Tips on Holistic Self Assessment
If you know who you are, you’ll get where you are going… From Ask Lewis
I have had an interest in holism, and alternative and complementary medicine for over fifty years. It saved my father’s and mother’s lives and has served me well when mainstream medicine failed
Alternative medicine is not just one thing. It is many philosophies, techniques, and methods presented in a Holistic manner. Integrating the body, mind, emotions, and spiritual needs of a patient, or client.
Essentially, alternative and complementary medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine. These techniques are often multicultural and may not meet the standards of a mechanistic formal scientific approach. That means that many of these methods are intuitive, and may seem to lack repeatability, a biological rationale, or testability. That doesn’t mean they don’t work.
Unlike modern medicine, which generally treats symptoms rather than addressing holistic factors alternative therapies reside outside of medical science models and often do not originate from using the scientific method, but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, spiritual influences, superstition, and or “qi” and other supernatural “energies”.
Frequently used terms for relevant practices are New Age medicine, unorthodox medicine, holistic medicine, and unconventional medicine.
Some alternative practices are based on theories that contradict the established science of how the human body works; others resort to the metaphysical to explain their effect. History has shown that if a method is proven to work, it eventually ceases to be an alternative and becomes mainstream medicine.
I have found over the decades that it is important for my clients and students to embrace a certain way of thinking, speaking, and acting if they are to heal and move forward in life. I guess we can simply refer to this as “Holism”.
In the realm of personal growth and self-improvement Holism means, that every day, in some small way, we need to be more holistically
- Practical,
- Effective,
- Efficient,
- Precise,
- Accurate,
- …and Self-aware.
All of these, which combined I call PEEPPASA must be applied to our mind, body, emotions, and spirit. This needs to be done with consistency and with the 11 core words in our mind, especially patience.
There is no magic “abracadabra” here, yet here is a ripple effect. What happens to the mind, or body, or emotions, or spirit effect each of the others.
These includes…
- Sleep patterns,
- Eating patterns,
- The ability to calm the mind,
- …and so on.
I treat life like a game that needs to be won. I actually call this “My Life Olympics”.
That means that daily, and consistently I need to “keep my eye on the prize”.
The prize of course is a life filled with financial freedom, health fulfilling relationships, and the 11 things that are part of my daily mantra —
Love, kindness, compassion, empathy, wisdom, goodness, appreciation, beauty, competence at some level, gratitude, patience, and surrender.
Holism is a very important concept for the extraordinary individual seeking to create an effective life game strategy.
To live well, you need to know who you are. This requires a bit of self-awareness which comes through self-assessment. Self-assessment is not perfectionism, or harsh self judgement. Self-assessment is actually a form of self-awareness and self love.
There are many valid methods of assessment that are generally ignored or largely rejected by mainstream psychologists, physiologists, and those committed to a more linear and rationalistic approach to human potential, wellness, and self-actualization.
Sometimes in life, many diverse elements come together to produce something that is obviously greater than any of the qualities in the individual parts. It is as if two plus two was to equal five. The doctrine that explains this phenomenon is known as synergistic holism. Synergistic Holism emphasizes the priority of a whole over its parts.
That is what we are dealing with here.
That means that every positive or negative thought, word, or action that you choose ripples out and influences out into the various aspects of your life
“The properties of mind are not purely mental: They are shaped in crucial ways by the body and brain and how the body can function in everyday life. The embodied mind is thus very much of this world. Our flesh is inseparable from what Merleau-Ponty called the “flesh of the world” and what David Abram refers to as “the-more-than-human-world.” Our body is intimately tied to what we walk on, sit on, touch, taste, smell, see, breathe, and move within. Our corporeality is part of the corporeality of the world.”
― George Lakoff
I found that by applying these holistic self-assessment tools daily, I could harness my mind and body ever more effectively, and turn them into tools for playing the game of life with greater skill and with less and less unnecessary struggle.
Takeaway
Of course from the perspective of science and logic, the idea that the sum might be greater than the parts makes no sense. Still, the concept of holism and synergy has been embraced in many of the social sciences, and in the creative arts.
So as we move forward day by day the training regimen for the Positive Life Olympics is:
1. Positive self-talk,
2. The 11 words
3. Be evermore mindful
4. Focus on what you need and less on what you impulsively want (This is a sign of maturity).
Finally, take all the positive things you have gained from all the personal growth work you have done over the years and rather than saying, “It didn’t work. It was a waste of money”, (more negative self-talk) consider looking at some of the truths and gems you were given when doing that work and begin to apply it.
©Lewis Harrison, all rights reserved.
Here are a few in a similar vein @LewisCoaches:
Before you go…
I am Lewis Harrison, an award-winning author of over twenty books on personal growth and strategic thinking. For over a decade I was the producer and host of the show “What’s Up” on NPR-affiliated WIOX FM in New York.
Now, aside from writing on Medium, and connecting personally with my readers, I teach seminars and speak on personal development, and life strategies throughout the world.
I am also the director of the Mystic’s Academy https://asklewis.substack.com/p/welcome-to-the-mystic-academy
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