This is a machine transcription and is subject to error. Apologizes in advance. 

hi my name is Selena Chavarria-Lemus and I'm an intern for the health and wellness Center this semester.
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I'm here is Britney Lorgeree that new campus minister for community engagement
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at Stonehill college. and today we were discussing spiritual health. What is
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spirituality and what does it mean to be spiritual. so in order
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to talk about spirituality. we begin with religion. so religion is
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this organized system of beliefs practices values ideology
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rules shared by a group of people. um kind of more systemic and
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official whereas spirituality is really individualized
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into your personal way that you find meaning purpose.
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comfort hope inner peace and they don't necessarily have to
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go hand in hand take and I think that the lens to each other really well.
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so they're not necessarily connected I know plenty of spiritual people who are not religious and I know
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lots of people who practice the religion don't really have that independent sense of spirituality
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I think many people find spirituality through religion and others discover a religion that speaks
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to their spiritual needs. so what does spirituality look like across cultures.
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good question. I actually went to a conference recently and there was a diagram
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that they displayed up on the board geographically of what populations
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find spirituality and religion more important in their lives
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and there is some geographic connections between religion
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so in the Middle East Islam or in India Hinduism
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or in japan Shintoism, but I do think that that is married and spirituality
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as well because spirituality and religion are often connected so people experience
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their spirituality different based on those cultural religions in areas
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what are some steps people can take to become more spiritual. I think this begins
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with reflection and exploration really identifying
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thinking about what brings you joy it brings you peace will help you feel connected to other people
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I think some people find that in music and art in nature
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and so some steps that I think people can take exploring a few things prayer
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meditation or yoga reading inspirational books or singing
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reflective songs simply having a quiet time seem to sit in stillness
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mindfulness is really beautiful and I think weneglect that a lot in this day and age
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going on nature walks sometimes attending religious services and exploring how spirituality
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is kinda weekend way and I'll plug my own program. volunteering
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getting involved in community service I think is a way that people find their spirituality.
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what makes it easier or harder to walk this path. I think there's definitely
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lot a of distance and disconnect for folks being spiritual.
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if it doesn't connect with their religion with the faith that they were
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raised with. so for example. I'm catholic. I practice
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that religion but my faith my spirituality is more important
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to me than the flaws I see in that religion but I think for some people that draws them
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away from their spirituality if they have a divide between their religion
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and I think I can be family pressure too. so that that can sometimes be a difficult part to
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Finding spirituality what are some spiritual positive impact on heath both
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physically and mentally and can spiritual belief enhance happiness. excellent question
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so scientific studies are tough. it's hard to prove that there's a correlation
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between the things or causation by these things especially when trying
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to discover if spirituality is put because when it might be linked
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to religious customs or practices for example certain religions
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that impact diet or have views on substance use or impact
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sexual activity and with expected any of the physical
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consequences of engaging in behavior might be linked to that more so then
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spirituality itself. but there there is this kind of understanding that mind
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body and spirit are connected and that your beliefs can impact your well-being.
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so physically psychologically and and socially
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I think that that those are all parts of well-being in addition to spiritual well-being
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and there have been some things that say you know simply practicing religion or or
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having a spirit simply practicing a religion or
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engaging in a spiritual life can help cope with illness with suffering with death
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that can positively impact your ability to handle stress
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and decrease depression can decrease of fear of death and can lead to greater
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feelings of well being. how can you be spiritual during the holidays and
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how can the component of spirituality be helpful during the holiday season. I think with
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thanksgiving and in the Christian position.
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the season and advent coming up and and Christmas. there's a sense of gratitude
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and I think cultivating that sense of gratitude can be really spiritual. recognizing
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the blessings or the gifts that we have and realizing
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that there are those who are not as fortunate, I think a really spiritual experience
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engaging with your community this is really a time of being with friends and family
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and then also even though it's not you know necessarily time for nature walks as it gets colder.
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I still find that there's beauty in nature in this season as well. what are some commonly
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celebrated religious holidays during this time of year so from the Christian lens.
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we know that Christmas happens December 25th every year but it's actually
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a season of adventure leading up to that so that's really beautiful for our
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Jewish folks we've got Hanukkah an eight day celebration and then for
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pagan and Wiccan folks. Yule is the winter solstice. so all
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these things happening. celebrating the season of winter so i am always
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trying to be mindful of language I think we automatically assume just because Christmas is
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such a kind of stereotypical and secular
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celebration even if it's not religious you know Santa Claus and snowman candy canes and all the stuff
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that we we forget sometimes it not everyone is celebrating Christmas even in the secular sense not even
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just the Christian sense to be mindful of language English and people you know to enjoy the season or
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you know happy holidays and then allowing them to articulate what what season they're celebrating
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okay tell me a little bit about what campus ministry is and services for students
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sure so there's kind of three buckets. there's a liturgy
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the spiritual formation and there is service the liturgy those are the masses
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that we have on the weekends and evenings in the residence halls. you know if I have them every afternoon
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in the chapel of Mary and then there's the chapel choir we also have adoration
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and confession and rosaries throughout the week so there's a lot of those types of things going on
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spiritual formation we have an interface women's group and a men's spirituality group and
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we also have several retreats the encounters retreat recently happens.
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there's an interface women's retreat in the spring those types of things to engage in and kind of reflect
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on your your spiritual development and then service that's my program with the community engagement
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program. serving in the area. my thoughts of our partners and the HOPE program. so
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the service immersion experience if I'm not catholic.
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need transportation getting to my place of worship locally how can campus ministry help.
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so we have campus ministry vans. so if you go and get van certified
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up then student engagement. it's really quick test and you just bring your license.
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then you can be, that's getting them certified and then you come to us once your're van certified
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and we just have you sign a campus ministry of van agreement form and then you're able to come and
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reserve one of those vans to get your place of worship or to go serve the community or even
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for other reasons for not interfering with students using it to get places of worship and to serve
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so those vans are available for students to use and we highly recommend bringing a friend
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and we've got a list on the campus ministry page of local places of worship in the area
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for different practicing religions. That's awesome so is there anything
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else you would like to tell us about campus ministry and also is there anything else you like to talk about on the topic
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of spiritual health I guess the main thing is like to plug is right now. our giving
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tree will be up for the season and we also have a stress relief week during
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finals So feel free to swing by the chapel and it's a great group of people and we are always
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willing to try to meet those students needs. thank you so much
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for talking me to and I hope you have a great afternoon. you too. thank you. Thanks
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This is a machine transcription and is subject to error. Apologizes in advance.