What is ‘Wellness’ anyway?
“Wellness, it’s the best in each of us, a natural mix of elements that makes us unique. Wellness is a conscious commitment to growth and improvement in all areas. Only then does the larger picture emerge.” ~ Anonymous
A few organizations have attempted to define what is meant by ‘a commitment to growth and improvement in all areas.’ One of the largest of these is the National Wellness Institute (NWI) which promotes six dimensions of wellness: Physical, Emotional, Occupational, Intellectual, Social and Spiritual.
It’s that Spiritual piece I’d like to talk about today. The NWI has listed the following tenets of the Spiritual Dimension of Wellness:
- It is better to ponder the meaning of life for ourselves and to be tolerant of the beliefs of others than to close our minds and become intolerant.
- It is better to live each day in a way that is consistent with our values and beliefs than to do otherwise and feel untrue to ourselves.
I just returned from the National Wellness Conference where I gave a talk on this very subject.
Back to my book for just a moment. In it, I refer to wellness as a three-legged stool or trinity of mind, body, and spirit. When each leg is strong and sturdy, our wellness stool is balanced and stable. But, for whatever reason, we tend to be more focused on the mind and body aspects of wellness and leave the spirit leg less developed – making our wellness stool a bit wobbly.
“When you examine the lives of the most influential people who have ever walked among us, you discover one thread that winds through them all. They have been aligned first with their spiritual nature and only then with their physical selves.” ~ Albert Einstein
One of the problems leading to our wobbly stool is that we find it difficult to attend to our spiritual nature, particularly when we may be under a great deal of stress, trauma, or under fed. We naturally focus on survival first and esoteric practices later, when we’re feeling safe and in control.
I’d like to argue though, that for most of us who are blessed to have plenty to eat and secure home, that a robust spiritual dimension actually nourishes the other dimensions of wellness which allows us to go beyond basic components of health, and actually thrive in all areas of our lives.
In this way, the spiritual piece is like an underlying current or wave that lifts the other components to a higher level. Remember the old saying?
“A rising tide raises all ships”
That’s the idea of including this piece in your wellness plan.
Now, why don’t we talk about this more - or simply give it more attention in our daily lives?
I think one of the reasons for this is that we get bolloxed up with what spirituality is. What does this spirituality thing look like as we develop whole-person wellness and well-being?
After some searching, I’ve come to embrace the notion that in practicing Mindfulness we can gain greater access to our spiritual dimension throughout our daily lives.
Ok, so what is Mindfulness?
John Kabat-Zinn – considered the father of the modern-day mindfulness movement, defines mindfulness this way.
“Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.” …” in the service of self-understanding and wisdom.”
And what does this do for us?
“Between a stimulus and the response, there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”~Viktor Frankl, Austrian Psychiatrist, Auschwitz Survivor
What Frankl is describing here is mindfulness in action. It's the idea that we have the ability to perceive a situation and offer a response that is consistent with our values and purpose in life. It’s the ability to pause for a nanosecond and respond thoughtfully, rather than let our sympathetic drive and emotions react in a way that is often unkind or unnecessary.
We used to think of this whole mindfulness thing as being just a bunch of ‘woo-woo’ concepts. But with the development of Functional MRI (FMRI) we can actually see changes in the brain that occur with mindfulness practices.
The super interesting thing to me is that the ways in which our brains develop and improve are specific to the type of mindfulness that we practice.
These FMRI studies have shown changes in the brain associated with a boat-load of benefits in our daily lives, including:
- Eases depressive symptoms
- Affects how we receive feedback
- Reduces stress and anxiety
- Enhances immune function
- Improves sleep quality
- Reduces emotional reactivity
- Enhances creativity
- Decreases blood pressure
- Heightens empathy
- Improves problem-solving
- Improves PTSD
- Reduces the experience of pain
- Improves workplace focus and relationships
..And this is not a complete list!
If you aren’t currently engaged in mindfulness practice, I really encourage you to give it a go. Sometimes it takes some trial and error to find the thing that works best for you. ( I give some examples in my book. )
However, if you’re lost with what you’re supposed to do during the time you’ve set aside for mindfulness practice, I encourage you to try some of the MANY apps available to help you.
A Google search with come up with dozens. These are a few that are highly rated:
- Headspace
- Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics by 10% Happier
- Calm
- Insight Timer
- Buddhify
- My Mood Tracker*
*MMT isn’t a meditation app per se but encourages mindfulness by checking mood throughout the day.
If this is totally new to you, I will share that I’m partial to Headspace because it starts with a very short time period and also works with neuroscience practices to teach you about what you’re doing as you go along.
The main thing is to find a practice that works for your personality, time constraints and previous experience with meditation.
And here’s the ‘big picture’ that will begin to emerge.
When we practice mindfulness, we feel better. When we feel better, we are better partners, parents, co-workers, and members of society. When we feel better, we are more calm, empathetic and gracious. As we each embrace these qualities we are led on pathways toward a peaceful existence.
Seems like a worthy goal.
Until next time,
Be well
