Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Spirituality of the everyday

Working as a nurse you get to meet a lot of people as well as see them and also colleagues in stressful situations. Often people are not 'religious' and any particular way, they don't go to a Church or religious denomination, they don't pray regularly. Yet there is a Spirituality which permeates often unspoken, poking its head up occasionally. A couple of examples ::



:: When talking about health. There is an understanding of it being holistic in nature, body, spirit, mind.
:: Talk about clairvoyants is just as valid as Ministers of Religion. It would seem to me that people go more regularly to them then Church. Except for weddings (getting less) and funerals.
:: When someone is sick, its not unusual to hear that they will be 'prayed' for even if it is just an off the cuff remark (Often from a non-church goer)
:: An awareness for the need for space. Our workplace has a policy that you can go for a walk for ten minutes if you need... They encourage this at least once a day.

I'm sure there are a few more and if I think of them I'll put them down.

UPDATE::

Just had another dot point
::Karma: most people I know have an understanding of Karma. You do good it will come back to you; you do bad then bad things will happen to you.   I suspect it is one of the biggest motivators of good in the world. Look at the way charity's advertise, give us money and you will feel good...

3 comments:

urbanmonk said...

I go to ICU pretty regularly for turns and washes and its very common to see meaningful religious things by bedsides such as icons and rosaries.Sometimes their even taped to pillows etc..Currently doing a mental health unit for enrolled nursing and was very much impressed with the idea that as a mental health nurse, the therapeutic tool is the self.

Maria said...

This is such a nice post and I fully agree with it.

For example I am not a religious person as well, but I do consider myself on the path of spirituality. I think the issue with religion is actually the fear of the church, of the institution itself. However I am meditating regularly and I try to be a better person every day.
Marika

Scott said...

@urbanmon:: Nurses are in pretty privileged positions, people at the extremes often reveal the spiritual aspects of there lives.

@Maria:: thanks for dropping by. Yep I think that acknowledging that you are on a 'path of spirituality' is a great start. Yep the institutional 'church' is meet with much suspicion...