Concept of spirituality:

The concept of spirituality has gained increasing attention over the last decade, as evidenced by the
number of conceptual and empirical articles published. Many recommend that continued theory
development is essential to understand spirituality and guide practice. The aim of this article is to review
the nursing research on spirituality and conduct a concept analysis using Chinn and Kramer's method of
creating conceptual meaning. A definition of spirituality is presented, and a model constructed from a
review of the literature and reflection. Spirituality is defined as: that most human of experiences that
seeks to transcend self and find meaning and purpose through connection with others, nature, and/or a
Supreme Being, which may or may not involve religious structures or traditions.
Spiritual health is an important component of an individuals well-being and an integral aspect of the
holistic health philosophy.

Physical, mental and spiritual health are deeply intertwined and have a profound effect on one another.

This truth is clearly exhibited for instance when someone who is sad on the emotional level experiences
fatigue, a loss of energy and/or decreased appetite on the physical level and on the spiritual level they
feel out of touch with their true self and disconnected from the Universe.

Another clear example would be that when spiritually we feel lost and unbalanced, this may cause us to
be moody and discontent with life, perhaps we grow emotionally distant from our loved ones and on
the physical level we may experience stress or fatigue.

On the other hand, when we feel spiritually connected and fulfilled, everything in our life including
physical and emotional pain, are easier to deal with. We feel lighter and happier.

There's no denying it - when we feel connected and balanced spiritually we feel better physically and
emotionally. Nourishing our spiritual self is as important as food, water and exercise.

Some people claim to experience complete healing from certain health conditions through a variety of
spiritual methods, but this doesn't happen all that often.

However, even if complete healing is not attainable, our physical health and over all sense of well-being
can be greatly enhanced by enriching our spiritual health.

This is an extremely helpful asset for anyone living with a chronic health condition. You may not be able
to cure your illness, but the spiritual can be used to help you feel better, cope with pain, symptoms,
limits and daily challenges, continue to find meaning and purpose in your life and live life more fully.
When things get really rough it gives us the strength to carry on.

Although I am certainly not thrilled that I have faced a variety of chronic health conditions in my lifetime
and all that it entails, I do believe we can be transformed by it in a positive way. Illness can be a spiritual
journey that helps us to know ourselves better and to grow. It has the ability to put us in touch with the
metaphysical world and a different level of consciousness. It brings us back to our true self and offers
spiritual transformation and self-realization. It pushes and nudges us to transcend the mundane material
reality that most of us live in into a higher spiritual realm.

For some unknown spiritual reason it appears that it takes a great deal of pain, suffering and challenges
to push one to grow spiritually and emotionally and without there tends to be little growth within. I
often feel angry that spirituality operates this way, but I have seen it be true over and over. In "The
Alchemy of Illness," Kat Duff teaches us that "Indigenous communities believe illness is one of the most
reliable means of revelation and knowledge."

Most people are unaware of the importance of spiritual health, caught in the whirlwind of life,
mindlessly and without question, living an illusion. Illness shatters this illusion. We are forever changed
by the experience of illness and we learn things we would have never learned otherwise. We can take
these spiritual lessons and the knowledge we acquire and share it with those around us to try and make
the world a better place, so that hopefully it won't come to the point where all those that come after us
will endure the same suffering that we have, and so the earth can begin to heal.

If you're not living with any chronic health conditions, spiritual health is still very important for many of
the same reasons and to maintain balance in your health.

Enriched spiritual health offers all of us comfort, meaning, harmony, purpose, hope, strength and inner
peace in our life.

Spiritual DistressWhat does it Mean?
People entering hospice sometimes carry an extra burden: the burden of spiritual distress. Spiritual
distress is the result of a disruption in a persons beliefs or value system. This can affect the individuals
entire sense of well-being. Spiritual distress is most often visible through emotional disturbance. This
may take such forms as the fear of dying, anger and rage, a highly anxious state, or even depression and
a sense of hopelessness.
Those suffering from spiritual distress may question the meaning of life or may be angry with God.
Sometimes they feel a sense of emptiness or realize that nothing makes sense anymore. They may make
comments like, I feel like Im falling apart, nothing feels stable anymore, or I feel like things are just
spinning out of control. Some may not only give up hope, some may even feel suicidal.
Interestingly, even those who formerly have expressed a strong sense of faith may suddenly reject or
neglect previous beliefs or practices. What may be surprising is that those without strong religious
convictions may also experience spiritual distress because they find themselves without adequate
resources upon which to draw.
Chaplains focus on helping patients and their families in spiritual distress by establishing rapport and a
caring relationship. We feel that it is important to provide a nonjudgmental atmosphere, laying aside
our own particular beliefs to help patients renew their own and rediscover hope within themselves. We
offer a supportive presence and provide time to listen. We spend time with our patients and family
members, reviewing their lives in order to assist them in recognizing purpose, value, and meaning. In
this, we are able to explore issues of guilt and remorse, the possibility of forgiveness, and the hope of
reconciliation with God and with others. We also help them find comfort, peace, and hope that focuses
on healing rather than on curing.
Spiritual distress may be due to a variety of factors such as:
1. Feeling a sense of anger and injustice about having a life-threatening illness
2. Experiencing losses in many aspects of ones life because of the illness
3. Feeling abandoned by friends, family, or God
4. Struggling to make sense of physical and emotional pain, suffering and death
5. Wondering about the meaning of ones life
6. Worrying about issues of life after death

BASIC PRINCIPLES REGARDING SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT

Here are some principles regarding this type of development:
1. It is a specific physiological and psychological process. It involves restoration of the immune system,
an increase in the number of neurons in the brain, and a few other changes.
It also involves growth of what are called the subtle human bodies. These are really just energy fields
that some people can see around a person. In most people, these remain largely
undeveloped. However, a nutritional balancing program alone will cause them to grow much larger and
brighter. There is nothing unusual or anti-religious in this understanding, as it does not diminish the
importance of physical life whatsoever, and indeed this gives it deeper meaning.
These subtle bodies go by various names. Common ones are the etheric, mental, causal and whole or
entire bodies. The names are less important than the concept. Since this is a large subject, a separate
article entitled The Chakras describe the bodies in more detail.

2. It leads to a longer, healthier, and usually a much wiser and happier life. This occurs because the
immune response of the body becomes much more effective in fighting infections, and one is able to
eliminate more toxins from the body.
One may also develop special abilities and talents as a side effect. For example, one may be able to see
subtle energy flows around a persons body, or perhaps ones memory becomes much better.

3. This development happens automatically if one follows a nutritional balancing program
precisely. That is, it does not require special deprivations, sacrifices or spiritual practices or
techniques other than the ones recommended as part of every nutritional balancing program. However,
if one adds or deletes parts of the program, it may not occur at all, or it might occur at a much reduce
pace.

4. It can be done at home. In the past, such development required the discipline of living in a
monastery or convent, for example. However, this does not seem to be needed today, provided one
follows a nutritional balancing program completely.

5. It is not dependent upon learning of knowledge. In fact, those who are seemingly less intellectual or
less learned often make better candidates for this type of development. This is because too much
intellectual focus can actually get in the way.
For example, one need not learn all about ones family of origin with its dysfunctions, or why one is
compulsive, or other psychological insights.
However, reading and studying the articles on this website, and reading the bible can be very helpful to
develop a correct perspective and correct attitudes about life and other things.

6. It is not about learning or practicing any kind of trade, business or profession such as being a healer
or a priest.

7. It is not spiritualism, in which one tunes into dead people or spirits without bodies to gain access to
information or power.

6. It is not about the development of psychic powers or mediumship. Many people believe that
development is about developing ones powers. Phenomena that may considered supernatural or
unusual may occur. But these are never the goal and are pure incidental. If they ever become the
objective, then one has lost sight of real development.

7. It does not require traveling somewhere, attending special classes or services, or joining a
particular religious or spiritual group or organization. This was the method in the past, but today other
options are available. In fact, most of todays spiritual organizations can get in the way of this type of
development simply because one must go at the pace of the group and most are stuck in older methods
that are less effective today.
Instead, it is mainly about a specific method of renourishing and conditioning the physical body and the
brain that seems to be very effective, without needing the many rituals and other practices that were
used in the past.

To examine nurses' attitudes to practising spiritual care and determine factors associated with nurses'
attitudes to practising spiritual care. Background. Today, health is no longer viewed as a passive state of
being, but as a dynamic process of achieving higher levels of wellness. In practices, nurse has
increasingly focused on treating the whole person, including the four domains: physical, mental, social
and spiritual. Of these four domains, the spiritual domain is the most neglected in daily nursing practice.
Design. This is retrospective study. Methods. A convenience sampling was used and 110 nurses
completed a structured questionnaire at a public hospital in September 2006. Outcome measures.
Nurses' demographic data and perceptions and practices scores on spiritual care. Results. The results
showed that nurses who more likely had religious beliefs (p = 0.028), were more likely to be married (p =
0.01), had past hospitalisation experiences (p = 0.009), worked in the obstetrics and gynaecology
department (p < 0.001) and had higher perception levels towards spiritual care (p < 0.001) were
significantly more likely to be practising spiritual care. Conclusion. As nurses are with patients all day,
they are in a position to safeguard the wholeness and integrity of the patient. As mentioned in the
results, there is a positive correlation between spiritual care perceptions and spiritual care practice
among nurses, which means that the greater the nurse's spiritual care perceptions, the more frequently
spiritual care is included in that nurse's practice. This correlation is vital and meaningful; it can drive
hospitals to promote nurses' awareness of spiritual care to improve the quality of their spiritual care
practice. Relevant to clinical practices. To facilitate collaboration between nurses and clergy, it might be
beneficial for nurses to communicate more with the clergy, include clergy in patient profile discussions
and treat clergy as members of the health care team. Given the influence of the spiritual dimension on
the physical realm, it would be more economically viable in the long term to ensure that adequate
staffing levels are maintained so that staff has enough time to spend with patients to attend to their
spiritual needs.