{"id":38680,"date":"2021-06-08T20:39:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T00:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=38680"},"modified":"2021-06-17T10:48:42","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T14:48:42","slug":"dale-carnegie-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dale-carnegie-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"Dale Carnegie on Religion: The Power of Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What role does religion play in your life? Do people who practice some form of religion or spirituality tend to be happier and more at peace with themselves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to psychologist Dale Carnegie, religion and belief in a higher power<\/a> is a powerful buffer against worries and stresses of life. Even if you don’t subscribe to traditional religion, you can still find a higher power and a type of prayer. Your prayers might look like: meditation<\/a>, journaling, writing messages in bottles, or simply speaking them aloud to the universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is how religion can help you alleviate worry and live a happier, more fulfilling life<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Dale Carnegie on Religion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The role of a higher power and faith in your life shouldn\u2019t be based on the belief that your religion is \u201cthe\u201d religion or a comparison between the values of your religion and others. Rather, religion should show up in your life as something that makes your life better and happier, and helps you renew the spiritual values that give you inner strength and courage, hope, satisfaction with your life, and purpose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Religion and prayer are strong forces against the worry and stresses of everyday life\u2014and of course, the physical symptoms of worry. This is because prayer fulfills three worry-alleviating needs: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. It helps you articulate your worries.<\/strong> It\u2019s impossible to work through a problem when you don\u2019t fully understand <\/em>what the problem really is. When you process your worries aloud in prayer, you\u2019re able to work through them and find the core issue<\/a>.<\/li>
  2. It allows you to share your worries and feel less alone.<\/strong> Worries and problems are heavy\u2014especially when you\u2019re carrying them alone. Unloading your worries to a higher being gives you the sense of sharing the weight, which makes it feel more manageable. This is especially applicable to problems that you don\u2019t feel that you can share with another person because they\u2019re particularly shameful or intimate.<\/li>
  3. It spurs action.<\/strong> If you\u2019re asking for an answer to your prayers, you\u2019ll naturally start making changes in your life that will help bring the prayer to fruition.