Spiritual Support – The ASPIC Way!
This is a continuation in the series describing ASPIC, and this is the third in the sequence around support. The earlier posts (Awareness, Support) can be found at http://stopeatingyourheartout.com/blog/ And today we will be discussing spiritual support, the ASPIC way.
Spiritual support doesn’t mean religious support, though it can include it.
Spirituality is much larger than religion and more all-inclusive. It can include a belief in God or Buddha or Allah or whatever, or be simply a belief in a Higher Power, Nature, or the Universe. Religion separates folks, whereas spirituality can unify people.
Although spiritual support takes many forms, the focus here will encompass three areas:
prayer
meditation
visualization
Because each one is such a gigantic topic within itself, I will only cover one aspect each week, so today we’ll discuss prayer.
I personally had a lot of trouble with spirituality for many years. I told myself I was an agnostic, but the truth was that I was afraid to believe in God. Because the God I knew was a punishing God. I was basically a good person, but I did, what I refer to as my “little bads.” These included saying one thing, “Oh, what a beautiful dress, Aunt Gert,” but really thinking to myself, “Did she retrieve that out of someone’s trash can?” Or telling my brother (6 years younger) to put his tongue on the ice cube tray. When it stuck, I played the innocent – “Oh you poor dear, I didn’t know that would happen!”
The God I believed in was keeping track and someday he’d punish me for all these little bads. In fact, as a young married with two healthy children, I lived a tortured life – sure that any day I’d get the punishment I deserved: one of my kids would be struck with an incurable disease. I am forever grateful that I had a spiritual awakening which ousted that belief, allowing me to joyfully embrace a Loving Higher Power. Only then did prayer become an important component in my recovery. [I explain this in more detail in Stop Eating Your Heart Out, pp. 55-57.]
To continue reading, go to http://stopeatingyourheartout.com/201...Meryl Hershey Beck
Spiritual support doesn’t mean religious support, though it can include it.
Spirituality is much larger than religion and more all-inclusive. It can include a belief in God or Buddha or Allah or whatever, or be simply a belief in a Higher Power, Nature, or the Universe. Religion separates folks, whereas spirituality can unify people.
Although spiritual support takes many forms, the focus here will encompass three areas:
prayer
meditation
visualization
Because each one is such a gigantic topic within itself, I will only cover one aspect each week, so today we’ll discuss prayer.
I personally had a lot of trouble with spirituality for many years. I told myself I was an agnostic, but the truth was that I was afraid to believe in God. Because the God I knew was a punishing God. I was basically a good person, but I did, what I refer to as my “little bads.” These included saying one thing, “Oh, what a beautiful dress, Aunt Gert,” but really thinking to myself, “Did she retrieve that out of someone’s trash can?” Or telling my brother (6 years younger) to put his tongue on the ice cube tray. When it stuck, I played the innocent – “Oh you poor dear, I didn’t know that would happen!”
The God I believed in was keeping track and someday he’d punish me for all these little bads. In fact, as a young married with two healthy children, I lived a tortured life – sure that any day I’d get the punishment I deserved: one of my kids would be struck with an incurable disease. I am forever grateful that I had a spiritual awakening which ousted that belief, allowing me to joyfully embrace a Loving Higher Power. Only then did prayer become an important component in my recovery. [I explain this in more detail in Stop Eating Your Heart Out, pp. 55-57.]
To continue reading, go to http://stopeatingyourheartout.com/201...Meryl Hershey Beck
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