Episode 140: Life in Pieces

Becky Berry and Diana Bader discuss the importance of bringing our whole selves to everything. They also dig into what happens when people only want to interact with a piece of us. Some notes: Our whole self is more than our individual pieces! We all wear different hats in our lives, but that doesn't mean that's all we bring to the table. Diana talks about how someone recently wanted to experience only one piece of her in their relationship and they were unwilling to accept all of her. Since both Becky and Diana have chosen lifestyle professions, they have intentionally engineered their work so they bring their whole selves to their endeavors instead of compartmentalized pieces. They chat about this idea in the context of jobs that want us for only one skill instead of every single thing we bring to the table. Becky shares the story of how one of her best friends, Carolyn, became her best friend after she stopped seeing just one piece of her and opened up to seeing her more fully. Diana admits that she likes to know people more fully because of her curiosity. She feels judged when people only want to know her in pieces. They point out that it's a missed opportunity when you're only seeing one piece of a person. To stop seeing people in pieces, we first need to recognize their essence and open ourselves to seeing them in their totality. As Diana says, "Seeing the bonuses in life is just one moment of curiosity away!" Many of us act differently depending on the context we find ourselves in. Wholeness happens when we can be the same, no matter the context. Becky reveals her realization that she tends to judge her life harshly in pieces, instead of looking at the full picture. Diana knows that she is much more willing to see other people as whole than she is to see herself that way. Which leads to this caveat: We must treat ourselves the way we treat other people!