By Judith Crosson
Denver - Everyone knows exercise can help keep your arteries clear, but how about some exercise to clear your conscience?
You work out to get your body in shape and you follow rules to maintain good health. By devoting just a few minutes a day, you can start getting your conscience - that little voice that tells you right from wrong - shipshape as well.
Start slowly, suggests the Reverend Charles Shelton, a Jesuit priest and associate professor of psychology at Denver's Regis University in his latest book "Achieving Moral Health: An Exercise Plan for Your Conscience" (Crossroad Publishing).
The first step is what he calls a "Daily Moral Inventory" starting with some "quality solitude" time. The idea is not to decide to take the moral high ground, because Shelton believes most of us already have what it takes to be morally good. The quiet time is necessary to collect one's thoughts and emotions.
"We're all on autopilot. There's so much information, so much going on. People want to do the right thing, but sometimes we're so distracted by everyday life," said Shelton, who is also a licensed psychologist in private practice. "Just take the time and say, 'I am a person of conscience' 10 or 15 times a day."
That simple act can start a revolution, he said in an interview. "It raises consciousness. It raises the 'oughtness' and the word ought has a moral, compelling thrust to it."
Shelton said the very action of saying you have a good conscience will prompt you to re-examine your actions. "In most of us there is this unarticulated or unspoken desire for goodness. What we need to do is to recognise it in ourselves and help other people recognise it in themselves," he said.
"The more we can become sensitive to the goodness, the better we're going to become. It spills over and we start asking other questions about our life."
Intense feelings will often be generated by our closest relationships. "The time a person feels most hurt or most discouraged is probably because someone else of significance to them fails or they fail to live up to what it means to be a good friend, son, daughter, or coach," Shelton said.
For instance, a husband and father wants to join a softball team for some recreation, but if that activity takes too much time away from the family it might not be the best moral decision for him to make, he suggested.
The road to moral health also means figuring out where your "psychic energy" is, Shelton said. That is not some new-age idea but simply what we spend our time doing or thinking about.
It can be something positive like one's children or something negative like drug addiction, he says. So ask yourself: how do I spend my time? What are my deepest desires?
It also helps to spend a few minutes being grateful. "It's an emotion not studied enough. When we feel gifted there's often a natural tendency to focus on the giver and want to give back," Shelton said. "And gratitude can corral anger."
In the exercise you close your eyes and call to mind something to be grateful for, paying particular attention to feelings. After a minute open your eyes and ask yourself what you are feeling.
"I have found the most common emotional state reported is joy mixed with serenity and peace," Shelton writes in his book.
A good way to figure out what is important in one's life is to zero in on your psychic energy, said Shelton, who also wrote "Morality of the Heart."
And another thing: Remember to get your 40 winks. "People don't think about it as a moral issue, but there are 100 million sleep-deprived people in America. When I'm tired I'm less the good teacher I want to be." - Reuters