After a great deal of thought several years ago, I decided to call myself a Life-Work Coach instead of the conventional Work-Life Coach. My reason may or may not be obvious to the reader. I consider life more important than work, and work as only a means to achieve the life you desire.
I realize that in this particular blog I may be stepping out into an area considered very sensitive in our society - Religion. I have been stimulated to write this piece, inspired by a recent book by Tanya Marie Luhrmann, a professor of anthropology (who also has training in psychology) at Stanford and the author of "When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship With God."
Although Luhrmann's observations and study focuses on Christian Evangelical Churches, I would venture to say that the benefits can be extrapolated to all people who attend places of worship regularly every week. What is striking is the discovery that religiosity boosts the human immune system, decreases blood pressure, and adds as much as three years to a person's life. In addition, stress was significantly decreased, and the quality of a person's relationships while interacting with other people was significantly increased.
Social support obviously has a part to play in it. At the weekly meeting of small groups, the participants talked about their lives, encouraged each other in concrete ways, and also studied their sacred books. It appears that this interaction contributed directly and indirectly to better physical and mental health. Those attending religious services regularly drank less, smoked less, used fewer recreational drugs and were less sexually promiscuous than others. They also seemed to have a stronger moral and ethical compass.
We would be very interested in your comments.
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