Your complete guide to all natural wellness for the body, mind and soul.
The journey to wellness begins with you.
Wellness is a holistic integration of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, fueling the body, engaging the mind, and nurturing the spirit. Although it always includes striving for health, it’s more about living life fully, and is a lifestyle and a personalized approach to living life in a way that… allows you to become the best kind of person that your potentials, circumstances, and fate will allow. (National Institutes of Health)
Your body holds deep wisdom. Trust in it. Learn from it. Nourish it. Watch your life transform and be healthy. – Bella Bleue
Wellness is a term that is often defined as the ability to meet daily challenges of life and adapt to change. Wellness involves being aware of ourselves as whole people, including a sense of balance and comfort. It is a sense that things are going well for us today, and can continue to go well for us tomorrow. It is a sense that we have meaningful relationships and a sense of meaning and purpose. Although we may have setbacks, or experience stress we are resilient, have strength, material resources, and the support of others to survive and thrive.
Holistic wellness is nourishment for the body, mind and soul that is incorporated into daily choices and habits as part of your daily routine. Wellness is optimum health that is achieved by conscious, self-directed choices and engaging in an evolving process that focuses on the body in its present moment to move YOU to YOUR desired state of being.
Wellness is not the absence of disease, illness, and stress but the presence of (Dunn, H.L., High-Level Wellness, Beatty Press: Arlington, VA, 1961):
- Purpose in life
- Active involvement in satisfying work and play
- Joyful relationships
- A healthy body and living environment
- Happiness
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. – World Health Organization
Holistic wellness incorporates seven dimensions. The dimensions are interdependent and can affect overall quality of life.
7 Dimensions of Wellness
Physical Wellness
Your physical body allows you to participate fully in life and all the things you wish to accomplish. When your body is not functioning well, you may experience fatigue, pain, or other, sometimes subtle, symptoms that tell you your body isn’t getting everything it needs. Those seeking wellness will include a focus on proper nutrition, regular exercise, personal hygiene, sleep habits, and saying no to unhealthy habits.
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Spiritual Wellness
The spiritual dimension relates directly to how you find meaning or purpose in life as well as what guides you on your journey toward wholeness. The spiritual dimension focuses on your values and how your actions reflect these. However you choose to integrate spirituality, the most important aspect of this dimension is identifying for yourself what your values and beliefs are, and then choosing a path in life that honors those beliefs.
It’s a common misconception that “spiritual” wellness refers only to religion. Spiritual wellness encompasses everything from spiritual faith to your morals, ethics, and values. The path to improve your wellness can be reached through prayer, yoga, meditation, personal reflection, etc. The result of this can be religious faith, yoga routines, regular meditation, etc..
Balanced spiritual health is what helps you to live in the present and [be] grateful for everything you have.
Emotional Wellness
The emotional dimension is not just about your feelings, but also emotional presence and how comfortable you are with your emotions. It is also connected to how well you can express your feelings and thoughts as well as related to those of others. Your emotional wellness includes how well you cope with the challenges of life as well as how productively you can share your strong emotions with others. Coping with stress, having a sense of mental balance, and your own journey to personal discovery all contribute to your emotional dimension.
Taking care of your emotional wellbeing is considered of utmost importance in holistic health. The body is greatly affected by what goes on in the mind.
Balanced emotional health means:
- being fully aware of your emotions
- accepting that you will make mistakes and learning from them
- admitting the need for and accepting help
- being responsible for your actions
Health is a state of body. Wellness is a state of being. – J. Sanford
Environmental Wellness
Environmental wellness is enjoying good health by occupying pleasant, stimulating environments that support wellbeing; trying to live in harmony with nature by understanding the impact of your actions on nature; and taking initiative to protect your personal environment and the world around you.
Your living and working space should be safe and make you feel comfortable, and your surroundings should support all aspects of your life. In addition, environmental wellness includes respecting and conserving natural resources, connecting with nature, and preserving lands for future generations.
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Intellectual Wellness
Intellectual wellness is engaging in creative, stimulating mental activities (academic and otherwise), striving for personal growth and a willingness to seek out and use new information, making sound decisions and thinking critically, openness to new ideas; motivation to master new skills; a sense of creativity, and curiosity. Just as you want your body to be healthy, so should you stimulate and exercise your brain.
Intellectual wellness involves developing your mind in new ways, continuing to learn, being creative, and solving problems. It also includes your openness to new ideas and experiences, improving on your weak skills, and embracing a stance of perpetual growth and learning. In addition to learning opportunities, those with intellectual wellness embrace cultural experiences, are open to new ways of understanding the world, and discovering new hobbies in order to explore and discover more about their world.
Social Wellness
The social dimension of wellness encompasses:
- learning good communication skills,
- developing safe intimacy with others,
- connecting and contributing to one’s community,
- living up to healthy expectations and demands of our social roles,
- creating a support network of friends, colleagues and family members,
- showing respect for others and yourself,
- and building a sense of belonging.
From being comfortable enough with yourself to engaging with others in healthy ways, social wellness is a significant part of whole living. Connecting with others helps you establish relationships, work well with colleagues, and find the emotional support you need to live a healthy, fulfilling life. Forming intimate relationships that are based on mutual respect as well as supportive boundaries are also an important component. Social wellness allows you to be successful in so many other aspects of your life because you are nurtured and loved by others.
Occupational Wellness
Occupational wellness is creating personal satisfaction and enrichment in one’s life through work, seeking opportunities to grow professionally and to be fulfilled in your “job” whatever that may be, preparing and making use of your gifts, skills, and talents in order to gain purpose, happiness, and enrichment in your life.
Occupational wellness means your work brings you satisfaction, AND that you are able to balance it with the other parts of your life that are equally important. Your occupational wellness focuses on finding your purpose in life, setting goals toward which you work, and learning to cope with the pressures and stresses of your job.
When you discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough to make room for it in your life. – Jean Shinoda Bolen
An integrative approach to wellness is the most effective means of increasing, regaining and maintaining optimum health and wellness. When we are able to create balance in all aspects of wellness, we are able to achieve a desired state of harmony and wellbeing.
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More resources for your health & wellness journey!
This was great. Most people don’t realize how interconnected wellness is.
How well analyzed. Wellness is a multi faceted concept. Each of them are important and helps in a all round build up of our personality.
There really are so many different dimensions to wellness. This post is a great reminder of that fact and how to give attention to each one for a healthy life.
thank you for sharing these! It’s easy for us to not think about environmental and emotional, and spiritual wellness but it’s so important!
This is such a great breakdown of wellness and how each aspect contributes to our overall feeling of wellness and happiness. Thanks for so many great points and tips to living a fuller, well rounded life.
I honestly never thought about it this way. I always just thought there’s physical and mental wellness. I didn’t even stop to think there was emotional (which makes a lot of sense) and the other ones too.
Occupational wellness is such an interesting subject and something I never really thought about but now that I do it is so important! Such great point to think about!
Wow, this is a very informative post! I loved learning about this 🙂
love these. shared with my partner there are definitely a few areas we need to work on
Yes! You can’t focus on one health aspect without affecting another. Such a great and informative post Jill!
This is a great post! You totally nailed it and the aspects for a healthy happy life.
we forget about so many aspects of it and focus mostly on physical. thank you for sharing this.
I never really thought about wellness on so many different dimensions. Thanks for sharing
We so often think of physical health and neglect the rest. There’s so much more to health than that! Thank you for such a though provoking post!
Another beautiful post. All these areas are so important. People tend to always focus on the ‘food’ or ‘exercise’ aspect of health and wonder why they keep falling off the health track…
All areas need to be tended too.
Great post.
This post was so wonderful and made me become so much more aware of my own wellness! I love the idea of tapping more into my own spiritual and social wellness! I’m saving this so I can go back to it again and again!
Yes! Each of these are so important for overall health. This is such a great post!
You are so right. There are so many more aspects to wellness than what we realize. Most people just think of physical wellness, but it’s so much more than that. I think we need every aspect you’ve mentioned in order to be well-rounded, healthy human beings. Something to strive for, no doubt! Great post!
There are so many aspects of health. Thank you for exploring all of the things that contribute to our health. Awesome post
This is insanely important, especially in today’s world where everyone seems to be comparing each other to one another! It’s brutal out there and strong individuals who loves themselves seem to be the only ones who survive! Seems like this may help a lot of people strengthen the love for themselves.