RELIGION/FAITH HELPS YOUR ANXIETY
If you are a regular reader of my blog you know I am not very religious. Monotheism is a relatively new notion in the human experience, one god who over sees everything. I believe that spirituality is derived from communion with god, or gods, or the spirit of god, or gods through faith. I don’t know if there is one god or a hundred. When I look at the billions of stars in the sky and wonder about other worlds and species I wonder if it’s the same god there etc.
A little bit of a tangent there so back to the topic. Regardless of your religion or faith most people who practice an organized religion have a remarkable resource to help with anxiety. I found a good article here. This article is specific to Christianity but the sentiment is really applicable to most monotheistic/temple oriented religions.
From the article: “It’s giving people a sign of hope, not just through our words, but the church has an opportunity to give people a sign of hope by how we live,” she said. Jamie Aten, director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College, told Religion News Service that congregations now are helping people deal with a wide range of mental health challenges. And the challenges that existed before the coronavirus haven’t just gone away, according to Aten.”
This really is a universal truth. Meaning first, the mental health challenges people had BEFORE covid still exist. Second, a group support network is a valuable, to be cherished resource to help you through hard times. It is perhaps the greatest benefit of organized religion, to have a group of likeminded people supporting one another. I know all religions have their own social dynamics, I know it’s not perfect. That said it’s more than a lot of us do have. You can be extremely spiritual and still be alone.
Faith is powerful, it helps in so many areas of life it’s hard to measure. It doesn’t really matter what faith you practice either. In my experience most of the major faiths we have today have similar doctrines which espouse helping others. You should use this resource if you belong to a church, a mosque, a temple. Given the breadth of mental health issues in our society the chances are that someone in your place of worship has similar experiences or is going through what you are right now.
Count your blessing and take advantage of this resource. As a wise Christian woman once told me “god is watching”. If that’s true, he (or she) is probably waiting for you to accept the gift of others generosity. Will you take it?
Interested in more posts like this one? Check out my post here.