Spiritual Wellbeing Blog

Welcome to Spiritual Wellbeing Month – February 2019.

I love walking around WFU campus. I feel connected to and by the people on campus, as well as by the miracles of nature. I feel the spirituality around us and am lifted by it.  

Generally, when people ask what we do in the Office of the Chaplain, I respond that we minister to the religious and spiritual needs of the entire community.  I cannot tell you how many people exclaim, “I am spiritual but not religious” and then apologize.

I would like for you to stop apologizing. Being “spiritual” is a wonderful place to be.

Did you know that the spiritual quest is a lifelong pursuit?!?  It is within that pursuit that one can aim for and find spiritual wellbeing, which is much more of a process than of a destination.

We find that spirituality is a universal instinct toward connection with others and discovery of our place in the larger web of life.  

Often, spirituality emerges full bloom during the transition from youth to adulthood.  For most students, the college years are a time of questioning and spiritual searching.  This searching and questioning manifests on two particular dimensions of spirituality:

• asking BIG questions about meaning and purpose
• and finding a spiritual home

The staff of the Office of the Chaplain are here to help facilitate both.

If you are looking for a spiritual home, go the Chaplain’s Website https://chaplain.wfu.edu/ and find your community. You might connect with more than one community, and it may or may not be the one that you were raised in. Exploring your spirituality does not mean you are rejecting your upbringing -it just means you are looking to explore and expand your options for connections and your place within it.

Right now, go to the “Our Team” tab on top and check out the Chaplains and Campus Ministers. You will see our photos and you can read our bios. Contact those Chaplains or Ministers that you feel a connection with, maybe through a common hobby or food. If you are looking for a spiritual home, you will find that most of our ministries have fellowship gatherings and meals that you can attend for free.  Check out these communities, as well as their prayer services. And remember that a spiritual home does not need to be an organized group. It can mean something as simple and easy as inviting a few friends to take a walk with you, or sitting quietly, in nature.

If you are asking big questions about meaning and purpose, go through the same process of looking at our faces and then either make an appointment or by drop (Reynolda Hall Suite 8 or Benson University Center Rooms 317- 321) to chat with one of us. We are here for you.

Spiritual wellbeing means the ability to experience and integrate meaning and purpose in life through connectedness with self and others via art, music, literature, nature, and/ or a greater power, etc.

Which takes me back to my walks around campus. My spirituality also resides in my connectedness to you, to nature, to poetry, to a higher power, to good deeds, and to …. a myriad of other things.  Invite us to walk with you as we invite you to walk with us on our spiritual wellness journeys – together.

Blessings,

Gail H. Bretan, PhD.