Spiritual Wellbeing

Spiritual Wellbeing - 9dots99.comSpiritual Wellbeing or spirituality involves the recognition of a feeling, sense or belief that there is something greater than myself; something more to being human than a sensory experience, and that the greater whole of which we are part is cosmic or divine in nature.

Spirituality means knowing that our lives have significance in a context beyond a mundane everyday existence at the level of biological needs that drive selfishness and aggression. It means knowing that we are a significant part of a purposeful unfolding of Life in our universe. Spirituality involves exploring certain universal themes – love, compassion, altruism, life after death, wisdom and truth, with the knowledge that some people such as saints or enlightened individuals have achieved and manifested higher levels of development than the ordinary person. Aspiring to manifest the attributes of such inspirational examples often becomes an important part of the journey through life for spiritually inclined people.

How does Spiritual Wellbeing help me?

Spiritual Wellbeing is a clear understanding as to who you are and how you fit into society. Many identify their jobs as the key element to our existence. That is noble, but what if you lose your job, for what ever reason, will your reason to be alive, end? Realistically, with technological advancements and artificial intelligence evolution (AI), job displacements or total elimination has a high probability. There are only two reasons people have jobs. Either you need to work for the basic needs of life, food shelter and clothing or second, you work because you like your job and it fulfills you. There is however, more to spiritual wellbeing.

  1. Self Awareness – Recognition, acceptance, pride and confidence in the worth of oneself as a person is essential. Well grounded in self esteem without being self centered.
  2. Law Abiding - The willingness to voluntarily abide by laws of society.
  3. Integrity - Regardless of any religious preference, personal integrity is such that one can have a positive impact on the society one lives in.
  4. “Is it Right?” - In spite of the legality of an issue can one can make a moral judgement on the basis of “is it right”. We call that one’s Moral Compass.
  5. Tolerance of Others - Agreeing to disagree with some without being disagreeable. Tolerance of others for who and what they are and interact with them civilly.
  6. Compassion - for those less fortunate and willing to give them a “leg up”.
  7. Environment - Respect for the balance of nature and discourage man’s persistent irrational rationalizations of activities that continue the imbalance even though it means a level of personal sacrifice.
  8. Optimum Health – Good mental and physical health are fundamental to having success in executing your life plan and converting your dream into reality.

The spiritual journey begins with healing and affirming the ego so that positive states are experienced. Securing self-esteem, the believing in self-worth and a capacity for love and generosity, a person becomes less constrained by ego defences. An opening of the heart is an essential aspect of true spirituality.

Once one has found one’s true self worth and self esteem one can begin to exude confidence. Projecting self confidence naturally brings on believability. Showing unsolicited benevolence does not need to be a monumental endeavour. It can be as simple as just being courteous.  “the act of courteousness, it does not cost anything, but it could pay you dividends.”

Self Awareness

Self AwarenessIt is important to take stock of yourself. What do we mean by that? The objective is to be self assured, confident and acceptance of who you are. Everyone has value, everyone. Society tries to put appellations on people to categorize them. Professor this, captain that, senior executive vice president of security at St. Rafael Cemetery. Give me a break. Titles have their place but not to gauge your own value. You may be good at some things and others, not so much. Nobody is good at all things. You may say to yourself, “But take George, he is so good at school!” That may be so but why is George so good at school? It could be that he has an exceptional ability to memorize, like a photographic memory, which Is rare. On the other hand, he may just spend an extra ordinary time studying, so he is ready the next day. You on the other hand are in the gym after school practicing for the basketball team. You are athletic, George may love to read, or reason. We are all different with different interests, abilities and focuses at different periods of our life.

Education is another measure society uses to label people. Let’s qualify that. There is formal education, self taught education and education by osmosis or what some people call “street smarts”. So, which one is more important? Well, it depends. Society wants you to conform and have a formal education. There is merit in that and it is desirable in most circumstances, but not to the exclusion of everything else. Certain circumstances may preclude you from having a formal education or maybe only a partial formal education. If you are a game warden on the Serengeti in Kenya protecting the wild life from poachers, knowing Shakespeare doesn’t add value to you or your job.

Clearly “street’s smarts” trumps Shakespeare's Hamlet. In certain circumstances, patience out ways multi tasking and visa versa. The point to be made is that everyone has a certain set of inherent skills and acquired skills and personal tendencies that makes them unique and valuable in a given circumstance.

It is true, that there are some skill sets at which one is less than stellar. If it interferes with the pursuit of one’s passion, then corrective action may be required.  Most of us tend to discount the value of our assets and magnify our shortcomings. It is human nature. For comparative purposes, if you want to see the reverse, look at the characteristics of someone who has narcissistic tendencies.

The bottom line is, to try and take stock of who one is, accept the unchangeable, take pride in one’s strengths and commit to improve those elements that are changeable. The end result will be the emergence of self confidence. Self confidents projects. Words from those that are self confident tend to come across as authoritative. The attitude should be, “here I am, willing to share me, my attributes and knowledge with you.” The share is offered in a congenial collaborative way. A self-confident individual can interact at a level and in a manner that is on the same plane as his/her audience.

Law Abiding

Law Abiding ü 9dots99.comSociety to be cohesive has to follow a set of rules to co-exist fairly and in harmony. Laws are developed by society to this end. Society’s oversite group are the police and the judicial system. They, the police, apprehend and bring to justice who do not follow the laws. The oversite system only works if 98% of society’s citizens voluntarily abide by the laws of the land. Spiritual Wellbeing assumes that one is part of the 98%.

Personal Integrity

The dictionary defines integrity as “uncompromising adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness ofintegrity - 9dots99.com moral character; honesty. Regardless of any religious preference, personal integrity is such that one can have a positive impact on the society one lives in. There are numerous saying that describes integrity; “If he said it, you can take it to the bank!” Oprah Winfrey said “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.”

Living your life with integrity is well worth pursuing. It is your best form of self advertisement. One of the key elements of Spiritual Wellbeing is integrity.

My personal favourite element of Integrity is that “No one can take it away from you, only you can give it away, but if you do, it is next to impossible to get it back!”

Moral Compass

moral compass - 9dots99.com“Is it Right?” - In spite of the legality of an issue can one can make a moral judgement on the basis of “is it right”.

The dictionary defines it as “That which serves or guides a person's Knowledge, sense, or intuition of Correct virtues, morals, or ethics.”

Tolerance of Others

Tolerance - 9dots99.com

 Agreeing to disagree with some without being disagreeable. Tolerance of others for who and what they are and interact with them civilly. Discrimination is permitted in certain circumstances. Not for who you are but for what you do. I once heard someone say to a Jamaican, “I don’t like you not because you are black, I don’t like you because you kick your dog!” In a free society you should be able to decide who you associate with but prejudice on the basis of color, religion or ethnicity constitutes intolerance and ignorance. Ignorance of the others’ religious beliefs; their moral values; their dress and looks as well as rumors of their culture all add to the intolerance. All this is contrary to spiritual wellbeing.

 

Compassion

Compassion - 9Dots99.comCompassion for those less fortunate is a desirable quality especially unconditional compassion when the back story on the person’s plight is unknown. Often there are extraneous circumstances that may contribute to the appearance of the state of affairs. Conviction by association can be destructive. In spite of any short comings of a person real or perceived, one can try to set aside those apparent character flaws especially if they don’t negatively impact your relationship and accept the person as they are. That will go a long way to spiritual wellbeing.

Environment

Nature - 9dots99Respect for the balance of nature and discourage man’s persistent irrational rationalizations of activities that continue the imbalance even though it means a level of personal sacrifice for one who is respectful of the environment. Nature left to its own devices, always finds a way to rebalance itself when things go out of balance. Unfortunately, man made imbalances often go beyond nature’s ability to rebalance. Situations like floating islands of plastic containers in the oceans; pesticides and herbicides leaching into rivers and lakes from agriculture all negatively impacting the plankton, and fish all the way up the food chain. Clear cutting rain forests for farming is recognized as a full hardy endeavour as the practice prevents the absorption of CO2 and production of oxygen, especially when the forest floor soil is very poor for farming. Participation directly or indirectly against such and similar destructive short cited activity for the sake of man’s comfort promotes one’s status as having Spiritual Wellbeing.

Optimum Health

Health - 9dots99.comOptimum physical and mental health is one of your best attributes to propel your Life Plan towards the reality of your Dreams. Why? One word. STRESS. Stress is any change in the environment that requires your body to react and adjust in response. The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses.

Stress is a normal part of life. Many events that happen to you and around you -- and many things that you do yourself -- put stress on your body. You can experience good or bad forms of stress from your environment, your body, and your thoughts.

 

How Does Stress Affect Health?

Stress-9dots99.comThe human body is designed to experience stress and react to it. Stress can be positive ("eustress") -- such as a getting a job promotion or being given greater responsibilities -- keeping us alert and ready to avoid danger. Stress becomes negative ("distress") when a person faces continuous challenges without relief or relaxation between challenges. As a result, the person becomes overworked and stress-related tension builds.

Distress can lead to physical symptoms including headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, and problems sleeping. Research suggests that stress also can bring on or worsen certain symptoms or diseases.

Stress also becomes harmful when people use alcohol, tobacco, or drugs to try to relieve their stress. Unfortunately, instead of relieving the stress and returning the body to a relaxed state, these substances tend to keep the body in a stressed state and cause more problems. Consider the following:

  • Forty-three percent of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress.
  • Seventy-five percent to 90% of all doctor's office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.
  • Stress can play a part in problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression, and anxiety.
  • The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) declared stress a hazard of the workplace. Stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually.
  • The lifetime prevalence of an emotional disorder is more than 50%, often due to chronic, untreated stress reactions.[i]

[i] SOURCES:

  • National Institute of Mental Health: "Fact Sheet on Stress." 
  • American Heart Association: "How Does Stress Affect You."
  • Mayo Clinic: "Stress: Constant stress puts your health at risk."

The body no only reacts to stress positively or negatively but it has the potential to be destructive in conjunction with poor physical health and incapacitating in conjunction with impaired mental health.

Somewhat like blood pressure, humans need some stress in order to stay alive. Stress is not always negative. A little bit of stress can be motivational, can energize, can inspire and can even be sought out. Think amusement park rides or horror movies! As much of a villain as stress might be, it does have its usefulness and a positive purpose in moderate doses. The fight-or-flight response incited by a stressful situation causes hormones to course through the body and prepares it to flee the foe or stand and do battle. This is an extremely efficient and effective response that we need as long as it doesn’t become chronic.

The stress that comes with doing something fun, exciting or nerve-wracking, such as embarking on a new adventure, relationship, engaging in public speaking, or stepping outside of our usual comfort zones in order to grow and learn, is a beneficial kind of stress that gives us energy, focus and the desire to succeed. This kind of stress can be motivational.

Chronic stress, or stress that manifests itself in ways that disrupt functioning, however, is not something to ignore. Chronic or excessive stress can lead to overwhelm, which can lead to burnout and depression, all of which require professional care and intervention.

As one can easily see that Stress is triggered by external forces and managed by the body and mind. How well it is managed depends on the health of the body and mind.

Spiritual Wellbeing is a key element to achieving success with your life plan. If you are self aware, confident, law abiding, compassionate, have integrity and a moral compass and can manage stress through good physical and mental health, challenges in meeting your plan objectives become easier to deal with. ~

 

Spiritual Wellbeing

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