Spirituality for Caregiving and Chronic Illness
Whether you consider yourself religious or not, caregiving and chronic illness soon leads you into inherently spiritual terrain.
These scenarios are frustrating. They make us mad and sad; and they prompt us to cuss and pray. Everyone experiences some disorientation and discombobulation when initially grappling with “normal” turned upside down.
One of the terms relating to spirituality and caregiving is “reconciled life perspective.” This term refers to the extent to which individuals have reconciled their spiritual and religious beliefs and practices with adverse events in their lives. Basically, to what extent can you make peace with what is happening? For the best of us, this is a tall order.
Typically, we just don’t expect for things to go wrong. Often, our grasp on our faith and worldview is severely tested. Worse yet, we feel guilty about acknowledging that struggle. So we suffer in silence. Meanwhile, others in similar circumstances seem to be experiencing the beauty of a reconciled life perspective.
What to do?
If your beliefs and spiritual practices are well aligned and helping you greatly through health adversity, keep it up and keep learning and growing! If this is not the case for you, start small. You are unlikely to resolve this in one fell swoop. So perhaps these three questions form a place to start:
*What is the truth about your situation? Give yourself a brutally honest assessment. It’s difficult to resolve a problem until the problem is defined.
*Who can handle your truth? Is there one person you can talk to?
*Is there one small thing that you believe? Start there.
Spiritual practices are just that. Practices. And they require lots of practice. One small exercise at a time, may you grow into a reconciled life perspective.
Worth Repeating
You’ll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.
-Golda Meir
