Integration

Weaving life into wholeness with bits and pieces gathered along the way…

Each year, since my sister introduced me to the practice, I have created a Wheel of Intention following a pattern developed by Kimothy Joy. It is a beautiful invitation to reflect on 8 areas of your life and consider what is going well, what do you want more of, and why? Kimothy uses appreciative inquiry to turn my attention towards the positive energy that is already working for me. After I generate all that open hearted and unedited energy, she asks, “Can you dream even bigger? What will your life be like in one year if you move in this direction?”

After journaling about all 8 areas of life, something magical starts to happen and a theme or a word begins to emerge. It is like finding the right word to cast the spell, focus my energy, or give voice to the prayer I will lift to God’s heart again and again over the year.

The word becomes a touchstone I reach for throughout the year, focusing me and bringing my attention back to my intention, and there I find agency.

Over the last few years, I can see how these reflection have kept me focused and whole.

2023 - Home

2024 - Surrender

2025 - Trust/Truth (these two words were locked together for me like conjoined twins)

2026 - My word this year is “Integration”

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This picture comes from a breath work apprenticeship gathering in December with Alicia Barmon. Each time we gather we create an altar with various items from nature and art. It is a welcoming practice, an integrative practice, and allows each of us to contribute towards something beautiful. We don’t edit or judge, we just flow and add to the unfolding pattern.

What pattern is unfolding right now?

In the midst of chaotic, fascist, and threatening national leadership and a call for revolutionary protest in our country, I wonder daily how I may be present and offer my ingredients for the medicine that will begin to restore our communities and our connections. My sense is that we are all wrestling with some instinctual reactivity, our nervous system is looking for the exit to start running or we are raging into the (social media) arena for a righteous fight. And then, when we are exhausted by all of our efforts, we collapse into a heap of depression, despair, or retreat until we are ready to go again.

I am looking for a sustainable integration of effort and ease. An opportunity to bring all the Christian spiritual practices of my priesthood, the embodied practices of yoga, the creative practices of art, and the yoked life of wisdom and action that holds together a sustainable pattern of Attention, Intention, and Agency.

I want my writing here on Substack to be an example of this integration. Attending to the bits and pieces of life that appear each day… witnessing the loom of community and connection upon which we are held… and releasing the distractions that keep us from being present and loving to one another.

What would be nurturing for you?

I am curious for some feedback from my readers… I want to make sure that my writing and other offerings are connecting with you. I want to prepare a feast where most are fed and minimize wasted energy. I am seeking the nurture of connection, so it helps to know what connects with you. Thank you for chiming in and helping me understand what needs attention. If you have any additional thoughts, post them in the comments, please.