We will explore the four essential strands that facilitate our growth and development into wholeness. These four strands—body, mind, spirit, and shadow—are really four ways of looking at our unified self. We can work on each strand independently but because they are interrelated, whatever we do in one strand affects the rest. It is as though we want to describe an orange. We can talk about the color, the shape, the taste, the texture. In fact, the only way we can talk about an orange is to describe the various aspects, but finally the only word that works is orange—the wholeness that is experienced.
Body
In this culture we have distanced ourselves from ourselves. While we are aware that we have a body, we are often not embodied. We treat our bodies as objects to be worked on rather than having bodies that are integral to our being. Even when exercising, we are disconnected from our bodies when we watch TV and listen to our iPods. According to one estimate, five behaviors consume over 80 percent of our health care budget--too much eating, smoking, drinking, and stress, and too little exercise. When told about the connection between these behaviors and the health problems we are experiencing today, 90 percent of the people do not change. To learn more about the body strand click here. To learn more about connecting with your body, including exercises click here.
Mind
Our minds, too, have become disembodied. TV has “talking heads,” but in many ways we are all talking heads. Many of us have experienced people talking to themselves—or some figment of their imagination—out loud and tend to think of them as mentally ill, but most of us do the same thing, only silently to ourselves. Sometimes we are aware, all too painfully, of the internal chatter and sometimes we are not, but it is usually there more than it is not. We are not in control of our minds, but our minds often control us. Chronic stress, which is at epidemic levels in our culture, comes not from actual danger we are facing, but a reaction to our mind chattering about what might happen. Our bodies can’t tell the difference between what is real and what our minds tell us. The result is that stress hormones remain in our bodies wreaking havoc. Because we can’t turn our minds off and we believe our own horror stories, we can’t sleep (or we sleep too much), we drink and take drugs to shut out the internal noise, and do all sorts of other self-destructive things to avoid hearing ourselves. Learn more about the mind here.
Spirit
Spirit, which deals with matters of ultimate concern, either gets totally lost in all of this disconnection or is rarely integrated into our lives in a meaningful way. Spirit is not seen as part of our being (or more accurately as our Being). Because of the disconnection, we become human doings rather than human beings and our depth gets lost. Not only do we become disconnected from ourselves but become disconnected from each other and the universe at large. We are at bottom manifestations of spirit and our body, mind, and spirit are not separate any more than the shape, color, taste, and texture are different from the orange as a whole. To learn more about the spirit, click here.
Shadow
Shadow, those parts of ourselves that are hidden, repressed, cut off, are by definition problem areas that show up when people, situations, feelings, or sensations create reactions in us that often get us into trouble. We usually project these reactions out into the world where we blame others for our reactions (“he made me so mad,” “my co-workers make me feel anxious when they look at me funny,””I’m afraid that something is very wrong when my stomach gets upset.”) The shadow parts hold us back from our potential, often create recurring problems in our lives, and sap our energy. They affect the other aspects of our being negatively. They are like underground rivers that pollute our being. They can be dealt with once we recognize them for what they are. While they can be difficult to face, once we do face them the seeming garbage of our lives can be transformed into useful compost. To learn more about the shadow click here.
About Us - About Ourselves - Wholeness
The Four Strands - Body, Mind, Spirit, Shadow
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Copyright Integral Connections 2011
Join us at Integral Connections in the important work of integrating all aspects of our being in the journey toward wholeness.
