I know a guy who claims to have no God. He is a proud atheist. He will also tell you how important Service is for his own health and clarity. He routinely recommends “service to others” as a path to good mental health and I could not agree more.
Walking with a Higher Power, something that is beyond my own skin, might be one of the most important things I can do for health.
Most importantly, this practice protects me from trying to BE that power myself.
Because when I try to manage, fix, manipulate, direct, enforce, punish, reward, or worry into submission the world around me, I fall prey to anxiety (aka fear) and depression, self-pity, selfish behavior, anger, slightly more than white-lies, and using others as actors in my direction of my play. It’s exhausting. It’s exhausting for me and wearing for those around me. It’s the opposite of good health, true social connection, or stress reduction, and leads to sleepless nights, Oreo eating, and so much hand-wringing that I become unable to move my body with joy.
When it was first suggested to find a Higher Power, something greater than myself to look toward for direction, I chose the Power of Good. The Power of Good is invisible like the wind, but you can see the effect of both things in people’s lives. “Goodness” was a Power outside of my own skin that I could believe in and reliably trust. I learned that religious people call this Faith.
I first started asking this Higher Power for direction at the beginning of my day, and then in the evening I began reviewing my actions through its lens. Before long I started to converse with it anytime I was unable to figure something out, or fix something myself. I learned that religious people call this Prayer.
Today I belong to church as one part of my practice, but my Higher Power bursts out in unexpected places and at unexpected times. It cannot seem to be controlled in a way that is most akin to when you get the giggles inappropriately and cannot stop. I learned that religious people call this Grace.
I intuitively know I am seeing only a small part of something too big for me to get my human arms and mind around. For me, it seems to have no definite body or pronoun, exudes wisdom and loving perspective, and seems to not have an ounce of fear, anger, or self-righteous judgement; things that can cover me like a heavy wet blanket from which I cannot escape. I learned that religious people call this Sin.
For me, even with my human limits, I can rest in this Higher Power. I can trust it to lead me. My atheist friend calls his power “Service” and I call mine by many names including: Goodness, Love, Joy, Grace, Patience, Kindness, Beauty, or for short, just “God”.
I am coming up on 11 years of finding a Higher Power and I can tell you that turning toward this Power, talking to it, listening back, letting it guide me in all situations, has been the best life change that I EVER made for my health. I learned that religious people call this “Finding God.”
And as my friends in Kenya like to say, “God is Good. All the Time.”
