Body, soul, spirit and what compassion has to do with faith

Wow! I'm currently reading an English book „What your body knows about God“ , which explains the connections between the body and spirituality. What inspires me is that religious feelings and empathy with people are active in the same region of the brain. This means that prayer strengthens empathy and vice versa. There have been experiments in which people were asked to communicate with God from the heart for 12 minutes a day - in other words, not just to pray „automatic prayers“: „Lord, do this, Lord do that“.

After 8 weeks, the relevant area of the brain had grown so much that the difference could be seen on an MRI scan. And in further experiments, the prayer group proved to be far more generous and compassionate than the comparison group, which had undergone purely cognitive brain training to increase memory performance.

What that means in practice: 

• If you have a hard heart and little empathy for other people, you could soften it by talking to God.
• Those who are currently experiencing a crisis of faith could regain more trust in God by serving others (studies show that nothing - neither Bible reading nor church services etc. - strengthens faith as much as serving other people).
• Anyone suffering from low moods or even depression could find relief by serving others. Serving releases oxytocin, the feel-good hormone that lifts the mood. Of course, not so much that it causes stress, because stress blocks the good feelings again.
• Serving others also strengthens the area of the brain that perceives the beauty of the world - which in turn can have a positive effect on faith.
• In addition to cuddling and listening, parents can assign household tasks to their children. All three factors strengthen the child's ability to empathise and their social skills.

Immediately after reading this, I washed a round of dishes to strengthen my faith :-) and will now pray a little to promote my empathy... and also because talking to God is simply good in and of itself.

Book tip:
For all those who would like to practise this anew or more deeply:

Love people. Understanding and practising charity.
For four weeks, a daily impulse to practise an attitude that is beneficial for both sides.