Spiritual Health

Spiritual Health

Eileen Renders

   What is an accurate definition of Spiritual health? According to ncbi.nlm.nih.gov in an Abstract PMID:30258553, they offer the following;

Scientists and researchers have examined spiritual health from different angles and proposed various definitions, but a comprehensive definition does not exist for the term as of now. The present study aimed to offer the definition, components, and indicators of spiritual health from perspective.

   The qualitative study utilized conventional content analysis and individual in-depth interviews with 22 experts in the area of spiritual health in various fields selected through purposeful sampling. Member checks, credibility, reliability, transferability, and allocation of adequate time for data collection were measured to increase the validity and reliability of the results.

   Conventional content analysis was performed in three main phases: preparation, organization, and reporting, and the categories, subcategories, and codes emerged accordingly.

   Participants defined spiritual health in three dimensions: religious, individualistic, and material world-oriented. The study revealed four types of connection in spiritual health: human connection to God, himself, others, and nature. The majority of participants stated that spiritual health and spirituality were different, and pointed out the following characteristics for spiritual health: it affects physical, mental, and social health; it dominates other aspects of health; there are religious and existential approaches to spiritual health; it is perceptible in people’s behavior; and it can be enhanced and improved.

   Most experts recognized the human connection to God as the most important part of the definition of spiritual health. In conclusion, the connection between humans and themselves, others, and nature was not seen as a component specific to spiritual health. End of nih.gov Study

   Our creator has, therefore, created his creatures with an inner need and longing to be connected to him. This is a saving grace in that we all at some point long for that connection to be felt and strengthened. As humans, we have all felt the longing for family when we are separated. Some of us may even refer to emotional pain as a “heartache.”

   Perhaps, as life has it, there are times when we feel loneliness at times when we are not separated from our loved ones. Yet we cannot dismiss the emptiness we are feeling deep down inside of us. A longing that we want to identify and fulfill. This is often said to be an emptiness or void that our creator leaves within each one of us so that we seek to reunite more securely with our God. I like to see it as a safety net that pulls us out of harm's way from Satan and evil-doers.

   God wants to draw us to him, and we need him.