Te Whare Tapa Whā - Strengthening the Pillars

I was first introduced to Te Whare-Tapa-Whā model of health and wellbeing whilst in an AOD Treatment Centre. The strengthening and aligning of the four pillars (Pou), for the support and stability of the Whare made sense when used as an analogy for the support and stability of my health and wellbeing given that my body is my whare.

Taha Wairua – Spiritual Wellbeing.
Taha Hinengaro – Mental Wellbeing.
Taha Tinana – Physical Wellbeing.
Taha Whānau – Social Wellbeing

I use the four Pou o toku nei Whare to gauge my holistic health and wellbeing, identifying when one pou may require fortifying when weakened and impacting on the structural soundness of my Whare as a whole. When each of my four Pou stand in harmony and unison with each other, I am balanced, healthy, and well.

I was recently introduced to a fifth element, Taha Whenua – Environmental Health. This element provides a grounding foundation upon which my Whare may sit safe and secure in its belonging.

I did not always feel I belonged, had any virtues, or worth, any direction or purpose for being. These feelings presented from early childhood perhaps due to being adopted at birth, being part Māori and raised in a Pākehā family, or perhaps due to being born gay. Whatever the reasons, I lived a lonely life of pretence and denial under a cloud of hopelessness, with the perception that the world, mankind, and even God had rejected and abandoned me. The truth is, it was I who rejected the world, its people and God, and I who rejected and resented myself.

In my mid-teens I turned to Alcohol and Drugs as the solution to numb life and escape reality. Some four decades later I ended up Alcohol dependent and living alone with a death wish, having pretended my way through a life that included marriage, raising a family and becoming a slave to my addictions.

I embarked on a Spiritual Pathway of Recovery three short years ago that has given me hope and strength. I can share this with others through lived experience and provides the chance to grow spiritually by the grace of a God I neither understand or know, but who I see and hear in connecting to and being a part of the Fellowship of Mankind.

To those of you who may feel you have lost your way, lost your hope, and perhaps see no purpose for being, I would ask you believe that the light at the end of the long, dark tunnel isn’t an oncoming train to end it all. That light is you, waiting for you to keep it glowing for others to see their way into the light. And if you look carefully there are glow-worms in the dark to guide your way. They are the sparks of Aroha for you. The jigsaw puzzle of Mankind is incomplete without your precious piece, and Te Whare Tapa Whā of Humanity a little less stable without you there.

I te taha o toku Whānau-Atawhai –
Ko Mangonui Te Maunga
Ko Oruamo Te Awa
Ko Te Waitematā Te Moana
Ko Rangitoto Te Motu
Ko Te Raki Pai Whenua Te Rohe
Ko Ngāti Pakeha Te Iwi

I te taha Whānau Tuturu Māori –
Ko Makeo Te Maunga
Ko Waiaua Te Awa
Ko Nukutere Te Waka
Ko Te Whakatōhea Te Iwi
Ko Ngati Ruatakena Te Hapu
Ko Tutamure Te Tipuna
He Tangata Inu-Waipiro, Kai-Warawara Ahau
He Mōrehu Āhau