In a Facebook post that asked how mindfulness had helped readers with depression I responded,” It didn’t… spiritfulness did.”
Another reader asked, “May I know how this is done?”
My reply: “It’s an ‘order of things’ matter. You can pursue mindfulness as a first pursuit all you wish, but for those with a biblical understanding of life and human development 1st Thessalonians 5:23 sets the pattern for how an adult becomes “whole”, integrated and complete, able to exercise personal self-actualization and agency….. “may you be sanctified entirely- spirit, soul, and body ..”
The soul is the individuated self and includes mind, emotions, will, personality, and conscience. The spirit….. our “image of God” attribute and aspect…..that is the power behind the soul that provides the impetus for transformation of the individual. It must be ignited, switched on, empowered to invigorate and renew the mind’s cognition, imagination, recognition and evaluation of the desires, values, beliefs, and possibilities that one can aspire to and attain. Emotions and human will then can engage under the spirit’s energy and the renewed mind’s directive and propel the self toward energy for the means to achieve the desired ends….. transformed action in conscience and body. That’s what I have experienced. That’s what I teach. That’s how I have observed life recovery from a variety of life-limiting conditions work in others as a result. One has only to say yes to the Spirit of God for that regeneration of spirit to begin the process by the order designed within us. If you don’t know how to plug spirit into the process, it can go in some unhelpful directions. Or simply proceed incompletely and at risk of being unsustainable.
It is the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit and its igniting spark that get the engine of the soul -the mind, emotions, and will- purring on all cylinders and the personality and conscience able to activate the body — from its dry rattling bones to its tendons and muscles to its skin, sharpening the physical and spiritual senses (Ezekiel 37)….. restoring a healthily integrated person on whose countenance joy and the light of the Spirit shines!