This feels appropriate to share on a Sunday. Did you know that the words holy, whole, holistic, heal, and health all come from the same root word?

For my fellow word nerds, here you go:

Old English hælþ "wholeness, a being whole, sound or well," from Proto-Germanic *hailitho, from PIE *kailo- "whole, uninjured, of good omen" (source also of Old English hal "hale, whole;" Old Norse heill "healthy;" Old English halig, Old Norse helge "holy, sacred;" Old English hælan "to heal").

In other words, you cannot be healthy unless you are whole. You cannot be holy unless you are holistic. You cannot heal unless you are holy. And round and round we go. It’s a big circle — and that is what I hope this pandemic is teaching us all. What goes around comes around. OR when we see the world as One Whole, we can heal and be healthy. And that is holiness.

That is the point of each day of this practice: To uncover the places in myself that are not whole. Those places are mostly hidden or unconscious. And so first I have to listen and next dig deep.

I am working out this process here, and sharing what I learn. Here’s today’s process:

WHAT HAPPENED: I realized that I had no energy for the full day of work I had planned.

WHAT I INITIALLY FELT: Anxious about taking time off. Anxious that listening to my heart would let someone else down. Worried about not working. A little unfamiliar elation at actually listening to my heart.

WHAT I INITIALLY SAID TO MYSELF: Is this okay? Is it okay to acknowledge that i need time off? Can I do this? Am I allowed?

WHAT I INITIALLY WANTED: For someone else to give me permission to do what I knew I needed to do.

WHAT I DID: Gave myself permission — and changed my schedule.

WHAT I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO HAVE DONE: Listened a little earlier, because if I’m honest, I knew that this was probably how I’d feel.

WHAT FEAR SAID: What’s wrong with you that you can’t work? Work is what you do. Work is what you’re here to do. Who will you be if you don’t work?

WHAT LOVE SAID: Good for you. Keep to learning to listen to ME. Lean on me. When you do, it can’t hurt or disappoint anyone else. I’ve got their backs too.

WHAT FELT UNTRUE AND/OR OLD: Relaxation is for the weak. Work is the whole point of living. I don’t know how to stop. I promised that I would show up and do this work today.

WHAT FELT TRUE AND NEEDS ATTENTION: You have to learn to stop so you CAN lean on Love. Otherwise work is all human will — and then Love isn’t leading the work. When you lean on Love, Love does the work. And then it usually doesn’t feel like work at all. So I need to learn to stop and lean more.

WHAT IS NOT WHOLE: I haven’t really learned how not to do and do and do. I haven’t learned how to stop and be still. Yesterday I had moments where I felt relaxed and connected with others and whole. And that showed me how my focus on work work work can sometimes fracture instead of connect.

HOW I WILL PRACTICE WHOLENESS:

I will lean into Love in every area of my life — including/especially work.
I will invite Love to do the doing while I lean.
I will invite Love to show me how to stop.
I will listen to Love and trust what I hear instead of talking myself out of it.
I will be willing and eager to let go of old stories and let Love write new ones.
I will recognize that fear doesn’t always come in with a battle axe. Sometimes it’s just a subtle old story.
I will live Love instead of working at human will.
I will keep listening to and leaning into and learning from Love.

Unlike last month, this month’s video’s will serve as complements to these blogs — and both together will comprise the practice. Here is today’s video: