How are you entering the new year? Perhaps you have a positive attitude and see a bright future ahead of you. Full of hope, with opportunities, possibilities, and blessings. An optimistic demeanor helps to overcome difficulties. Did you know that the Bible also speaks of the positive effects of optimism?
Proverbs
Solomon speaks of it this way: “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”Proverbs 17:22. In Dutch it reads ‘a merry heart promotes healing’. The wise king links a cheerful, optimistic character to better recovery from illness and contrasts it with a pessimistic, depressive attitude. The influence of mood on many facets of health has been scientifically researched. This shows that this Bible text is correct. A positive attitude to life has a beneficial effect on the entire well-being of a person: physical, mental, social and spiritual.
Bones, heart and more
A study was conducted on young people who underwent orthopedic surgery. This showed, among other things, that more anxiety and mental problems before surgery were associated with a slower recovery and more pain after surgery.
Not only the emotional heart, but also the beating heart in your chest benefits from a dose of cheerfulness. People who are usually happy, enthusiastic, and content are less likely to develop heart disease than those who are usually not. A study from Arnhem, The Netherlands among people aged 65 and over shows that optimism significantly reduced the risk of death during the nine years of the study. Prevention of death from cardiovascular disease accounted for much of the effect.
Optimism does even more for physical health. Among other things, it has a beneficial effect on the immune system and longevity. Compared to pessimists, optimists more often have a healthy lifestyle, which may explain part of the effect.
Resilience
The mental effects of a sunny attitude also contribute significantly to health. Everyone faces difficult circumstances. Optimism is important in dealing with setbacks. This trait makes you more resilient. It ensures less stress and a faster recovery from disappointments. Positives are also more likely to contribute to a solution when faced with difficulties.
Around us
Not only Proverbs 17 speaks of a merry heart. We also read two chapters before that. “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.” Proverbs 15:13. This text focuses more on the psychosocial aspect of happiness. How we are and how we respond to others has an impact on those around us.
“It is God's will that we should be cheerful. He would have us open our hearts to the sunbeams of heaven; He would have our spirits mellowed by His love and goodness, apparent in our own lives and in the things of nature surrounding us. Those who are brought in contact with us are affected for good or evil by our words and actions. We are unconsciously diffusing the fragrance of our character upon the moral atmosphere surrounding us or we are poisoning that atmosphere by thoughts, words, and deeds which have a deleterious influence.” 29. HP 274.5
Source of joy
If God wants us to be cheerful, what does He say about joy? How, then, according to His Word, can we get true joy? “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Psalm 16:11. With God at my right hand, "my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope." Psalm 16:9.
If you do not yet know that full joy, you may ask the Lord for it. “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16:24.
It is my wish and prayer for you that you may experience the love of Jesus in your heart and life. May you have that joy, that optimism that also contributes to your health.
“The love which Christ diffuses through the whole being is a vitalizing power. … It implants in the soul, joy that nothing earthly can destroy,—joy in the Holy Spirit,—health-giving, life-giving joy.” MH 115.3.
Comments