Finding The Balance

Its great to see you again!

Welcome back to this week’s edition of healthy living and tips on how best to take care of your temple.

Last week had us discussing our eating portions and the importance of eating when our bodies tell us to. Our body cues are vital for the effective functioning of our bodies, we need be in tune with them to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

This week I would like to focus on the term wellness, and its importance to a wholistic healthy approach.

“wellness is trusting the body to know what it needs to heal itself. The state or condition of being in good physical and mental health.”

I associated wellness with, weight loss, healthy eating, and exercise but it is far more all-encompassing. Wellness is a full integration of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, and being able to find a balance between all those aspects. Striking a good wellness approach makes this balance a possibility.

This balance is made possible through 7 areas that contribute to our quality of life. This week, I would like to look at 3 of these 7 areas of Wellness and discuss the meaning behind each of them.

The Different Areas Of Wellness

Physical

This refers to our physical health, where necessary behaviours such as exercise, eating nutritious meals and abstaining from harmful substances is key to good physical health. The key is committing to learning your body by identifying what it needs and what you should avoid. More examples to a physical wellness approach include:

• Adequate rest
• Learn to recognize early signs of illness.
• Make use of seat belts, helmets, and other protective equipment.

Emotional

This area of wellness is a tricky one to manoeuvre let alone control. We’re all aware of how inconsistent and volatile our emotions are. However, the lesson here is not controlling our emotions, but rather refining the ability to manage our emotions effectively through challenges and change. Below are additional tips on ways to manage our emotions:

• Tune-in to your thoughts and feelings.
• Seek and provide emotional support.
• Accept and forgive yourself when your emotions get the better of you.

Intellectual

Our minds need to be continuously stimulated, as much as our bodies do. This stimulation allows us the ability to expand one’s knowledge and improve our skills. Intellectual health is not limited to academic knowledge, but also entails creativity, general knowledge, and common sense. Below are more ways you can help stimulate and cultivate your intellectual health:

• Seek out people who challenge you intellectually.
• Read More.
• Follow the news and current affairs around the world.

Achieving wholistic wellness is an active choice (excuse the pun). We must make the conscious decision to apply the necessary changes in each area of our health (physical, emotional, and intellectual). Practicing these habits allows us to attain better physical and mental health outcomes, which is a great way to achieve wholistic wellness.

Drop in next week as we uncover more holistic wellness approaches to living a healthy and happy life.