How Wholeheartedness Captivated Me
I was always intrigued by spirituality. I yearned for divine presence and affirmation. Even as a child I would pray for God to make me someone important (hoping spiritual experiences would facilitate this).
My spiritual journey led me to extremes of prayer, service, prophetic abandon, and heartache – alot of heartache. I was given spiritual prescriptions that didn’t work, blind faith that lead me into pitfalls, and striving that led to burnout.
That’s when I realized my spiritual journey was more about escaping then engaging – escaping my present, escaping my self, escaping my relationships, escaping my fears and inadequacies – and it wasn’t working.
I was broken and desperate, so I decided to engage with my reality instead. It wasn’t pretty. I had self hate, anger, pain, shame but I also had hunger for love and truth. I had commitment to life as it was designed. The Holy Spirit trusted me and this process of wholeheartedness, so I began to trust the process as well.
Benefits of Wholeheartedness
The state of our hearts is central to receiving and expressing true spirituality. Wholeheartedness allowed me to be alot more loved, alot more honest, alot more human, alot more clear, alot more satisified, alot more me, and alot more courageous.
When you consider developing wholeheartedness, you will need some serious motivation. It is difficult, emotional, and risky work. My hope is that it won’t necessitate the pain and struggle as mine did. I have listed 5 stand out benefits to wholeheartedness here. I do so to keep me and you – and hopefully inspire others – to stay engaged in wholeheartedness as a means of experiencing the best life has to offer.
Five Stand Out Benefits to Nurturing Wholeheartedness in your Life
- You establish love as the relational foundation in your life. Love is commonly spoken or sung of but is actually rare, valuable, and to be treasured. Love provides a foundation to known and express oneself which allows not only relationships but life to be rich.
- Because all people have experienced gaps and disillusionment in this area, everyone is prone to at minimal operating on less than full capacity and at worse consistently suffering due to lack of love. Most people have become accustom to being unkind, impatient, unforgiving, resentful, distrusting, judgmental, and shameful towards themselves. Although these coping mechanisms may offer some “safety,” they also produce wear and tear on one’s heart and soul. Unfortunately may people expect to operate at full capacity without being filled to full capacity, further inciting shame and pain upon themselves. Wholeheartedness invites one to soften various aspects of the heart and soul to the reception of love. Then love is experienced in greater fullness and depth. This provides a stable foundation for living.
- Relationships are an extremely valuable aspect of life. People are designed for relationships as a means of accessing essentials like belonging, connection, security, combined creativity, momentum, and the list goes on and on. Only relationships based in the trust of practiced love can truly offer us the rewards our hearts and souls seek. Wholeheartedness provides the capacity to stay open and engaged in relationships with the whole of another human being. This offers rich and deep relationship.
- You become increasingly honest. Honesty gives one access to knowing oneself and others more clearly. Honesty also provides one with the opportunity to work within the context of what is real.
- Resistance to being true to oneself leads to pain, disappointment, struggle, and often emotional and/or physical weaknesses. Truths are most often suppressed due to the fear of judgment as well as the hopes of maintaining a “connection” (albeit contrived) with someone. Personal truths can be in such a pattern of suppression that people no longer see them or claim a completely different personality structure to hide their truths from even themselves. Self expression is essential to know and enjoy unconditional love, authentic relationship, and satisfaction in life. Wholeheartedness engages people in the pursuit of their whole truth and therefore bring forth the integrity of an individual.
- Most people live in a fantasy, wishful thinking, ruminations, or at least overlays and projections. Perspectives are developed based upon beliefs which may or may not be true. These perspectives shape our decisions. Therefore to make sound and beneficial decisions, one must be willing to accept truth. “Mental health increases as we pursue reality at all costs,” Peck. Truth is the basis for all peace and wisdom. People are designed to experience real not fantasized goodness. Wholeheartedness grounds people back into reality. In reality, one may hunger but then can be truly satisfied, one may mourn but then be truly comforted.
- You become present to truly live life as it is happening. Living life requires one to be present for it. The present invites one to be engaged not distracted or cluttered. Instead of escaping the present with nostalgia or fantasy, one engages now. This requires one to be clear on who he/she was, where he/she is going, and how those things shape who he/she shows up now. Therefore, one must often resolve experiences in the past and align and activate for desired experiences in one’s future. Wholeheartedness takes the past and the future into account and gives us back to the present moment where life is happening. One becomes internally unified, less distracted, and life becomes more vibrant moment to moment.
- You more confidently and directly access the benefits of what one needs and wants out of life. Peace comes from wellbeing (having what one needs). Joy comes from asking and receiving what is desired (accessing what one wants out of life). These are two very powerful and important emotions that keep the compass of life intact. Wholeheartedness assesses and tends to one’s overall well being and fuels one’s sincere enthusiasm about life. Life takes on a rewarding momentum. Because this movement forward is as a whole person, the momentum is not highjacked by underlying unmet needs and cravings.
- You consistently express yourself creatively and offer that creative contribution to others. When one is secure in love, true to oneself, present to life, and receiving needs/wants, there is a lot more energy to creatively contribute. There is a natural overflow of heartfelt compassion and desire to show up for others. Contribution can be so appealing that many people attempt to skip the wholehearted process and just “help others,” but so much is missing. The greatest reward in helping others is the overflow of one’s full heart. Wholeheartedness fills one up and inspires one to take risks and creatively contribute as your actual self. Wholeheartedness provides one with the clarity, energy, and courage to live a legacy that truly reflects oneself. Ecclesiastes states, “eternity is placed in the heart of men.” When one does the work to orients him/herself from his/her whole heart everyone gets a greater experience of the divine.