The Magic of Three

I am reading an interesting book called Conversations with God : An Uncommon Dialogue.

I could probably write scores of posts sparked by this book but for today, I am going to explore the "magic of three".

There are things in life that belong in groups of three. For example:
- past, present and future
- father, son and holy spirit
- mind, body and spirit

These can be summarised into three concepts
- knowing (past | father | mind)
- experiencing (present | son | body)
- being (future | holy spirit | spirit)

You cannot really explain where one part of these "threes" stops and the other part starts. And you have to pay attention to all three parts of your life in order to be balanced.

My favourite of course is mind, body and spirit. I think that I do well with the mind and body, and I struggle with the spirit part in terms of achieving a healthy lifestyle goal.

I use my mind for the knowing part.
I read diet and exercise books, internet sites, magazines and blogs to inform my brain about how to lose weight, eat well, and sculpt the fit, healthy body I want.
If I stop at knowing it is of little use in obtaining my goal.

I use my body for the experiencing part.
I do my workouts, I choose and track my food. I "do" this thing called healthy living. If I stop at just experiencing I am still not achieving my goal.

I struggle with my spirit. I struggle with the being.
I need to just be a healthy, fit person with a strong, lean body.
When I find how to be this person the struggle will end.
My mind and body will mesh effortlessly with my spirit and I will reach and maintain my goal.

The only way I can think of explaining it is to compare it to driving.

When you first learn to drive you watch other people, learn how to operate the car and learn the road rules. You start with knowing how to drive.

Then you give it a go. You take lessons, you apply the knowledge to actually driving. You are now experiencing driving.

But after a while, you don't think about driving, you don't really experience it anymore, you are simply being a driver. Most of the time you are barely aware you are doing it. It is part of who you are - you just drive.

Oh to reach that place where I don't think about a healthy lifestyle, I don't consciously choose to do the things that a define a healthy lifestyle, I am simply being a healthy person. It is just what I am.

Being ... that's the spirit part... and I am going to get there. You want to come too??