Is It Spiritual or Is It Physical?

THE STUDY

A New York Times piece came out yesterday (April 11, 2012) with new findings about addictions.  It seems that exercise opens up the brain to learn new things, and pick up or quit habits - good or bad.

So lets say for example, you want to stop smoking or stop drugs.  If you start exercising when you stop, the exercise will help you learn new behaviors and overcome your addiction more than if you had not been exercising.  The article says its because your brain is producing more new cells when you exercise, and those new cells are connecting to your new life style choices.

On the other had, if you already exercise, and you pick up a bad habit or continue a bad habit, your new brain cells are soaking up all that bad stuff, and you will have a far more difficult time overcoming.

LESSON

If you already exercise, don't pick up a new addiction.
If you don't exercise, pick an addiction to quit and work out while you quit.

THE RELATION BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL

Life is filled with spiritual challenges.  Unfortuneately, the physical and the mental get involved as well.  Sometimes the best thing you can do for your spiritual life is related to what you do for your physical or your mental life.  Addictions and exercise is like this.

As a young Christian I learned very early on that if I didn't get proper sleep and if I didn't sit down and relax occasionally, my stress level went up, and my spiritual life suffered.  The point of all this is that I believe that the spiritual life and the physical life are intertwined more than we realize. 

I have also seen that people who are considered demon possessed have psychological issues that they need to work out with a trained counselor after they get delivered.  In fact, to be honest, the cases I have seen where people have come to me for freedom from some kind of demonic oppression (in one place possession), I have had a hard time differentiating between what was demonic and what was psychological.  I am convinced they work hand in hand. 

The same goes for addicts - the spiritual and the psychological get intertwined.

CONCLUSIONS

For the best spiritual life:

-Eat healthy
-Exercise regularly
-Read your bible daily
-Pray daily
-If your life is a mess, get counseling