A holistic approach to living starts from the perspective that mind, body and spirit are inseparable.  By valuing and bringing awareness to all aspects of our experience, transformation and healing can unfold naturally.  Our emotions, thoughts, behaviours, physical senses, dreams, relationships, longings, addictions, joys and pains, everything that arises moment by moment, is of value if we can relate to it mindfully. In a holistic approach to life we come away from compartmentalising  and appreciate the inter-connectedness of everything.  We can aim to see the bigger picture and how everything we experience is an intrinsic and significant part of the whole of life.

We can practice bringing attention non-judgementally to all the conditions of our lives as they constantly change and unfold moment by moment.  What conditions are like in our lives is less important than how we respond to them.  In this we have a choice and making that choice wisely will determine whether our minds go towards confusion and stress or towards peacefulness and contentment.  Without bringing holistic mindful awareness to our experiences we can remain stuck in repeating habitual patterns of reactivity which were formed to help us cope with past difficulties but which may have outlived their usefulness.  We can begin to see the layers of conditioning for what they are and realise that we have a choice to either repeat them or let them go, as expressed in the Biblical passage,

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‘For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face…’

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or again by William Blake:

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‘If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is: Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.’

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In becoming experientially aware of our personal patterns of conditioning we can begin to step away from compulsive reactions and open to new potential responses based on our innate wisdom, creativity and compassion.

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The value of cultivating moment-by-moment holistic awareness is beyond measure.  This can sound so simple and yet it takes ongoing practice and commitment to make this a way of being in our daily lives.  The benefits can only be known by the direct experience of actual practice – no amount of intellectual understanding can replace this.  As with every endeavour though, there is no mountain to climb, no success or failure, only living one mindful moment at a time with as much awareness and presence as we can.

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