Golden Rule Archives - H e a l t h T h o u g h t s

Ready to Give

September 25, 2015 By christianscienceminnesota 1 Comment

My Arizona colleague, Rich Evans, explains the spiritual underpinnings of giving unselfishly. From personal experience, he describes how practicing the Golden Rule can be an effective response to the current refugee crisis. Here’s Rich…

Budapest. Munich. Bodrum. These beautiful, historic places have become symbols of unanswered global questions about our moral obligations to mankind.

This question is just as important here in the Southwestern US, as anywhere.

Seeing reports of masses of refugees fending for themselves at Keleti railway station in Hungary, having just escaped the chaos of warfare, begs many questions and demands serious thought.

“There, but for the grace of God, go I”, could be a natural response. But what is the grace of God? To me, it’s the inspired effect on human behavior of understanding God’s universal love. Such boundless grace must hold answers for each individual, oppressed or free, in conflict or at peace, in Syria or Arizona.

We could, of course, simply view these challenges as someone else’s problem. But we have a track record of doing better than that….

Please click here to read the rest in its original context…

Empathy: crucial for effective healthcare

May 28, 2015 By christianscienceminnesota Leave a Comment

© GLOW IMAGES (model used for illustrative purposes only)

Can the caring at the heart of healthcare sometimes seem to get lost?

Many think it does, as classic family physicians have been increasingly replaced by time-constrained, clinical specialists.

Among doctors, such caring used to be called a “good bedside manner”. And after more than a generation of specialized training focused on medical knowledge and technical acumen, the value of empathy is being re-discovered and taught as an essential skill.

It improves the experience of both patients and doctors when medical professionals express clinical empathy, according to the Kaiser Health news service. The patient feels understood and cared about, has a better outcome and is more satisfied. The doctor in turn gets a better rating, faces less risk of malpractice suits and experiences decreased burnout. The whole system is benefited. (See “Efforts to Instill Empathy Among Doctors are Paying Dividends.”)

I too have learned how powerful empathy can be, in my journey as a practitioner of Christian Science healing. But I view it from a slightly different angle. To me, empathy for patients is not just a technique to show you understand another person’s emotions and share their feelings. Rather, it’s at the core of our desire to help one another. As children of a loving Creator, the capacity to care for each other is innate in all of us.

Damage Control

November 5, 2012 By christianscienceminnesota Leave a Comment

Here’s what my colleague, Rich Evans in Arizona posted a week ago while what’s being called Super Storm Sandy was still raging. Despite all that’s transpired and been said since, this story has lost none of it poignancy…

At this moment, many people are concerned about the well-being of the people on the East Coast of the United States and the impact of Hurricane Sandy. The flooding is severe and the damage extensive. The physical power of floods is daunting.

As a college student, I spent time in Italy and happened to be in Florence during the flood of November 1966, when the Arno River overflowed and covered the streets nearest the river in thirty feet of water. We had been staying in a hotel on the corner where the Ponte Vecchio crosses the Arno. About 5am calls came to our rooms to ask that we assemble in a lobby on the second floor of the hotel. We were told to evacuate. Arrangements had been made at a small hotel deeper and somewhat higher in the city, about ten blocks away. When we walked out of the hotel after that meeting the water was up to our calves.

Can forgiving and being forgiven improve your health?

April 26, 2012 By christianscienceminnesota Leave a Comment

During the last decade plus, there has been a growing number of studies showing the beneficial effects of forgiveness on the body. As far back as 2004, a Harvard Medical School publication) was able to sum up:

“Reduced stress. Researchers found that mentally nursing a grudge puts your body through the same strains as a major stressful event: Muscles tense, blood pressure rises, and sweating increases. Better heart health. One study found a link between forgiving someone for a betrayal and improvements in blood pressure and heart rate, and a decreased workload for the heart…Reduced pain. A small study on people with chronic back pain found that those who practiced meditation focusing on converting anger to compassion felt less pain and anxiety than those who received regular care.” (Also see 11/23/11 report by the Mayo Clinic staff)