Easter is currently 2 Sunday’s away. While for some, Easter is the opportunity to eat as many yellow and pink marshmallow bunnies as you can, it also is the Super Bowl of the Christian faith. You can still eat the bunnies, shame-free and receive the gains in your mental health from attending a church service. Gains you can experience can come in the form of relationships, distraction from yourself and practicing alternate ways of considering your situation.
Your mental health can benefit from Easter Sunday because you can talk to people you normally wouldn’t (and who may care about you and your situation)! For some, this is a weekly highlight where they can talk to as many people as they can, while for others even saying hello to someone you don’t know can be incredibly intimidating. Both you talking to others and other’s hearing your story will yield gains in your mental health because you are opening yourself up and allowing others into your story (much like the process of counseling). While not everyone is trained to listen like your counselor, you can experience some friendship that can be incredibly life-giving.
I am not proposing that Church is the solution to every mental health dilemma. What I am proposing is that you may experience more gains than losses in your mental health by attending a church community this Easter Sunday and possibly Sunday’s thereafter
Church also facilitates an atmosphere where you are focusing on yourself and your relationship with your Higher power. By focusing on yourself and your relationship, you are considering a higher meaning or more open to a purpose to your experience. This alternate view of you and your problem can yield hope as you work on considering your desired outcomes.
Finally, church can be a distraction from your problem. For some people, setting up for the Sunday morning festivities can be a way for them to give back or feel like they have a role to play in other’s spiritual encounter. Your gratification of providing for others can give you a sense of purpose moving forward to see your problem(s) as less consuming in your life as you move past its grips by helping others. As a postscript to this point, gratitude can thwart depression and anxiety for some, according to the University of California Berkeley.
Your mental health is influenced by many things, experiences and people and I am not proposing that Church is the solution to every mental health dilemma. What I am proposing is that you may experience more gains than losses in your mental health by attending a church community this Easter Sunday and possibly Sunday’s thereafter. The good news is that the Church’s services and help are free, so you have nothing to lose by trying it out this next week!
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