The impact of spirituality on mental health
Mental health is a refined phrase referring to the level of psychological well-being of an individual. But before we talk about the impact that spirituality has on mental health, we need to first understand what spiritualism actually is. The most basic attribute of spiritualism is to know oneself and the person deep within. Spiritualism is the journey that one embarks on connecting the soul with the almighty. Our thought process has a big role to play in this regard.
For instance, when water gets logged in a confined space, it leads to foul smell and even diseases. Such is the case with our thought process. When we get stuck on a certain thought, and are unable to think ahead or take a step back, it leads to clogging of our mind and often allows negative thoughts to settle. That thought is somewhat like a poison and can be fatal for our mental health. The path of spiritualism cleanses our mind of such thoughts, thereby setting our mind and thought process free.
If often happens that people achieve a lot of things in their life, still the desire of getting things that they couldn’t accumulate remains intact. And when they do not get what they desire, their mental health gets adversely affected. The reason might be that the condition was not conducive to the fulfilment of the desire, but it ultimately results in the person not giving 100% to whatever he does. Such situations compel people to reach out to a psychiatrist or a doctor to get a remedy, but that solution is never permanent. But when the same person resorts to the path of spiritualism s/he gets acquainted with his own strengths and virtues, which eventually help in healing the mental health. I believe in a slogan – Khud Ko Tu Pehchaan, Tujhme Hai Bhagwan (Recognise yourself, for the God is within you), so it’s imperative to know your strengths to overcome obstacles coming your way.
When you get closer to yourself through spiritualism, you get to know your own cosmic energy. If you car tank is filled, you might go to any place of your choice. Similarly, when a person gets attached with the cosmic energy within, then the strengths within gets unleashed. In other words, spiritualism acts like the mythological character of Jamvant, who helped lord Hanuman recognise his strengths and overcome all obstacles en route Lanka.
However, the road to spiritualism is no cakewalk. A matchstick needs to face friction with a surface to emanate fire, and in the same manner, you need to face and overcome obstacles or unwanted situations that come your way to successfully embark on the spiritual journey, which resultantly makes your mental health fit and fine.
Coronavirus and Spiritualism
In the normal course of life in this world, all of us were so engrossed fulfilling our professional duties and responsibilities that we could hardly extract any time to spend with our family and loved ones. There was a point when we all were repeatedly complaining about being extremely busy and getting no leisure time at our disposal. In fact, many of us got the time to meet even our kids only on weekends. But then came a pandemic in the form of Covid-19, leaving us with no option but to stay indoors, confined in our homes. The nature in its own way made it sure that we had ample time at our disposal, and could remain with our loved ones without the worries of going to schools or offices or anywhere outside.
Amid the fear of the pandemic, we all pacified ourselves with the fact that at least we were getting to spend the time with our families that we had missed. But what eventually happened wasn’t a very positive outcome. Petty quarrels among us began to increase, if statistics are to be believed, there have been increased number of domestic violence cases in these times. Some people walked through miles, travelled on bicycles and tempos for hundreds and thousands of kilometres to be with their families, but despite facing all odds and ordeals, they probably did not get what they actually desired.
Another thing that got curtailed during this phase was the ‘me-time’ that we all are used to, the time that we spend with ourselves. It is human nature that when we are deprived of this ‘me-time’, we tend to get annoyed, and some of us even end up resorting to violence. To overcome such situations, many of us tilted towards the path of spiritualism. But the direction most took was faulty to a great extent. It’s like a person visiting gym on the first day complaining about his muscles not showing signs of improvement.
So to fix the gap, the first thing one need to realise is that spiritualism is a journey to discover your own self. And the first step towards spirituality is developing a sincere belief for the almighty. There is also a need for a sensible spiritual guru, who could act as a guiding light and show the right direction to be pursued. Following these would establish a cosmic connection between your mind and your body, thereby helping you combat the ills of lockdown and pandemic situations. Once you focus on the spiritual path, you will certainly be at ease and also in peace.
Train yourself for a deep sleep
When a cellphone battery dies down, you fail to receive any call until the charger is plugged in and adequate charging has been done. Similar is the case with our sleeping. It is a sort of recharging for our body as well as mind that lets us switch of our mechanism temporarily. Sleeping is often wrongly believed to be a form of relaxing, whereas the latter can be done even when we are not in sleep. You can relax anywhere and there’s no need to shut your eyes for it, but for sleeping it’s needed. The crux of it is that sleeping is most vital for our mental health.
At times we spend sleepless nights, and despite being in the bed and relaxing, we feel tired and worked out the other day. This shows why a sound sleep is so important. Sleeping connects us with the cosmic energy in a natural manner, thereby enabling us to function the next day. But what matters the most is the quality of our sleep, as in how deep our sleep was. It’s not the hours that necessarily make the difference. We all have read about former President APJ Abdul Kalam sleeping for one hour and still being brisk and enthusiastic as ever during his visit to Kudankulam nuclear power plant, and we have certainly heard and read a lot about how our energetic Prime Minister Narendra Modi sleeps for just around 4 hours.
Here we enlist some simple changes that we can bring about in our lives to design it for a sound or deep sleep:
- Meet your friends: Make it a point that you meet your friends almost every evening and spend at least half an hour with them. You should use this time to share whatever you’re going through. For instance if there’s been a banter with your boss, vent about it without inhibition. This will lead to omission of bad energy within and ease you further. If you keep your problem within yourself, your mind will not be at peace.
- Be close to nature: Be as close to nature as possible. If possible, lie down on a bench or mattress and look at the indefinite sky before going to bed. Even if you live in an apartment and a balcony is your only gateway to galaxy, spend some time there staring at the sky before dozing off. This will result in a good sound sleep with a relaxed mind.
- Connect with the almighty: You need to establish a connection with the almighty, talk to the almighty. There might be a few things in your life that’s not worth sharing even with friends or your soulmate. But you can share it all with the almighty without the fear of being judged. Share your deepest and darkest secrets with the almighty, you will remain burden free.
- Live in the present: Most of us spend our thoughts either feeling guilty about what’s gone or worrying about what’s coming. But instead of dwelling in the past or the future, it is important to live in the present. When past cannot be fixed, why to hold back and if future cannot be designed, why to worry in advance? Getting rid of such thoughts would also help relax the brain for a better sleep.
- Apply warm oil: You can call it one of ‘Dadi Ma ke Nuskhe’. Apply warm oil, preferably coconut oil, on your navel as well as the nose openings and see if there’s any difference in your usual sleeping pattern.