What is
Spiritual Well Being?
Jun 15, 2014
10:49 pm
What do you think of
when you read the words spiritual well being?
Initial
Understanding
I used to think
spiritual well being meant walking around in a state of perpetual calm
like a monk. Never being agitated or expressing emotion such as anger,
sadness, or frustration. That was the key to nurturing a sense of
spiritual well being. It was best not to show feelings because of the
impact they might have on others. I was guided by the concern that
expressing them might lead to unwanted consequences such as yelling at
the driver who cut me off or worse, reacting with some spur of the moment
gesture—further escalating the unrest. Being detached from emotion meant
denying the feelings were occurring.
That might have been
a noble belief or aspiration, but it was misguided. Trying to maintain a
constant state of emotional tranquility in the midst of emotional
turmoil, denying the feelings were happening, was inauthentic. It was
lying to my true self. I might have been feeling angry that a driver cut
me off, sad that a friend was experiencing a hardship, or frustrated that
I couldn’t find a parking space, but I thought it best not to express the
feelings. I held to the mantra—don’t engage them and just let them pass.
The Shift
I’ve come to realize
emotion is energy in motion, it wants to express itself. Expression is
the body’s natural way of releasing the energy of feelings. If they
aren’t released, they can get stuck in the body and have unwanted
consequences. In his book, the Biology of Belief, Dr. Bruce Lipton discusses
the science behind emotion and its effect on the body.
A New Sense
of Spiritual Well Being
I now see myself as
a spiritual being having a human experience. In order to live in
integrity with what I’m feeling, this means engaging the emotion in the
moment. It’s one thing to feel the emotion; it’s another to act on the
feeling—to act out based on the emotion and potentially allowing it to
escalate into conflict. This is where individual responsibility comes
into play. I can respond with a blare of my horn and a raised finger
through the sun roof, or I can simply take a few deep breaths and let him
drive away. I might feel justified reacting with a horn blare and
gesture, but those are an aggressive, offensive response that can lead to
an aggressive, offensive response by him that in the end doesn’t do
either of us any good and has the potential to lead to confrontation.
A
question I’m working with around spiritual well being is—how can I make
sure I acknowledge emotion in the moment, express the energy, and not
react in an unwanted way?
Does this post trigger any
thought or reaction about spiritual well being?
Additional
resources:
Here’s a website that discusses the
connection between emotion and your mind and body.
Here’s a website with strategies for
releasing emotion.
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