Developing a Whole Person

Concept Digest

What is Holistic Development?

The key phrase in this chapter is that you have to pay

attention to is whole person, emphasizing the complete aspect
of a person or his totality.

The Various Aspects of Holistic Development of a Person

When we consider a human person and what various aspects make

up this complex organism, five aspect come to mind:
 Physiological or the physical attributes including the
five physical senses
 Cognitive or intellectual functions of the mind:
thinking, recognizing, reasoning, analyzing, projecting,
synthesizing, recalling, and assessing.
 Psychological or how thinking, feeling, and behaving
interact and happen in a person;
 Social or the manner by which an individual interacts
with other individuals or groups of individuals; and
 Spiritual or the attribute of a person’s consciousness
and beliefs, including the values and virtues that
guides and put meaning into a person’s life.

When you look at a person and try to understand this

individual, it is always good to consider these five aspects
and what it is about this person that makes him or her unique
from yourself and from others. Understanding a person
holistically means that one aspect cannot be seen in isolation
from the whole person. For example, to judge a person because
of a behavior alone is not balanced. One must see how the
interplay of all five aspects occurs within an individual.
This holistic approach in viewing a person is emphasized in
education, medicine, spiritual development relationship, and
in one person’s overall wellness.

Situations: For Activity 2

For the past three nights, Therese has not been getting enough sleep
from her usual eight hours because of her forth coming exams. Today
is the day of her final exams. She wakes up feeling drowsy and with
a headache. Her body feels like a ton, and she has to literally drag
herself out of bed to get up and prepare to school. She takes a
shower, dresses up quickly, bypasses and ignores his sister
Christine, who is looking at her quizzically, and her parents at the
breakfast table. Immediately, the family gets affected by Therese
behavior. Christine is thinking her sister is having a bad mood; she

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thinks Therese woke up on the wrong side of bed, and therefore
ignores her as well. Her mother thinks she is uptight about the
final exams, mentions about it, but was just given a stare by
Therese who mumbles that she is okay but just tense about the exams.
Her father simply looks at her, gives some comforting words of
support, and continues with his breakfast.

In school, all the noise and chatter, and the pressure of taking the
finals so early in the morning agitated Therese. She is not smiling
today, which is very unlike her usual self. Her temper is short,
irritable, and she is giving nasty look at people who continue to
annoy her. She goes over her notes and book, tries to memorize some
phrases and concepts, but her throbbing headache makes it almost
impossible to cram. She thought of taking some pain reliever
earlier, but decided a can of her favourite caffeine-laden
carbonated cola drink would help, but this is providing her very
little relief. She slams the book and lays her head and unhappy.
Therese feels miserable. She feels unsure or herself and unhappy.
She is tense and nervous. Her seatmates stay away from her, although
her seatmate tries to strike up a conversation, Therese just moves
her head in response. However. Deep inside, she knows what is
affecting her and tries to put things under control. She starts to
pray silently, and when the bell rang, she raises her head and faces
the day, and final exams. Although still feelings drowsy, she calms
herself down and mentally prepares for what is up ahead.