In recent posts I've emphasized how important I believe exploring and expressing our soul is for our health and well-being.
Although hard to define, I've described soul as our unique nature, personality, talents, interests, voice and story.
I've also suggested that many of us forget or disregard our own soul and story and this neglect can have a detrimental impact on our mind, body and spirit.
The writer Barry Lopez pens, "Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.”
I would add that the story one may most need to hear is their own.
At the end of last months post I said I would offer some ways to explore and express your soul for greater health and well-being.
Idea 1: Your Soul Story
Find an old notebook or journal, or buy a new one.
Studies have demonstrated that journaling or writing down your thoughts and feelings have a positive impact on health and well-being.
Give yourself permission to take 15 to 30 minutes each day for a week to reflect on and write about significant and meaningful events that have occured on your life journey.
I recommend early morning before the world starts waking up. But you may prefer another time.
Write about anything that comes to mind as you reflect on your life. Try not to judge or screen what comes up. There will most likely be events that you consider positive, negative or neutral. Try not to label them or get swept away by your memories of them. Simply record them as you would if you were writing your own autobiography. Don't worry about spelling, grammar, content or trying to make your words perfect or poetic. Simply write about what comes to mind and keep it flowing for as long as your thoughts come.
It might be helpful to focus on a particular period of your life for each day of the week that you do this. You could begin with childhood, proceed to adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, senior adulthood etc. Or you can simply write about whatever comes to mind each day as you reflect on your life.
At the end of the week take some time to read back over what you've written.
What thoughts or emotions emerge as you read about your significant life events? Pride for what you've accomplished or endured? Gratitude? Sadness? Disappointment? Joy? Other emotions?
What might it feel like to share some of your significant life events with a friend or loved one? You can ask them to simply listen as you share and not feel like they need to comment. How does it feel to share and be heard?
Would you consider sending me an email at jason@livewhole.net or comment below about how this experience of reflecting and journaling was for you?
Next month I'll share a second idea on how to go deeper into the exploration and expression of your soul for your greatest health and well-being.
May You Live Whole!
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
Do you neglect your soul and spirit?
Of the familiar threesome of mind, body and soul (or spirit), does your soul get the least attention?
The soul is hard to define, but by soul I mean your unique personality, life story and innermost being. Other definitions describe the soul as the spiritual part of humans distinct from the physical; the essential part or fundamental nature of anything; the animating principle of life and action in humans.
“This is the great error of our day, that physicians separate the soul from the body," observed Plato over 2000 years ago. "The cure should not be attempted without the treatment of the whole, and no attempt should be made to cure the body without the soul.”
Although Plato's critique was directed toward the medical practitioners of his time, my sense is that even today most of us separate the soul from the body. We may discount the soul altogether as a key to our health and well-being. In our defense, it is easy to neglect or take for granted the immaterial or spiritual. If we can't see, touch, or taste something, we can think it doesn't exist.
Thomas Moore in his book Care of the Soul writes, "The great malady of the twentieth century, implicated in all of our troubles and affecting us individually and socially, is 'loss of soul.' When soul is neglected, it doesn't just go away; it appears symptomatically in obsessions, addictions, violence, and loss of meaning."
What would it look like for you to pay more attention to the exploration and expression of your soul? What do you think...might it lead to greater health and happiness in your mind and body?
Stay tuned. In future posts I'll be offering ideas on ways to explore and express your soul for greater health and well-being.
May you Live Whole and neglect not your soul!
The soul is hard to define, but by soul I mean your unique personality, life story and innermost being. Other definitions describe the soul as the spiritual part of humans distinct from the physical; the essential part or fundamental nature of anything; the animating principle of life and action in humans.
“This is the great error of our day, that physicians separate the soul from the body," observed Plato over 2000 years ago. "The cure should not be attempted without the treatment of the whole, and no attempt should be made to cure the body without the soul.”
Although Plato's critique was directed toward the medical practitioners of his time, my sense is that even today most of us separate the soul from the body. We may discount the soul altogether as a key to our health and well-being. In our defense, it is easy to neglect or take for granted the immaterial or spiritual. If we can't see, touch, or taste something, we can think it doesn't exist.
Thomas Moore in his book Care of the Soul writes, "The great malady of the twentieth century, implicated in all of our troubles and affecting us individually and socially, is 'loss of soul.' When soul is neglected, it doesn't just go away; it appears symptomatically in obsessions, addictions, violence, and loss of meaning."
What would it look like for you to pay more attention to the exploration and expression of your soul? What do you think...might it lead to greater health and happiness in your mind and body?
Stay tuned. In future posts I'll be offering ideas on ways to explore and express your soul for greater health and well-being.
May you Live Whole and neglect not your soul!
Friday, March 1, 2013
No Regrets!
An Australian nurse, Bronnie Ware spent years caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She noticed common themes and recorded her observations in a blog called Inspiration and Chai, and later into a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. They are:
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
"Most people had not honored even a half of their dreams and knew that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it."
2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
"This came from every male patient that I nursed. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence."
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
"Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result."
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
"Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved."
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
"Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again."
In Short:
Be Authentic.
Don't work so hard.
Express your feelings.
Stay connected with friends.
Let yourself be happy.
May you live whole with no regrets!
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
"Most people had not honored even a half of their dreams and knew that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it."
2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
"This came from every male patient that I nursed. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence."
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
"Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result."
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
"Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved."
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
"Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again."
In Short:
Be Authentic.
Don't work so hard.
Express your feelings.
Stay connected with friends.
Let yourself be happy.
May you live whole with no regrets!
Friday, February 1, 2013
What will you believe this new year? Part II
“Re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul." - Walt Whitman
Since childhood I’ve been struck by the notion that if you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will jump out immediately. But if you put a frog in a pot of water at room temperature and slowly increase the water to boiling, the frog will remain in the water until it boils to death.
I believe this is where we find ourselves currently in our conventional American pot when it comes to our collective health and well-being, and possibly our economics, although that is not my field. We’ve been in the same water, the same way of thinking for so long, we don’t even realize that it’s killing us, slowly but nevertheless. And this is the sad scenario.
The happier story is that the frog awakens to the fact that the current context isn’t serving him, is open to the possibility that there is another way, and chooses to jump into greater freedom. But before he could jump, he had to believe that he could. And this for me is the crux of the matter.
There is a lot of effort going into helping people change their behavior for better health outcomes. This is great. But my experience personally and with others tells me that until we change our beliefs, we’ll just keep sliding back into the same pot with the same outcomes.
I believe that a subtle and yet powerful reason we are not more vibrant, healthy, or inspired in the U.S. currently, is that some of our most deeply held beliefs have a debilitating impact on our psyche and soul.
Many of our churches have indoctrinated us to believe that we are sinful and selfish without a savior. Much of conventional medicine has persuaded us that we are sick and broken without expensive interventions and medications. And our consumer culture has convinced us that we are insufficient without material objects to keep us safe or make us happy.
I offer a counter perspective from my own experience, education and reason; quite simply that we are not innately sinful, sick or insufficient. I’ll say that again - we are not sinful, sick, or insufficient!
Each of us is in fact uniquely curious, creative, and whole. And we possess an innate and abundant capacity for our own greatest health and well-being. We simply must re-examine the beliefs that debase our souls and degrade our health, boiling us slowly to death, while at the same time renewing our faith and trust in the beliefs that offer our greatest happiness and freedom. My life and work are dedicated to this proposition.
I am currently writing and advocating for these perspectives on spirituality, health and well-being. I am determined to publish the details supporting my claims in a forthcoming book. If you know of someone or a group that would benefit from hearing this message, please pass it along or contact me at Email or Website. You can also enter your email above to continue following my monthly health posts. And you can like Live Whole! on Facebook. Thanks!
Since childhood I’ve been struck by the notion that if you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will jump out immediately. But if you put a frog in a pot of water at room temperature and slowly increase the water to boiling, the frog will remain in the water until it boils to death.
I believe this is where we find ourselves currently in our conventional American pot when it comes to our collective health and well-being, and possibly our economics, although that is not my field. We’ve been in the same water, the same way of thinking for so long, we don’t even realize that it’s killing us, slowly but nevertheless. And this is the sad scenario.
The happier story is that the frog awakens to the fact that the current context isn’t serving him, is open to the possibility that there is another way, and chooses to jump into greater freedom. But before he could jump, he had to believe that he could. And this for me is the crux of the matter.
There is a lot of effort going into helping people change their behavior for better health outcomes. This is great. But my experience personally and with others tells me that until we change our beliefs, we’ll just keep sliding back into the same pot with the same outcomes.
I believe that a subtle and yet powerful reason we are not more vibrant, healthy, or inspired in the U.S. currently, is that some of our most deeply held beliefs have a debilitating impact on our psyche and soul.
Many of our churches have indoctrinated us to believe that we are sinful and selfish without a savior. Much of conventional medicine has persuaded us that we are sick and broken without expensive interventions and medications. And our consumer culture has convinced us that we are insufficient without material objects to keep us safe or make us happy.
I offer a counter perspective from my own experience, education and reason; quite simply that we are not innately sinful, sick or insufficient. I’ll say that again - we are not sinful, sick, or insufficient!
Each of us is in fact uniquely curious, creative, and whole. And we possess an innate and abundant capacity for our own greatest health and well-being. We simply must re-examine the beliefs that debase our souls and degrade our health, boiling us slowly to death, while at the same time renewing our faith and trust in the beliefs that offer our greatest happiness and freedom. My life and work are dedicated to this proposition.
I am currently writing and advocating for these perspectives on spirituality, health and well-being. I am determined to publish the details supporting my claims in a forthcoming book. If you know of someone or a group that would benefit from hearing this message, please pass it along or contact me at Email or Website. You can also enter your email above to continue following my monthly health posts. And you can like Live Whole! on Facebook. Thanks!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
What will you believe this new year?
Is it possible that some of your current beliefs are no longer serving your greatest health and well-being?
Could this be the year for you to separate the beliefs that free and inspire you from those that keep you fearful and restrained?
Einstein wrote, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
Abraham Lincoln believed that "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present."
In my own life there have been beliefs and dogmas that I had to re-think in order to live a healthy life. Primary among them, as one born in Mississippi and raised in the United Methodist Church, is the belief and policy that openly gay people cannot serve as ordained leaders.
For years as I struggled to understand and accept my own sexual orientation, I allowed this powerful cultural and religious dogma to be MY belief and to impact my psyche and health. Where I had been a leader as a youth in and outside the church, worked as a youth minister during and following college and even completed Divinity School, I allowed this belief to permeate my heart, mind and spirit. I slid slowly into the shadows of self loathing, despair and poor health.
How was I to reconcile this official belief, that openly gay people could not serve as leaders, with my deeper knowing that I was gay and had in fact been encouraged for most of my life to be a leader?
When I was hospitalized at the age of 34 with extremely high blood sugar levels, blood pressure and cholesterol, I was finally forced to accept that by not living an open and transparent life I was creating stress that my body could no longer sustain. By hiding part of me, I was killing all of me. I finally had the evidence that being true to myself and living an authentic life was critical for my survival.
The Bravewell Collaborative in Integrative Medicine notes that, “Beliefs can be powerful forces that affect our health and capacity to heal. Whether personal or cultural, they usually affect us in one of two ways—they modify our behavior or they cause actual changes in our endocrine or immune systems.”
How do your beliefs, those things you hold true based on what you've been taught or experienced, impact your health?
Do you disregard your own experience and deeper understanding at the expense of trying to live up to a belief you've been taught? Do you abide by a cultural or religious code rather than accept and embrace the unique imprint of your own soul? You're not an interchangeable part. There will never be anyone quite like you again. YOU - with all your natural gifts, experiences, insight, skills and creativity.
May you be encouraged to choose what you believe with your one precious and unique life this new year. And from this choice may you experience greater health and happiness!
"It is necessary to the happiness of [people] that [they] be mentally faithful to [themselves]. Infidelity does not consist in believing or disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe." Thomas Paine
Could this be the year for you to separate the beliefs that free and inspire you from those that keep you fearful and restrained?
Einstein wrote, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
Abraham Lincoln believed that "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present."
In my own life there have been beliefs and dogmas that I had to re-think in order to live a healthy life. Primary among them, as one born in Mississippi and raised in the United Methodist Church, is the belief and policy that openly gay people cannot serve as ordained leaders.
For years as I struggled to understand and accept my own sexual orientation, I allowed this powerful cultural and religious dogma to be MY belief and to impact my psyche and health. Where I had been a leader as a youth in and outside the church, worked as a youth minister during and following college and even completed Divinity School, I allowed this belief to permeate my heart, mind and spirit. I slid slowly into the shadows of self loathing, despair and poor health.
How was I to reconcile this official belief, that openly gay people could not serve as leaders, with my deeper knowing that I was gay and had in fact been encouraged for most of my life to be a leader?
When I was hospitalized at the age of 34 with extremely high blood sugar levels, blood pressure and cholesterol, I was finally forced to accept that by not living an open and transparent life I was creating stress that my body could no longer sustain. By hiding part of me, I was killing all of me. I finally had the evidence that being true to myself and living an authentic life was critical for my survival.
The Bravewell Collaborative in Integrative Medicine notes that, “Beliefs can be powerful forces that affect our health and capacity to heal. Whether personal or cultural, they usually affect us in one of two ways—they modify our behavior or they cause actual changes in our endocrine or immune systems.”
How do your beliefs, those things you hold true based on what you've been taught or experienced, impact your health?
Do you disregard your own experience and deeper understanding at the expense of trying to live up to a belief you've been taught? Do you abide by a cultural or religious code rather than accept and embrace the unique imprint of your own soul? You're not an interchangeable part. There will never be anyone quite like you again. YOU - with all your natural gifts, experiences, insight, skills and creativity.
May you be encouraged to choose what you believe with your one precious and unique life this new year. And from this choice may you experience greater health and happiness!
"It is necessary to the happiness of [people] that [they] be mentally faithful to [themselves]. Infidelity does not consist in believing or disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe." Thomas Paine
Saturday, December 1, 2012
What makes you come alive?
Last month I ended my post with this question.
What makes you come alive?
One way to find an answer is to remember a time in your life when you felt really alive, when you did something for the pure enjoyment and pleasure of it.
Hint - You may need to think back to your childhood.
I recently uncovered my own response to this question by remembering that as I child I loved to sing. I loved singing in my bedroom with my record player and instruments all around me. My mom was a music teacher and my father a music lover, so I had every childlike instrument from drums to piano to kazoo.
So what did you love to do as a child? Or who did you pretend to be as a child? It's never to late to rediscover the spark and this may just be a perfect time of the year to wake up the child within.
The wisdom and wonder will still be there. It's In Every One of Us.
Happy and healthy holidays to you and yours!
Jason
What makes you come alive?
One way to find an answer is to remember a time in your life when you felt really alive, when you did something for the pure enjoyment and pleasure of it.
Hint - You may need to think back to your childhood.
I recently uncovered my own response to this question by remembering that as I child I loved to sing. I loved singing in my bedroom with my record player and instruments all around me. My mom was a music teacher and my father a music lover, so I had every childlike instrument from drums to piano to kazoo.
So what did you love to do as a child? Or who did you pretend to be as a child? It's never to late to rediscover the spark and this may just be a perfect time of the year to wake up the child within.
The wisdom and wonder will still be there. It's In Every One of Us.
Jason
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Don't worry about what the world needs!
Did the title of this post get your attention?
Does it sound selfish to you? Or does it sound intriguing and a little freeing?
It's the first sentence of a longer quote by Howard Thurman, American author, philosopher, educator and theologian.
"Don't worry about what the world needs. Ask what makes YOU come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive."
So how does the message in this quote relate to our health and well-being? In my mind and experience they are intricately related.
As I have listened to more and more people share the stories of their lives, I have realized that most of them have a deep desire to care greatly for the "others" in their lives.
Whether it's honoring a parents last wish to look after their spouse or siblings after their death, or always saying yes to their church or community organization's request to give more of their time and resources, many will go beyond what is healthy for them in order to meet these demands.
My concern then is not that we care or do too little. My concern is that many care and do too much. And this I believe has profound impacts on our health and well-being.
I don't believe for example that the tremendous increase in Diabetes in our country is caused simply from too much food and too little exercise. I believe another factor is that people are weighted down emotionally and physically by either their own perceptions of their obligations, or by the very real expectations of others upon them such as parents or employers.
So Howard Thurman's message above, his request of us if you will, is to STOP and ASK ourselves a different question for a time.
WHAT MAKES YOU COME ALIVE?
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