Wellness is a lifestyle you choose daily to manage and fulfill your needs.
Three important areas may be improved by practicing this lifestyle:
Disease Prevention
The incidence or effects of disease or illness may be reduced.
Complete, Optimal Health
We are dynamic, multi-dimensional beings and symptoms of disease or illness are the result of an imbalance in these aspects. Optimal health is related to the integration of mind, body and environment.
Positive Wellness
By cultivating positive emotional-mental states (happiness) we improve our quality of life and promote longevity.
Happiness is not an unrealistic, fluffy concept. It has been pondered, and attempts to define it go back millennia. When the forefathers of the USA were drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776, it was included as an inalienable right in Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
A spiritual system to achieve Happiness is a central theme in Buddhist teachings.
Wikipedia states: Humanistic psychologists—such as Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Erich Fromm—developed theories and practices pertaining to human happiness and flourishing. More recently, “positive psychologists have developed research supporting the humanistic theories of flourishing. In addition, positive psychology has moved ahead in a variety of new directions.”
Disease prevention, optimal health and positive wellness (happiness) are all potential benefits of practicing a Wellness Lifestyle. But, how do we live this way? What is involved?
Dimensions, Needs and a Wellness Lifestyle
At the beginning of this post, I described Wellness as a lifestyle you choose and manage. This is an important concept that implies we’re responsible for the actions we do or don’t take as our lives unfold. The intent is not to strive for perfection but a steady, committed effort and growth towards optimal health and wellbeing. It doesn’t mean we live with our head in the sand and unaware that living is risky business and undesirable events can happen out of the blue, that we have no control over.
We are multidimensional beings, where each dimension overlaps and influence the others. Dimensions can interact negatively or positively, which is why wellness planning is necessary.
As we are: “In the process of achieving or striving for holistic wellness (a journey, not an end-state), people come closer to satisfying their system of basic human needs.” (McGregor 2010)
I have developed A Complete Life Wellness Plan™ for the purpose of managing our needs. It has a framework of seven dimensions that consist of the:
- Physical
- Emotional-Mental
- Intellectual
- Spiritual
- Social
- Environmental
- Occupational
Adjustments are made to each dimension as required, to create greater degrees of balance and wellbeing and are included in your plan.
