MENTAL HEALTH Part 2

Good Mental Health is vitally important now more than ever. Because there are so many more things, vying for space in our mind and life; world news, social media, economic anxieties, and the “IF’s” of L-IF-E.

As I previously shared, Mental Health refers to one’s psychological state and its influence on the emotional and physical self. MENTAL HEALTH — Benton T. Thompson III

In short, Mental Health is evaluated by how thoughts impact life.

However, everyone knows that we are more than just a big ole brain with millions of notions. There is more to us than just our thoughts.

Our Mental Health is also interconnected to our Emotional, Physical and Spiritual Health. That is the whole of who we are.

We must learn to address our whole-self health, and it begins at our core.

As an example, let’s look at it from the perspective of building a house.

What is the first thing to focus on when you are ready to build a home? The location is known, the blueprint/design is complete, the contractor has been selected, and the resources are in place.

So, where do you start building? The correct answer is the foundation.

As we are that house, our foundation is our Spirit.

The Bible puts it this way in 1 Corithians 2, only a person’s Spirit, knows their thoughts and motives.

It goes on to say, the only one that knows the Spirit of a person, is the Spirit of God, who created them both. Not AI, but I AM!

So, to be well, whole, and complete, we must foundationally begin with our Spirit, which means we must foundationally begin with God.

A recent report from, McLeans Mental Hospital, who is consistently ranked Best Hospital by U.S. News & World Report, said Spirituality can benefit both the mind and the body. They went on to say that Spirituality helps address issues like poor self-esteem, low confidence, lack of self-control, fear of tasks, and challenges. Therefore, they incorporate Spirituality into their mental health treatment plans.

But they didn’t just stop there, they also said Spirituality and Religion are not the same thing. Many religious practices have been linked to mental illnesses. Religion has ceremonies, rituals and rules that invoke severe consequences on the psyche when broken. Whereas Spirituality helps one to better interpret life. McLeans treats patients of all ages for anxiety, addictions, Bipolar, Personality disorders, depression, eating disorders, OCD, Schizophrenia and many other mental illnesses.

That’s a perspective from Psychology, but what about Theology, how does it view Spirituality improving our Mental, Physical, and Emotional self.

Psalm 34 reminds us that God is present for those who have a broken heart which is due to a crushed Spirit.

Philippians 4, simply states that if we pray, we will not be anxious.

Matthew 11 addresses depression with an intimate relationship with Jesus. Remember, his depression included crying “Bloody Tears”

Both Science and God agree that our Spirit plays a vital role in our wholeness, happiness, and success in life.

I belief that a person’s SQ is of a greater benefit than their IQ or EQ.

IQ, Intellectual Quotient is Thought based and EQ, Emotional Quotient is Feelings based, but SQ, Spiritual Quotient is GOD’s WORD based!

SQ, reflects one’s Spiritual Intelligence, which is the ability to perceive, understand, and apply, Spiritual information to help improve the quality of their life and those around you.

Do you have any idea what your SQ - Spiritual Quotient score is?

Here is a matrix that I came up with to me evaluate myself:

1.    Do I pray to God…when I’m not in trouble?

2.    Do I read more from the Bible…than I do from social media?

3.    Do I get alone and quiet to clear my mind to meditate on God… without falling asleep or thinking about my personal stuff?

4.    Do I ignore that nudge, to help, assist, call, or speak to someone?

5.    Do I spend more time thinking about ways to help someone, rather than I do about ways someone has hurt me?

The ranking that I use is 2’s, for generally don’t, and 4’s, for generally do. My goal is not to score, but to get to know myself & God better.

Here are 5 ways to improve SQ - Spiritual Quotient and increase your Spiritual Intelligence and thus improve your Spiritual Health:

1.    Practice quietness. You don’t always have to speak. Listen!

2.    Perform regular self-examinations. Check yourself.

3.    Cut back on media formats that are not Spiritually edifying

4.    Increase media formats that are Spiritually edifying

5.    Talk to God about everything. Good, bad, and indifferent.

Tapping into something greater than yourself will raise your SQ. None of these will be easy, because they are not Natural, they are Spiritual.

We must learn to focus on the 4 S’ of SQ.

1. Spirit 2. Surroundings 3. Service to others 4. Sacrifice for God/good.

Gods word says that a person who does not acknowledge Spiritual things but thinks they are foolish, cannot understand God or life. Spiritual Truths come only from The Spirit.

The Bible tells of the plan that God has for us, “it is written” appears in more than 80 places, but we must read it to know it.

Let’s build up our SQ so that we can see beyond our experiences, and gain insight from some place other than just hindsight.  

This is a Thompson Truth