Your Wellness and Success Go Hand-in-Hand
As you may already know, I am formally trained in marriage and family therapy and organizational or business psychology and development. During my doctorate I focused my dissertation on organizational wellness and mental health. I share this with you because it was during my dissertation literature review process (the most challenging aspect of the dissertation), I came across the idea that wellness and success were powerfully correlated and greatly influenced the survival, mere existence, and success of a business and its employees. You are probably wondering why I am sharing this in a women’s magazine focused on empowering women to know they are enough and can be unlimited. In some ways, this topic doesn’t seem to fit our overall intention. However, I guarantee you that your wellness, or lack thereof, directly influences your ability to know you are enough and can powerfully aid you in stepping into your next level of outrageous success whether in your personal life and/so business.
Research states that true wellness is reached when a person experiences harmony and balance within their body, soul (mind, will, emotions) and spirit. In a deeper sense, there are eight dimensions to experiencing holistic or true wellness. The eight dimensions are: physical, mental/intellectual, emotional, spiritual, social (relational), environmental, occupational and financial. To experience optimal wellness and success, one must understand and participate in the above activities that support continued growth and advancement. From a holistic approach, success can easily be accomplished when one understands not only the dimensions of wellness, but the key principles of wellness.
Let’s start by first describing the eight dimensions of wellness. They are as follows:
Physical Wellness: includes a healthy approach to exercise, nutrition, drugs & alcohol. Optimal physical health requires eating well, exercising, avoiding harmful habits, making responsible decisions about sex, learning about and recognizing the symptoms of disease, getting regular medical and dental checkups and taking steps to prevent injuries.
Emotional Wellness: includes trust, self-esteem, self-acceptance, self-confidence, self-control, and the ability to bounce back from setbacks and failures. Maintaining emotion wellness requires monitoring and exploring your thoughts or feelings, identifying obstacles to emotional well-being and finding solutions to emotional problems, and if necessary with the help of a therapist, psychologist or life coach.
Spiritual Wellness: is a set of guiding beliefs, principles or values that give meaning and purpose to your life, especially during difficult times. It involves having the ability and capacity for love, compassion, forgiveness, altruism, and fulfillment. Spiritual wellness does not adhere to any particular religion; however, organized religions may help develop spiritual healthy behaviors, while many others may find meaning and purpose in their lives on their own.
Mental/Intellectual Wellness: includes the use of and continual striving for information and intellectual growth. An active mind is essential to wellness. It opens us to new ideas, the capacity to question, think critically, and motivate us to master new skills, which includes having a sense of humor.
Social/Relational Wellness: includes the ability to develop and maintain healthy intimacy. Developing social wellness means learning good listening and communication skills, contributing to your community, accepting others difference, and cultivating a support network of loving and caring family members and/or friends.
Environmental (planetary) Wellness: includes the ability to promote measures that improve the standard of living and quality of health in our environment. The health of the planet depends upon the safety of our food and water supply, air and water pollution, infectious diseases, violence in our society, ultraviolet radiation, and includes understanding the dangers of second hand tobacco smoke.
Occupational Wellness: includes the ability to balance work and leisure time. Striving for occupational wellness adds focus to your life & allows you to find personal satisfaction in your life through work.
Financial Wellness: Financial wellness is an intricate balance of the mental, spiritual and physical aspects of money. Financial wellness is having an understanding of your financial situation and having the understanding and ability to take care of it in such a way that you are prepared for financial changes. Maintaining that balance consists of being comfortable with where your money comes from and where it is going. Another aspect of financial wellness is wealth consciousness development which includes is starts with the understanding of abundance from an emotional, mental and spiritual place of internal truth.
Now let’s talk about the key principles of wellness that powerfully allows for success. My wellness principles are:
Wellness is primarily a choice and a mindset
Wellness is a daily activity of the body, soul (mind, will and emotions), and spirit
Wellness is a constant progress in personal and professional growth and development
Wellness is having an awareness to live life purposefully, deeper intention
Wellness creates wealth for life
Wellness creates stability, confidence, and peace
Wellness is strategic plan for being and living life well
The key to developing optimal wellness is understanding how to balance or allow the ebb and flow of life to operate in such a way that it supports what feels absolutely right for you in using your time, energy and finances in a way that honors your desires, passions, needs and wants. The accomplishment of this task strengthens and increases your chances to experience holistic success in your personal life and business.
As a woman, we often struggle with being “well” because we tend to place others before ourselves. This is what makes us beautiful beyond description; however, it is also the very thing that keeps us experiencing higher levels of physical and psychological problems. Yet, for a woman who focuses on wellness, her overall sense of being, her abilities become empowered in helping her step into and experiencing outrageous success in every area of her life. Being well just makes life that much sweeter!
Be Well, Dr. Anita