Prayer while spiritual in nature encompasses the entirety of the human person. Body, mind and soul is engaged with a higher being. It is only reasonable then that empirical and definable psychological benefits can be observed from those who pray versus those who do not pray. Prayer has many mental benefits that go beyond a mere spiritual reality. Prayer strengthens the mind because it places faith in a higher being. It allows one to be less stressed, less worried, and feel that there is order in the chaos. The re-assurance of prayer, the confidence it instills, and the peace it can give to stress, are all huge benefits to the spiritual community.
What are the empirical measurable aspects of prayer in regards to emotional and mental well being? Please also review our Spiritual Counseling Program
The article, “The psychological benefits of prayer: What science says about the mind-soul connection” by Kristen Rogers looks at what science observes regarding the emotional and mental states of spiritual people. The article states,
“Science is about testing observable relationships, processes and mechanisms,” Masters said. “But almost by definition, prayer, as operationalized in these studies, invokes involvement of God or a higher being, something outside the boundaries of natural phenomenon, which science cannot really study. Science can, however, study the outcomes of the belief in God rather than the existence — such a study might ask whether people who believe strongly in God report a better quality of life than people who do not believe in God.”
Please also review both our Spiritual Counseling Program, as well as our Christian Counseling Program and see if they match your academic and professional goals.
When dealing with end of life, the utilization of spirituality is important in helping the patient. A sterile environment without spiritual emphasis ignores an important element of a person. This is why many in Pastoral Thanatology and Spiritual Counseling are seeing the importance of utilizing spirituality in end of life care.
Spiritual care in end of life situations is important. Please also review our Spiritual Counseling Training
The article, “Experts promote palliative care with spirituality as a boost to clinical medicine” by Shanley Pierce discusses this combination of care. The article states,
“On Monday, Sept. 17, approximately 175 guests attended the public conference that featured palliative care and spiritual experts from Italy and across the United States who discussed the importance of palliative care and spirituality in clinical practice. They also talked about the benefits of palliative care to patients and health care system as well as best practices to help patients preserve dignity at the end of life.”
Building Self-Discipline Helps Transform Bad Habits
We can transform ourselves from our bad habits. Please also review our spiritual counseling program
It is not easy to end bad habits and consistently stick to better ones that will help to create a healthy life, especially if one struggles with a lack of self-discipline. However, there are some great tips available that can make the process go a bit more smoothly. What steps can one take to ensure that bad habits that are causing issues with one’s health are banished for good?
Self-discipline is key to eliminating unhealthy habits
Some people seem to naturally have loads of self-discipline, never struggling to make healthy changes. However, as Forbes notes, this is a trait tha tis a learned behavior and there are some solid tips available for improving one’s self-discipline in order to banish problematic patterns. Improving self-discipline requires thoughtful decisions and adjustments that will set the stage for success, and making these changes can pave the way to ditch bad habits and form good ones.
Eliminate bad habits and replacing them with good ones does not happen overnight, and experts recommend that it is important to allow for mistakes. Sometimes the approach of making changes gradually and setting up mini-goals and rewards for hitting those goals can set the stage for long-term success. Slip-ups or mistakes are likely to happen at some point along the way, and setting aside feelings of frustration or guilt in order to focus on resetting and moving forward can be a valuable approach to creating lasting, positive habits and increased self-discipline.
Set the stage for success and healthier habits will follow
Another key tip for ditching bad habits is to get rid of temptations. If one is working on losing weight or eating healthier, it helps to clear out the junk food at home and focus on ways to avoid troublesome choices or bad habits while on the go. Some people can rely solely on self-discipline in avoiding the unhealthy temptations around them, but clearing out as much as possible can go a long way toward achieving success.
Huffington Post reinforces the fact that changing one’s environment can be key to building self-discipline and ending bad habits. A refrigerator full of fruits and vegetables rather than sugary treats or setting up a routine that naturally includes exercise rather than sedentary television viewing makes it easier to build good habits and strengthens one’s self-discipline by ensuring success.
Reflection and action together generate lasting results
As Inner Genius details,bad habits are often formed in order to combat stress, exhaustion, boredom, or something uncomfortable, and it is not uncommon for these bad habits to start out small and grow over time. Self-discipline alone may not be enough to do away with these ongoing challenges. However, it certainly becomes a key component to making lasting changes. The more that one can reflect on the reasons behind the bad habits and look to ways to eliminate their causes, the easier it will be to move forward with healthier choices.
People cannot necessarily wake up one day and eliminate all of their bad habits by utilizing self-discipline, but making a real commitment to change and focusing on one small step at a time can lead to success. Deciding to do the hard work of eliminating the obstacles creating challenges and prioritizing what actions will provide the best opportunity to create a healthier life will pave the way for lasting change.
Many people do well with setting up small goals and rewards to provide encouragement along the way and others find it key to clear out anything related to their bad habits that holds them back. Oftentimes the more that one focuses on positive change the stronger one’s self-discipline will become and the easier it will be to permanently ditch bad habits that are causing issues in one’s health.
Can a spiritual life help heal past trauma? This article looks at this question.
If you would like to learn more about grief counseling and trauma or are just interested in spirituality then please review our spiritual counseling program
Grief suffering and tribulations are all part of our spiritual lives. Please review our Spiritual Counseling Program
If tribulation is an essential aspect of existence, or even if tribulation is a subjective interpretation of an objectively dispassionate natural environment, why are there not faculties programmed into the human animal to automatically offset its harmful effects? Or are there?
