Why is it that we always tend to zone in on one area of our lives and then wonder why another area gets neglected? I’d like to propose something rather interesting: we’ve long forgotten that we are whole people, in which every area of our lives is connected to the other. Or, maybe you haven’t forgotten, but as a society, we do not promote whole life integration. We wonder why we are grumpy, but forget that we skipped lunch today and our blood sugar is low.
I’d like to take you back, back in history to a time where society was based on a concept that we were whole beings – body, soul, and spirit. . . It was so strong that they believed the very thoughts you thought could affect your health. The words you spoke had such weight and depth that they could actually affect someone’s health. Your spirit was connected to your soul and so forth.
Fast forward only a few hundred years to a thriving Greek philosophical society that blossomed and grew so rapidly no one had the time to think about the effects this had. Greek philosophy brought in a world of intellectualism, rational thought, and most importantly for us to look at, a separation of the person. Our Western world has taken on a lot of these philosophies, and stems from the philosophy that the intellect is the most important.
Now, I think that most of us, if we sat and thought about a little bit, even just a little bit, we would know that the mind is more than the intellect. Just use your intellect for a moment and remember a time that you were sad. What were your thoughts doing? Were they only contained within the intellect, or could it be that they were engaging with a different part of you? I would imagine that every part of your being felt it. Your stomach, your heart, your skin, your muscles, and the world around you. If you were just using your intellect, you would be able to rationalize that thought away and be just fine. You’d never have to worry about anything bad or good happening because you’d always be able to rationalize it. And why is that? It’s because you know that your thoughts are indeed connected to your heart, emotions, your body, and your spirit.
While we are returning to that original thought process slowly but surely, it is taking some time to re-write those thoughts in our minds, emotions, and within our society. We know deep down that it is true that we are whole beings, but we’ve been inundated that the intellect is far more important than any other part of us, and so finding the truth deep down is a battle.
I took this picture at a beach in Australia called, Cairns. A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones. It struck me so deeply because 100s of people have come and made their mark by balancing a set of their own stones. I made my own and it’s lost in the photo. It’s such a great representation of how we are meant to balance things in our lives. If you put things in order, if you listen to what you need, it will stay balanced. But if you add something extra, or you add something (like a large rock) in the wrong order at the wrong time, things can topple. We’ve all been there when we realize something is off balance.
What I’d like to leave you with and encourage you with today is some ways of taking baby steps toward an integrated life. As you go along your day today, and tomorrow, take some steps by just asking some of these questions:
- How am I doing?
- How is my thought life?
- How is my heart?
- How are my relationships?
- Have I taken some time to myself?
- Have I eaten well today?
- How’s my spirit?
- How are the words I’m speaking – are they bringing life?
- How am I doing in my career or life passion?
- Have I allowed room for creativity in my life?
- Have I gotten some fresh air?
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Kirsten Larsen is a wholeness coach, helping people experience freedom and breakthrough in body, soul, and spirit.
