Wholeness Isn’t a Destination—It’s a Dance (April 2025 Newsletter)
Let’s talk about wholeness—not as a buzzword or a far-off goal, but as a real, evolving experience that holds both your healing and your becoming. As therapists, coaches, and space-holders, we know how vital this concept is—not just for our clients, but for ourselves.
So this month, we’re inviting you into a deeper reflection on the layers of wholeness—what it looks like, what it asks of us, and how it connects us to the collective. 🌱✨
View our conversation on wholeness here!
🌿 What Is Wholeness, Really?
Wholeness doesn’t mean everything is perfect. It’s not the absence of struggle or pain. Rather, it’s the integration of all the parts of you—past and present, shadow and light, inner child and future self.
In Internal Family Systems (IFS) language, it’s the Self at the center, holding space for each part with compassion and curiosity. In somatic terms, it’s the felt sense of alignment in your body when you’re in coherence with your values.
Reflection:
What does wholeness look like in your life right now?
Can you remember a time when you felt complete—even if just for a moment? What contributed to that feeling?
🤝 Healing as a Collective Act
Wholeness is personal—but it’s never just personal. As we heal, we shift the systems and relationships we’re part of. Your journey of self-awareness and integration echoes outward—into your family, your clients, your community, and the greater world.
Research in interpersonal neurobiology (like the work of Daniel Siegel) shows us that regulated, attuned presence is contagious. When you do your work, you become a co-regulating force for others—simply by being.
Reflection:
How does your healing journey support the healing of others?
What role does self-recognition play in creating connection and unity?
💃 Dancing in the Center
If you could imagine your inner self at the center of the world—dancing—what would that dance look like? Joyful? Tentative? Wild and free?
This metaphor isn’t just poetic—it’s an invitation. Often, our work with clients centers around permission: permission to take up space, to be seen, to move freely.
But how often do you give yourself that same permission?
Reflection:
What would it take to step fully into your own dance of expression and fulfillment?
What fears or protective parts are keeping you from fully embracing your place in the world?
🔄 Completion & New Beginnings
In tarot, the World card represents both an ending and a beginning. Completion doesn’t mean closure—it means readiness. Integration. The inner “yes” that makes way for the next evolution.
Therapeutically, this is the moment when we see transformation—not because everything is “fixed,” but because the client (or we) are relating to ourselves in a whole new way.
Reflection:
What are you closing out or releasing right now?
How are you honoring the journey that brought you here?
What would you tell your younger self about finding wholeness?
Contact us at support@drlesliebennett.com for more information on the 2026 Camino trip!
Dr. Leslie’s reflections and prose on becoming whole
Wholeness
Longing has a sound in my heart with beats of thunder under my skin
My body remembers the pain of loneliness and loss.
I have felt people coming and going and then manifesting into new hopes and dreams all of my life..
Letting a piece of the nomad life go and yearning for community.
Connection, Closeness, and belonging brings wholeness
Fully being part of the whole, not just a multi-second in time.
A whole integrated existence.
What is that?
A natural flow to the center where the authentic self or soul lies
dormant if you will, but vibrant if you are set free.
Sometimes, life has old wounds that re-surface for integration.
The barometer of the soul stretches and expands with every growth opportunity. It might seem that everything
around you is falling apart. Doors that are always open for you are closing. Relationships are shifting. You might think of yourself as a failure. It might seem like you have been thrown into a storm, but you’re making room for more wholeness.
So, next time a growth opportunity comes your way,
just remember that there is a flow, the sound of longing back and forth from the center of the circle, then back again
Rest, repair, prepare, and lean into the expansion to more wholeness.
Becoming Whole
Wholeness is not perfection.
It is not the polished picture or the neatly tied-up ending.
Wholeness is the quiet agreement we make with ourselves to gather all the pieces—the bright ones and the broken ones—
and hold them with tenderness.
It is the sacred return to self,
a remembering that we were never truly missing anything,
just learning how to love what we already are.
Wholeness lives in our willingness to sit with our stories,
to listen without judgment,
to celebrate the soft places and the sharp edges alike.
It asks not that we fix everything,
but that we feel everything,
so we can live fully, truthfully, and with intention.
Let this be a season of integration.
Of honoring your journey,
of naming your growth,
and of finding beauty in your becoming.
You are not a puzzle to be solved.
You are a masterpiece in motion.
