Integrated Living - A Practical Introduction

We humans, and specifically our human mind brains, are the most complex “things” in the known universe…!

Much of “how" we are capable of doing what we do on a daily basis (mostly without a second thought), remains beyond our capacity as a species to yet grasp…!

We generally take our biological “machinery” and the truly amazing capabilities of our mind/brain system and its range of faculties for granted, unless or until, they are taken away or degraded, through illness, injury, neglect or catastrophe! This becomes the story for so many of us.

But, what happens if we don’t take our organic functions/abilities for granted...?

What happens if we give these (miraculous) capabilities a new kind of fuller attention each-and-every day - not only when we desire to "get something or somewhere", or when our health "breaks" and we are challenged to recover our lost function - but maintaining an eye on exploring, through everyday living, “what is my optimal (integrated) life state” EACH and EVERY day?

Take our (fully integrated) human system - our mind/brain animates our body which is built out of around thirty seven trillion+ cells *(1,2), (that is this many 37,000,000,000,000+!!), ALL of which must operate in harmony, (which we're not consciously aware of) and results in the experience of self-awareness, aliveness and vitality, which provides the physical and self-conscious experience we know as a "human life".

The baseline harmony (circadian homeostasis) of our incredible biological system, established over millions of years, "lives within" the rhythm of our sun/earth/moon's gravitational interaction, and is incredibly resilient - up to a point...!

However, over the course of our - increasingly longer, faster paced and more psychologically complex lifetimes - if the basic activities of sleep, diet and exercise are not engaged in a harmony promoting way, they can (and will) eventually create a “dis-eased” or unsustainable living state within and without (in mind and body)!

This out-of-balance or dis-integrated state limits and "down-grades" our; essential vitality for life; mental energy and acuity; immunity and health, (up to including how reliably our DNA is expressed through our genes), leading inevitably to an overall lower quality of life.

We might think of these processes as the normal "negative" effects of aging (which are physically inevitable) or "stress" (which is not), but it is the  context in which we address the challenges of life that dictates its actual  quality as a lived expereince. Our quality-of-life is not guaranteed but remains firmly in our hands, "simply" in the way we approach and live our lives.

In fact, taking our health, life or environment for granted comes with  profound negative impacts, not just for ourselves, but also our families, community, society in general and the planet at large. 

* With these types of known consequences, it may well be worth giving attention to the ways in which we typically think and go about our lives, as they may, in fact, be unsustainable…(?)

There is much we can learn, and do, about how we live - in the way we pay attention to maintaining ourselves - physically, psychologically and in our Essence - to create the conditions for resilient well-being, integrated living.

The beginning of integrated living - listening to your body and inner sense:

"Living integration" begins by addressing the most fundamental aspects of life: sleeping, eating, physical action and attention to our "inner state". If any of these fundamental elements of life remain "disturbed" and therefore sub-optimal for long periods, robust life-long mental power, accuracy and physical health become unreachable.

Creating the conditions that make - living in a more integrated way - a reality, starts with learning to pay greater attention to the subtle feedback our mind/brain and body are always providing through our 5/(6) senses - whether it be in response to our physical body, thoughts/emotions (state-of-mind) or our Inner Voice.

It is by improving our sensitivity to all aspects of this internal feedback (in-real-time), through giving it a new kind of attention, that we improve our capacity to - hear from within - and  recognize the actions we must take to create a more integrated capability and harmonious experience.

By refining our ability to listen to this direct feedback from our mind/brain, we eliminate the need to speculate about how to maintain our elemental and highest functions concurrently. In fact, giving attention (inquiring of) ourselves in this particular way, allows us to gain essential insight into our core responses to life, for what is truly importatnt, or not, in maintaining our "equilibrium in activity".

Through a simple inquiry: “what is my mind/brain, inner sense  telling me at this moment”, “what effect are my actions, diet and psycho-emotional state, having on my overall capacity and well-being(?)" (because they are...), you become receptive to your body’s actual feedback, and in doing so, you are better able to respond with the actions that will bring about coherence and harmony (integration) within.

How?

The key is to: engage in personal-inquiry - by observing yourself as you go about your day - BUT, without coming to any conclusions about what you observe in yourself! 

*Note: This requires a new way of using one's brain in relating to oneself.

By being in “observation and self-inquiry mode” rather than in a search for "THE ANSWER” or in “I KNOW” mode, you remain in active real-time mind/brain, body contact, enabling you at any time, to you give your full attention to your inner feedback, enabling you to continue to learn thourgh the universal tool of "trial-and-error", what works best in maintaining your optimal state throughout each day.

The ultimate result of living with a new, fundamental level of integration, is that the care and management of essential life functions consume less attention leaving you with more abundant energy to explore and creatively take on the greater expanse of life.

In this series of articles we will explore the actions that Integrated Living IS - giving rise to an intrinsically self-aware, resilient and purpose driven daily life…!

*1. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/our-bodies-replace-billions-of-cells-every-day/

2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23829164/

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