Week Thirty-Eight: Revisiting Wholeness

I’m in the process of preparing a presentation for a conference, and I was doing some writing on wholeness. As I pondered how to generate a group experience that captures the beauty of wholeness, an artist’s palette came to mind. I found myself thinking of all the different colors artists create by mixing paints, and how sad I feel when I imagine the loss of any of the possibilities available. Even colors that may at times seem less than beautiful add their special qualities, as when muddy brown adds depth to a forest painting.

This line of thinking brought me back to an awareness of how important it is to embrace the whole of what we are as unique individuals. The ‘colors’ we bring to our lives, the qualities we express in our activities and interactions, represent the palette of our wholeness – our creative living. As the artist of your own life, what are the predominant colors you choose to express? Are you primarily optimistic, or are you a pessimist by nature? Are you able to spend time in ‘neutral colors’ and then move into more energetic tones, or calm hues, when the occasion presents itself? Are there colors in your personal palette of being you aren’t using but would like to express and experience more of the time? Or, are there colors you express more than you’d like?

This week’s experiment invites you to become more aware of the colors of your being – the qualities of yourself express in the world and those you ignore. Are there certain ways of being you’d like to bring into your life more? How about responses, behaviors and activities you’d like to minimize? This week, experiment with embracing the fact of your wholeness, and the fact that you are the artist in residence. Remember that, as a human being, you have all the colors of human experience and expression within your own repertoire of possibility. Shadow and light are equally available, each adding its own texture and depth to your being. Whatever you create by way of self-expression in a given day, or whatever responses you have to experiences you encounter, simply notice what “colors” of you emerge. Then, see if you want to change them, allow them to continue, or enhance them, just as you might if you were an artist viewing a painting in progress. As with all the experiments, there are no right or wrong answers. There is only awareness, and awareness offers choice.

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