Like the weather, some changes in life are unpredictable. They can be surprising, unforeseen – like suddenly being promoted at work, or becoming a parent for the first time. While a life-changing event can be exciting, others can be hard to cope with – especially if they’re unexpectedly thrust upon you. One way to deal with stormy life-changing events, is to change up one’s thinking, take positive action and embrace life changes! Doing so is good for your health.
EMBRACE CHANGE
When something you’ve loved is snatched away, feelings of hurt and disappointment can rain down upon you. You wonder how to carry on. When this happens, it’s time to use the umbrella of spiritual-type thinking to shelter your heart, restore peace of mind and move you forward to happiness and healing.
TIPS:
– Rather than standing under the grey clouds of disappointment and discouragement, lift up your thinking. Have courage. Embrace the change. Open your heart and welcome the good that lies ahead.
– Don’t begrudge the experience of a life change. Instead, focus on what you’ve gained, rather than what you’ve been forced to give up.
– Remember with thankfulness all that you’ve achieved, and what you can still do, and be.
– Realize that change doesn’t end things. Look past any unhappiness to the new opportunities that lie ahead. Change can be a stepping-stone to fresh prospects.
– Weather a stormy life-change. Be brave. Work on, and await the outcome. You can “steer safely amid the storm”. Mary Baker Eddy – Science and Health p.67
– Be encouraged, strengthened and reassured. You have within you the spiritual qualities of buoyancy, adaptability, and resilience. You will bounce back. You’ve been created to be mentally and emotionally strong. You can handle changed circumstances with grace and poise, and be triumphant.
– Let this poem comfort and help you embrace life changes. You’ll find it’s good for your health.
“In heavenly Love abiding, No change my heart shall fear; And safe is such confiding, For nothing changes here. The storm may roar without me, My heart may low be laid; But God [divine Love] is round about me, And can I be dismayed?
Green pastures are before me, Which yet I have not seen; Bright skies will soon be o’er me, Where darkest clouds have been. My hope I cannot measure, My path in life is free; My Father has my treasure, And He will walk with me.” Anna L. Waring – In heavenly love abiding.
ABOUT THE EXPERT:
Beverly Goldsmith writes on the connection between spirituality and health and is a Practitioner and Teacher of Christian Science healing. Twitter: @GoldsmithBev
Health – Readings from the Bible and the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, … It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. (The Bible – Proverbs 3: 5, 6, 8)
Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously. (Science and Health p392)
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Every Wednesday at 6.00 pm a Testimony Meeting is held at the Christian Science Church in Canberra. Each meeting begins with readings selected from the two books designated as the Pastor of Christian Science: The Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. A new topic for the readings is selected each week.
At the conclusion of the short readings the congregation is invited to share thoughts on this topic and relate how they have used the principles of Christian Science to solve life’s problems and bring physical healing.
If you are in Canberra on any Wednesday please join us. Everyone is welcome.
This recording represents the readings on the topic: Health
At this time of year, life can be very hectic. Holidays are over. It’s back-to-school and back-to-work time for many families. Teachers are making preparations. Parents are working hard to establish a smooth daily routine that enables them to get their children up and out-the-door on time. Such an undertaking can be a challenge! As one father said, “Getting kids ready for school each day would test the patience of a Saint”. What’s the answer? Have MORE patience. It’s good for your health.
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HAVE MORE PATIENCE
Teachers, parents, and child-minding grandparents, often need truckloads of patience. Why? Because this relationship-smoothing, health-giving quality of thought produces well-balanced, harmonious, daily activity. It fosters calmness, and enables us to be tolerant of delays or problems, without becoming angry or upset. Patience is so valuable and needed these days that it’s considered to be a virtue – a character trait that’s not only morally good, but very desirable in every person.
TIPS
– Overcome frustrating family situations with patience. Stay calm. Don’t let anyone or anything upset you.
– Master the art of patience. Embrace it more fully. Patience helps build emotional and spiritual maturity. It produces a better balanced mental state and attitude to family life. It enables you to move through stressful times with grace and poise.
– Have patience with learning, and with learners. Be prepared to teach kids what they have to do as part of the daily routine. Establish a logical order for the day ahead. In time you’ll build helpful attitudes and practices, and achieve a smooth running household.
– In dealing with a difficult, or grumpy family member, resist the impulse to react. Stay calm-and-collected. “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” Bible James 1:19
– Remind yourself that you have an abundance of self-control. You have patience. You’ve been created a cool, composed, unruffled person. You have equanimity – evenness of mind. You’re mentally balanced.
– If confronted with willfulness or disobedience, take a deep breath. Stay loving. A loving attitude helps you stay patient, calm. It helps you keep an emotional balance. Love “…is not easily provoked”. Bible 1 Corinthians 13:5
– Remember what’s most needed from all of us – parents, children and teachers, is “… growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds.” – Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health p.4
– Be calm. Resolve delays or problems without becoming angry or upset. Be proactive. Have MORE patience. You’ll find it’s good for your health.
This article was contributed by Beverly Goldsmith who is a former secondary school teacher and is now a health blogger and a practitioner and teacher of Christian Science healing.
It’s a New Year! It’s the time when Aussies come together in January to celebrate the good things their homeland has to offer them. Some mark the day by having a barbecue lunch with family and friends. Others participate in official citizenship ceremonies that acknowledge new arrivals who want to call Australia home. Most of all, the occasion celebrates the hope that the year ahead will be a happy one – filled with continued peace, health and prosperity for everyone – ourselves, our family and friends included. So how do you have a happy New Year – one that’s good for your health?
GIVE THANKS
At the start of a year it’s important to give thanks for the good already received – both on a personal level, as well as collectively as a nation. In this way, we utilize the blessings we have and are ready to receive more. Such gratitude promotes happiness at home, school and work. It makes the wheels of daily life turn more smoothly by encouraging everyone to pull together, to share ideas and learn from each other.
TIP:
– Take time to be thankful that we “live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest” Bible Isaiah 32:18 – in a country that is at peace with itself and its neighbours. Being thankful lifts our spirits and improves our health.
– Appreciate how new arrivals enrich the tapestry of our ideas, culture, food, life-style, fashion, and industry.
– Offer words of appreciation to others. This fosters happy, beneficial contacts between all ages, and between old and new Australians.
– Make an effort to get along with people who are different. Refuse to be critical. “Tones of the human mind may be different, but they should be concordant in order to blend properly. Unselfish ambition, noble life-motives, and purity, — these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute individually and collectively true happiness, strength, and permanence”. – Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health p.58
– Be glad. Don’t be a complainer. Remember, “Our gratitude is riches, complaint is poverty. Our trials bloom in blessings, they test our constancy. O, life from joy is minted, an everlasting gold. True gladness is the treasure that grateful hearts will hold”. – W. Harold Ferguson
– Be generous. “Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it”. – Mary Baker Eddy Science and Health p. 57:18
– So go ahead! This January, give thanks. Have a happy New Year. It’s good for your health.
This article is by Beverly Goldsmith. Beverly is a Melbourne-based writer on how spirituality and thought affect health.
Beverly’s activities include: Writer for Pulitzer prize winning newspaper the Christian Science Monitor; magazine contributing editor and author of over 140 articles.
She is a qualified Practitioner and Teacher of Christian Science healing with over 35 years experience.
The Christian Science Church – a part of the Canberra community. Members share testimonies and talk about their lives as Christian Scientists.
This article, Free from Anxiety, is by Jen who is a member of the Christian Science Church in Canberra. She describes how a change of thinking freed her from constant anxiety and gave her a sense of peace and harmony.
I love being a Christian Scientist, and diving deep into health, spirituality and identity, but it can be hard challenging ideas that are accepted as fact by the wider community. Spiritual healing is seen as impractical and ineffective, and it is rare that I tell people that I rely on prayer when I am ill or injured. This is because it is assumed that I pray to a God who would create me capable of being in pain and then sometimes decides to award me a miracle and heal me.
For me, God is a creative, spiritual force that is completely good. As Christian Scientists, we strive to look past sin, suffering and disease, and understand ourselves as primarily spiritual- as the representation of a higher creative power. In asserting our spiritual identities, and understanding a higher creation, we unburden ourselves of thoughts that limit us to be inherently flawed and suffering. As Mary Baker Eddy puts it, ‘Christian Science is the law of Truth, that heals the sick on the basis of the One Mind, Or God’ (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, page 482). Instead of accepting that there is something ‘wrong’ with me, I turn my mind to spiritual truths, namely that I am primarily spiritual and free from ideas of pain or suffering.
I was healed from anxiety this year, and have felt a lightness and freedom. I had accepted a very limited view of myself – I focused on the negatives in my life, and tried to physically control the environment around me to feel safe and secure in myself. This started with my tendency to hide parts of myself that I feared other people would reject, and did everything I could to meet the expectations of those around me in school, during my gap year and later at university. This obsession with control intensified when I lived in Indonesia, where I was constantly harassed by men in the streets and was actually assaulted at one point during my time there. I learned to prepare for the worst case scenario, and was uptight and fearful. This affected my personal life – I was scared that people would find out things about me that they might disapprove of, and I was very distrustful of new people, especially men.
I had a healing when I realised that the opposite of anxiety is to expect good. This did not mean putting my head in the sand and pretending that nothing was wrong, but rather turning away from a limited understanding of myself and the world and focusing on spiritual facts. A God that is all good could not create me fearful and vulnerable, and has not assigned me a future of fear and negativity in order to ‘test’ me. Slowly, I concentrated on correcting fearful thoughts with an expectation of good, and gauging whether ideas coming to me were affirming my identity as a spiritual being or sending me into a negative spiral. The strength I gained by trusting God has led me to be more open with friends and family, to forgive the men in Indonesia who seemed to threaten my safety, and to be relaxed in accepting opportunities that have opened up a whole new world for me. I am so grateful for my background in Christian Science, and have used it as a practical tool in gaining peace and harmony in my everyday life.
To read more testimonies of healing shared by members of the Christian Science Church in Canberra click on the archive headings on the left for May and June 2016.
The Christian Science Church – a part of the Canberra community. Members share testimonies and talk about their lives as Christian Scientists.
This article, Needs Met, is by Mary who is a member of the Christian Science Church in Canberra. She describes how a change of thinking to a more spiritual perspective saw finance problems solved and employment found.
We lived in Germany for almost a year and during this time neither my husband or I was allowed to work there because we did not have the necessary permission. Our funds had been used up on rent and living expenses. Three of our six children were apprentices and the other three were at school. Things were very tight and our need was great.
One morning my husband asked me to look for a document in a cupboard where we kept all our paper work. I was not looking forward to this task because there was so much paper in this cupboard. Then the thought struck me that there must be a reason for this, and who knows perhaps I will find something else in the cupboard. This was time to put into practice what I have learnt in Christian Science.
My thought turned to a passage in Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy (p180: 25): “When man is governed by God, the ever-present Mind who understands all things, man knows that with God all things are possible”. This made me sit back and take notice. Here I was resenting the thought that I had to unpack the cupboard I kept the thought that “with God all things are possible” while I unpacked the cupboard. Suddenly, there was my wallet which I had not used since flying to Germany. I opened the back flap, and to my delight I found A$2000 of travellers’ cheques. I could not stop thanking God for His guidance and love for his children. I also found the document my husband was looking for.
The same afternoon I went to the bank to change the cheques and we could pay our rent and buy what we needed for the rest of the month.
Within two weeks both my husband and I found work and got our permissions to work in Germany.
How grateful I am for Christian Science and Mary Baker Eddy for giving us this practical and demonstrable religion.
To read more testimonies of healing shared by members of the Christian Science Church in Canberra click on the archive headings on the left for May and June 2016.
The four-hourly doses of morphine were such a welcome relief to the intense pain I was experiencing following major surgery. What could possibly make me give them up?
I found there was something that could persuade me to do so. And that’s why, I want to share my experience with sufferers of chronic pain.
In Australia, one in five people live with chronic pain, including adolescents and children. This prevalence rises to one in three people over the age of 65. Chronic pain is linked to depression and suicide and is Australia’s third most costly health condition.
To manage it, a range of treatments such physio and physical therapy, medical acupuncture, thinking strategies, lifestyle changes, nutrition and traditional prescription opioids, are employed.
Despite this, pain is often long-lasting and continues for years with no foreseeable end.
However, I’ve joined a groundswell of people that believe it’s time to do more than simply manage pain. We are convinced it can be reduced, and even healed.
According to a 2011 report, “one reason pain is so hard to treat is that it isn’t just physical.” Our thinking can actually have an impact on the amount of pain we feel.
The power of our expectations is illustrated in a series of trials into the relationship between pain and the placebo effect. Hundreds of patients treating irritable bowel syndrome, migraine and back pain experienced similar or better results from placebos than from strong pain killers.
While it’s agreed that placebos are not a universal panacea, placebo research leads us to think about how much influence thought actually has on our health.
Reasoning from a more spiritual perspective, author Mary Baker Eddy, reached a similar conclusion, explaining that pain is always a mental image or state.
But can pain really be relieved just by thinking differently?
Yes, but in my experience I have found that it needs more than just positive thinking to free us from pain.
So, back to my stay in hospital. In my late-teens I was “on fire” with enthusiasm about a couple of unique books which I had recently revisited. They answered so many of the questions I had about why we are here and whether what our senses perceive is all there is to existence.
The Bible, so comforting to so many people, didn’t seem all that relevant to me until I started reading Science and Health, which brings out its spiritual meaning and explains how and why not only Jesus, but also his early disciples and many of the Old Testament prophets, were able to heal all kinds of physical needs.
I learned that there was a spiritual science in place based on a divine consciousness of being.
My studies had shown the importance of addressing the spiritual need as an aid to recovery, a standpoint now supported by medical research.
I started reading the thought-changing book again right there in hospital, and called a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me by helping me to understand more consistently my real, spiritual nature.
I can still remember the feeling of love and wholeness that engulfed me soon after. No more drugs were needed, and worrying digestive difficulties painlessly dissipated that day.
On this basis, many have been healed of acute and chronic pain, and demonstrated that such pain need not last forever. Peace and health are a present possibility for those willing to dig deeper into the understanding of their spiritual identity.
This article was contributed by Kay Stroud, a life-long Christian Scientist, who is a freelance writer focussing on the undeniable connection between our thinking and our experience including our health. She writes for metropolitan and regional news media throughout Australia and beyond, and is a regular contributor to Australia’s national forum, Online Opinion, and the APN regional network in Northern NSW and Queensland.
At this time of year, life can be very hectic. Holidays are over. It’s back-to-school and back-to-work time for many families. Teachers are making preparations. Parents are working hard to establish a smooth daily routine that enables them to get their children up and out-the-door on time. Such an undertaking can be a challenge! As one father said, “Getting kids ready for school each day would test the patience of a Saint”. What’s the answer? Have MORE patience. It’s good for your health.
It’s a New Year! It’s the time when Aussies come together in January to celebrate the good things their homeland has to offer them. Some mark the day by having a barbecue lunch with family and friends. Others participate in official citizenship ceremonies that acknowledge new arrivals who want to call Australia home. Most of all, the occasion celebrates the hope that the year ahead will be a happy one – filled with continued peace, health and prosperity for everyone – ourselves, our family and friends included. So how do you have a happy New Year – one that’s good for your health?
The Christian Science Church – a part of the Canberra community. Members share testimonies and talk about their lives as Christian Scientists. 
The Christian Science Church – a part of the Canberra community. Members share testimonies and talk about their lives as Christian Scientists. 
The four-hourly doses of morphine were such a welcome relief to the intense pain I was experiencing following major surgery. What could possibly make me give them up?