Spirituality and Daily Living

Religious Practice and Daily Living

The day-to-day decisions we make impact our health.  Those decisions might include the food we eat, the amount of exercise we engage in, the people we share our lives with, and the ways in which we validate ourselves as spiritual beings.

For some people, the firm commitment to pray every day is not just an act of faith, but also a recognition that in doing so, ones sense of well-being and health can be improved.  Indeed, there is mounting evidence that people who take the time to mediate and pray experience less stress and improved general health.  Too often, I meet people who long to have the time to pray and become more active in spiritual activities, but who feel they simply don’t have the time.

As more and more people must take jobs outside the home to meet their financial needs, the roles of parent, spouse, and employee must be maneuvered with seemingly  very little time left for self-reflection.  A person may make a firm commitment to mediate and pray every morning before going to work, only to feel that they have to dash through those prayers in order to be granted another fifteen minutes of sleep.  Another might make the time to meditate, but feel that they are being selfish by ignoring their spouse or children, even if the time they have taken is only a few minutes.

One of the focuses of Jewish Health and Wellness is to help support the challenges and goals  of our readers as they attempt to be both active in the world while maintaining the actions they may need to take in order to support their health and well-being.