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Mind, Body, Soul, Spirit

By Anita Mathias

                                Mind, Body, Soul, Spirit

Prayer ministry training at St. Aldate’s, Oxford, used this vivid illustration. Four people stood in a circle up front, arms around each other’s waists. If you tugged at one, all four came along. They had an unbreakable connection. They represented, of course, the body, mind, spirit and soul or emotions.
The skit was meant to illustrate the complexity of human beings. The presenting symptom in prayer ministry is rarely the root cause of the problem. Persistent physical symptoms, like stomach aches, headaches, colds and coughs, can be the result of job or relational stress. Similarly, physical ill health can cause job or relational stress.
Intellectual malaise—not using your mind, especially for the intellectually gifted, can cause depression, and its attendant problems. Extreme loneliness, relational stress or depression can affect one’s health, the vibrancy of one’s spiritual life, and even one’s ability to think clearly. And when the spiritual life, the motor of one’s life, is out of kilter or non-existent, one’s social life, physical life and friendships are below par.
In prayer ministry, I myself am less interested in praying for the presenting symptom—“I am not productive;” “I need to lose weight;” “I am lonely/angry”—and more interested in praying over and into the underlying root cause. Our symptoms—a weight problem, writers’ blocks, depression, and chronic fatigue are often the presenting “fruit” or flower. The problem lies in the roots, and that’s where healing begins.
 * * *
And so, when one prays for oneself or one’s family, it’s important to pray for vision to see the roots, as well the presenting problem, the fruit, and pray for healing of both.
The Catholic monastics evolved a schedule which gave proper weight to each of these dimensions of personality. A contemporary Benedictine schedule calls for 3.15 minutes of manual work, 3 hours of reading and study, including Scripture study, and 4.5 hours of prayer and religious activity (including the Divine Office, Eucharist and Choir Practice). The schedule included 3 meals in community and half an hour of community recreation, which I guess played a part in meeting social and emotional needs.
 Excellence, in any one area, which involves concentration and focus on it—intellectually for a scholar or a blogger, spiritually for a mystic or spiritual writer, physically for an athlete, may involve some short-changing of other dimensions. 
However, to neglect any of the four elements of our make up as human beings which Scripture recognizes in its statement—love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength– leaves us, to some extent, stunted, and walking with a limp.
I emphasize my spiritual life, and, to a lesser extent, my intellectual life. Socially, we have dinner together as a family almost every day, and Roy and I have a quick lunch together on weekdays. I also make sure I pencil in two coffees or lunches with friends each week. I have neglected physical fitness for years, and am in a slow recovery of strength and fitness project.
How about you? Which dimensions of human personality have you most developed? And which ones are you working on developing?

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Comments

  1. Anita Mathias says

    June 6, 2012 at 7:57 pm

    Yeah, me too.
    I suppose excellence comes from focusing on one aspect–mind, body, spirit etc-at the detriment of the others. But eventually, one pays a high price for neglecting the other aspects, and it affects the area you held precious.

    The blogger Michael Hyatt observes the people who neglect health, relationships and the spiritual life for work eventually end up having their work suffer. Which seems so counter-intuitive, but is, no doubt, true, of work or any area we over-emphasize at the cost of holistic balance.

  2. Emma says

    June 6, 2012 at 7:10 pm

    Hi Anita

    This is very helpful: so often I think of myself as bits and pieces rather than a whole.

    As someone in recovery from an eating disorder, I find it interesting that one can focus on one aspect eg; the physical, but actually be neglecting it too. In all these areas I need to be guided by the Bible, the Spirit and other believers: otherwise I get myself in a right mess!

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Wandering Between Two Worlds: Essays on Faith and Art

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anita.mathias

Writer, Blogger, Reader, Mum. Christian. Instaing Oxford, travel, gardens and healthy meals. Oxford English alum. Writing memoir. Lives in Oxford, UK

Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford # Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford #walking #tranquility #naturephotography #nature
So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And h So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And here we are at one of the world’s most famous and easily recognisable sites.
#stonehenge #travel #england #prehistoric England #family #druids
And I’ve blogged https://anitamathias.com/2020/09/13/on-not-wasting-a-desert-experience/
So, after Paul the Apostle's lightning bolt encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he went into the desert, he tells us...
And there, he received revelation, visions, and had divine encounters. The same Judean desert, where Jesus fasted for forty days before starting his active ministry. Where Moses encountered God. Where David turned from a shepherd to a leader and a King, and more, a man after God’s own heart.  Where Elijah in the throes of a nervous breakdown hears God in a gentle whisper. 
England, where I live, like most of the world is going through a desert experience of continuing partial lockdowns. Covid-19 spreads through human contact and social life, and so we must refrain from those great pleasures. We are invited to the desert, a harsh place where pruning can occur, and spiritual fruitfulness.
A plague like this has not been known for a hundred years... John Piper, after his cancer diagnosis, exhorted people, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”—since this was the experience God permitted you to have, and He can bring gold from it. Pandemics and plagues are permitted (though not willed or desired) by a Sovereign God, and he can bring life-change out of them. 
Let us not waste this unwanted, unchosen pandemic, this opportunity for silence, solitude and reflection. Let’s not squander on endless Zoom calls—or on the internet, which, if not used wisely, will only raise anxiety levels. Let’s instead accept the invitation to increased silence and reflection
Let's use the extra free time that many of us have long coveted and which has now been given us by Covid-19 restrictions to seek the face of God. To seek revelation. To pray. 
And to work on those projects of our hearts which have been smothered by noise, busyness, and the tumult of people and parties. To nurture the fragile dreams still alive in our hearts. The long-deferred duty or vocation
So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I have totally sunk into the rhythm of it, and have got quiet, very quiet, the quietest spell of time I have had as an adult.
I like it. I will find going back to the sometimes frenetic merry-go-round of my old life rather hard. Well, I doubt I will go back to it. I will prune some activities, and generally live more intentionally and mindfully.
I have started blocking internet of my phone and laptop for longer periods of time, and that has brought a lot of internal quiet and peace.
Some of the things I have enjoyed during lockdown have been my daily long walks, and gardening. Well, and reading and working on a longer piece of work.
Here are some images from my walks.
And if you missed it, a blog about maintaining peace in the middle of the storm of a global pandemic
https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/  #walking #contemplating #beauty #oxford #pandemic
A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine. A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine.  We can maintain a mind of life and peace during this period of lockdown by being mindful of our minds, and regulating them through meditation; being mindful of our bodies and keeping them happy by exercise and yoga; and being mindful of our emotions in this uncertain time, and trusting God who remains in charge. A new blog on maintaining a mind of life and peace during lockdown https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/
In the days when one could still travel, i.e. Janu In the days when one could still travel, i.e. January 2020, which seems like another life, all four of us spent 10 days in Malta. I unplugged, and logged off social media, so here are some belated iphone photos of a day in Valetta.
Today, of course, there’s a lockdown, and the country’s leader is in intensive care.
When the world is too much with us, and the news stresses us, moving one’s body, as in yoga or walking, calms the mind. I am doing some Yoga with Adriene, and again seeing the similarities between the practice of Yoga and the practice of following Christ.
https://anitamathias.com/2020/04/06/on-yoga-and-following-jesus/
#valleta #valletamalta #travel #travelgram #uncagedbird
Images from some recent walks in Oxford. I am copi Images from some recent walks in Oxford.
I am coping with lockdown by really, really enjoying my daily 4 mile walk. By savouring the peace of wild things. By trusting that God will bring good out of this. With a bit of yoga, and weights. And by working a fair amount in my garden. And reading.
How are you doing?
#oxford #oxfordinlockdown #lockdown #walk #lockdownwalks #peace #beauty #happiness #joy #thepeaceofwildthings
Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social d Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social distancing. The first two are my own garden.  And I’ve https://anitamathias.com/2020/03/28/silver-and-gold-linings-in-the-storm-clouds-of-coronavirus/ #corona #socialdistancing #silverlinings #silence #solitude #peace
Trust: A Message of Christmas He came to earth in Trust: A Message of Christmas  He came to earth in a  splash of energy
And gentleness and humility.
That homeless baby in the barn
Would be the lynchpin on which history would ever after turn
Who would have thought it?
But perhaps those attuned to God’s way of surprises would not be surprised.
He was already at the centre of all things, connecting all things. * * *
Augustus Caesar issued a decree which brought him to Bethlehem,
The oppressions of colonialism and conquest brought the Messiah exactly where he was meant to be, the place prophesied eight hundred years before his birth by the Prophet Micah.
And he was already redeeming all things. The shame of unwed motherhood; the powerlessness of poverty.
He was born among animals in a barn, animals enjoying the sweetness of life, animals he created, animals precious to him.
For he created all things, and in him all things hold together
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Drawing astronomers to him.
And drawing him to the attention of an angry King
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By a homeless baby
The still point on which the world still turns. The powerful centre. The only true power.
The One who makes connections. * * *
And there is no end to the wisdom, the crystal glints of the Message that birth brings.
To me, today, it says, “Fear not, trust me, I will make a way.” The baby lay gentle in the barn
And God arranges for new stars, angelic song, wise visitors with needed finances for his sustenance in the swiftly-coming exile, shepherds to underline the anointing and reassure his parents. “Trust me in your dilemmas,” the baby still says, “I will make a way. I will show it to you.” Happy Christmas everyone.  https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/24/trust-a-message-of-christmas/ #christmas #gemalderieberlin #trust #godwillmakeaway
Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Gratitude journal, habit tracker, food and exercise journal, bullet journal, with time sheets, goal sheets and a Planner. Everything you’d like to track.  Here’s a post about it with ISBNs https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/23/life-changing-journalling/. Check it out. I hope you and your kids like it!
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