Living in Your Young Age

(A DSU Brief Presentation)

What if the most overlooked factor of your health wasn't your nutrition or your exercise, but what you believe and have faith in? 

Spirituality is a broad, personal search for meaning, purpose, and connection to something larger (greater) than oneself, such as the Universe, nature or a higher power.  If focuses on inner experience and interconnection rather than rigid rules.

The SOW article Cost of Neglecting Your Spirituality reports a number of scientific studies relating to spirituality and physical health. These studies find spirituality to be associated with benefits such as better mental health, longevity, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. 

By neglecting spirituality some of the benefits missed include decreased risk of coronary heart disease and a 20 percent reduced risk of death. Our general culture of “neglected spirituality” has led many to find it hard to conceive that there is a connection between spirituality and physical health but there is.  

For example, spiritual practices such as meditation can lead to significant structural differences in brain tissue. In one study those who meditate demonstrated significantly thicker cortex in the anterior regions of the brain, which is important for cognitive and emotional processing.  

Even the journal of the American Medical Association in JAMA Psychiatry sought to study the effect of mindfulness compared with a commonly used psychopharmacological treatment for anxiety disorders. The study concluded that mindfulness practice is as effective as the antidepressant escitalopram (pronounced eh·suh·ta·luh·pram, and known as Lexapro), which is a prescription SSRI used to treat both major depressive disorders and generalized anxiety disorder in adults and adolescents.

A 2024 study on middle-aged and older adults in the United States investigated the connection between spirituality, inflammatory markers, cognitive and physical health; it found that in those with associated “higher religious beliefs and values” there was a 6.5 percent lower level of inflammatory marker levels.

It is widely demonstrated that spirituality--basically the “greater power” you believe and have faith in--has benefits for the human willing to develop their spiritual fitness in addition to  their physical fitness.  

The same tips applied for physical fitness, such as don't be in a rush and start gradually, also apply for spiritual fitness. Rather than jumping into the deep end to learn everything there is to know about a particular spiritual practice, train gradually.  

The word train is from Latin meaning to pull something along.  Don't PUSH or STRAIN (get tightly bound up) doing your spiritual practice, TRAIN at it.  Pull it along gradually.  

Many presume that just carrying a spiritual label is sufficient, but spiritually isn't just about being a religious practitioner or believer, it is more about what your inner world looks like.  Think of it like inner landscaping. Spending a little time on your inner world each day will cultivate an inner paradise (a word from from Latin meaning a park or orchard).  

For example cultivating a compassionate or sympathetic bearing–being kind to yourself AND to others–has the benefit of attracting even the hearts of people who don't care about virtue, while rudeness can push away even those who share the same faith.

The key to spiritual training is to choose a "spiritual load" that you can handle, but that still makes you somewhat uncomfortable so that you have to keep working to pull your spiritual fitness practices along.

For example, rather than initiating long meditation sessions, start by meditating just a few minutes a day and let your capacity for meditation grow gradually.  And remember that meditation isn't about "not thinking" OR about "thinking only spiritual thoughts", meditation involves observing inner thoughts and sensations without judgment rather than turning them off.  It is about sitting in your potential inner paradise and observing.

Another key is to develop a habit.  Set a time for regular intervals for health-oriented activities such as meditation.  This creates certainty for your spiritual exercise sessions.  

Uncertainty increases stress. Certainty is demonstrated to reduce stress having positive physical and spiritual benefits.  Set a time for regular intervals of quality time for you to personally evaluate your life purpose and the reasonable steps that you have, or will take, to achieve your purpose.  At least annually take time to consider (a word indicating with the stars) these concepts. For example pick one of DSUs quarterly equinox or solstice events and come out to the country and sit with the stars as you tend your inner landscape and contemplate your purpose and plans.  The ORSH (One Room School House) and other sites are available for your contemplative reviews.

Another key is to to have regular gatherings with your people where you share thoughts, doubts, and ask hard questions.  Let your safe group assist you, without judgment,  to see where you think you may be falling short of your goals and to help provide insight in how to overcome your challenges. Making this a habit is beneficial. There are costs for neglecting your spiritual nature and/or allowing your physical/spiritual natures to become imbalanced or ungrounded (meaning without: foundation, motive, source, origin, or cause).

To be grounded also refers to a direct connection between an electrical circuit and the Earth.  A ground is a safety feature that provides a low-resistance path for excess electricity to dissipate into the Earth, preventing electric shocks, fires and equipment damage.  In the SOW article Benefits of Being “Well Grounded” we learn that humans are inherently electrical beings. 

Electricity (the accumulation or movement of charged particles like electrons) keeps our hearts beating, makes our muscles contract, and facilitates signals throughout our nervous systems that enable us to think, feel, move, and interact with the world around us.

The body relies on small electrical impulses for countless other functions.  One electrical phenomenon is a common contributor to disease – the free radical, which is an atom or molecule that is short one electron, leaving it with a positive charge. This charge allows it to "steal" an electron from another atom or molecule. Among other things this electrical exchange can change molecules to such a state that oxygen can’t enter the cells leading to toxification, inflammation, and more.  This instability is linked to countless disease processes in the body. 

Antioxidants found in foods are beneficial to the body because they can provide an electron and neutralize this threat of electrons being robbed from the cells and causing an inflammatory response. Humans are made up of mostly water and minerals (dirt) making us excellent conductors just like the Earth. This  inherent electrical nature and conductive quality also allows us to acquire electrical energy from the world around us.  We happen to live on an abundant source of electrical energy—the Earth. The Earth’s surface provides an unlimited and continuously renewed supply of free electrons that we can absorb into our bodies.  These electrons actually come from the sun. The Earth is electrically conductive and can pass these electrons to us if we are in direct contact with the planet to receive them. Just as the plastic insulation on an electrical wire keeps its electricity contained, so too does the plastic on the bottom of our shoes insulate us from the grounding of the Earth. 

The easiest way to absorb these free electrons is to walk barefoot on the ground, in the grass, on a beach—or to swim in a natural body of water. These acts literally ground us, allowing our bodies to settle an electron imbalance and lowering inflammation, thinning the blood, preventing degenerative diseases, improving sleep, reducing pain, and enhancing many of the body’s biological processes. 

These electrons have an anti-inflammatory effect because they reduce the free-radical activity that causes inflammation and chronic pain.  The energy of the free electrons gained through grounding helps keep your body’s innate electrical circuitry properly balanced. 

The flash of life at conception
IS a real thing.  You are conceived
in light.

Let's conclude with this last section with a quick word study.

Vitality is from a Latin word meaning vital energy, life. 

The word divine refers to shining (e.g light), and divinity  refers to that shining energy (e.g. light) that is the energy of the universe. 

 

Energy is the potential for work.

Work is the doing utilizing that energy.

To embrace divinity is to hold onto the potential of the universe for DOING.  As spiritual beings we manage the potential for doing.  As physical beings we manage the physical doing. 

The SOW article Muscle: The Organ that Powers Vitality highlights one of our organ systems that help us to carry out that doing.

Muscles are the source of our strength and physical appearance and provide capacity for doing, but they do far more than just move the body.  They regulate metabolism, support the immune system, and influence mental health. In fact, muscles should be considered organs in their own right.

An organ is defined as “the collaboration of multiple tissues performing a common function. …. muscles regulate body temperature, manage energy consumption, and perform other vital functions.”  Mounting evidence suggests that skeletal muscle acts as an endocrine organ. Endocrine organs, such as the thyroid and pituitary gland, release hormones directly into the bloodstream. These hormones regulate everything from growth and reproduction to mood and immune responses—functions essential for overall health.  Stated simply, in response to bodily signals, muscles produce chemicals that enter the bloodstream and target specific organs, influencing physiological responses.

One of the most abundant of these reduces chronic inflammation—a contributor to joint pain and stiffness—and decreases risks associated with heart disease and certain cancers. It enhances fat breakdown and improves insulin sensitivity, helping prevent conditions such as diabetes.  While the pancreas is usually credited with regulating blood sugar, muscles also play a key role. During physical activity, they use glucose as their primary energy source, lowering blood sugar levels and boosting insulin efficiency.  Exercise increases muscle glucose uptake up to 100-fold as compared with rest.

Regular physical activity keeps immune cells young and muscles strong, even as we age. In exercise, skeletal muscle and T cells interact and keep each other young and secrete specific chemicals that play critical roles in brain health and cognitive function.  These chemicals are crucial for muscle repair, neural health, and cognitive functions essential for the growth and survival of brain cells, bolstering memory and learning. 

The takeaways from this presentation for LIVING in your YOUNG Age are:

Energy is the potential for work. 

 

Work is doing with that energy. 

To embrace divinity is to hold onto the potential of the universe for DOING.   

As spiritual beings we manage the potential for doing.   

As physical beings we manage the physical doing.  

Neglecting our spirituality results in spiritual/physical, or more correctly energy/activity balances. 

Being grounded is beneficial for our bodies and minds and helps us to do our work. 

 

Young means fresh, or having existed for a short time.  

 

By eternity's clock we ARE but a spark of vital energy flashing from the spirit world into the physical world to do work.  

 

Seek your purpose and LIVE (function) in your Young Age – which remains as long as you continue to function and learn new things! 

SOURCES:

Cost of Neglecting Your Spirituality

Benefits of Being “Well Grounded”

Muscle: The Organ that Powers Vitality