That's a fact. And it doesn't even matter which comes first. It's like a cycle that can go either direction.
There's more than one scientific study that shows this to be true. In one study, of about 300 middle aged people with coronary heart disease the researchers found that the people with a more highly developed spiritual life had better outcomes.
Spirituality is one of those confusing words that make people think about religion and God and all that. And if you don't believe in God can you still be spiritual?
The answer is yes. At least for medical purposes.
Spirituality, for the purposes of these studies, is more about how people relate to and interact with nature and other people than it is about believing in a supernatural being.
Researchers look at:
- Meaningfulness - knowing where you fit in;
- Trust - being able to maintain inner peace;
- Acceptance of what is happening - knowing that tragedy happens in life;
- Caring about others;
- Connectedness with nature;
- Transcendent experiences - moments in time when everything seemed clear; and
- Spiritual activities - meditation, prayer, finding ways to be quiet and centered.
This one study looked at depression, anxiety, and anger.
Depression correlated with trust, perceived social support, and spiritual activities.
Anger correlated with connecting with nature and spiritual activities.
Anxiety correlated with caring about others and spiritual activities.
Spiritual Activities was the one variable that seemed to have the most overall effect on depression, anxiety, and anger. Since these negative emotions affect heart health it's really important to find a way to address them. And since spiritual activities had the best effect, isn't it worth taking a few minutes every day to do some of them? Or maybe just one of them.
The truth is, meditation can be boring. It's easier to sit in meditation when you're with a group of other people also sitting in meditation. It's kind of like a form of positive peer pressure because you don't want to be the first one to get up.
But sitting for long periods of time in lotus, or any position, can make your hips hurt. So that classic way of meditating may not be for you. I did it that way for years, but now I confess that I don't sit for 45 minutes in meditation anymore. My hips are happier. And so am I.
Here are some simple spiritual activities you can do:
1. Pray - you can pray to God, or the sun, or to the trees. It doesn't matter if you think of your dead ancestors when you pray. It just means being thankful and finding a way to give someone else credit for things.
2. Meditate - you can just observe your breath for a a few minutes. Sit comfortably in a chair and watch as your breath comes in and goes out. Count how many times you inhale and exhale in a minute. Start with one minute and then the next time two minutes. If you get distracted don't worry - everyone does. Just notice oh, I'm distracted and go back to breathing and counting.
3. Be grateful - last year on Facebook there were all these gratefulness challenges going around. Five days of five things every day I'm grateful for. What if you did that every day? It's hard. But it's powerful because if you can become really grateful for the awful and difficult challenges in your life then you can really be a happy person.
4. Forgiveness - this is also hard. But it's one of the most powerful things you can practice. It's related to the gratefulness challenge. Think about the people who have done things that hurt you. Then visualize yourself being grateful. Don't feel sorry for them, but cultivate compassion.
5. Study - we all feel good when we study inspirational material. Self-help stuff counts. Or the Bible, Tao Te Ching. Zen. This might be where you start your spiritual activities. Five minutes of listening to something positive.
Some of those are more powerful because they train your mind to focus and concentrate, but start with the one thing that appeals to you that seems the easiest.
We really do have to change the way we think and these spiritual activities can help.
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