The Anatomy of Life: A Spiritual Perspective

The Anatomy of Life: A Spiritual Perspective

1. Exposure

What are the eyes, ears, and heart being exposed to? These are open channels through which life communicates with us. Sensations, energy, intentions, and information perceived through our senses act as gateways to the mind and heart. Auditory and visual environments affect mood, perception, spiritual receptivity, thought patterns, and emotional states.

2. Think

The mind lingers on what the eyes, ears, and heart have been exposed to. It meditates, revisits, rehearses, and reasons. Not all exposures are beneficial, but they shape our thoughts. How we think forms the foundation for feelings, as mental patterns create healthy and unhealthy emotional attachments or detachment.

3. Feel

Feelings are the emotions born from our thoughts. They manifest as agitation, annoyance, excitement, depression, denial, resentment, or desire. Each emotion rises from what the mind has been holding and turning over. What we think is shaped by our exposures and gives birth to how we feel in the moment.

4. Decisions

Feelings guide our decisions. These are premeditated responses to circumstances, influenced by self-preservation and desires. In moments seen and unseen, we choose how to respond, often driven by desire, fear, or self-preservation. These choices quietly shape our becoming. Decisions can either support or hinder personal and spiritual development.

5. Actions

Actions are the things we do: exploit, implode, offend, disengage, or pretend. They are rooted in decisions that originate from feelings, thoughts, and exposures (experiences). We withdraw or engage, wounded or healed. What we do reflects what has already taken root in our hearts.

6. Habits

Habits are actions repeated over time. Whether positive or negative, they create patterns that shape how we live and interact with the world. Over time, they form the rhythm of our lives.

7. Character

Habits shape character. Character is how we show up. What others experience in us, and what we come to recognize in ourselves. Character is the sum of our habits. It reflects the way we consistently show up in life.

8. Destination

The destination is the cumulative result of steps 1–7. It is where you are currently in the moment. If you take a step back, you'll see that your character is why you are where you are. And if you take another step back, your habits has formed your character, so on and so forth. To change your destination, revisit all of the steps, beginning with step 1: Exposure.

Resources

Proverbs 4:23 (KJV) “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he”

James 1:14–15 (NKJV) “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed”

Galatians 6:7–8 (KJV) “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.