Religious teachings and Spiritual practices, Real-life benefits

I encourage anyone who is suffering emotionally, spiritually and/or physically to set aside 20-30 minutes each week for self-reflection.  In addition to improving our physical and mental health, regular reflection helps us make smarter decisions, boost performance and learn from our experiences.  From time to time, look back and remember times when you felt the presence, love, and protection of God. Or when you realize you're not alone. God is watching over you. God is among us. Examine your past experiences and forgive others and yourself. Also, I encourage you to pray and participate in faith-based activities.

 Benefits:

 We all want to feel safe and connected to something greater than ourselves.

Spiritual and religious rituals: Meditation, prayer, and gratitude help us connect with our inner selves and strengthen our relationship with God. In addition to that, studies show religious and spiritual rituals activate areas of the brain related to attention and emotion regulation1. These can change neural pathways2 in the brain and alter stress responses3.

Religious and spiritual beliefs: Religious beliefs can help people cope with medical conditions4, end-of-life issues, wars, natural disasters, and other negative life events and can also lower their risk of developing depression5. Religion and spiritual beliefs influence how people interpret negative life events, enabling them to accept difficult circumstances, appreciate the positive aspects of their lives, maintain a positive attitude, and ignore negative aspects of themselves and the world around them.

Virtues: Almost every religion has a rule or regulation governing how people should live their lives and treat each other. Many religions promote compassion and love for others, as well as social gatherings. Many religions emphasize virtues such as honesty, courage, forgiveness, patience, and gratitude.

Hope, Faith, love: Religion helps people maintain hope and optimism and find meaning in their lives.  Research shows that a person’s faith and hope contribute to healing and recovery. Faith enhances hope and happiness. Faith also boosts mental energy and reduces anxiety.  Faith improves stress responses and enhances immune system function6. Faith boosts courage, and inner security.

References

1. Barnby, Joseph M., Neil W. Bailey, Richard Chambers, and Paul B. Fitzgerald. 2015. How similar are the changes in neural activity resulting from mindfulness practice in contrast to spiritual practice? Consciousness and Cognition 36: 219–32.

2.  Mohandas, Eladath. 2008. Neurobiology of Spirituality. Mens Sana Monographs 6: 63–80. 

3. Van Elk, Michiel, and André Aleman. "Brain mechanisms in religion and spirituality: An integrative predictive processing framework." Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 73 (2017): 359-378.

4. Koenig, Harold G., David B. Larson, and Susan S. Larson. "Religion and coping with serious medical illness." Annals of Pharmacotherapy 35.3 (2001): 352-359.

5.  Rim, James I., et al. "Current understanding of religion, spirituality, and their neurobiological correlates." Harvard review of psychiatry 27.5 (2019): 303-316.

6.  Siegel, B, and Sander J. Faith, hope and healing: inspiring lessons learned from people living with cancer. Turner Publishing Company, 2009.

7. Davis, Don E., et al. "Research on religion/spirituality and forgiveness: a meta-analytic review." Psychology of Religion and Spirituality 5.4 (2013): 233.

8. Koenig, Harold G. "Religion, spirituality, and health: The research and clinical implications." International Scholarly Research Notices 2012.1 (2012): 278730.