Do you love Halloween? I do. Oh, I know there are lots of reasons to dislike it: it’s an American import; trick or treating can be seen as bullying or obtaining sweets by menaces; it provides an excuse for mischief; even that it’s evil and should be shunned by people of religious faith.

I see it as a lot of fun. I adore getting the house all decorated with lights and bats and spider webs. I have a full-size anatomical skeleton who I dress up – sometimes as a pirate, sometimes as a highway man and once as a teacher with gown and mortarboard, holding a book to take the register of children who came calling. I like getting dressed up myself and handing out sweets to the children – and to the grown-ups who accompany the little ones.

At the supermarket where I work, there is an advert that comes over our sound system every hour or so. A man is asking, “How can I raise my family’s spirits?” to which a spooky voice replies, “Raising spirits is my speciality,” and goes on to list all the Halloween themed good for sale in the store.

That advert got me thinking. Is there a difference between emotion and spirit? I think there is.

Emotions are something we feel in our mind or even our bodies. We all know that squirmy feeling in the pit of our stomach when we’ve done something we feel guilty about. We know the buzzing feeling when we have completed a task or project and feel proud. We know what sad feels like. Our spirit is different. Spirit is defined as the non-corporeal essence of a living thing. I think it is our spirit which keeps us going when times are hard and we just want to give up. I know that when I was in my hospital bed, in a one bed ward that had originally been a cupboard, without any windows, I was as lonely as I’d ever been, despite the very kind hospital staff. I was scared and felt oppressed by my illness. But still there was a spark of hope – my spirit would not give up. There was something more than dumb endurance – although I’ve been there too when in the depths of depression.

So how do we nurture that spirit that is beyond emotion? For many people it is getting out in nature. Even when full of care, breathing the crisp autumn air and scuffling through dry fallen leaves is enough to feed something deep inside. Some people feed their spirit through mediation or prayer. For some people it is great art or losing themselves in creating art.

Do you feel there is a difference between emotions and spirits? What effect does a healthy spirit, if there is a difference, make to our emotions? Are we better able to cope with negative feelings if our spirit is healthy? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Mary

A Moodscope member