Church, 116.
9. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (CJB)
10. George W. Kosicki, Divine Mercys Prescription for Spiritual Health (Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 2002), 67.
11. Thomas R. McDaniel, Dr. Lukes Prescriptions for Spiritual Health (Oceanside: Magnus Press, 2000), 28.
12. Ibid, 30.
13. Scazerro, The Emotionally Healthy Church, 60.
14. Donald Whitney, Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health (Cambridge: Tyndale House, 2014), n.p.
15. Whitney, Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health, n.p.
16. Luke 4:23

The principle of autonomy respects the patients rights to make an informed medical decision. However, this case falls under the Confucian society, where the head of the family decides for people under his care (Tai & Tsai, 2003). The physician should inform the parents about all possible measures and leave them to make their decision, even if it might seem irrational according to his professional expertise. As a Christian and head of the family, Mike is expected to ensure the physical and spiritual well-being of his children. Therefore, the patients autonomy should be respected because it is expected that Mike will act in the best interest of his son. Additionally, even if late, Jamess parents decided to take enlist him for dialysis that was essential in stabilizing the kid. The parents have some time to consult widely and come up with the best option that would benefit James without putting Samuel at risk.

The only time the physician might take over the power to make the decision is if Mike is considered incompetent or uncertain about what is best for the child. At this point, the physician would explain all the options and the choice he made for the child, making sure to list all the possible implications associated with the treatment method of choice (Tai & Tsai, 2003).

Christians Views on Sickness and Health

Christianity accepts suffering, be it sickness, pain, death, or disability as part of religious life (Porterfield, 2005). Christianity embraces suffering as part of something meaning intended to create redemption and believes healing is stimulated by having faith in a higher power. However, people hold different views on sickness and healing based on religious affiliation (Zollfrank et al., 2015). Some Christians feel a sickness is a form of punishment for the sins they committed, while others view sickness as a form of temptation or testing their faith (Porterfield, 2005). This phenomenon is evidenced in the case where Mike thought God was punishing him for not having enough faith. As a result, many Christians devote their life to seeking religious meaning and redemption when they are suffering. For instance, some dedicate their lives to caring for the sick people in a way that emulates Jesus healing ministry.

Medical interventions are essential for Christians. Medicine and Christianity are intertwined because there are cases where spirituality helps in creating positive expectations that stimulate relief from stress and increases natural processes of recovery, the placebo effect (Porterfield, 2005). Seeking medical intervention should not be taken as losing faith in God. Christians should take medical interventions as seeking help from qualified physicians the way they seek help from religious leaders when in conflict about their spirituality. Medical interventions could be combined with spirituality to help the Christians feel comfortable when making choices to visit doctors and physicians. For instance, Zollfrank et al. (2015) indicated patients confidence is boosted when they pray with the doctors.

Medical interventions are in many forms. For instance, a Craigie (2010) study indicated that people who emphasize nutrition and a healthy lifestyle are likely to live longer and healthy than their peers. Additionally, physical well-being, such as exercising, helps in reducing depression and boosts the quality of life (Craigie, 2010). Christianity offers group activities and creative stress relieving ways such as Bible reading groups, hiking, games, and singing, among others, that keep people engaged. Therefore, such activities keep people engaged and their bodies physically fit, thereby eliminating sedentary diseases. Further, engaging with other people helps in creating an outlet to talk with people about life issues, which helps in improving mental health and coping mechanisms.

Mike should act in the best interest of his son. The parents tried the Christian way of praying for James, which did not go as they had intended because James condition only got worse. The dialysis performed by the physician enabled James to become stable. Therefore, Mike should give the go-ahead for the physicians to conduct the kidney transplant on his son. Mike should also understand that God works through His people. The desire for the physicians to help James follows the foundation laid by Jesus to heal the sick and save humanity. The principle of nonmaleficence you should not harm intentionally. In this case, Mike understands the dangers he exposes James to by continually refusing to adhere to the physicians advice. Consequently, he should selflessly allow the doctors to perform the organ transplant and uphold his faith in God. He should pray and fast, believing that James will heal.

Spiritual Assessment

Spiritual assessment allows medical practitioners to support patients spiritually or emotionally, especially when in a dilemma. Drapers (2012) study described four different approaches used spiritual assessments, including generic, quantitative, qualitative, and domain-based. The most appropriate case that would help Mike is a generic approach. According to Draper (2012), the generic approach helps to recognize and acknowledge any spiritually based issues the person may have and identify resources to draw. A generic spiritual assessment approach would help Mike to identify needs and resources for coping and making the right decision. The physician should focus on issues such as spiritual beliefs he holds and things about James that make his life meaningful. The physician should also try to understand how beliefs held by Mike and his family influence his health-care decisions.

It is also possible to use the assessment tool to explore the spiritual community that Mike belongs to and determine whether or not the group might support them spiritually and emotionally. The questions and answers enable the physician to address the specific issues and might suggest actions that would help in boosting the spiritual journey. Spirituality in health is important as it helps in enhancing the quality of life, decreased cases of stressed symptoms, improvement of relaxation programs and life satisfaction, increased mindfulness, finding joy in life, and improved coping mechanisms. All these qualities associated with spirituality help individuals to live a healthy and quality life. Therefore, spirituality should be emphasized in health care facilities as it helps people to be in peace with themselves and improves their quality of life.

Conclusion

Christianity influences the perception people have towards sickness and health, and seeking help from health professionals. Christians should learn to accept help from physicians and medical experts, especially when it is a matter of life and death, and there is a chance doctors can do something to help. On the other hand, physicians should maintain patient autonomy by offering professional guidance and allowing the patients to decide without manipulation or coercion. However, physicians should be firm when addressing patients with issues that might expose people to risks that could easily be controlled or prevented. More importantly, medicine should integrate with spirituality to help patients during the recovery journey.

References

Craigie, F. C. (2010). Positive spirituality in health care: Nine practical approaches to pursuing wholeness for clinicians, patients, and health care organizations. Hillcrest Publishing Group.

Draper, P. (2012). An integrative review of spiritual assessment: implications for nursing management. Journal of Nursing Management, 20(8), 970-980.

Porterfield, A. (2005). Healing in the History of Christianity. Oxford University Press.

Tai, M. C. T., & Tsai, T. P. (2003). Who makes the decision? Patients autonomy vs. paternalism in a Confucian society. Croatian medical journal, 44(5), 558-561. Web.

Zollfrank, A. A., Trevino, K. M., Cadge, W., Balboni, M. J., Thiel, M. M., Fitchett, G&. & Balboni, T. A. (2015). Teaching health care providers to provide spiritual care: a pilot study. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 18(5), 408-414.

Representing the second part of the Biblical Canon, the New Testament offers a crucial source of spiritual strength and development. However, its interpretations are quite numerous, inviting multiple opportunities of interpreting the Scripture in a variety of ways. Specifically, the New Testaments, the source of information about Jesus and His teachings, as well as the concepts of Christlikeness and Christian values, which every Christian must incorporate into their behaviors and attitudes concerning the Bible and society, affect Christians extensively. As a result, one can attain redemption and, ultimately, salvation through appropriate Christian religious practices and personal spiritual development. Therefore, as a Christian leader, one must achieve a complete understanding of the New Testament among the target audiences, at least, to the extent that the current bible translation and theological studies allow.

To embrace the wisdom of the New Testament to its full extent, it is also crucial to consider its structure and arrangement. Specifically, one should address the fact that the New Testament introduces a more coherent timeline into the Biblical narrative and offers a more logical order of events in its rendering of the key issues transpiring over the specified time lapse. Namely, it was essential to start with the teachings of Christ as the pathway to understanding the roots of the foundational Christian values and beliefs. In turn, the stories of Jesuss disciples spreading the word of God and continuing Jesuss work in attempts to enlighten the population and allow them to embrace the essential ideas that He promoted was central to the understanding of the magnitude of produced change.

Remarkably, the presence of logic in the narrative does not imply that the key events were rendered in a chronological order; quite the contrary, the New Testament often introduces key events in a rather jumbled fashion. For instance, the Gospels and the Acts appear to render the same events from different perspectives. Specifically, the Gospels describe the life and teachings of Jesus: So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find (Luke 11:9, New International Version, 1983). In turn, the Acts provide His disciples interpretation of Jesus life journey and philosophy: In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) (Acts 1:15, New International Version, 1983). Nonetheless, both introduce a coherent perspective on the events that transpired at the described time slot, starting with the initial actions and sermons of Christ, and continuing with His students rendition of His ideas. As a result, the unique perspective on the chronology of the Biblical events that the New Testament provides allows locating inherent logic in the story and following it seamlessly despite obvious jumps across the timeline.

The described perspective on how the New Testament represents the key Biblical events leads to the further understanding of the main purpose and message of the New Testament. Namely, the specified part of the Bible seeks to introduce its readers to the teachings of Christ and the principal Christian values. Specifically, with Jesus life remaining in the center of the New Testament, the specified book aims at encouraging its readers to embrace the notion of Christlikeness: Dont let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity (1 Timothy 4:12, New International Version, 1983). As a result, the New Testament sets the path toward redemption through the acceptance of Christian values and building ones spirituality (Kretzschmar, 2020). Moreover, the New Testament delves into details concerning the challenges that Jesus disciples encountered when spreading His word to the rest of the population. Therefore, the New Testament can be regarded as the guide toward accepting Christian beliefs and encompassing the complex notion of Christlikeness as the path toward spiritual redemption.

However, the described representation of the New Testament message should be classified as a contemporary interpretation of the essential provisions of the book through the lens of an individual. Going back to the second century will reveal that the New Testament used to be seen as the fulfillment of the Old Testament, namely, the emergence of the Messiah as promised by God in order to redeem humankind and save it from the eternal damnation (York, 2018). Therefore, despite being seemingly disjointed, the Old and the New Testaments cannot be separated from each other since they create continuity within the Biblical narrative.

Therefore, the Old and the New Testaments are much more than a collection of ancient books that should simply be respected for their age. Instead, both parts of the Bible encompass and internalize the complexity and diversity of beliefs and ideas that served as the foundation for the Bible and its wisdom. Moreover, for contemporary readers of the Bible, the book can become a path to discovering their own spirituality and the potential for spiritual growth. Namely, with the focus on Christian values and the concept of Christlikeness that the New testament provides, as well as the wisdom and background that the old Testament offers, modern readers can understand the significance of following Jesus ideas and teachings in the present-day environment that is rife with multiple conflicts and confrontations.

The ability to connect Biblical values and ideas to the present-day reality is one of the reasons why the New Testament is more than just a collection of historical books or of general spiritual principles to follow. By gaining insight into the core values of Christianity and the process of them crystallizing throughout the evolution of humankind, a reader is more likely to develop the ability to encourage personal development and explore opportunities for spiritual growth. Using a personal context to describe the specified phenomenon, I must mention that reading the Scripture has helped me to develop a better understanding of the path toward redemption and the possibility of eventual salvation. Namely, the ideas of Christlikeness, Christian unity, and the significance of promoting empathy and support across the Christian community became apparent to me after exploring the Scripture, particularly, the New Testament. As a result, I now feel more confident as a future spiritual leader. Specifically, I feel that I will be capable of encouraging Christian believers to follow the principal values and ideas of Christianity without falling into the trap of vanity, of which Corey (2019) warns. Thus, by combining empathy, humility, and kindness, as well as other essential Christian values, I will be able to promote change within my community.

Due to the focus on crucial Christian values and ideas that a true Christian must uphold, the New Testament represents a particularly important source of spiritual knowledge and development for present-day Christian believers. For this reason, a Christi leader must place the strongest emphasis on considering the texts from the New Testament as the source of wisdom, spiritual strength, and continuous learning.

References

The Bible. New International Version. Zondervan, 1983.

Corey, B. H. (2019). Love kindness: Discover the power of a forgotten Christian virtue. Tyndale Momentum.

Kretzschmar, L. (2020). African and Western approaches to the moral formation of Christian leaders: The role of spiritual disciplines in counteracting moral deficiencies. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 76(2), 10. Web.

York, H. W. (2018). Reflections on preaching Christ from the Old Testament. The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, 22(3), 197-204. Web.

Yoga is a collection of mental, spiritual, and mental exercises that originated from India but is practiced worldwide. Indeed, most or the original yoga poses are in the Indian language. Exploring yoga practices through history, humanities, natural and applied sciences, and social sciences lenses reveal the importance of yoga to the participants well-being. Yoga is internationally recognized for its numerous benefits that signify a positive culture.

Existing Knowledge

I have adequate knowledge about yoga because of my engagement in practice. I have been doing Yoga exercises for the past five years; from my experience, it is the most balanced form of physical activity. Yoga poses such as handstand, balasana, tadasana, and adho mukha svanasana help connect my immediate environment with my spirituality. The quality stretches of yoga help me burn calories, manage stress, and have an enhanced concentration level (Saeed et al., 2019). Yoga enables me to build body strength, stamina, and coordination, which helps me be physically and mentally strong.

History Lens

Every year on June 21, people from all over the world celebrate yoga day. My first time doing yoga exercises was on an international yoga day, June 21, 2018. International yoga experts and enthusiasts converged at a university to commemorate the day. The primary agenda of the day was human wellness, as enabled by yoga exercises. Various experts educated the audience about the importance of maintaining a work-life balance by including yoga. Yoga awareness has increased in recent years compared to a decade ago (Saeed et al., 2019). Yoga has become a standard exercise method, with many people embracing good health practices.

Humanities Lens

Whether or not an individual is religious, yoga develops the aspect of spirituality in participants. The meditation process, especially with the Shavasana pose, allows humans to connect with their inner person (Bramadat, 2019). Concentrating on a quiet environment and reflecting on ones life makes it easy to connect with the inner body. Therefore, yoga teaches the participants to develop a culture of spirituality through concentration and mindfulness (Bramadat, 2019). Yoga practices through strategic breathing exercises allow individuals to establish stress management techniques and overcome daily frustrations and negative experiences (Bramadat, 2019). Consequently, people doing yoga at least twice weekly are less likely to get depressed.

Natural and Applied Sciences Lens

Through natural and applied sciences, experts seek to know the physical and mental benefits of yoga practices. Yoga exercises are associated with several benefits rooted in the method of training. Yoga exercises are done on a soft mat that allows people to lie on the ground and assume different stretching positions (Saeed et al., 2019). Among yogas many benefits are increased flexibility, muscle toning and strength, balanced metabolism, athletic performance, better sleep, energy, and respiration (Saeed et al., 2019). Although people may not lose extreme weight from yoga exercises, they can manage their weight by toning and building fat-loss muscles (Saeed et al., 2019). Therefore, the impact of yoga is scientifically understood through the physical and mental benefits of the practices.

Social Sciences

Yoga is a suitable exercise for people of all ages and could be an integral part of the recovery journey for people with chronic diseases or who have had surgeries. Yoga allows faster or smooth blood flow, thus ensuring quicker recovery (Bramadat, 2019). Yoga is best practised by a group of people who occasionally depend on each others support and stamina as a source of motivation (Saeed et al., 2019). Such dependence cultivates trust and accountability, which leads to positive interpersonal relationships. Through enhanced stress management methods, yoga participants can develop and maintain healthy relationships with minimal conflicts (Saeed et al., 2019). In other words, yoga promotes unity and reliable relations that keeps people harmonious.

In conclusion, yoga is internationally embraced for its physical, spiritual, and mental benefits. It is celebrated every year by people who are both religious and non-religious people through spiritual connection. Yoga provides several benefits to the body, including toning muscles, development of strength, stress management, and burning calories. When practicing yoga, people gain coping strategies for stress and mindfulness, thus developing and maintaining positive interrelationships.

References

Bramadat, P. (2019). A bridge too far: Yoga, spirituality, and contested space in the Pacific Northwest. Religion, State & Society, 47(4-5), 491-507. Web.

Saeed, S. A., Cunningham, K., & Bloch, R. M. (2019). Depression and anxiety disorders: Benefits of exercise, yoga, and meditation. American Family Physician, 99(10), 620-627. Web.

The physician is a well-educated professional, so he knows which complications James has, and is aware of possible negative consequences in case of refusal to undergo a kidney transplant. It seems that the doctor has to take a firm position and urge parents to do all the needed procedures, but here is where the issue of patient autonomy comes in. The autonomy was given to the household to decide on the healthcare of their small son.

Parents opted to forgo the dialysis, and that initial decision resulted in the degeneration of James situation. In that case, the healthcare team has to consider the impact on respecting an individual instead of caring about the autonomy of parents who have authorized rights. James is someone who is in danger of losing his life, but he does not possess the right of choice yet.

According to Obidimma and Uzoechi (2019), patient autonomy is an important principle in bioethics, which should be respected, but must also be subjected to certain limitations. In this particular case, parents withdrew from medical care for a life-threatening affliction, which can ultimately lead to the death of their son. It contradicts with the obligation of non-maleficence the medical practitioner has because Mikes decision can harm his son. That is why it is a doctors professional obligation to explain to Mike that he is making irrational and harmful decisions, trying to persuade him to make the best choice.

Throughout history, there have always been debates over medical interventions between Christianity and secular bioethics. Perceptions about health and sickness vary from one domain of Christianity to another. For instance, Evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics often come into agreement on issues of protecting human life but disagree on the methods of how it can be achieved. Protestants rely on scripture, while Roman Catholics appreciate the natural law, what is the main reason for the discrepancy.

According to Kaldjian (2019), Christian doctrine changes the perceptions people have about notions like health, death, illness, and suffering, and it, in turn, shapes their decisions. Christian virtues, which could be found in scripture, serve as practical wisdom for patients to find out the best solution and to avoid something misleading.

On the one hand, Christian doctrine states that God does not deliberately give the illness, as it is an outcome from the original fall of Eve and Adam. The scripture hints that sickness is a message from God pointing at His purpose for humanity.The Bible teaches to live following Gods covenant and instructions to maintain good health. Some Christians believe that sickness and hardship have a transformative effect on adherents and suffering is valued by them as redemption, similar to Jesus suffering on the cross.

On the other hand, Jesus is well-known for his compassion for the weak and healing practices that became a sign of determination to ease the inevitable suffering of sinful humanity. In general, medical intervention is allowed within the scripture for the followers as it states that persons in health do not need a physician, but the ailing do (Iltis, 2019). The Bible recommends to prevent and relieve redundant suffering but concerning the sanctity of individual life.

It seems that Mike views the sickness of his son as a test of his faith. For this reason, the father refused the dialysis and tried a spiritual healing option instead, which deteriorated the situation. Mike, as a true Christian, has to maintain his faith, praying to God for appropriate directions and look through the Bible to find a piece of advice about life decisions. However, in case of sickness, the Bible also suggests consulting with other doctors, his Pastor, and his family.

Taking into consideration the unsuccessful spiritual healing session, Mike has to agree to organ transplant and trust that God will rescue his son through this procedure. Nevertheless, he can still involve spiritual healing in tandem with medical treatment.

In this case, there is an apparent lack of knowledge of exactly how harmful the situation between the two parties is. One could state that the physician failed to find a key to the religious family that leads to partial awareness of James issue among Mike and Joanne. According to McSherry, Ross, Balthip, and Young (2019), the spiritual needs assessment helps to build a warm and respectful relationship between the doctor and patients. Physicians have to conduct the spiritual needs assessment in order to define the important beliefs which will influence the further process of treatment. The doctor has to be open-minded and able to use such tools as FICA and HOPE mnemonics.

With the help of the spiritual assessment, the physician could find out and determine all fears which follow Mike in his decisions. Documented information on Mikes spiritual background, perspective, and openness to discuss the topic should be incorporated in negotiations about interventions in times of crisis. The doctor would persuade Mike to agree to dialysis and suggest that he combine it with spiritual healing methods, which could prevent the deterioration of his sons health issue. Even for Mike, the initial dialysis procedure could be easier tolerated in terms of spiritual needs than further kidney transplant involving his other son.

To conclude, medical practice often deals with cases where the spiritual needs of patients play an important role. In this case, the patients autonomy can be slightly restricted by the physician to prevent others from hurting. Christians have to keep their faith, but as well remember that God is not against the elimination of unnecessary suffering, while doctors are better at conducting the spiritual needs assessment.

References

Iltis, A. (2019). Bioethics and Human Flourishing: Christian Wisdom in a Secular Age. Christian Bioethics: Non-Ecumenical Studies in Medical Morality.

Kaldjian, L. C. (2019). Purpose and providence: An outline for Christian practical wisdom in healthcare. Christian Bioethics 25(2), 16991.

Obidimma, E. O., & Uzoechi, R. A. (2019). The limits of patient autonomy as a ground to refuse medical treatment. African Journal of Constitutional and Administrative Law, 3.

McSherry, W., Ross, L., Balthip, K., Ross, N., & Young, S. (2019). Spiritual Assessment in Healthcare: An Overview of Comprehensive, Sensitive Approaches to Spiritual Assessment for Use Within the Interdisciplinary Healthcare Team. In Spirituality in Healthcare: Perspectives for Innovative Practice (pp. 39-54). Springer, Cham.

Abstract

The present paper employs the FACT spiritual assessment tool to conduct an assessment interview with a recovering patient and demonstrate how the tool works by undertaking a critical analysis of the interview results. Findings demonstrate that FACT raises care standards, minimizes patient risks, and ensures that nursing professionals are more accountable to their practice. The tool is effective in healthcare settings, but the challenges of communication, lack of provider confidence and cultural bias need to be addressed.

Introduction

Nursing scholars envisage that spiritual assessment avails an approach to enhance patient outcomes and satisfaction by minimizing patient anxiety and fears in addition to availing clarity and direction to the nursing professionals regarding patients personal desires and preferences (Chrash, Mulich & Patton, 2011), and that it provides an enabling framework through which nurses can implement spiritual care in practice, especially in terms of meaning, purpose and fulfillment (Cockell & McSherry, 2012). The present paper proposes to employ the FACT spiritual assessment tool (LaRocca-Pitts, 2012) to conduct an assessment interview with a recovering asthmatic patient and demonstrate how the tool works by undertaking a critical analysis of the findings. The FACT spiritual assessment tool raises care standards, minimizes patient risks, and ensures that nursing professionals are more accountable to their practice.

FACT Spiritual Assessment Tool

Developed by LaRocca-Pitts (2012), FACT concerns itself with underlying issues of faith, activeness or engagement in a faith community, patient coping mechanisms and sources of conflicts or concerns, as well as patient treatment plans. FACT provides professionals with an approach not only to monitor spiritual reflections to demonstrate how patients are progressing and adjusting to their illness, but also to understand indications about appropriate interventions to treatment challenges. The choice of this assessment tool has been informed by its ease of administration and capacity to prevent care providers from crossing ethical and professional boundaries when dealing with patients (LaRocca-Pitts, 2012).

Analysis

Summary of Findings and Significant Discoveries

In brief, the assessment findings demonstrate that the recovering patient has deep spiritual roots which not only assist her to find purpose and meaning in life, but also to cope with the presenting medical condition, and also to deal with various conflicts and concerns. A significant discovery from the assessment is that spirituality is a core component in the healing process as it provides patients with coping mechanisms to deal with the medical condition. Another discovery is that spirituality influences how patients perceive various treatment procedures, hence the need to undertake frequent spiritual assessments to provide person-centered spiritual care, holistic healing of patients, and superior job satisfaction for staff members (Richardson, 2012).

Areas of Strength and Limitations

It was discovered that FACT is easy to administer, reduces patient risks, enhances patient treatment outcomes, and also ensures that practitioners and therapists are accountable to their practice. The role of faith in assisting the patient to cope with her medical needs demonstrates that FACT avails a framework to facilitate patient outcomes and satisfaction by minimizing their anxiety and fears, in addition to availing clarity and direction to practitioners and therapists regarding patients personal desires and preferences (Chrash et al., 2011). However, in the future, it is plausible for FACT to incorporate a component on intervention to address spiritual needs. Additionally, FACT should incorporate measurement scales (e.g., Likert-type scales) and validity scales. Available literature demonstrates that such scales ensure reliability and consistency of findings (Borneman, Ferrell & Puchalski, 2010).

Barriers/Challenges

A major challenge entailed actively listening to the respondent. As demonstrated in the literature, most assessment tools incorporate open-ended questions, thus active listening and communication between the practitioner and patient is important in gaining an understanding of needs (Meehan 2012). The other barrier entailed lack of confidence during the initial stages of the interview for fear of being seen as intruding on the personal domain of the patient. These challenges can be addressed by gaining comprehensive skills on administering the assessment, and also by coming up with strategies aimed at involving the respondent in the planning and administration of the assessment. In hospital settings, a practitioner is also likely to face challenges in cultural bias and lack of provider confidence (Power, 2006).

Spiritual Experience

From the interview, it is evident that the respondents spirituality enhanced her relationship with God and assisted her to cope with her medical condition by removing elements of disappointment, hopelessness, guilt, as well as feeling distant from God, hence minimizing patient risks. The spiritual experience also assisted in understanding the needs of the respondent from spiritual and treatment standpoints, hence providing an avenue through which care standards could be raised in actual intervention settings. This tool is important in meeting the needs of the respondent as (1) spirituality is known to affect the prognosis of an illness and predict how patients will cope, (2) findings will assist the patient to work through the impact of their illness on their belief system to discover meaning, (3) the patient will have a better understanding on how she is progressing and adjusting to her illness, and (4) findings often assist to provide indications about suitable interventions to treat problems (Power, 2006).

Conclusion

Drawing from the discussion and analysis, it can be concluded that FACT is an important tool not only in raising care standards and minimizing patient risks, but also in ensuring that nursing professionals are more accountable to their practice. The tool can be adopted in healthcare settings, but the challenges of active listening and effective communication, lack of provider confidence and cultural bias need to be addressed to make the tool more effective in addressing the spiritual and medical needs of patients. Interventions should be administered depending on how the respondent/patient is coping with the items included in the interview process.

References

Borneman, T., Ferrell, B., & Puchalski, C.M. (2010). Evaluation of the FICA tool for spiritual assessment. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 40(2), 163-173.

Chrash, M., Mulich, B., & Patton, C.M. (2011). The APN role in holistic assessment and integration of spiritual assessment for advance care planning. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 23(10), 530-536.

Cockell, N., & McSherry, W. (2012). Spiritual care in nursing: An overview of published international research. Journal of Nursing Management, 20(3), 958-969.

LaRocca-Pitts, M. (2012). FACT, A chaplains tool for assessing spiritual needs in an acute care setting. e-Journal of the Association of Professional Chaplains, 28(1), 25-32.

Meehan, T.C. (2012). Spirituality and spiritual care from a careful nursing perspective. Journal of Nursing Management, 20(8), 990-1001.

Power, J. (2006). Spiritual assessments: Developing an assessment tool. Nursing Older People, 18(2), 16-18.

Richardson, P. (2012). Assessment and implementation of spirituality and religiosity in cancer care: Effects on patient outcomes. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 16(4), 150-155.

This essay analyzes the nature of the relationship between Eveny, also known as the Reindeer People, and their spiritual doubles. The connection between these people and the reindeer that live alongside them is almost magical (Vitebsky). While the primary cause for this bond is purely practical, over time, it expanded as people discovered that animals possess personality traits (Vitebsky). Stories were drawn from such an experience, where anthropomorphism played a vital role.

A spirit of an animal became a reality for these people through this intimacy. A close relationship with a reindeer among Eveny is considered consecrated, making an animal a persons double. In case of immense danger, it is believed that a double can offer its life instead of a person who is bound to it (Vitebsky). In conclusion, for the Eveny, reindeer spirits describe or bestow behavioristic traits to animals to rationalize the inherently practical usage of reindeer.

Work Cited

Vitebsky, Piers. Piers Vitebsky on The Reindeer People. Interview by Steve Paulson. Wintering in the Wild, 2006, To the Best of Our Knowledge.

The path of spirituality begins with prompting internal harmony paying no attention to turmoil going around. Spiritual is as important as mental and physical, and with this blog know how spirituality guides towards a stress free better living.

“Spirituality is not the renunciation of life; it is the art of living fully.”- Acharya PrashantN Life is beautiful, isn’t it, and complicated too in its own vary ways. What make life beautiful, what makes it complicated- but how about it stays simple and easy, free of agitations, fear, doubt and misery.

Life is always beautiful, it is believed so, and our thoughts, perceptions, decisions, judgements, experience, and knowledge contribute and make its complicated. To add more, rom-com, social media, chick flicks, etc. convince us completely that living a hectic, complicated and fast paced lifestyle is worth living.

TBH! There is nothing such glamour about dealing with excessive stress level daily, only to realize that how hazardous it is for us health, mental peace, growth, and longevity. But the bitter truth is, our generation is facing unprecedented level of stress and tension due to uncertain pressure, and further complicating the matters our sedentary lifestyle plays a huge role.

Tapping scientific literature to help with the same, it suggests stress, anxiety and depression is rooted in either pharmacological perspective or cognitive behavioural one. Our mind takes a lot. The big step to relieve it from all the struggle and pain is in our hands.

It comes to us whether we choose to stay the way we’re living or heal ourselves. Here comes the point when we need to take certain life-altering steps, where spirituality takes it way to show us the right direction by giving meaning to our life making it better, simpler and help regaining inner-peace.

At point we feel that there is something beyond and greater than this concrete world we inhabit, bigger that gigantic mountains, powerful than ocean waves, and wider than the sky. The kind of energy we experienced is connecting us with universal conscience, and the moment can be both grounding and humbling, and all together form a base of our notion of spirituality.

People often confused spirituality with religion, which is not the case. Spirituality arises with your connection with self and others, and gives your life context. It may have various definitions but is about personal growth and adding meaning to life. For many it is religious observance, meditation, prayers, or a belief in a higher power, for others it can be art, music, nature, community. Spirituality is different for everyone, so its experience.

Spirituality, Stress Relieves and Prolonged Life

Spirituality is about faith, a very personal practice to form a connection with their spiritual being with practices like yoga, meditation, spending time in nature or any creative expression. Approach to spirituality can be different for all. Important thing is to recognize the journey.

Spirituality Benefits for Stress

Spirituality adds meaning to life bringing in inner peace and makes you a happier person. This calms you releasing stress and transforms the way of living.

• Connect: Being spiritual make you grounded and you feel having a purpose in the world. You may feel less solitary, even if you’re alone and feel connected to everyone. This leads to inner bliss and harmony in difficult times.
• Sense: Cultivating your spirituality or feel connected with you spiritual being may uncover the life meaning. This brings clarity and you feel a sense of purpose, you can focus less on the unimportant things and eliminate stress.
• Release: Holding on is a biggest burden, letting go give you a sense of calmness. Spirituality makes you release that you’re not responsible for every thing happening in your life. Releasing yourself and not taking full control on your life fill it with joy.
• Expand: Spirituality is indeed person, but there are people out there who travelling on the same path and can lend support. Sharing of spiritual expression is wonderful, and helps to build relationships.
• Health: The one who are spirituality awake or considered themselves spiritual are able to cope with stress and experience greater health benefits.

Stress Free Life through Spirituality

Spirituality is a key component to touch the inner-self and reflect. With any medium one can be spiritual and discover themselves.

You Feel More Hopeful: Through faith you become able to hold yourself strong to bring in the positivity and new hopes. Spirituality relieves stress, strengthen you, and more.

Start Believing: Believe and faiths are two important actions that influence your spiritual journey and connection. It all started with belief- where your mind is clear with no cloud of doubts and self-judgment. It is the belief that makes you stay stronger and positive when things or situation didn’t go as you planned.

Become Mindful: Spirituality brings mental clarity that opens door for you to stay connected with the present moment. Mindfulness help you to know your feelings better and stabilize emotions, stop you to over thinking and separate you from behaviours and thoughts that lead to stress.

Bring Calmness: Calmness doesn’t come to us naturally, especially in this chaotic world we’re living in, and our emotions, feelings, and thoughts are equally blamed. Imbalanced emotions, provoking thoughts, and feelings never let us keep calm. It is where spirituality becomes a great help to control us in any situation and embrace our emotions, thoughts, and feeling without letting it negatively impact the mental and physical health.

Evolve in a Positive Direction: Choose you’re kind of action that direct you to spiritual awakening, and experience positive change in yourself- attitude, behaviour, and perspective. You learn to tune into the calm and quieter part of yourself and give moment to understand and appreciate simple thing you have.

How to Become More Spiritual to Release Stress and Restore Overall Wellbeing?

• Make the changes slowly keeping in mind your intentions
• Take Spiritual Retreats and Wellness Getaways to stay Connected
• Embrace yourself and find a support group to grow and evolve
• Affirmation, Meditation, Practice &Commitment is all you need

Spirituality impart the benefits of living stress free and connect with your soul, true essence, and spark the infinite energy within you. Be your own energy healer with being spiritual.