Integrating Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit

For years I have considered the notion of living a balanced life as very important however in practice, it seemed elusive. I wasn’t entirely certain what balanced meant. How far do I need to move the needle on the gauge in one area of my life to get things on course without another area coming off course in the process of diverting my attention?

After having read Stephen Covey's "The 8th Habit - From Effectiveness to Greatness" a few years back, I was able to see things from a different perspective. "At the core, there is one simple, overarching reason why so many people remain unsatisfied in their work and why most organizations fail to draw out the greatest talent, ingenuity and creativity of their people and never become truly great, enduring organizations. It stems from an incomplete paradigm of who we are - our fundamental view of human nature. The fundamental reality is, human beings are not things needing to be motivated and controlled; they are four dimensional - body, mind, heart and spirit."

While he applies this comment to the workplace, I saw value in my professional and personal life. I didn't need a gas pedal and brake - I needed to be concerned for every aspect (body, mind, heart and spirit) concurrent with the others rather than at their expense since our problems, issues, and opportunities involve all four aspects. In this regard, was I aligning my own values, commitments and actions with this whole-person paradigm? It seemed to me that an obvious clue can be found in how we allocate our own personal resources - the investment that we make in ourselves with our time and money, our investment in our relationships, and in our willingness for continual growth.

Here is a simple way that Stephen Covey organizes his thinking around the whole-person paradigm that is a highly effective framework for creating lives of enjoyment, satisfaction and success through 2010! I even included these tables in my "vision board" to inform my personal Ten Year Vision.

Four Human Needs
Body - To Live (Survival)
Mind - To Learn (Growth and Development)
Heart - To Love (Relationships)
Spirit - To Leave a Legacy (Meaning and Contribution)

So in order to simply and best fulfill our needs....
Body - Keeping arteries clear
Mind - Continually Learning
Heart - Involving others
Spirit - Living as though life is guided by a higher wisdom

Applying the Whole-Person Paradigm to how we see employees...

...and relating those to how we govern our own conduct with those around us. In running our own business or working for an employer with responsibility for others, it is important that we make the distinction between management and leadership. A simple view is that we manage things (budgets, plans, accounts receivable) and we lead people. Here leadership can refer to personal leadership as it relates to our own professional and personal lives.

Stephen Covey points out, "The new Knowledge Worker Age is based on a new paradigm, one entirely different than the thing paradigm of the Industrial Age...people have choices. Consciously or subconsciously, people decide how much of themselves they will give to their work depending on how they are treated and on their opportunities to use all four parts of their nature. These choices range from rebelling or quitting to creative excitement. One who is paid fairly, treated kindly, used creatively and given opportunities to serve human needs in principled ways - makes one of the upper three choices of cheerful cooperation, heartfelt commitment or creative excitement." We choose to engage or withhold in personal relationships all the time.

And finally, Steven Covey suggests making these four simple assumptions to "immediately begin leading a more balanced, integrated, powerful life."

Four Simple Assumptions
For the Body - assume you've had a heart attack; now live accordingly
For the Mind - assume the half-life of your profession is two years; now prepare accordingly
For the Heart - assume everything you say about another, they can overhear; now speak accordingly
For the Spirit - assume you have a one-on-one with your Creator every quarter; now live accordingly

Quick Tip: I found "The 8th Habit" by Stephen Covey to be invaluable to me as a manager and leader responsible for highly productive teams and in charge of nurturing and growing my family. This has very practical application to families, business and any of the communities we belong to. Enjoy!