Transitions and Their Impact on HW2

Today's posting is a reflection from my own spiritual world view - Methodism. This time of year, about 25% of Methodist pastors and their family's will move to a new church. Each Annual Conference will be meeting over the next couple of weeks to enact these changes, and then the ministers and their congregations will part ways, seldom to interact again.

This got me thinking about our own life transitions and their impact on our health, wellness and wholeness (HW2). A while back I posted about the concept of resilience and its impact on our health. Resilience, that ability to "bounce back" from an insult or incident, is a key player in maintaining our health and our healthy behavior(s). There have been many studies done, and gauges of stress published, that show how difficult transitions can be on the human psyche.

How have you done with your life transitions? How has it imapacted your ability to function in your activities of daily life? Transitions might be loss of a job, moving to a new job, leaving home for school or the military, divorce, death of a close friend, etc. All of these transitions affect not only us, but all of our social network. Many times we can keep in touch with those we leave behind, but often the relationships suffer from distance and lack of shared experiences. Often in transition, we lose a key support for our lives.

How does life transition affect our HW2? There is a spiritual component in all of life's events, both positive and negative. Life transitions will affect our ability to be part of a spiritual or faith community. Re-connecting with a group of people who share a philosophy/theology is never easy. Though God never changes, human perceptions of God and worship of God change drammatically from place to place. This change can be very uncomfortable and destabilizing. Certainly we can keep up our personal devotional lives, but a lack of corporate interaction often leads to self absorption and a loss of connection. All of these things can lead to dis-ease and decresed HW2 - and extend the pain of transition.

A solution is to make connecting to a faith or spiritual community a priority. Just like connecting the phone and utilities, forwarding mail, setting up new computer access, etc., finding a new community to worship in will make the transition easier and support you while you grieve. Don't neglect this important aspect of your HW2 - transitions are hard enough, don't do them alone.

Until next time, peace!
Dan