Mind, Body, and…WHAT?! The ONE Question You MUST Answer
What on earth does worship have to do with productivity or eliminating overwhelm?
I’m glad you asked.
In short…
Everything.
In our culture, especially the medical profession, we love to talk about the importance of “Mind, Body, Spirit”. We acknowledge the three-fold nature of each individual and even explain to our patients the interconnectedness of each facet.
The mind affects the body and spirit. The body affects the spirit and mind. The spirit affects the mind and body. And any combination therein.
It’s easy to talk about the mind (thoughts, emotions, will/character) and body (sleep, nutrition, exercise)…
But the spirit is that part we gloss over and hope that no one actually asks us about.
Why do we do this?
- We don’t want to make our patients uncomfortable…
- We’re afraid of inviting the possibility of an agonizing awkwardness…
- We don’t feel qualified to talk about it…
- We’re unsure of our own answer…
These concerns (or fears) point to the importance of engaging this topic and wrestling with the reality of our spirit and its place in the lives of our patients, our loved ones, and ourselves.
And if we don’t take time to answer these questions, we will ignore a fundamental aspect of our being and risk living with enduring regret.
We are designed to worship
For the religion-averse individuals feeling squeamish right now, I want to help by defining some terms.
To start, I want to distinguish between soul and spirit.
For the purposes of this post, the soul is simply your being and personality such as your thoughts, emotions, and will/character (which you can read about in my previous blog posts about the Mind).
In contrast, the spirit is our connection to something (rather, someone) greater than us and outside our measurable understanding of this world.
Thoroughly uncomfortable yet?
Good, because your spirit is the very reason you even feel uncomfortable about the topic. It senses and acknowledges the fact that there is something larger at work that has been going on throughout history before us, now, and will continue after us.
So then, what’s worship and why does it matter for productivity?
Simply put, worship is whatever you are devoted to…
Your time, your money, your thoughts.
These are your resources and you are devoting them to something or someone, whether you know it or not. You are worshiping something/someone with your time, money, and thoughts. Someone/something is receiving your attention, your resources, your focus.
The question is, are you devoting your resources to the RIGHT thing(s)?
Remember, true productivity is not about getting more done but, rather, getting the RIGHT things done.
What you are devoted to is what you worship.
And the conclusion follows – what you worship is where you find your meaning, your significance, your identity.
Said succinctly…
Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be – Jesus
If you cherish and revere the right thing(s) in life, you will find freedom, clarity, and true productivity because you will invest your resources on things which bring life and produce more in abundance.
And the opposite is true. If you cherish and revere the wrong thing(s) in life, you will be susceptible to anxiety, fear, and despair when your investments come up short.
This is one of the reasons we can be so overcome by overwhelm. We are not focused on the right tasks. We are devoting our time to projects which don’t bring life or produce more. We pursue vague aspirations directed by wavering emotional whims.
It’s why we can check 20 tasks off our list throughout the day and STILL feel like we got NOTHING done…
This is why we worry away our weekend instead of living and resting on a day meant to rejuvenate us…
It’s why we can feel numb and even more drained after binging a show, convincing ourselves we are “resting”…
So what do you need to do to break out of these habits? What’s the first step you need to take to remove yourself from this state?
Ask yourself this ONE question…
What am I worshiping?
What are you devoting your time to?
Where do your ultimate priorities lie?
What regularly gets your attention?
Who gives your life significance and meaning?
When you answer this question, you are leveling with yourself and acknowledging your God-given humanity.
This frees you to learn and decide what will get your attention.
You get control of your schedule, you design the path forward, and you prevent others from dictating your priorities.
You lose the overwhelm and you find your focus.