We know that stress can effect our physical, emotional and mental health. But so often we overlook our spiritual health. Our spirits can suffer from the effects of too much stress and the negative consequences of that are rarely covered by conventional medicine and therapy. But the mind, body and spirit are all connected and if you only focus on two of the three, it is about as good as having a two legged stool. That stool simply cannot stand on its own.
The Bible gives us a definition of what the different elements or “fruits” of the spirit are. Galatians 5:22-23 says:
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.
The different facets of the human spirit are the same whether you are from the Christian faith or not. We are all spiritual beings and we all possess those characteristics. It is from our spirit that we love, where we find our peace, our patience, our kindness towards others, our goodness, our loyalty and faithfulness, and our gentleness and it is the spirit that is the root of our self-control. When subjected to stress, the human spirit deflates and you are left feeling unfulfilled, lost and empty.
Acute, episodic and chronic stress can all wear away at our spirit. Think about the last time you were stressed out. Were you kind and loving to your spouse or children? Probably not. Were you joyful or filled with peace? That would probably be a big no as well.
Below is a list of some of the spiritual effects of stress:
*Difficulty expressing love-during periods of stress, we experience a reduction in our ability to express and feel love. We usually snap at and are irritable towards those closest to us.
*Lack of joy-this is particularly true with longer periods of episodic stress and chronic stress. It is hard to be joyful when you are continually stressed out.
*No peace-stress is the opposite of peace, and so when stress is present, there can be no peace.
*No patience-when stressed we tend to be much more impatient with others.
*Less kind and good-there was a study done that showed that when under stress, people were much less likely to help out another person in need. Empathy, caring, kindness and goodness are all reduced in the presence of too much stress.
*Less gentleness-because we tend to me more short tempered, and more easily irritated and angered, the ability to be more gentle becomes a challenge.
*Lack of self control-when we are stressed, especially once we go past our stress tolerance threshold, we lose self-control. This leads to overeating, spending too much money, smoking too much, drinking too much, taking drugs, gambling and more.
Stress management can help to not only reduce your stress, but rejuvenate your spirit. Make sure to take the time to manage your stress everyday.
