Spiritual Wellness

The MoneyWalker will occasionally tweak the blog’s format. Starting today, March 9, 2009 each entry will begin with the MoneyWalker’s current weight and note the amount and denomination of the found money.

Weight 175.4; money found, $1.10 (85 pennies, 1 nickel, & 2 dimes). After a year of money walking, this was a first; the one dollar threshold was broken without a quarter in the tally. My so called weight set-point is any amount between 175 and 180. Mrs. MoneyWalker worries when I drop below 175 (I look poorly) and I fret when the weight jumps above 180 (I look chunky).

Today’s theme is spiritual wellness and contemplation if a penny possesses a soul. The MoneyWalker has a firm conviction in the power of the scientific method, but he also believes in the importance of spirituality. The MoneyWalker will not allow politics or religion to be a defining aspect of this blog, but incidental references will be allowed.

Some textbooks and scholarly journals now include aspects of spirituality into their discussion of wellness. The Medical Wellness Center of the University of Miami depicts wellness with eight themes: Physical, social, spiritual, intellectual, environmental, emotional, cultural, and vocational. The Wellness Center defines the spiritual component thusly: “Spiritual Wellness is the quest for meaning, value, and purpose resulting in hope, joy, courage and gratitude.” Further, “It encourages one to develop a personal faith and to seek God in all things. It is the discovery and incorporation of a personal set of values and beliefs that defines the person, places the individual in relation to the larger community, and engages a faith that promotes justice.”

But what God? Whose God? For members of Canada’s “First Nations” post-secondary students, God may be a Catholic God or an Ancestral God, or both. In her thesis, Angelina Weenie reported that first nation students with a reported spiritual awareness and a reported spiritual growth were “resilient individuals.” She found that spirituality has been highly predictive of positive life adaptation with this population.

But does a penny have a soul? Sorry about this cliff hanger but the MoneyWalker must ask you to wait until tomorrow’s blog for the answer. Your attention and my writing time are past. In the mean time, ask yourself, "Is spirituality an aspect of my wellness agenda?"

MoneyWalker