In a moment we’ll suggest some ways to “inform our lives with spirituality,” as Dr. Kurth puts it. But first, what are the other benefits of integrating spirituality into our daily lives or increasing its presence and effect? People whom Dr. Kurth has studied report:
• A sense of deeper meaning, purpose, and direction in life.
• A sense of fulfillment. Maintaining a sense of connectedness and direction is hard work but worth it, says Dr. Kurth, because the process of doing it brings a sense of peace and fulfillment.
• Renewed energy. “People are so burned out in their work lives and in their lives in general,” says Dr. Kurth. “Somehow when one taps into that sense of connecting with the Divine, there is a renewed sense of energy.”
• Increased feeling of well-being. Psychologists Anne Colby, Ph.D., director of the Henry A. Murray Research Center at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and her husband, William Damon, Ph.D., professor of education and director of the Center on Adolescence at Stanford University, conducted a study of people involved in “spiritual work.”
These were “people who are highly morally committed, people who are devoting their lives to something they really, deeply believe in,” explains Dr. Colby. “Helping the poverty-stricken, fighting for civil rights, things like that.”
Dr. Colby and Dr. Damon found that those who do such work for a long period of time tend to be deeply spiritual and have a very optimistic, resourceful, positive approach to life.
They also found that sometimes people can begin working for others for narrow reasons – perhaps pursuing career or business goals – and end up transforming their outlook. They may end up adopting a broader set of moral goals and a more selfless spiritual perspective simply from the process of doing the work and engaging other people as they do it.
What about the benefits of meditation we mentioned earlier?
We know that many American males associate meditation with short, fat, bearded men who wear orange robes. But it needn’t be that. Meditation can be cool.
As the body and mind relax in meditation, the brain begins pumping calming chemicals and sending soothing signals that cause our bodies to relax even more. These signals also stave off or even repair the ravages of stress, a known life-threatener and life-shortener, says Dr. Larry J. Feldman of the Pain and Stress Rehabilitation Center. Our blood is less likely to get clumpy and sticky and less likely to gum up artery walls. That translates into heart health. More than that, studies have shown that in the long term, people who regularly practice meditation or some other effective relaxation process develop a much greater tolerance to all sorts of stressors, says Dr. Feldman.
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