Spiritual Wellbeing
Spirituality means many different things to many different people. Sometimes it is association with religions or religious belief, sometimes it is seen as quite independent of any religious understanding. We see Spirituality as an individual's exploration of things of ultimate value, and their relationship with these issues. It is an intensely personal thing, involving each person's understanding and living out of the purpose and meaning of their life and it can be expressed in an enormous variety of diverse beliefs and practices.
Your own personal spirituality has an enormously powerful effect on your life and understandings. It will impact on the relationships you form with other people. An individual's spirituality, however, is not formed in isolation - it can be profoundly influenced by the communities in which you take part. Some of these may be religious communities, but many other communities also relate to questions of spirituality. (e.g. volunteer associations like Amnesty International or many others; book clubs or discussion groups; yoga classes; friendship groups where important questions can be discussed)
An individual's spirituality can have either positive or negative impacts on their lives. We are using the term "spiritual wellness" here to mean a state where your spirituality has positive impacts on your life. Like most questions of spirituality, this can be hard to pin down to a few descriptors - it is intensely individual, and varies widely. Some examples that we feel are important indicators of spiritual wellness are:
- Feeling alive and aware of the moment, engaged fully with living your life ("being switched on")
- Being contented with what you are doing now, and where it may lead you
- A sense of purposefulness and energy
- Being aware of having finished a task well, a sense of completeness with matters
- Ability to take the time to reflect and think things over, not feeling that some problems are best avoided and not spoken about
- A sense of balance and control in your life
- Being able to take 'time out' without feeling guilty
- A sense of peace and wellbeing
Obviously nobody possesses these features every moment of every day - we all get rushed and hassled, and have times of extreme pressure and stress. This short list, however, is some guide to what it is like to be spiritually well.
Questions
When you are feeling troubled or you are just in a particularly reflective mood, it is not uncommon to find yourself pondering such questions like:
- Why do bad things happen to good people?
- Why do some people have to die young?
- Why does so and so keep getting away with such and such?
- What is my purpose for being here?
- Why has my life been so difficult?
- Why am I being punished?
- Is this all there is to life?
- What am I suppose to do?
- If I do this now, will that happen later?
What can you do with these questions?
It is important to recognise that all of the above questions and more like them are perfectly normal life questions. We encourage you not to dismiss them as frivolous/trivial or self indulgent, and to seek out people with whom to discuss them further.
The Chaplains are also available to talk to about spiritual/religious wellbeing.