Thought for the Week

IT WAS so different at the Golden Jubilee Hospital.

When entering hospitals, we are usually greeted by various signs with directions to all the many departments.

Whether it is cardiology, radiology, urology, psychiatry, physiotherapy, oncology and all the many others, we are greeted by directions for all these departments and I must admit they make me feel uneasy if I have to attend one of these.

However at the Golden Jubilee, the first sign to greet us is ‘Spiritual well-being’.

The welcome sign was in many different languages and there was a feeling the welcome was real.

It was a quiet room with gentle colours and comfortable chairs. A table in the middle held a large plate of fir cones, stones and shells. Pictures on the walls depicted scenes of nature and there was a wonderful feeling of peace.

There was a small prayer tree with hand-written prayers on pieces of paper in the shapes of leaves placed on its branches.

I thought again about ‘spiritual well-being’ and how important it is in our lives.

By this I don’t necessarily mean Christian well-being.

This room was for everyone. We are all spiritual beings and many of us connect with what we believe to be a higher power, which some of us think of as God.

But for us all there is more to us than our physical being, more than flesh and blood.

There is something beyond the physical that we all share, whatever our beliefs.

I believe there is a part of us that can find peace even in the midst of physical pain and this is our ‘spiritual well-being’.

It is a comforting starting point.