Whatever attitudes or habits you need to “fast” why not substitute attitudes or habits that will restore or increase your joy, creativity, positive relationships, mercy, and love.
Lent is the season in the Christian calendar that precedes Easter. Many Christians do something to observe this time as a spiritual refresher, like fasting , or refraining from, from a certain food or drink. I’ve heard of people “giving up” a range of things during Lent, like television, video games, social media, news, sports, or music. Some people “take up” a certain practice, like prayer, Bible study, or service projects.
“meditation of my heart” photo from Lightstock.com– stock photo source (affiliate link)
A “critical” lesson
One of most interesting examples of fasting I’ve heard of was from the late Catherine Marshall. Mrs. Marshall wrote a memoir about her husband, Peter Marshall who served as Chaplain of the United States Senate. She also wrote a memoir, novels, and devotional books. (see links below)
In a story reprinted in Spiritual Classics, Catherine realized she was too critical, tending to judge people and situations harshly and negatively.
Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.For you will be treated as you treat others.The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.
(The word “judge” used here is analogous to “criticise.”)
So she felt her “assignment” from God was:
“For one day I was to go on a “fast” from criticism. I was not to criticize anybody about anything.”
At lunch with her family that day several topics came up that she had definite negative opinions about but she stayed silent. Even though she felt lost without her usual sharp interaction, she said no one else seemed to notice.
“The federal government, the judicial system, the the institutional church could apparently get along fine without my penetrating observations.”
She thought about a young man she knew whose life had gotten “sidetracked”, and suddenly realized her negative attitude toward him wasn’t helping. As she began thinking about him in a more positive way, she saw ways that his life could be turned around that she had not considered before.
Her new attitude seemed to create an ability to see a new vision for his life that she hadn’t been able to before.
She related 5 things that she learned about a critical attitude.
It focuses us on ourselves and makes us unhappy.
It can distort our perspective and destroy humor.
It blocks positive creative thoughts God will give us about situations.
It impairs relationships with other people, perhaps causing them to be critical also.
It blocks feelings of love, good will, and mercy from God’s Spirit.
Whatever attitudes or habits you need to “fast” why not substitute attitudes or habits that will restore or increase your joy, creativity, positive relationships, mercy, and love.
Other posts from this blog based on the Sermon on the Mount include
He proposed health is not just the opposite of un-health, disease, illness, informity- and I agree.
I have seen this proven in the lives of countless patients.
I have treated patients who did not have a diagnosed disease, but yet did not feel or act healthy. Other patients who had a long list of ailments still managed to live active, healthy lives.
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
(The bibliographic citation for this definition is: Preamble to the Constitution of WHO as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19 June – 22 July 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of WHO, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April 1948. The definition has not been amended since 1948.)
Health in 7 Dimensions
I recently discovered a definition of health that includes those points but goes even further. The University of California, Riverside, Human Resources department promotes wellness among its staff and students with a Seven Dimensions of Wellness program.
This program considers aspects of life which you might not think impact health but do significantly affect wellbeing, or the lack of.
Let’s look at their 7 points which I’m going to expand with my own thoughts.
Social Wellness- relating to and connecting with other people in our world.
This includes family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, even strangers.
Loneliness is a significant health problem: it contributes to ill health, and even risk of dying prematurely.
The New York Times health writer Jane Brody reviewed medical studies that show
Emotional Wellness- understanding our feelings and coping with life challenges.
Emotionally well people understand that feeling angry, sad, fearful or stressed will happen, and are able to not let those feelings cripple them. They use the times of hope, love, joy and happiness to build a reserve on which to draw in difficult times.
Spiritual Wellness – what brings, peace, harmony, and purpose to our lives.
Our sense of ethics, morals, right, and wrong is usually based on what we believe to be true and meaningful, and likely involves faith and support for an organized belief system or religion. Without belief in something, our lives can drift aimlessly and we can fall into restlessness, doubt our purpose, and lose hope for the future.
The saint, Mother Teresa, lived her life committed to the purpose she felt called to do- take care of the poor, sick, and suffering people in India.
Environmental Wellness – how you feel about where you live and work.
Whether it’s your own home, your neighborhood, city, country, or the world, your environment can make you feel safe and protected , or can make you feel uncomfortable and insecure, depending on the quality of the air, water, and physical surroundings.
Where you live often determines your access to basic services and goods necessary for health and wellness, what doctors call the social determinants of health such as
doctor’s and dentist’s offices
hospitals
pharmacies
grocery stores that sell nutritious food
as well as access to schools, church, jobs, entertainment.
Environment may even change our genetic makeup. According to an article shared at Smithsonian.com
“A team of researchers from Northwestern University led by anthropology professor Thom McDade have shown that DNA can also be modified by your environment during childhood. What’s more, the authors conclude in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, those modifications can affect how or when you develop certain illnesses during adulthood.”
Occupational Wellness- finding personal fulfillment from our jobs or our chosen career .
Feeling that we are contributing to the society we live in, whether it’s through employment, voluntary service, or nurturing a family unit can give us a sense of accomplishment and self-worth.
When you realize that we often spend the majority of our waking hours at work, you can see why work has a major impact on our health. In my medical practice, I frequently encounter patients with job problems that impact their health. This includes
physical demands, exposure to dangerous substances, environments, and situations
time demands, shift work, long hours, lack of time off
job insecurity due to uncertain employer stability, unclear job expectations, inadequate training
interpersonal conflicts with supervisors, other employees, clients, customers
These can lead to
physical injuries
fatigue, sleep deprivation
feelings of stress, anxiety, depression
Read about how a bad work environment may be worse than being unemployed in this CNN report.
Intellectual Wellness- opening our minds to new ideas and experiences in order to increase our knowledge and skills
Whether through formal education in a school or through individual learning pursuits , keeping our minds active seems to be a key to remaining fit and active as we age, and may even slow or prevent the onset of dementia, as recommended by the Alzheimer’s Association.
plaque in front of the Bizzell Library, at the University of Oklahoma
“THE SPIRIT OF
LEARNING IS
A LASTING
FRONTIER.”
Physical Wellness- the ability to maintain a healthy quality of life that allows us to get through our daily activities without undue fatigue or physical stress.
These dimensions of health aren’t linear so much as they are circular-one leads to another. Addressing our physical health makes the other 6 easier to accomplish. In this category we would consider
weight management
physical activity
avoiding substances like tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs
and likely involves faith and support for an organized belief system or religion. Without belief in something, our lives can drift aimlessly and we can fall into restlessness, doubt our purpose, and lose hope for the future.
watercress words by Dr Aletha 
You must be logged in to post a comment.