Spiritual Health

Inspiration

When you are "inspired," you are "breathing or putting life into the human body or imparting reason to a human soul." Inspiration is the breathing in of a divine influence. People like to give that "divine influence" a proper name - God, Allah, Jehovah, Buddha, Krishna - but I don't think that matters. In fact, I think by trying to identify it with any one single divinity misses the point of the universal lesson that all the great masters taught: we are all inspired beings bound to one another by love.

Love is the divine influence. Love breathes and puts life into the human body. Love imparts reason to a human soul. Love inspires you to live. It's the metaphysical energetic input (receiving love) and output (giving love) for the human body, mind, and spirit.

Personally, I don't subscribe to the notion of any one religion or faith - for many reasons. Chief among them is that it divides and excludes, which to me is the opposite of love. It pretends to take a really awesome universal truth - love - and ends up confining it inside a tiny little box. You label your box with an "ism" and share it only with other members of your tribe who believe as you, and all other tribes with their different "isms" are blasphemous and dangerous. So much so that holy wars are waged and innocent people are slaughtered...even though everybody's boxes supposedly contain the same thing - love.

Try as hard as you like, but you will never really fully know the truth of a divine influence as long as you keep it contained in little boxes, hidden from the eyes of strangers. When you do that, you not only limit your ability to give love, but you also limit your ability to receive love. Without that metaphysical energetic input and output, you limit the growth of your own body, mind, and spirit.

What does this have to do with health?

The potential to grow into a mighty oak tree is contained within a tiny acorn. It grows because that's all it knows to do. It doesn't ask for permission. It doesn't feign ignorance. It doesn't fear the unknown. It doesn't take too much of any one thing, and in fact will take only what it needs because all living things (except modern humans) inherently understand that they exist in symbiosis with all other living things.

Every mechanism that it needs to sprout and grow is contained within that tiny shell. When the conditions are right, it will break through that shell and plunge its roots down into the cool earth and throw its branches up towards the sky. As above, so below. It's just waiting for inspiration.

For a tree, inspiration comes in the form of sunlight, earth, air, and water. All four elements are needed for the tree to sprout. Limit any one of them, and its growth will be stunted. Remove any one of them completely and it will die. An oak would never willingly and purposefully limit its growth potential, and it too requires a "give and receive" relationship.

This means that as the oak takes from its environment, it must also give back if it hopes to grow. The fertility of the soil in which it spreads its roots is dependent on the oak shedding its leaves to decompose into a rich humus that attracts other organisms the tree needs to uptake nutrients from the earth. It has to let go to let grow.

The human body is very much like an oak tree. It's a perfect machine, and every mechanism it needs to sprout and grow is contained within the machinery. Like an oak, humans also need sunlight, earth, air, and water, and like an oak, if you limit any one of them your growth will be stunted. Remove any one of those elements completely and you too, will die. But for modern humans, these things are not our inspiration like they are for the oak. These are merely the physical energetic inputs and outputs. To truly blossom and reach our fullest potential, we also need that metaphysical energetic input...love. We need a reason to put life into our body. We need inspiration.

You see, because our bodies are amazing machines, we have the ability to get away with some pretty silly ideas and belief systems when it comes to the four elements. Unlike the oak, we willingly and purposefully limit our potential just because we can. Because we lack reason. When you live without inspiration, you are "dis-couraged" (without courage) or "dis-heartened" (without heart.) This causes you to manifest a life of "dis-ease" (without ease.)

We try to define ourselves with our tiny boxes of "isms" so that we can declare to the world that we're more special than everyone else, but in reality all we're doing is confining our growth. You cannot become whole by separating yourself into smaller pieces. You see, "special" doesn't mean "better." It means "limited as to function, operation, or purpose." The more "special" you are, the more you're limiting yourself.

So as I've written before, to be "healthy" means to be "whole" or "holy." If you want to be free from "dis-ease," you need to be inspired to be whole. When you lack inspiration, you lack reason to be and do better. You'll never be whole...holy...healthy.

So holy inspiration is giving reason to the human soul in order to breathe life into the human body to make it healthy and whole. If you lack conviction or dedication to being healthy, start by identifying your inspiration. Find what gives you a reason to live and love it with a courageous heart. Allow the inhalations of inspiration to breathe life into your body so that you can be healthy and whole and become a "divine influence" for others to be and do the same.

 Find your inspiration to let go and let grow.

On Becoming "Whole"

The words “healthy” and “holy” come from the same Anglo-Saxon word “hale” meaning “whole.” Think about that for a minute.

To be "healthy" means to be "whole." 

As a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, I consider the whole person - not just your symptoms. I utilize functional lab testing to determine how well ALL of your systems are working, that way we can develop a better plan on how to make you whole again.

But even more so, I also take in to consideration your mindset, because I know that you cannot have a healthy body unless you also have a healthy mind. What you think, you become. If your thoughts are filled with poison, don't expect the body to be healthy or whole.

Now think about the word “holy.”

“Holy” is usually used when discussing matters of the spirit, and the implication is that in order to truly be whole (and healthy,) one must take in to account body, mind, AND spirit. I think it's important to acknowledge that there is a universal “one-ness” that binds us all...the collective conscious, if you will. I believe it exists as the sum totality of the human experience, including all things alive in nature. You cannot exist independent from it. It exists because we exist, and vice-versa. We are all one. Whole. Holy. 

Now consider the word “holiday” or “holy” day...a day to become whole. Holy days are sacred. "Sacred" means "to dedicate to make something holy"  - whole. We tend to celebrate several holidays each year, but how often do we make them a celebration of being whole? In fact, holidays have become nothing more than an exercise in gluttony to destroy the body, mind, and spirit  - the opposite of healthy...or holy...or whole.

If you ask me, everyday should be a sacred holy-day. Dedicate some time each day toward becoming whole. With each sunrise comes the opportunity to unite your body, mind, and spirit in wholeness and harmony. Don't waste a single one on becoming anything less than what you were designed to be.