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Spirituality at Woman's World
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Much emphasis is being placed on mind body wholeness these days. It seem's a wonderful concept, spiritual awareness associated with the complete human being.
I do believe that to be whole, one needs to connect with themselves, both through the mind, the body and the soul.
I also feel that we need to obtain a peace with ourselves.
Women are constantly battling themselves.
The time has come for women to be able to say yes to them, and no to things they really don't want.
When we are truly at one with ourselves, we can then be complete with inner peace.
I am not stating how we obtain our wholeness.
Each of us do this within our own way, some seek prayer, some seek nature, some seek love.
I don't think there is a right or wrong way to become complete within thyself.
Whatever works for you, is the correct way.
I do feel that when we learn to heal our inner self, we will live a much healthier, happier life.
What matters is your sense of belonging to yourself. Your wholeness.
What are your thoughts?
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The Mind Body Connection
The Five Premises of Mind/Body Health
1. Health is both a science and an art.
There are unknown factors in the healing equation. To increase our capacity to fight off disease, we must reach out for the best that medical science has to offer, and we must reach within to mobilize our own internal resources for healing (the art).
2. Health is more than the absence of disease.
Our physical health occurs in a larger context of mental, emotional and spiritual health. While there is no guarantee of a physical cure, what is always available to us is a sense of wholeness, acceptance (of self and others) and inner peace. Healing is the process of moving towards wholeness, affirming life and living fully.
3. Physical health or illness is only the tip of the iceberg.
Achieving optimal physical health requires us to look beneath the surface at the lifestyles we choose, the belief systems and attitudes we hold, and the choices we make about our spirituality, our inner life, our relationship with self and others, and our sense of purpose or meaning in life.
4. The healing system lies within us.
The body has its own natural ability to heal. In certain situations, surgery or drugs may be life saving, but it is the internal healing system that allows ultimate life. When we fully accept and express all parts of ourselves (our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies), the healing process is strengthened and optimal healing can begin.
5. To activate our internal healing system, we must participate in getting well.
It is our participation in our own healing that fully accesses the healing system. Participation requires that we develop a passionate involvement with life, that we find our own meaning in illness and in health. Healing, in its essence, is an adventure in self-discovery.
MIND/BODY LESSON
One of the most powerful keys for unlocking our healing system lies in our willingness to share from our hearts and open up to our true feelings and needs. Many times when we are in pain, we use our anger and our hurt as a cover-up for our deeper fears. When we go beyond our surface emotions and begin to acknowledge our real fears, we can break through to the resentments and disappointments we hold and begin the process of true healing.
True healing, in this sense, means our ability to become "whole" again, to gather together the many fragmented pieces of our lives and make peace inside. True healing means our ability to accept ourselves as we are and begin the process of moving towards becoming who we want to be. True healing means our ability to take responsibility for our mistakes and shortcomings from a place of compassion and love, not judgement and punishment. True healing means our ability to discover who we are and our sense of purpose and meaning in this life. This is a painful and difficult process and what Joseph Campbell refers to as "the hero's journey".
We cannot "fake" this process. We cannot "pretend" to forgive ourselves or others. We must courageously go within and feel our hurts and sadness and grieve our losses. We must courageously go within and acknowledge our failures and our mistakes, even when we may feel they were justified or deserved. We must forgive ourselves through the hard and difficult path of self-disclosure and honesty. We must forgive others with compassion. We must forgive ourselves with compassion. We can find our true strength and healing only by acknowledging and accepting our own humanity, our frailties and our limitations.
Scientific evidence for the healing power of self-disclosure and honest self-examination comes form the work of James Pennebaker, professor of psychology and author of Opening Up: The Healing Power of Confiding in Others (New York: Avon 1991). Pennebaker found that writing about traumatic experiences for as little as 15 minutes a day for 4 days can reduce physician visits for illness, improve serum immune function and enhance work performance up to 6 months time. (Pennebaker, Kiecolt-Glaser & Glaser 1988: Disclosure of traumas and immune function: Health implications for psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 56: 239-245).
This is what we mean when we say that sharing our true feelings and needs helps us unlock the power of our healing systems. Pennebaker says "to hold back your thoughts, feelings or behaviors requires work...People who have had traumas about which they cannot speak are more likely to visit physicians for illness, to be hospitalized and to be diagnosed with major (cancer, hypertension) or minor (colds, flu) health problems than people who have spoken with others about the same traumas."
Why does this disclosure improve our health and trigger our healing system? Pennebaker hypothesizes that "talking helps us to find meaning in complicated life circumstances...writing helps to reconstruct painful thoughts and images into a story or narrative. Once we can give an upsetting event some degree of structure - with a clear beginning, middle and an end - we are better able to move past it."
We need to further understand that the type of disclosure Pennebaker refers to in his studies is not a "surface" diary of events and feelings. The disclosure is a deep and sometimes painful exploration of our deepest thoughts and feelings involved in the traumatic event. Somehow, when we move our disturbing thoughts, feelings, fears, hurts, disappointments and resentments onto paper, we take that energy "out of our bodies" in an appropriate manner (i.e. not dumping it onto others or kicking the cat) and begin to "free up" our own internal healing energies.
Clearly, the disclosure we are talking about allows us to find a sense of meaning or purpose in our pain. That sense of meaning is life giving. Victor Frankl, psychiatrist and author of Man's Search for Meaning, states that "to live is to suffer. To survive is to find meaning in the suffering."
