In any given circumstance my fall-back is to live within the confines of my head. When I can’t comprehend feeling and I am not sure how to answer the haunting question, What next?, I respond by abandoning my heart and taking up residency in my head. There it is safe, logical, and fairly easy to navigate. There are no surprises and most importantly no emotions.  And so in difficult times or during new experiences you’ll often find me sticking safely within the boundaries of analytical reason occupying my mind.

However there are weeks, like the past few, when no amount of reason satisfies. There are weeks when questions topple over on themselves and in the face of multiple rights and wrongs logic becomes an inadequate tool for steering myself through the choices that lie ahead. In moments such as these I am thankful for a divine wisdom that settles quietly into my day until I acknowledge its presence. This time around Great Wisdom placed one phrase at the forefront of my mind, holistic living. 

 “Each moment is just what it is.”  - Pema Chodron, The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving – Kindness

Holistic living is a truth-bearing path that is more profound than the bumper sticker ways in which I tend to apply it. Holistic living requires we understand that each moment is simply and indefinably exactly what it presents itself to be. And while logic has its place, so does mysticism – and each moment offered in this life is complete with a little of both.  Logic might explain how something happened, but it will never provide the complete answer to why.

“You’re always standing in the middle of sacred space, standing in the middle of the circle.”  - Pema Chodron, The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving – Kindness

Every moment is an opportunity to be engulfed in the very heart and center, the breath and seed of life.  Its my firm belief (and perhaps worst habit) that practicing holistic living; becoming mindful not only of lives interconnectivity, but moreover our own… allowing our mind, heart, soul, and physical being to work together to experience and interpret every moment, is the way Truth is revealed to us.  I believe it often starts by centering on the simple notion that every moment Is and simultaneously, We Are. And because such, we will always discover that we’ve been resting within the middle of the circle, within Sacred Truth, the entire time. It Is, We Are, so now, this very moment is Sacred – it’s living, breathing Truth. It is the Divine, Unknowable - Known, breath-taking Beauty… the Great I Am.

One of my greatest barriers to living a holistic life (besides my ever present ego) is grasping the concept that whether I like it or not my emotions effect logic and vice versa. I am an emotional, spiritual, rational, and physical being.  Therefore my experiences, uncertainties, and answers must be sought out interdependently among all those characteristics. Escaping into my mind isn’t fruitful or healthy. Logic isn’t my entire being and that is precisely why logic will never be able to provide me with a complete understanding of Truth.

“Mysticism is essentially a belief that reality is oneness.”  - Scott Peck, Road Less Traveled

I like to think myself a mystic, but truth be told I am far too compartmentalized to truly understand the oneness of self, much less the grandeur of all lives essential oneness.  As of late I have been attempting to respond to my emotions with logic and in the process I’ve only led myself deeper into a pit of turmoil. My frustrations, along with my joys, are multi-dimensional and require that I approach them humbly, with all my being, not just the mind.

Holistic living is practicing oneness. Oneness is the art of living truth. And living truth is what unveils our eyes to help us see that we’ve always been resting in the Center of Sacredness. I spend countless hours searching for Truth, seeking Wisdom, and creating sacred space only to discover that all along heaven has been right here on earth and so has the Divine. If only I’d allow myself to occupy all my being, rather than just portions at a time, then perhaps I’d experience this perfect moment that was and is and forever shall be the Sacred Center, the Seed of Life, waiting to welcome me home.

Greet your days well my friends. Approach them with loving-kindness, great compassion, and quiet humility…

They have so much in store for you.
- Bobs