Healed, Holy, Whole
“Our well-being and quality of life depend on finding greater wholeness in life. The words health, heal, whole, and holy all derive from the same root.” –Richard Leider, The Power of Purpose
Like many leaders I know, I struggle to acknowledge and accept my shadow self—those parts of me that I’d rather no one knew about. My selfishness. My pettiness. An excessive need to succeed. The scarcity mindset. The urge to wallow and self-indulge. The anxiety that surfaces in the wee hours of the morning.
When I read this Richard Leider quote earlier this summer, I was stopped in my tracks. I’d known the connection between whole and holy. But also health and healing? I shared this aha moment with my spiritual director and confessed that I don’t often think of myself as needing to be healed. And I’m not sure why. Is it part of my success-driven mindset that constantly strives to reframe dark emotions and challenging situations toward the positive? Is it too much vulnerability for me to handle?
She encouraged me to make time for healing every day. What does that mean, I wondered? A nap? A glass of wine on the porch at sunset with my husband? A massage? I found this idea of making daily time for healing to be extremely challenging and a little uncomfortable.
The etymological connection among the words health, healing, wholeness, and holiness highlights the ancient wisdom that wellbeing is inherently holistic. All of these words derive from the Old English root hāl which means "whole" or "uninjured," signifying that true well-being is multifaceted, encompassing physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions.
In Owning Your Own Shadow, Robert A. Johnson explores the concept of the shadow in Jungian psychology, which encompasses the parts of ourselves that we repress or deny. He examines how acknowledging and integrating these shadow aspects can lead to healing, wholeness, and yes, even holiness.
Johnson connects this process of integrating the shadow to the concept of holiness. He suggests that holiness is not about being morally perfect but about being whole. This involves acknowledging and embracing both the light and dark aspects of our nature. In doing so, we can transcend dualistic thinking and achieve a deeper, more spiritual understanding of ourselves and our place and purpose in the world.
My inner work this summer has been to notice and embrace the parts of who I am that make me feel vulnerable or ashamed, and to welcome them as necessary for my holistic wellbeing. I remind myself how much I need to be healed if I am to be whole. Such transformation is never merely a matter of our own efforts; at the deepest level, it is pure gift. I invite you to join me in seeking this path to the hurts, the wounds, the shadowy places within us, so that we can, in turn, find ourselves more healthy, holy, and whole.
Walking with you,
Vicki