Holistic Health Update -- Spiritual Health

Back in May I set a schedule for myself to work on various areas of my health. Even though I haven't updated on my progress, I really have been working on things. Here's what my original schedule looked like:

May 13- June 13 -- Spiritual Health

June 13- July 13 -- Financial Health

July 13- August 13 -- Emotional Health

September 13- October 13 -- Relationship Health

October 13- November 13 -- Intellectual Health

So this post will give you an update on how I did back in May with working on my spiritual health.

Spiritual Health

I am a Christian and love God and worship Him. I pray often and know my scriptures. I grew up in a Christian household. We went to church every Sunday morning and night and sometimes on Wednesday nights for prayer service.

After high school I attended Faith Baptist Bible College for three semesters (until I ran out of money for tuition).

When I got home from college I worked for my church as the secretary and helped out in the elementary/high school they ran. I was even the cheerleading coach for the high school girls of the Bible School. I was active in my single ministry group right after college and made many lifelong friends in the Christian community.

Fast forward several years and I found myself a part of a church family (different church) that I did not enjoy. The minister was dictatorial and sapped my spirit. One day as I was sitting in a service and realized my heart was filled with hate for the minister instead of love and joy of being in God's House, I knew it was time for me to leave the church. After I left, I had trouble finding a new church family. After a year of searching for a new home, I decided to instead focus on my own personal relationship with God. Eventually I found that I grew closer to Him and felt more in-tuned with my own spirituality and prayed more than ever before -- when I didn't have the distraction of organized religion I could give my full attention to my Savior. I have not attended church regularly for about 7 years now.

So why do I feel that I need to work on my spiritual health now after WLS?

I felt I needed to explore in more depth the word "Spirituality" and learn more about myself and how I relate to the rest of the universe. Not just my relationship with God, but also my relationship with myself and my own spirit.

I floundered for a week or so with this task. It's a daunting one, right? Then I found the book, "Spirituality for Dummies." Ha! Not very profound and spiritual sounding, but I knew I needed a guidebook that would walk me through the entire process of discovering my spirit.

I knew that the Spiritual Health task could not be contained within a one month timeframe. But having that first month to really focus on this aspect of my health gave me a jumpstart into the exploration. I am slowly working my way through the book and using my journal to keep notes and ideas and thoughts. It's a book you need to take in small doses - just a section at a time - and let it digest and dwell on it before you move on to the next section. I'm enjoying the journey.

So I'm still a work in progress. And I feel great about the direction I'm heading.

~Pam