{"id":3292,"date":"2021-09-01T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T06:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wishesandblessings.net\/blog\/?p=3292"},"modified":"2021-08-31T15:00:44","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T09:30:44","slug":"spirituality-and-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wishesandblessings.net\/blog\/spirituality-and-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirituality and Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Health is often\ndescribed as a well-being state of the body, mind, and spirit. The term\n\u201cholistic\u201d is often used when discussing these three aspects of a person. To be\ncertain many professionals in the physical and mental health field do view the\nbody, mind, and spirit to be inextricably linked. This indicates that the state\nof well-being of one aspect affects the other two, and vice-versa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Most of us do have\nan understanding of what a healthy mind or body means, but let us have a look\nat what a \u201chealthy spirit\u201d means?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The spirit of a\nperson can be described as the essence of who the person is. It is that spark\nor energy present at birth that makes one living entity distinct from another.\nIt is what makes each of us unique. The \u201csoul\u201d is often referenced when talking\nabout someone\u2019s spirit. It grows, develops, and changes over your lifetime just\nas your body and mind grow and mature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It is our\nemotional health that affects how we feel about ourselves, our interpersonal\nrelationships, and our complete life in general. Emotional health is all about\nthe measurement of our ability to cope up with the ups and downs of life. It is\nthe flexibility of the response when one is faced with life\u2019s highly\nchallenging moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Meditation<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Another indicator\nis the very level of satisfaction plus connectedness you do experience in your\ninterpersonal relationships, as well as the feelings of success, contentment,\nor happiness in your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Spiritual health\nrefers to the relationship you have with the Sacred, the Divine, the Holy that\ntranscendent being or reality many of us identify as God. Many may name this\nreality as the Eternal One, Creator of All That Is, Holy One, Bhagwan, Source\nof Life, Allah, Yahweh, etc. (For this article, I will use the term \u201cGod.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It is interesting\nto note that just as we experience physical and emotional wounds, so do we\nexperience spiritual wounds. Spiritual wounding does occur when someone\u2019s\nessence that is one\u2019s spiritual experiences profound denigration, humiliation,\nshame, or complete disregard for one\u2019s humanness and personhood. This wounding\noccurs regardless of one\u2019s faith, religion or denomination. When someone\nexperiences physical or emotional violence and abuse, there is a high\nlikelihood that at the deepest part of her\/his being there are spiritual\nwounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

How can we\nrecognize someone who is spiritually wounded?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Let us look at\nsome instances: It could be about a woman having a personal history that is\nmarked by sexual abuse and has experienced emotional healing. However, she\nstill feels deep shame or guilt within herself regarding the abuse. It could be\na man who has experienced physical abuse in his childhood, and though he can\nfunction quite constructively in life, continues to feel deep despair and\ndistress. It may also be a victim of crime, a soldier, a grieving parent, an\nisolated older adult, a child bullied in school, a clergy person, a healthcare\nprovider, a friend or co-worker, yourself anyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It is important to\nnote that one way a person may express this wounding is in statements such as,\n\u201cWhy did God let this happen to only me?\u201d \u201cIf God ever loved me, this would not\nhave happened.\u201d Some individuals feel God cannot possibly love her\/him because:\n\u201cI am damaged and mutilated goods.\u201d \u201cI was my own mistake.\u201d \u201cI did not do\nanything to stop it from happening.\u201d \u201cI deserve what happened to me.\u201d Do\nconsider when someone is experiencing ongoing worthlessness, self-denigration,\nunfair criticism towards themselves, or strongly beliefs that s\/he is\nunlovable, there is a very high likelihood that the spiritual wounds need to be\naddressed and looked upon with keen interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

So, the next point\nto note is how can someone experience spiritual healing?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Many people do\nseek counseling from their pastor, priest, rabbi, minister, imam,\nclergy-person, etc. Some even go on to discuss their spiritual wounding in\ntherapy with a psychotherapist. Others do seek out spiritual counselors,\nsometimes referred to as spiritual directors, to work in conjunction with their\npsychotherapists to specifically address the spiritual concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Please note they\nare similar to the healthcare providers trained to care for your physical\nhealth, spiritual directors are individuals that are trained to care for your\nspiritual health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spiritual\ndirectors are thereby professionals with knowledge and experience in the areas\nof spiritual formation, development, and also guidance. If one is raised within\na particular religious denomination or with a set of concrete religious\nprinciples.  It is the spiritual director that helps you recognize your\nearly understandings of God and how those understandings may or may not have\nchanged over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Spiritual\ndirection can be beneficial to someone who is in psychotherapy but also wants\nto give a more specific focus towards their spiritual side. It is noted that\nthose looking to recapture an enriching childhood relationship with the Divine\nwill also benefit from the addition of spiritual guidance in their sessions.\nWhat has once been sustained and what has brought great joy may have been lost\nand can often be re-awakened with some nurturing and spiritual guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Spiritual<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is, certainly, the case for any person who has a deep and dedicated relationship with the Divine and simply wants to deepen it and enrich it with more expert guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

About the Author<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Trishna<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Trishna Patnaik is a BSc (in life sciences) and MBA (in marketing) by qualification but an artist by choice. Previously a corporate professional, she realized that she wanted to do something more meaningful. She found her true calling in her passion, painting. Trishna is now a full-time professional painter based in Mumbai, as well as an art therapist and healer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Health is often described as a well-being state of the body, mind, and spirit. The term \u201cholistic\u201d is often used when discussing these three aspects of a person. To be certain many professionals in the physical and mental health field do view the body, mind, and spirit to be inextricably linked. This indicates that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[27,124,123,131],"class_list":["post-3292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-well-being","tag-spirituality"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wishesandblessings.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2021-08-27-at-10.47.42.jpeg?fit=1600%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/par1hd-R6","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wishesandblessings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wishesandblessings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wishesandblessings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wishesandblessings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wishesandblessings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3292"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wishesandblessings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3305,"href":"https:\/\/wishesandblessings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3292\/revisions\/3305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wishesandblessings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wishesandblessings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wishesandblessings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wishesandblessings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}