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Monthly Practice: Creating a Rule of Life and a Daily Habit of Using the RE-SPIRE Model 

 

Exemplar: Dallas Willard       

Dallas Willard was not always, well, Dallas Willard. He was not always the mid-to-late career academic philosopher and practical theologian who spoke about the Kingdom of the Heavens with precise definitions and experiential certainty. He was not always what St. Paul describes in Ephesians, a “Child of Light.” Like the rest of us, Dallas Willard had to learn to abide in the love of the Trinity. Along the way, Dallas discovered the pathway of eternal living.  

We have created this monthly practice as an exercise in self-assessment (using the RESPIRE Model) and encouragement for developing a rule of life promoting health for each of the aspects of our person.  

 

Book about Exemplar: Becoming Dallas Willard: The Formation of a Philosopher, Teacher and Christ Follower. 

 

What does the RESPIRE Model Look Like? 

Simply stated, the RESPIRE model for promoting well-being is an exercise of daily examen which focuses on each of the five aspects of a person: Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Relational, and Emotional. 

 

Engaging the Monthly Practice 

After reading about the elements of RESPIRE and the brief explanation of how to use these insights, you are encouraged to have fun (the key word) in developing a simple, practical and non-burdensome rule of life. Use your data from 30-days of using the RESPIRE report sheet to identify a few (no more than 5) practices that have worked for you. List these, and keep at it. Here are the practices.  

 

Practice 1: Check in With Yourself on the RESPIRE Model Daily assessment 

• Each day, monitor your daily sense of well-being using the RESPIRE model. Please stay with the plan for a minimum of 30 days.  

 

Practice 2:  Create and Live Out a Rule of Life 

• After reviewing your insights from Dallas Willard and the Wholebeing Institute, use the data you have collected to develop a simple Rule of Life for yourself that draws from these RESPIRE insights and principles. Keep trying on ideas and practices that you came up with in addressing your lowest daily scores until you find just 3 to 5 (fun) daily practices that you would like to continue working with.  

 

Practice 3: Further Inspiration 

• You may find it helpful to also consider ideas from Fr. Thomas Hopko’s listing of “55 Maxims of the Christian Life.” (Please see this resource below.)