Increasing My Lifespan On The Sabbath Day

I hadn’t really thought much about how time spent “out of the loop” of regular activities such as work and personal obligations could actually increase my lifespan, but I started thinking about it today. When I read a recent interview with Dr. Be
ie Siegel, author of “A Book Of Miracles” and more than a dozen other titles, it pushed my thinking a little further on this subject. Let me share his words so you can see what you think:
“I think that laughter, joy and play, as well as love, are the most physiologic states we can be in, and the way I like to think about it is, anything that makes you lose track of time may in a sense make you ageless. If you think two hours is five minutes, sometimes when you are having fun, then what is your body doing, does it get two hours older or five minutes older? My sense is that it probably only gets five minutes older, because of the hormones and the changes that are going on in your body, that you are not aging. And so, I think you can help avoid aging by living a life full of love and joy. Again, that doesn't mean you don't have trouble, but you are making a choice about what you experience and feel, and the kind of change that that creates in your body is what helps you resist illness and just stay healthier and younger.” Dr. Be
ie Siegel
Growing healthier and younger sounds like a good thing to me! Since the Sabbath Day is designed to bring us into a mode of receiving directly from our Creator by ceasing our own productivity, it makes sense that we would experience benefits like laughter, joy, love, health and youthfulness as well. Basically, it is like being more playful and childlike, living in the pure joy of the moment and accepting ourselves and others just as we are instead of spending any energy thinking or doing things to change each other. Acceptance is very freeing and energizing, and it is truly one of the most tangible gifts of Shabbat.
There is ample evidence, scientifically and psychologically verifiable, that taking one day out of seven days to rest contributes to a healthier life. But I hadn’t really considered that it might also contribute to a longer life as well, although it makes perfect sense. Let me simply say that I, for one, am certainly willing to experiment with the idea!
After all, “losing track of time,” as Be
ie Siegal calls it, sounds very similar to “a sanctuary in time” as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel defines it in his book, The Sabbath. The hours we set aside for holiness, our best understanding of the word and how it inspires our own Sabbath Day are surely not lost to us. They are invested, so to speak, in our own lives and the lives of our family members and congregations with whom we gather on Shabbat. Investing in the Sabbath rituals, in prayer and song and conversation, not to mention delicious food, is all in the interest of our own holiness, on one unique day out of seven that is different from the weekdays’ ceaseless work and worry.
Perhaps as each of us invests in our own holiness by setting aside the Sabbath Day each week we are contributing to the health of all peoples on the planet while we experience joyful peace and pleasure, potentially increasing our individual lifespan as well. It is a worthy investment of time, for all time.