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“When you look into muddy or choppy water, you will not see your face reflected. If you want the face of Christ, who looks on you, to be reflected within you, come away from the disturbance of exterior things, and let your soul be at peace.” —St. Anthony of Padua
Life can often feel like, in St. Anthony’s words, “choppy water,” and we can indeed lose our sense of bearing when things get chaotic or even hostile. To continue with his words as inspiration, what does it look like for you to “let your soul be at peace”? For me, leaning into spiritual practices such as prayer cultivates peace in my life. But I’m consistently surprised by how actions and activities that are not traditionally considered “spiritual” do, in fact, enrich my soul. When I’m out for a hike and a gentle breeze blows by, for example, if I’m attuned and in the right mood, it’s not just physically pleasant; it feels like my soul is expanding, breathing.
However, it’s often when something is lacking that you gain a deeper insight into the very nature of what is missing from your life at that moment. It might seem a bit of a stretch, but if your well-being is lost, there is a saint who is particularly good at finding lost things who might help here. St. Anthony—whom many have offered up the quick but effective “Tony, Tony, turn around. There’s something lost that must be found.”—can be equally effective in helping to find intangible things as he is in tracking down wallets, wedding rings, and car keys.
When I prayed for St. Anthony’s intercession to help regain well-being, the answers came from a few different sources, and I needed all of them working in concert. Here are the areas St. Anthony helped me rediscover.
Engaging with the Arts
Art can take on so many forms that there might be a kind of artistic expression you haven’t even discovered yet. Or maybe there’s something you do routinely that you don’t consider very creative. Consider finding ways of inserting some creativity into these mundane tasks. Are you mediocre in the kitchen? A cooking class or even YouTube videos can make the kitchen a dynamic, fun place instead of just a room with a microwave and refrigerator in it.
I’m partial to music, so I’m constantly on the search for new sounds while digging, much like an archeologist, for musical gems from the past. The next time I sit at the computer to look for more music, I think I’ll ask St. Anthony to help me find something different and surprising.
A Mental Pause
Meditation, or mindfulness, is another practice that isn’t overtly spiritual but that seems to have an interplay with our spiritual health. From YouTube videos to counseling to apps like Calm, there are plenty of resources for people to try out to help relax and center our busy, sometimes frenzied, minds. I have taken especially to the Calm app myself, since it only takes about 10 minutes to go through a guided reflection and has lots of other meditation-related content.
Meditation certainly can take on a spiritual aspect, but the fundamentals of quieting our minds to get better grounded in the present don’t require religious belief, so to me, it’s quite distinct from prayer. Taking good care of our mental health—whether one has a diagnosed condition or not—is a big step in being the best version of ourselves for others. That’s where self-care bleeds into and impacts our interpersonal relationships.
The Diet-Exercise-Sleep Triangle
It might seem obvious, but establishing and maintaining good nutrition, exercise, and sleep patterns is a major component of well-being. But I’ve found that bringing in my Catholic spirituality to each is like a secret weapon. Choosing the right ingredients for a meal isn’t just about calories and vitamins. It can be a moment to consider: Is this food ethically sourced? Sometimes the best remedy for insomnia has been prayer. And I’ve certainly offered up a prayer to launch me out of my laziness and into the gym.
Spending time with the arts, meditating, and taking good care of our bodies are major spokes on the wheel of well-being, and each is a powerful tool in its own right. But for me, without spirituality as the central hub, these activities seem less potent and more disconnected from each other. When they are reoriented in connection with the soul, they make more sense together, and the interplay between these practices starts to emerge. Reoriented this way, taking care of ourselves isn’t just healthy, it’s good.
Thank you, St. Anthony, for pointing me in the direction(s) to regain my footing amid life’s often shifting sands.
Questions for Reflection
✦ How does well-being take on a spiritual dimension for you? My Catholic spirituality seems to intersect with and inform areas such as art, healthy lifestyle choices, and meditation. But what are some other ways that well-being and your soul interact? When you identify some, think of ways to strengthen that spiritual connection.
✦ In many ways, suffering is the opposite of well-being. Who in your life or in the history of the Church inspires you to make your way through suffering to a place of well-being? Perhaps St. Dymphna, patron saint of those with mental health conditions, or St. Raphael, a healing angel and patron saint of healing, could be good first options for a prayer of intercession.
✦ The journey toward well-being is exactly that: a process. And it can be a lengthy one at times. Consider journaling to chronicle your ups and downs, your spiritual discoveries, even your frustrations. What do you notice when you look back at an entry from a week ago? A month ago?
