What Is Integration and How Might It Link to Fulfillment?
You sail through your busy day, and some days you feel happy and light, and can’t describe why.
Other days, you drag your feet, and are not as engaged in your life and work.
What might be the difference?
I invite you to learn more about Integration.
As an Integration Coach, I often meet with clients who ask what exactly integration means. In this post, I invite you to explore what integration really is, and consider its link to fulfillment. To make it more concrete, I also elaborate on the differences between integration and balance, as some may be more familiar with the term balance.
Characteristics of Integration
To help get clearer on what integration is, I take the help of 3 characteristics. Perhaps there are other characteristics that make integration alive for you. For me, as a starting point, Integration is Holistic, Adaptable and Fluid.
Holistic. The Latin root of Integration (“integratus”, “integrare”, and “integer”) means to make something whole and complete. Integration holistically combines all the unique and important parts in your life, work, community and more to complete the picture of your highest potential self that makes you fulfilled. It leaves nothing behind. These unique parts stem from your core values.
Adaptable. Integration makes space for what is important to you in the best possible way in the present moment. Things will always change, and no one day will be like the next. Through integration, you let go of judgment and “shoulds”, and instead navigate your choices and align with your core values in this moment.
Fluid. Integration blends all the meaningful parts of your life often in an imperfect, unequal way. Integration is not time bound and it is not scheduled. This fluidity allows you to capitalize on opportunities organically in your daily life, rather than have items compartmentalized and separated.
What Does Integration Look Like?
Some people may be more familiar with the term “balance” and believe it is the same as integration. Let’s look at the differences between the two to help understand what integration is.
I invite you to visualize the scenarios below and adapt scenarios to reflect your unique lifestyle and values.
Balance may look something like this:
A few minutes before sleeping at night and first thing the next morning before your day begins, you prioritize your wellbeing. You take care of yourself in whatever way sets you up to thrive. You prioritize your work during the day and your family life in the evening. Subscribing to this formula for your weekday - like many people do - has its benefits. You focus, prioritize, and have a schedule of when each element of your life fits in. On the weekends, you prioritize your family, add a bit of wellbeing, and deprioritize work. This balanced life feels like it works.
How fulfilled do you feel?
Perhaps by creating these silos and boundaries you are overlooking opportunities to fully integrate all that is important to you every moment of the day, which would allow for even higher levels of fulfillment. Also, how often are you able to realistically create these boundaries? How true is it that parts of your life are constantly overlapping with each other, sometimes even in the same moment?
Integration may look something like this:
You wake up in the morning knowing your core values and you choose to manifest them in whatever activities you take on during the day, in any bucket of your life, even the unplanned activities.
If social connection is a core value, perhaps you take a few minutes between errands to call a friend you deeply care about. Or you ask a colleague by the coffee station how their day is going and fully listen to their response. Or you connect two people whom you know can be of support to each other. On a client call, perhaps you inquire about your client’s family members and create some element of personal connection amidst all the work.
If mindfulness is one of your core values, perhaps you practice deep breathing for a minute in between client meetings. Or you practice walking mindfully with no thoughts, while feeling your body with each step while doing an errand. Or you look out of the window every hour in the middle of your day.
With integration, you intentionally find ways to weave your core values through the day, so you feel a sense of joy consistently. Your “being” and “doing” are aligned. One way to define integration may be: Integration is an awareness of your core values (your being) and intentionally manifesting your being in all the parts of your life (your doing).
With a greater understanding of what integration is, I invite you to consider the following 3 questions:
How aware are you of your core values?
How often do you express your core values in your day?
What are some ways that you can integrate your “being” and “doing” for greater fulfillment?
By answering these questions, you can begin or continue your journey of integration. If you stumble, know that you are not alone. In future posts, I will address why some may find integration challenging.
I would love to hear your insights on the themes that resonate with you or any other feedback. Feel free to send an email to lalita@invitingintegration.com if you would like to share with me.