SPIRITUAL HEALTH TIPS
This month, we focus on our spiritual health! Not necessarily religion or religious faith, spirituality is relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit (Merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spiritual).
Spiritual Health
(Township Journal, 2018)
- Spend more time alone (you’re a pretty nice person, right?) *
- Sleep more (Zzzzz)*
- Start meditating (I recommend searching ‘Breathe Easy’ app, install and you can simply breath slowly to calm stress, anxiety, rumination, panic attacks, and PTSD flashbacks*
(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moodtools.breatheeasy)
- Compliment someone once a day (like I said, you’re a pretty nice person) *
- Take a walk (outside would be awesome) *
- Be grateful (think of three a day as part of your meditation. The ‘Bliss’ app offers a daily gratefulness exercise) *(BlissPositive Psychology trainer / Gratitude Journal https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bliss.phonegap)
- Spend time with people who think differently than you (and really hear them) *
- Accept and love yourself as you would a best friend (Treat yourself to the first 7 to start!) *
We often look for the beauty in our surroundings without recognizing it in ourselves. A simple exercise you can do each morning is to look at yourself in the mirror and exclaim, “I’m beautiful!” Experiencing a positive spiritual health is important for caring for other’s spiritual health and health, in general(Hsiang-Chun, Tsung-Lan, Chin-Yen, & Ya-Chu, 2016).
“Much of spiritual life is self-acceptance, maybe all of it.” Jack Kornfield (https://spiritualityhealth.com/quotes/jack-kornfield-on-self-acceptance)
Respectfully,
Linda Corigliano, RN, Mary Ellen Levine, RN and the Healthy Nurse Healthy New Jersey Team
References
Township Journal. (2018). Healthy you 2018, 21(03), p. 9. Retrieved at www.townshipjournal.com
Hsiang-Chun,L., Tsung-Lan, C., Chin-Yen, H., and Ya-Chu, H. (2016). The impact of nurses’ spiritual health on their attitudes toward spiritual care, professional commitment, and caring. Nursing Outlook, 64(3), p. 215-224. doi: 10.1016/j.outlook.2015.11.012
*Parenthetical phrases were added.
