A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
A cheerful, contented, hopeful and peaceful mind acts on the body like a medicine, a real life-giving power for physical health. It also strengthens the inner life, soothes its wounds and can lessen bodily suffering. By contrast, a broken spirit of gloom, sadness, discouragement, despondency and troubled brooding weakens and dries up the body and can bring on disease. This cheerfulness improves the circulation and tones the whole system, safeguarding health, aiding recovery and at times doing more good than drugs. It belongs with gratitude, rejoicing, benevolence, trust in God's loving care, courage, hope and faith, rests on a clear conscience and right doing, and is cultivated and shared by trusting prayer, thankfulness, useful activity, turning the mind from distressing thoughts, and speaking kind, hopeful words that brighten the home and comfort others.
Cheerfulness Heals Body
A merry heart — a cheerful, rejoicing, contented, happy, satisfied, hopeful and peaceful mind and countenance — does good to the body like medicine. This is a real life-giving physiological truth, not mere sentiment. A contented mind and cheerful spirit promote health and bodily well-being. The rejoicing heart benefits health in the same way medicine does.
That cheerfulness also gives strength to the soul. Peace arising from pure and holy motives and actions soothes the wounds of the soul and can ease bodily suffering.
By contrast, a broken spirit — depression, gloom, sadness, distress, discouragement, despondency, self-focused brooding, and a troubled or impaired mind — harms, weakens and dries the body. Just as cheerfulness is a physiological aid, harmful states of mind depress and damage the body. Such inward trouble can cause disease.
The cheerfulness commended improves circulation and tones and strengthens the whole body and system. A happy, satisfied mind brings freer blood circulation. This is because mind and body affect one another.
So understood, cheerfulness safeguards and promotes health. A cheerful, active life diverts the mind from imagined illness and constant attention to aches and pains, supporting improvement in health and aiding recovery. Cheerfulness joined with a clear conscience can be more effective than drugs. Cheerfulness, with courage, hope, faith, sympathy and love, can prolong life.
Sources and Practice of Cheerfulness
The cheerfulness that heals like medicine belongs together with gratitude, rejoicing, benevolence, and trust in God's love and care as safeguards of health. Joined to unselfishness and gratitude it has a life-giving effect on the body. Joined to courage, hope, faith, sympathy, and love it promotes health, strengthens the soul, and can prolong life.
It rests on a clear conscience, which can aid recovery and do more good than drugs. It rests on doing what is right and on pure and holy motives and actions, whose peace soothes the wounds of the soul and can ease bodily suffering. It rests on the joy of making others happy and bringing happiness to others, which improves the circulation and tones and strengthens the whole body and system. God's blessing and spiritual influences bring healing to those who thus benefit others, since mind and body affect one another.
Caring for health includes cultivating this cheerful, hopeful, and peaceful frame of mind. It is God's remedy for sickness to exercise and work when able, to trust in God, to pray, to give thanks, to keep God's love in the heart, and to avoid dwelling on distressing things. A cheerful, active life diverts the mind from imagined illness and from constant attention to aches and pains, and so supports improvement in health. Turning the mind to cheerful thoughts rather than fearful attention to the possibility that food will cause harm supports well-being, since such fear can worsen its effects.
Its cheer is to be shared, for gratitude, rejoicing, benevolence, and trust were to shape communal life. A cheerful countenance does good like a healing balm, and cheerful, hopeful words brighten one's own way and the way of others. Kind and cheerful words, and a cheerful encouraging spirit, bring courage and comfort to a despondent and weakened wife and bring happiness and warmth into the family.
A cheerful, contented, hopeful and peaceful mind acts on the body like a medicine, a real life-giving power for physical health. It also strengthens the inner life, soothes its wounds and can lessen bodily suffering. By contrast, a broken spirit of gloom, sadness, discouragement, despondency and troubled brooding weakens and dries up the body and can bring on disease. This cheerfulness improves the circulation and tones the whole system, safeguarding health, aiding recovery and at times doing more good than drugs. It belongs with gratitude, rejoicing, benevolence, trust in God's loving care, courage, hope and faith, rests on a clear conscience and right doing, and is cultivated and shared by trusting prayer, thankfulness, useful activity, turning the mind from distressing thoughts, and speaking kind, hopeful words that brighten the home and comfort others.
Cheerfulness Heals Body
A merry heart — a cheerful, rejoicing, contented, happy, satisfied, hopeful and peaceful mind and countenance — does good to the body like medicine. This is a real life-giving physiological truth, not mere sentiment. A contented mind and cheerful spirit promote health and bodily well-being. The rejoicing heart benefits health in the same way medicine does.
That cheerfulness also gives strength to the soul. Peace arising from pure and holy motives and actions soothes the wounds of the soul and can ease bodily suffering.
By contrast, a broken spirit — depression, gloom, sadness, distress, discouragement, despondency, self-focused brooding, and a troubled or impaired mind — harms, weakens and dries the body. Just as cheerfulness is a physiological aid, harmful states of mind depress and damage the body. Such inward trouble can cause disease.
The cheerfulness commended improves circulation and tones and strengthens the whole body and system. A happy, satisfied mind brings freer blood circulation. This is because mind and body affect one another.
So understood, cheerfulness safeguards and promotes health. A cheerful, active life diverts the mind from imagined illness and constant attention to aches and pains, supporting improvement in health and aiding recovery. Cheerfulness joined with a clear conscience can be more effective than drugs. Cheerfulness, with courage, hope, faith, sympathy and love, can prolong life.
Sources and Practice of Cheerfulness
The cheerfulness that heals like medicine belongs together with gratitude, rejoicing, benevolence, and trust in God's love and care as safeguards of health. Joined to unselfishness and gratitude it has a life-giving effect on the body. Joined to courage, hope, faith, sympathy, and love it promotes health, strengthens the soul, and can prolong life.
It rests on a clear conscience, which can aid recovery and do more good than drugs. It rests on doing what is right and on pure and holy motives and actions, whose peace soothes the wounds of the soul and can ease bodily suffering. It rests on the joy of making others happy and bringing happiness to others, which improves the circulation and tones and strengthens the whole body and system. God's blessing and spiritual influences bring healing to those who thus benefit others, since mind and body affect one another.
Caring for health includes cultivating this cheerful, hopeful, and peaceful frame of mind. It is God's remedy for sickness to exercise and work when able, to trust in God, to pray, to give thanks, to keep God's love in the heart, and to avoid dwelling on distressing things. A cheerful, active life diverts the mind from imagined illness and from constant attention to aches and pains, and so supports improvement in health. Turning the mind to cheerful thoughts rather than fearful attention to the possibility that food will cause harm supports well-being, since such fear can worsen its effects.
Its cheer is to be shared, for gratitude, rejoicing, benevolence, and trust were to shape communal life. A cheerful countenance does good like a healing balm, and cheerful, hopeful words brighten one's own way and the way of others. Kind and cheerful words, and a cheerful encouraging spirit, bring courage and comfort to a despondent and weakened wife and bring happiness and warmth into the family.