Dr. Carole Myers
Welcome to HealthConnections, the show about people, health, and policy. I'm Dr. Carole Myers. Spiritual health is the least discussed aspect of holistic health. Today, I'm joined by Dr. Eric Rieger of Chattanooga. He is a certified spiritual director and certified life and health coach. We're going to discuss the importance of spiritual health and how you can nurture your spiritual health. Welcome, Eric.
Dr. Eric Rieger
It's good to be here.
Eric, let's start with what is spiritual health.
Spiritual health is just one dimension of whole-person health. We are body, mind, and spirit, and spiritual health has to do with our sense of vitality, aliveness. It encompasses important aspects of our being, such as our need for meaning, our need for connection, our need to be truly who we are, and spiritual health involves what happens when those needs are not met.
Let's talk more about the importance of spiritual health and how it relates to the other aspects of health.
Spiritual health relates to the other aspects of health because physical, mental, and spiritual health are all mutually reinforcing. They all affect one another. Our state of mind affects our physical health. Spiritual health affects our physical and mental health. That's probably most revealed in the experiences of Dr. Viktor Frankl and the man's search for meaning, and what he experienced in the concentration camps, and what happened to one's health when their lives were devoid of deep meaning. And we also know what happens to people's health and well-being when they don't have meaningful connection with others.
Let's perhaps, in discussing what we can do to nurture our spiritual health, will help us get a better understanding of how this all comes together.
What nurtures our spiritual health is really about meaning, connection, and that includes connection to oneself. We all have a relationship with ourselves; it's our primary relationship, and I believe the most important relationship in our lives. And we have relationships with others, and many believe we have relationships to creation or nature, and relationships to the transcendent. And for some people, that's God. For some people, that's the universe. That's life. That's source. And as Socrates is purported to have said the unexamined life isn't worth living, and to know thyself, we have to discover for ourselves what is meaningful for us, what brings our life meaning. And again, Viktor Frankl observed, as have many existential psychotherapists and psychologists, that without meaning people become ill.
This is Dr. Carole Myers joined today by Dr. Eric Rieger. He's a certified spiritual director. Thank you for listening to HealthConnections. All past episodes are available at WUOT.org for on-demand listening. And listeners, your suggestions and comments are always welcome.
