Mind and spirit: an intimate connection.

Body, mind and spirit: they compose the great trinity of self. Of the three, the body is relatively simple to care for. On the other hand, caring for the mind and the spirit can be a bit like trying to find your way home as you drive through busy traffic in a strange city--on a rainy and foggy night.

Yes, caring for the body is simple: you just feed it, exercise it, and rest it. Typically, most of the challenges we face in caring for the body stem from those tricky (and often hidden) psychological or spiritual issues. When those issues are not addressed, we tend to eat improperly, exercise too little or too much, and we don't get enough rest.

Caring for the Mind and Spirit * Actually, caring for the mind and spirit doesn't have to be that complicated, provided that we observe a few simple guidelines. Here is the first one: Whether we are interested in developing our spiritual life or cultivating harmony on the psychological level, the key is to remember that the two are inseparable. When one is properly addressed, the other also finds its proper place. Likewise, if we cling to one and neglect the other, both sides tend to break down.

The close connection between psychological and spiritual health is recognized in twelve-step programs. The typical twelve-step program is a blend of psychological and spiritual work. Members are encouraged honestly to address their psychological issues, as well as developing a relationship with the God Of his or her understanding. To understand the other guidelines that assist us in harmonizing the mind and spirit, we should first explain the terms "mind" and "spirit." Basically, a person's mind consists of thoughts and emotions. To be healthy on the psychological level is to have a measure of mental clarity and emotional serenity. Mental clarity translates into the ability to focus one's attention and organize information. It also includes creativity: the ability to think outside the box. Emotional serenity translates into peace With oneself and others. It also includes a certain feeling that has no words, but if it could speak, it might say, "Life is good."

Mental clarity and emotional serenity are the two sides of sanity. A rule of thumb for maintaining sanity is to question our thoughts and accept our emotions. Questioning and examining one's perceptions and beliefs promotes mental clarity, while accepting emotions promotes emotional serenity.

A person's spirit refers to the deepest genuine self. Spiritual awareness can also include the awareness of self beyond everyday thoughts and emotions. It's a silent feeling that seems to say, "There is more to me than my thoughts and emotions." That awareness often includes a wordless sense of the unity of all life.

For many individuals, spiritual health includes communion with the perceived source of life: God, Higher Power, Higher Self, etc. Regardless of the name, we must relate to that Presence in a manner that feels right to us. If we feel moved to develop a relationship with the God of our understanding, we must make sure that it is God of our understanding, not someone else's.

Spiritual health expresses most tangibly as mental clarity and emotional serenity. In other words, when we make contact with that presence or awareness that is beyond our everyday thoughts and emotions, the result is that we think clearly and feel happy and peaceful. And, naturally, when we have harmony on the inside, we tend to create harmonious relationships. That is why true spiritual contact shows up as genuine respect for someone else's spiritual path.

Just as a healthy spiritual life supports a healthy mind, a healthy mind supports a healthy spiritual life. It works either way. The question of which one is more important is best reworded as. "Which one do I need to tend to right now."

In one sense, psychological health is about being at peace with one's humanity, while spiritual awareness is about remembering one's divinity. The two are inseparable. When we embrace our humanity, we remember our divinity. Likewise, when we take the time to remember our divinity, we bring harmony to the human side of the equation.

The Three Great Healers * Although each individual goes through his or her personal dance for cultivating psychological and spiritual health, there are three important commonalities: truthfulness, stillness, and loving touch.

Truthfulness * When we practice truthfulness, we tend to naturally and organically question our thoughts and accept our emotions, thus promoting clear thinking and emotional serenity. Speaking the truth is particularly important for bringing harmony to our emotional world. Of the man)" emotions and desires that stir within us, not one of them demands to be indulged, provided that each one is recognized, understood, and respected. It is only when we chronically ignore, belittle, or reject our emotions and desires that they become monstrous. On the other hand, when we listen deeply to our emotions, and desires allow them to speak, we realize they are all saying the same thing: "Please let me be. I'll be okay if you just let me be."

Truthfulness also promotes intimacy with others. Without intimate emotional contact with others, our thoughts become tangled, our emotions unstable, and our spiritual practice becomes shallow and meaningless.

Stillness * Stillness is particularly important for organizing our various thoughts, perceptions, and beliefs. The rational mind's activity of analyzing data must be followed by a period of mental rest, during which all the pieces are silently integrated. Creative inspiration often comes after prolonged stillness. Ideas and solutions to problems often make themselves known in the stillness of early morning, after several hours of sleep.

Truthfulness and stillness are synergistic. Speaking the truth promotes emotional serenity, which allows us to tolerate and even appreciate solitude and stillness. Likewise, stillness puts us in touch with deeper truths, as well as giving us a keen intuitive sense of when and how to express that truth. Also, truthfulness and stillness allow our thoughts and emotions to harmoniously blend, thus opening the door to spiritual awareness: the awareness of self beyond everyday thoughts and emotions.

Loving Touch * Regardless of how much we practice truthfulness and stillness, inner harmony breaks down if we don't utilize the third great healer: loving touch. Why? Because we are mammals. For mammals (dogs, cats, goats, etc), one of the major ways of stimulating the brain is through touching the skin. This is particularly important for big-brained mammals like ourselves. Yet, one of the major bi-products of civilization is a drastic reduction in loving touch. Not surprisingly, massage therapy is the fastest growing health care modality in the world. One way or another, we must have loving touch. If we don't, that big mammalian brain of ours starts to malfunction. Some individuals are baffled because inner peace and happiness eludes them no matter how much they exercise, eat well, and practice truthfulness, prayer, meditation, etc. The answer might be very simple. Maybe they aren't being touched enough.

Deeply Personal and Intimate * In summary, the outer mind and the inner spirit are healthy when they are "in communion" with each other. Truthfulness, stillness, and loving touch are three ways of harmonizing the outer mind, so it can commune with the inner spirit. However, ever)- mind is unique. Each mind's communion with the inner spirit is deeply personal and intimate. It is deeply personal because it happens differently in each individual. It is intimate because it occurs best in a state of profound honesty with oneself. The communion between the outer mind and the inner spirit is silent and organic. It is tender and delicate; its magic is lost when it is intruded upon or used for exhibition. We cannot share it with anyone. What we do share is the fruit of that communion. We bring forth new life, which we share freely with the rest of life.

Dr Scarfalloto is a chiropractor practicing in Atlanta, Georgia, where he conducts classes based on his book, The Dance of Opposites. He also teaches anatomy and physiology and nutrition at ASHA Massage school. He may be reached at 404-315-0394, [e-mail] or visit www.innerintegration.com.