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    Let's Make Love...Through an Understanding of Spirituality
    Let's Make Love...Through an Understanding of Spirituality
    Let's Make Love...Through an Understanding of Spirituality
    Ebook100 pages1 hour

    Let's Make Love...Through an Understanding of Spirituality

    By James R. Bell, M.D.

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    About this ebook

    I am a retired family physician, having practiced for more than 50 years. It has been my privilege to coach many patients through much turmoil. Some years ago I "stumbled" on a literary work that would become a very deep part of the relationships with many patients. That work was "Conversations with God," by Neale Donald Walsch. In my work of counseling patients with depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress, obsessive-compulsive disorders, family discord, and other similar disorders, the one central common denominator is that virtually all are "down on themselves." I authored a book with this same title in 2004. I was told by many that it was very helpful in elevating their feelings of self worth. Much of the book's contents are my interpretations of the principles shared by Walsch. This ebook is a slightly revised version of my 2004 work, which I choose to offer at no charge for any who might find it useful.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJames R. Bell, M.D.
    Release dateJun 21, 2017
    ISBN9781370912353
    Let's Make Love...Through an Understanding of Spirituality
    Author

    James R. Bell, M.D.

    Dr. Jim Bell graduated from the State University of Iowa Medical School in 1960. After one year of rotating internship in Ogden, Utah at St. Benedict’s Hospital, and two years in the US Navy at San Diego as General Medical Officer, he began General and Family Medical Practice in Des Moines, Iowa. After more than 40 years in active clinical practice, Dr. Bell limited his practice to "counseling" patients. Dr. Bell has been a member of the American Medical Association, Iowa Medical Society, Polk County Medical Society, American Academy of Family Practice, Iowa Academy of Family Practice, American Holistic Medical Association and Flying Physicians Association of America. He is a Diplomat of the American Board of Family Practice and a Diplomat of the American Board of Holistic Medicine. Dr. Bell States, “I have a sincere desire to share some of my personal experiences and encourage future physicians, residents, and virtually all health care providers in the use of Spirituality in their practices. I do NOT approach this from any specific religion. The Spirituality to which I refer is a closeness of each of us to a Supreme Creator if, indeed, one believes in a Creator. It has been my experience that patients are very open to this concept; indeed, they welcome it with open arms.”

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      Book preview

      Let's Make Love...Through an Understanding of Spirituality - James R. Bell, M.D.

      INTRODUCTION

      This work has arisen as a result of so many of my patients being open to consciously trying and incorporating Spirituality in their lives. I have been amazed by the number of people who have expressed that they were spiritually hungry, yet feel they were not being fed. It is not meant to cast any dispersion on the many who feel fulfilled by their religious belief systems. Indeed, the vast majority may well feel spiritually fulfilled by their conventional religious beliefs. Yet even many of them have remarked that considering these concepts has been beneficial, providing a fresh insight into their relationship with a higher power.

      These writings contain my thoughts and interpretations of the subjects. They are not meant to dictate or even attempt to convince how anyone else should think or believe, and they might or might not influence the reader’s thoughts. I simply want to share. I offer them from the heart and wish to offend no one. They are not, to me, to be viewed as sources of argumentative disagreement.

      I use the terms God, Creator, She, or He to denote God and I consider all to be interchangeable.

      The essays contain some repetition of concepts. This is due to overlap of those concepts among the subjects and also my desire to emphasize what I regard as important points.

      The format I have chosen employs two parts: The first, Spirituality 101, describes Spirituality as I explain it to my clients and includes examples of how I apply Spirituality in diagnosing and treating. The second comprises individual essays, some of which amplify subjects covered in the Prologue.

      Acknowledgments

      I am deeply indebted to my editor, Nancy McClimen, for her valuable contributions; to my wife, Barbara, for her loving support; and finally to my many patients, who have provided the purpose for this work.

      PROLOGUE

      Public interest in the subject of Spirituality appears to be growing rapidly. Books such as Conversations with God (Neale Donald Walsch), How To Know God (Deepak Chopra), Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting, (Lynn Grabhorn), and There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem (Wayne Dyer) are being talked about, featured on TV (especially on public stations), and purchased in ever-growing numbers. Reasons for this might range from mere curiosity to a feeling of deep need.

      I have found that Spirituality is perhaps the greatest tool at my disposal in my present vocation, and the purpose of this work is to present my interpretation of some of its concepts. I hope to reach more people via the written word than is possible meeting with patients individually in an office setting. I realize and respect the fact that what I present will not resonate with all. If your belief system, whatever it is, works for you, don’t fix what isn’t broken. You might, however, want to consider these ideas as an augmentation. Or, if your belief system isn’t fulfilling for you, this might be an alternative.

      I am a semiretired physician with 50-plus years of traditional general/family practice experience. I retired in 2000 at the age of 65 with the intent of retiring to the task/opportunity of suggesting to my colleagues that they incorporate Spirituality in their patient interactions. This would involve taking a spiritual history from their patients at appropriate times and using the patients’ belief systems in their medical care. I believe this is already increasingly being done, and for that I feel very encouraged.

      Reflecting on the last 15 years or so of my practice, I realized that in addition to using my patients’ belief systems in their medical care, I had been using MY spiritual belief system in the way I treated them. Rather than infringing on a patient’s own belief system, I shared Spirituality concepts that complemented it, and I was amazed at how much patients felt helped by this approach, compared to the usual methods I had incorporated. As a result, I decided to focus on counseling using Spirituality as a base.

      I want to emphasize that what you will read here is my interpretation of some Spiritual concepts. There is nothing new about the Spirituality or the concepts, but each of us interprets and implements them individually.

      What has surprised me so very much is the number of my patients who aren’t happy with or fulfilled by their belief systems—a situation near and dear to my personal history. Commonly, a religion has been introduced early into their lives, and their parents and/or forefathers have in many cases been extremely zealous about how they believe that religion should play out in the patient’s life. This essentially means that it is forced upon them, in many cases becoming a bitter pill they can’t swallow.

      At this point I want to note the difference between Spirituality and religion. The former embraces the idea that each of us has an individual relationship with a higher power. Religion essentially involves a group of people coming together and forming an organization with a creed or common belief system. To belong, members must agree to follow the dictates of that system, adhering to certain requirements. This means that the religion defines what is right or wrong.

      Although the majority of people belong to a religious group, many of my patients tell me (without a prompt) that they are really not fulfilled by what their religions have told them they must believe. I approach these people by sharing some Spirituality, being very vocal that I do not have an agenda, that I am not trying to tell them how or what to believe, and that if what I say in any way offends them or doesn’t agree with their philosophy of life they can put up a finger (I usually say, any finger:), and I’ll gladly say no more. Or I tell them if they are curious and want to listen but can’t use what I’ve shared, they can just throw it in the round file. I agree with Dr. Wayne Dyer that there is a spiritual solution to every problem. In fact, his book/audio tape set is one of the first resources I suggest to many of my patients. Dr. Dyer and the other authors I have mentioned, plus Carolyn Myss, Joan Borysenko, Eckhart Tolle, and many others, I believe, agree with the general philosophy of what I am finally going to present to you now. This is what I share with my patients who are unfulfilled in their belief systems and with those who are simply curious.

      ADDENDUM FEB 2017: I am no longer scheduling or seeing patients in any capacity. But I offer this information for anyone to read because I have been told that it was helpful to many.

      SPIRITUALITY 101

      God the Creator

      I believe in a Supreme Being. I call that being God, and because of inertia in my upbringing, will usually refer to God in the male gender, although God has no gender. This God has created everything

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