1. Spirituality,
Emotions and Food
Claudia Nunes
Bezerra de Menezes Spiritist Association

2. Agenda
• Spiritism and Emotions
• Emotions and Society
• Types of Emotions
• Dealing with Emotions
• Emotions are physical feelings
• What does food has to do with all of this?
• Types of Emotions

3. What is Emotion?
• Latin = Emovere = Move
• From the same family of Feelings
• Much more complex
• Includes Ideological Complexity
• Moral concussion , commotion
• Phenomenon of affective nature that
produces organic reaction and
concussion awareness
• Positive x Negative

4. Spiritism and Emotions
• 471. When we feel a sensation of vague
anxiety, of indefinable uneasiness, or of
interior satisfaction, without any assignable
cause, do these sensations proceed simply
from our physical state?
– "They are almost always an effect of the
communications which you unconsciously
receive from the spirits about you, or which you
have received from them during your sleep."

5. Spiritism and Emotions
• 718. Does the law of self-preservation
make it our duty to provide for our bodily
wants?
– "Yes; without physical health and strength,
labor is impossible.“
• 722. Is there any foundation in reason for
the abstinence from certain foods practiced
among various peoples?
– "Whatever man can eat without injury to his
health is permitted to him…”

6. Spiritism and Emotions
• 724. Is there any merit in abstinence
from any particular kind of food, animal
or other, when undergone as an expiation?
– "Yes, if undergone for the sake of others; but
God cannot regard as meritorious any
abstinence that does not impose a real
privation, and that has not a serious and useful
aim. This is why we say that those whose fasting
is only apparent are hypocrites."

7. Emotions and Society
• Emotion is a part of us.
• Strongly Influenced by Society
– Rules and culture
• Some may even order certain
conduct

8. Types of Emotions

10. Dealing with Emotions
• From a psychological point of view:
– Pleasant x disturbing
– Establishing identities:
• Approach x Rejection
• Fear x Equality x Love
• Disgust x Sympathy
• Rejection x Acceptance
• Make an assessment to divert the
damages of a harmful emotion before
harming others or even yourself.
• Make an Effort to Transform them…

11. Everyone should strive to
transform Harmful Emotions
into Useful Emotions because
when something is out of place
within ourselves we tend to
exteriorize it incorrectly. We
should seek to examine in depth
the reasons why and
immediately change their
direction.

12. Emotions are
physical feelings

13. Physical Feelings
• Profound interaction between Spirit
(Mind) and our Physical Bodies.
• Same illness = Different reactions
• Our Emotions determine what type of
outcome an illness/Reaction/Emotion
will reflect on our physical body.
• Our behavior is responsible for all the
physical and/or emotional distresses
we encounter in our lives.

14. What does food has to
do with all of this?

15. Layers of our Spirit

16. Food
• Humans get nourished by ingesting:
– Liquid and Solid Foods
– Atmospheric Air
– Cosmic and Spiritual Fluids
• The perispirit has the possibility of
absorbing subtle energies
• Once we have lived our Emotional cycle,
learned from it, curbed it, the body does
not immediately react.
• That is why we can use foods to stimulate
the body to quickly accompany what the
Spirit (Mind) has learned.

17. Types of Emotions

18. Fear
• How many of us get lost in the dark
Web of mistrust and fear, losing the
most beautiful opportunities of
elevation! ... Emmanuel
• We are all Spirits, immortal beings.
• We reincarnate because we must
progress.
• There is no pre-set destiny, luck or
lack of it.

19. Overcoming Fear
• “Place your concerns and disquieting fears in
the hopes you have in the Celestial Father,
because Divine Love desires the well being of
all of us.” - Our Daily Bread
• Christ’s Revelation – Genesis Item 23.
– “… He is no more the God to be feared, but the
God to be Loved.”
• Spiritist communication – Genesis Item 31.
– “… Thus he has no more fear of death; it is for
him a deliverance, the gate of true life.
• Tool to overcome Fear = Knowledge…

20. Scare away Fear
• Lentils
• Anxiety and fear can be related to an
imbalance of calcium and magnesium.
This elements act in the balancing of the
sensations. In addition to including
foods with calcium (cheese and yogurt)
and magnesium (spinach beet) in the
diet, eat more lentils. It has anxiolytic
effect, namely, reassures and comforts.
That's because it is a precursor to the
neurotransmitter gaba, which also
interferes in feelings.
• How much: 1-1/2 Cup / week.

21. Stress
• Spiritist Psychology – Mental Health
– Biological variables
– Psychological
– Social and
– Spiritual
– Relationship in between man, nature and the environment
• Personalities are pre-disposed to Stress
– Excessive Financial or Social Ambitions
– Leadership
– Exhibitionism
– Perfectionism
– Difficulty relaxing

22. Overcoming Stress
• Studying, Understanding that we are
Eternal, that this is nothing more than
another School Year.
• Fluidic Therapy, Group Therapy
• To Overcome Stress – Rejuvenate your
beliefs
HAVE FAITH!!!

23. Stun your Stress
• Green tea
– This herb, Camellia Sinensis, has
phytochemicals (polyphenols and
catechins) able to neutralize the
oxidizing substances present in the
body that, in excess, leave you tired
and stressed and eventually to disrupt
the functioning of the organism. Stress
is able to trigger metabolic syndrome,
guilty by conditions such as obesity
and depression. Drink green tea,
according to some studies, improves
digestion and makes the mind slow.
– How much: 4 to 6 cups / day

24. Bad Mood
• Spiritist Psychology – Mental Health
– Dysthymia
– Chronic form of Depression
– Milder Symptoms
– Always complaining
– Only sees the Negative side of the world
– Rarely asks for help

25. Overcoming Moodiness
• Accepting responsibility for our
thoughts and attitudes
• Learn to recognize our limitations and conflicts
• Long process of our mental and spiritual
balance
• Realize that the other or the external situations
is not what make us unhappy
• We are the cause and effect of ourselves.
• There is no fatality in our life

26. Lifts the Spirit
• Salmon
– Constant bad temper can be a sign of lack
of Omega 3 on the plate. The official
representative of this fat friend is the
salmon. But there are other fish (tuna,
sardine and boot) who play his astral
upstairs. Omega 3 improves mood because
it increases levels of serotonin, dopamine
and norepinephrine-substances responsible
for the sense of well-being. Studies also
show that this fatty acid removes free
radicals from the scene and so protects the
central nervous system.
– How much: 1 portion, 3 x Week.

27. Jesus stands as being
the maximum
example of the
control of emotions,
not leaving upset ever
by those that are
considered harmful.
In your every step,
love and grace, as well
as compassion and
mercy were present,
featuring the ideal
biotype, guide and
template for all
individuals.

28. Bibliography
• Spirit’s Book – Many passages
• Our Daily Bread – Spiritist Alliance for Books
• Dicionario da Alma – Francisco Candido Xavier
• Sites:
– Aprofundamento Doutrinatio Espirita
– Doutrina Espirita – As Emocoes
– http://www.nossolar.org.br/n_tema101.php
– http://espiriteiro.blogspot.com/2011/04/estresse-e-depressao-
algumas.html
– http://www.espiritismo.net/content,0,0,1073,0,0.html

29. Claudia Nunes
Bezerra de Menezes Miami