May this post find you enjoying the summer! This week’s post is about the spiritual practice of Claiming Your Wholeness.
Recently, I attended a Zoom class with one of my absolute favorite spiritual teachers. He opened the class with a meditation, then taught a spiritual principle and closed the class with a Q&A session. While many people asked questions, one woman in particular stood out to me.
She asked, “How can I finish this project that I can’t find the time to complete?”
She went on to explain all of the other commitments in her life that made finishing the project hard. One of the commitments she mentioned was having an adult daughter who had been injured a few years ago. Due to the injury, the daughter has severe disabilities. The woman went on to say that her daughter, “was no longer whole because she could not walk or talk.”
Of course, I wanted to immediately address the woman’s belief about her daughter’s wholeness, but alas, this was not my class. So, I just listened to the teacher answer the woman’s question. The teacher addressed the woman’s question about how to finish her project but didn’t speak to the woman’s belief about wholeness and disability.
When I realized that the teacher was not going to address the topic of wholeness, I typed a message in the chat box. After saying that I too live with a disability, I wrote, “despite any diagnosis your daughter may have, she is completely and totally whole right now as she is.”
Our wholeness comes from the fact that we exist and nothing else. As I like to say, “If you BE, you be whole!” Our existence, which is our Beingness, makes us whole automatically. You are whole because you exist! Period. End of story. We don’t have to do anything or have specific physical or intellectual abilities to be whole. Our physical, intellectual, cognitive and psychological abilities have absolutely, positively nothing, zero, zelch to do with our wholeness. Each of us is a spirit that happens to have a body. Our spirits come from the realm of the Divine and are whole, eternal and perfect!
Our bodies are the tools we use while we are on this planet. We are not our bodies. After all, are you your right knee cap? Are you a hair follicle on top of your head? Are you your left index finger? Of course not! You are so much more than a body part! Just as you are not each individual part of your body, you are not your entire body.
You are the life force, the love, the very energy that animates your body. Your body is the vehicle for what you are: spirit.
Love, blessings and purple,
Allison
Try to do this exercise once every day this week(or as often as possible). If you need modifications to the practice, scroll down to the section titled Access Notes.
Meditating On Your Wholeness
Begin by setting a timer for 5 minutes. Next, say the following statement, either out loud or in your head, 3 times:
I am whole as I was created.
Start your timer. Close your eyes. Think the word “whole” each time you inhale and each time you exhale. When the timer signals the end of the 5 minutes, sit quietly for a few seconds.
The following modifications are intended to create equal access to the spiritual practice above. These modifications are somewhat general to be as useful as possible to as many people as possible. Please feel free to further tweak the exercise as needed so that you can participate as fully as possible while honoring your body’s needs.
1. If you have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) or Substance Abuse Disorder, instead of sitting quietly and thinking the word “whole” during the 5 minutes your eyes are closed, try one of the following modifications:
a. If you use a fidget/STIM device, try manipulating that device in your hand while your eyes are closed and you say the word “whole” in your mind as you inhale and exhale.
b. During the 5 minutes that your eyes are closed, focus on the sensation of your belly moving in and out as you breathe. If you become aware that you are thinking about something other than the movement of your belly, bring your attention back to your breath and the sensation of your belly moving.
c. If 5 minutes is too long for you, try doing this exercise for 2 minutes.
2. If you use a ventilator to breathe, you may wonder if saying the word “whole” in your mind on your inhalation and exhalation is as effective it is for those who do not require mechanical ventilation. The answer is YES, ABSOLUTELY! Thinking the word “whole” each time you inhale and each time you exhale leads to greater awareness of your wholeness, regardless of how air enters and exits your body.
3. If you need a shorter statement to say before closing your eyes, you can say, “I am whole,” or “Whole.”
