Ripples #901: Embracing Wholeness.
Aug 29, 2016
PEBBLE
We are not meant to be perfect,
we are meant to be whole.
-Jane Fonda, shared by Barbara in Rochester, MI
BOULDER
S
Wholeness does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life. Knowing this gives me hope that human wholeness-mine, yours, ours-need not be a utopian dream, if we can use devastation as a seedbed for new life. -Parker Palmer
You are whole and also part of larger and larger circles of wholeness you many not even know about. You are never alone. And you already belong. You belong to humanity. You belong to life. You belong to this moment, this breath. -Jon Kabat-Zinn
PONDER
I’ve been repeatedly encountered this magical word WHOLENESS lately, and it has caused me to ponder what it means to recognize and embrace our wholeness. The process of becoming whole seems to be about recognizing that we already are whole. Each of us is a unique collection of strengths and quirks and talents and opportunities for growth. We all contain in our souls both incredible light and considerable darkness; to deny the existence of either is to extend an illusion that shields us from our wholeness. We can fulfill our grandest potential only when we are able to humbly and cheerfully acknowledge both our gifts and our shortcomings.
Wholeness is also accepting the paradox that we are both completely independent from and yet inevitably dependent upon the people around us. We are at our best when we can stand on our own while relying on a tribe of friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues to lean on.
Our wholeness is even evident in our brokenness: those inevitable chapters in our life when we feel helpless, hopeless, and/or completely lost. Even then, there exists within us the capacity to take a deep breath (or three) and remember that that harder that life has been lately….the more impressive it is that we’ve made it to today.
Embrace your whole, fabulous self this week. I feel certain it will improve your life, and it will probably impact the lives of those around you as well.
Peace,
Paul
The Ripples Guy
P.S. My apologies for not being able to select just one quote for the Boulder–I thought we needed multiple perspectives to really capture the whole concept. Truth be told there was even a a third one I considered as well, this Carl Rogers quote that Holly in New Jersey shared: “I am most impressed with the fact that each human being has a directional tendency toward wholeness, toward actualization of his potentialities.”
