Life Areas

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and that your body may keep well, even as I know your soul keeps well and prospers (3 John 2)

We are in a series of posts exploring the truth about who you are.

The most recent posts dealt with the truth that you are a multi-dimensional being – body, soul and spirit.

This truth gives rise to your different life areas.

Your life is made up of several components.

These are basically:

Spiritual	-        your relationship with God
Social	-        your relationships with other people
Intellectual	-        your mind
Physical	-        your body
Emotional	-        your emotions

To be more practical, life areas are usually broken up further into life components that you can actually identify in your everyday life.

Partner/ Romance/Significant Other	Career
Family	Finances
Friends	Physical Environment/Home
Health & Well-being	Spiritual Well-being
Personal Growth/Learning	Fun/Recreation/Leisure
Community	Contribution

A basic understanding of the different life areas is fundamental to living on purpose.

Once you recognize your life areas, you gain an awareness of your life priorities. You can then start to set significant life goals and create a balanced, meaningful, and fulfilling life.

In the next post I will give you tools to help you along the road to understanding your life areas.

Breath of Life

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul 

(Genesis 2:7).

We have now come to the most fundamental truth about who you are.

In previous posts we discussed the truth that you are body, soul and spirit.

Your body is the physical part of you. The ‘you’ that we can see.

Your soul is your mind, will and emotions. The ‘you’ that thinks, feels, and makes choices.

So what is your spirit?

As I was thinking about the best way to explain what your spirit is, an analogy came to mind. It may seem simplistic, but I think it starts to make the point.

The inflatable air guy.

Inflatable air guys are balloon figures used for advertising. They are basically huge balloons, shaped like people, that dance around when air is blown into them continuously through a fan. Inflatable air guy waves his arms in the air, bends from side to side, and generally wiggles all over the place. Inflatable air guy looks alive and active while the wind is blowing, but once the air stops, inflatable air guy stops too. Once the fan is cut off, inflatable air guy falls to the ground, lifeless.

Your spirit is your innermost being. Your core. The essence of your life.

Your spirit is the breath of life that God breathed into you to give you life.

Your spirit is the part of you that is eternal.

The fan is the source of the air that keeps inflatable air guy going.

God is the Source of the breath of life that keeps you going.

Without the fan, air guy is shapeless, lifeless, powerless.

Without God…

Learn more about developing an empowering belief system in the next post.

There's got to be more to life...

Chasing Utopia, The New York Times

So I tell you, don’t worry about everyday life – whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn't life consist of more than food and clothing? 

(Matthew 6:25)

In my previous post we started exploring the truth that you are a complex, multifaceted being.

You are body, soul and spirit.

These three dimensions intricately intertwine to make you, you.

These three dimensions blend together into what we call – life.

Your body is obviously the physical part of you – the moving, breathing, walking, talking, touching, seeing, eating, drinking, working, playing, sleeping part of you that enables you to interface with this physical world.

Your hands, your eyes, your mouth, your feet…

Some of you are already protesting that I've got it wrong. Moving, breathing, talking, touching, seeing etc. are not purely physical activities.

And you’re right.  

If eating was purely physical, then your toddler would finish his plate of vegetables as readily as a McDonald's Happy Meal.

If sleeping was purely physical, your teenager would fall into bed exhausted by 7:00 p.m. every night.

If movement was simply physical, people could never gain “superhuman”strength to save loved ones from danger.

You cannot separate body, soul, and spirit.

Your body cannot function in this world without your soul and your spirit.

Absence of your soul and your spirit from your body is what we call – death.

Living on purpose means living with the awareness that physical things are only part of the “whole” that makes up your life.

Learn more about developing an empowering belief system in the next post.