We are featuring a series of weekly entries that focus on spiritual resources for patients, thanks to our Coordinator for Presbyterian ministry, Steve Spidell.

1. Illness is as much a matter of the spirit and the mind as it is of the body... and so should its treatment. The traditional view of western medicine - focusing on the disease and body alone - is evolving into an awareness of a holistic view that includes body, mind, spirit, community, and culture in the healing process. Studies are beginning to demonstrate the health effects of such interactions and the potential of spiritual resources for the healing journey.

2. Holistic models of human experience demonstrate the many layers and relationships in which we exist. At one moment in time, a person is effected by and effects physical/chemical/genetic/biological factors personal and family history, family and personal relationships psychological, mental, and emotional development and issues
cultural, social, economic, and ethnic contexts spiritual beliefs, practices, and faith community involvement Though only one of two of these issues may surface at any given instant to gain attention, they are all in play all of the time.

3. Therefore, many challenges confront the person who is ill and their caregiver as well.

• Lack of meaning and purpose
• Hopelessness
• Despair
• Not being remembered
• Guilt/Shame
• Anger at God/Others
• Abandonment by God/Others
• Feeling out of control
• Spiritual suffering
• Trust
• Reconciliation
• Grief-Loss

4. A deeper, more expansive view of healing is needed. As Joseph Rotella puts it, "Healing is much more than physical comfort or disease remission. It is the restoration of a person's sense of balance, wholeness, meaning, and positive relationships with self, others, God and the world."

5. The spiritual needs of patients (and care-givers) are multiple. Knowing what we need can point us in the right direction for the resources that will see us through our journey.
These needs include:

• Love, belonging, and respect. Everyone needs the experience of being unconditionally loved and accepted for who they are. In addition, respect for a patient's right of determination is absolutely vital in the choices for medication care.
• Meaning and purpose. People do not do well in a vacuum; we need to make meaning out what we are going through and discover what the purpose might be..
• Connection to the Sacred. An awareness and connection to a power greater than ourselves is often crucial in coping with serious illness.
• Positive mental attitudes. Being optimistic, grateful, and the simple pleasure of being alive make a difference in how we accept or reject treatment options and outcomes.
• Ethical principle and moral values. Many choices and options may present themselves during treatment, as well whether to accept treatment or to decline it. The guiding principles of a person's life, knowing what you believe and what matters most in life become critically important.
• Appreciation of beauty. Beauty wherever it is experienced, in art, nature, and in music, etc. provides essential nutrition for the soul and the spirit.
• Acceptance of one's mortality. If there is time, coming to terms with one's dying, rather than denying it, makes for a more peaceful, even hopeful end to one's life.
• Control. Persons need to have as much control as they can over their treatment and coping with it. Passivity hinders healing responses. .
• Comfort. Being ill is very draining and demanding. The comfort and reassurance of friends, family, and faith helps sustain the person in their suffering.

6. Opening to the Transcendent
Ultimately the source of all healing, physically and spiritually, lies in the resources of the Transcendent Power of Being Itself. "An individual's religious and spiritual beliefs can provide a strong mechanism to empower the individual and to enhance his/her coping. Those whose belief systems extend beyond themselves to the Transcendent utilize another resource to draw from when coping with illness. The majority of those who were successful with their coping efforts in the face of stress claimed that either their spiritual or religious beliefs strengthened them in the process." Gall/Grant

7. A variety of spiritual and/or religious perspectives and practices have been found to be helpful in healing. These resources can be avenues for The Transcendent to be experienced in a person's life and for transformation to take place. The foundational resources are faith, hope, and love.