Apply

When I say that I want you to apply your whole self to your relationships I mean your whole self. This includes your physical body, your emotions, your thoughts, and your spirituality – your soul. This is a new and completely different way to think about your relationships and your world. Many times we come to a seminar or we read a book and we are looking for just a few quick answers that will make everything feel good again. We hope that if we can just get someone else to follow through and be the way we want them, or if circumstances could be the way we like them, we can feel better. Yes, I said that we hope we can get the other person to follow through, or circumstances to change because we really do not want to have to look at ourselves or do something different to feel and be better.
I believe that the world of psychology has been leaving out the world of the spiritual for far too long when it comes to educating us about how to live life. The spiritual world, the way of Jesus, has many things to say about how we are to treat each other and how relationships operate best. I also believe that the world of spirituality, the world of Christianity has also been leaving out the world of psychology and science, because it to has many things to say about how relationships work and operate best. The funny thing to me is that God created both of these worlds and they are not mutually exclusive worlds or things. They are from the Creator. We are created in the image of this creator and it includes all parts of ourselves - our emotions, our thinking, our soul, our spirit, our minds - everything. We need to include them all, think about them all, and talk about them all if we are to be whole people and whole in our relationships.
For example how does Jesus ask us to treat others? Jesus said

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

Luke 10:27

First Jesus includes the whole person into loving God. Second we are to love others as much as we love ourselves. How does science, or psychology say we should treat others? If you have seen Maslow's hierarchy of needs is says that we should be at the highest level, lacking prejudice, accepting the facts, and being moral. Just below the top, we must feel good about ourselves, be confident and be respectful of others and gain others respect. Sounds like Jesus built this pyramid of needs. We must first love ourselves, have esteem for ourselves, before we can ever give away love to others. It is like I tell people all the time, you cannot give away what you do not have. We must apply the truth of our spiritual life, which is also the truth of science and psychology, if we are to change ourselves and then our world.

Look at yourself today. Love yourself. Then you will be able to love your neighbor.

Namaste'