Creating Space for All of Our SPICEEselves
Contributed by Marcia Lee
All of who you are is welcome here. This is how we often begin our workshops and retreats at Healing by Choice!. We welcome the parts of you are that sad, glad, angry, content. We welcome your children and your pets. You are welcome to eat, drink, lay down, be outside, be on and off camera (if online). All of who you are is welcome here.
What do we mean by all? In our general culture, “all” usually means our mind, body and spirit and often in that order. Big shout out to Brandi Mack for creating the acronym PIES (physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual) to help to expand the conversation. However, for me, it felt like there were still some pieces missing. Fast forward to creating a workshop on popular education with Jeanne Rewa this Nov. 2022. I realized that I could change the order of the acronym to add in community and Jeanne wisely said that we need to add in environment. I felt that adding in community was essential to the definition of ‘self’ because we are not alone. Who ‘I’ am is because of who ‘we’ are. This includes not just those we choose to be in community with, but also the context of the world today, the land we are on, and those who came before us.
Herein was born SPICEE.
To welcome our whole selves means to create spaces for ourselves and each other that invite in the:
Spiritual: your Wise self, your gut, your inner knowing, your connection to the Sacred
Physical: your body, your movement, your physical presence
Intellectual: your mind, your imagination, your creativity, your thinking
Community: your love network, your identity, your ancestors, your plancestors, pets, family
Emotions: your heart, your feelings, your underlying needs, your reactions and responses
Environment: the context you are in, the natural environment, plants, animals, the context of the world, the space that you occupy
How do you feel in your heart and in your body when you contemplate that the whole self is SPICEE? Are there other parts that you would add or things you would change?
If this acronym feels useful for you, here are a few ways that I’ve been using it to ground myself and others, to truly live into all of who I am and you are is welcome here.
Wellness check in: How are your SPICEE levels? What do you need or not need to have the level of SPICEEness that you want in your life? Which SPICEE are you giving most attention to? Which SPICEE needs more attention?
Time Reflection: If I was to make a plate of where and how I am using my time, what is the percentage that would go to each part of my SPICEEness? What would be my ideal plate? How do I get there?
Gut check: When I have to make a big decision, checking in with SPICEE. What input does each part of SPICEE give towards what decision I want to make?
If you use any of these, please share your feedback! If you have other ways that you are using SPICEE, please let us know. We want to keep learning with you. Also, keep an eye out on PeoplesHub blog. I will be sharing some tips and tools of how to use SPICEE in facilitation in the next month or two.
May your SPICEE levels be exactly what you and your community need.
