The Spiritual Life of a First Responder

By Rabbi Howard A. Cohen, Deputy Chief (Ret.), member of the National Volunteer Fire Council

I am a rabbi. I’ve served congregations in Alaska, Massachusetts, and Vermont, and was a prison chaplain for five years in Pennsylvania. I was also an active firefighter for 20 years, entering the fire service world as a department chaplain, and retiring as a deputy chief. Today, I remain active as an instructor for the Africa Fire Mission. For a long time, I’ve been exploring matters of spiritual health in diverse settings, especially the fire service world. None of this makes me an authority by any means, but it does afford me a certain perspective on the topic of spirituality and the fire service.

A lot of people think they know what spirituality means but many have a hard time defining it. This isn’t surprising because understanding spirituality is a highly subjective matter. For the purpose of this article, therefore...

LET’S DEFINE SPIRITUALITY AS A SENSE OF MEANINGFUL CONNECTION TO SOMETHING BEYOND OR BIGGER THAN OURSELVES.

For many of us in the fire service what we do isn’t just a job, it’s a vocation. We do what we do, and face the challenges we face, because we are called to help others and we are self-sacrificing. We train to save lives under extreme conditions. Every time that tone drops, we’re answering a higher calling.

We may not think of what we are doing as spiritual work, but for those we help during the worst hours of their lives, our work must seem spiritual. For them, we are practically divine agents. We may not use words like spirituality, higher calling, and holy when we are thinking and talking about our work, but in my opinion, the fire service is nothing less than holy work.

Beyond the holy nature of our life-saving work, I believe there’s something spiritual in the way we bond with our colleagues. We trust our lives to one another and the lives of those we help depend on our ability to work together. At the end of a day of soul-wrenching experiences, we cry, hug, and support one another because we have a spiritual connection. There’s a lot of talk in today’s fire service about emotional wellbeing.

Emotional Wellbeing

is about cultivating a frame of mind that can broaden your outlook and help you connect to something larger, something beyond yourself. Emotional wellbeing involves accepting and exploring who you are, enhancing your inner resources to reduce stress and maintaining a positive outlook on life. It’s about developing an awareness and an acceptance of the way you feel.

SPIRITUALITY & SPIRITUAL HEALTH

by contrast, are about actively seeking meaningful connections with something larger or beyond yourself which can result in positive emotions and personal growth.

PUT SIMPLY, THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT SPIRITUALITY STARTS WITH LOOKING OUTWARD, WHILE EMOTIONAL WELLBEING STARTS WITH LOOKING INWARD.

The two are deeply integrated and, in fact, reinforce one another. Unfortunately, the daily challenges of working in the fire service take their toll – adrenaline carries us only so far. Eventually, all the fires, car crashes, accidents, damaged bodies, and deaths can turn what began as a calling into a grueling job as the demands of the profession can slowly chip away at our spiritual health. Being a firefighter not only brings us into direct contact with trauma and tragedy, but also demands that we act, not feel.

Over time, as we become habituated to not processing our emotions, our emotional wellbeing and spiritual health can begin to suffer. Left unchecked, this may lead to burnout and/or secondary traumatic stress that can impact our health and relationships. Our work may start to feel meaningless and the connections to our colleagues will start to fray as we literally become dispirited.

As dire as this sounds, there are many ways to regain and sustain spiritual health. Try incorporating some of the following suggestions into your daily life to strengthen both your spiritual wellbeing and emotional health.

Develop A Strong Sense Of Gratitude

This can be as simple as making a point of expressing gratitude every day to the people you connect with. Take time every day to be thankful for the work others do for you and express your gratitude.

Invest In Your Relationships

Invest time and energy in the people you love and who love you in return.

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Embrace Rituals

The life of a firefighter is filled with important daily safety tasks. Embrace these tasks as sacred rituals and as you go through your checklist, visualize how they connect you to your colleagues, remembering what might happen to them if you didn’t do this task correctly.

MEDITATE AND/OR PRAY

Foster Empathy For Others

Pay close attention to the people who surround you, then expand the empathy you feel for those you know to encompass those you haven't met but may be helping.

Work on your spiritual health by questioning, affirming, and revising your beliefs. Drill down on troubling thoughts instead of hiding them from yourself. Share your thoughts and discuss your concerns with someone you trust.

While spirituality may incorporate elements of religion, they are neither the same thing, nor entirely distinct from one another. Religion is about following a prescribed set of rules, traditions, or beliefs, while spirituality is entirely subjective and can be defined any way you choose. Some people express their spirituality by preserving aspects of a traditional religion they enjoy, like the practice of prayer or a belief in a God. This is fine—as is the choice to express your spirituality in other ways. Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way to seek spiritual meaning. It’s all about our individual choices.