Wellness - Are You In Balance?

Wellness, is defined as the quality or state of being healthy in body and mind, especially as the result of deliberate effort, and is a mindset we believe has seeped into the lives of the everyday global person, emerging as a lifestyle that continues to build momentum as we push further into the 21st century.

To truly understand why our great company fits the changing times, you have to dig deep into its core principles and foundation, which are all wellness based.

As you read through these eight dimensions of Wellness, ask yourself the question, "How many of these do I fit well, and which ones do I need to address more as I move forward?"

What is Wellness?

Wellness is the realization of our true potential to live a healthier, happier and more successful and balanced existence.

Wellness is a proactive life process utilizing awareness and decisions toward a healthy, fulfilling and balanced lifestyle.

Wellness, which has become the new "gold", is now a status symbol among consumers, who prioritize maintaining their well-balanced physical and mental health. We are experiencing a phenomenon where health is creeping into all aspects of a consumer's lifestyle and experience.

There are several common threads that stand out across the various definitions of wellness. Wellness is multi-dimensional, holistic, changes over time and along a continuum, and is driven by the individual, but also influenced by the environment and community. The multi trillion dollar global industry, the Health & Wellness market space, is dominated mostly by beauty and anti-aging product sales at $679 billion, followed by fitness and mind + body exercise ($390 billion) and healthy eating, nutrition and weight loss sales ($277 billion).

In the United States alone, women invest $125 billion for their nutritional needs, $40 billion for alternative medicine and $25 billion for OTC drugs.

This powerful message is being reinforced by the Wellness trend that has been growing globally since the 80's.

The Global Wellness Institute Study: $3.4 Trillion Global Wellness Market is Now Three Times Larger than the Worldwide Pharmaceutical Industry

With consumer demand for wellness services and products higher than ever, a landmark study released by The Global Wellness Institute reveals that the global wellness market is now worth $3.4 trillion, making it nearly three times larger than the $1 trillion worldwide pharmaceutical industry.

The article that appears here, follows a template established from a publication at the University of California, Davis, which clearly points out that "wellness" is much more than our physical well-being. As a matter of fact, Wellness has eight dimensions, like an octagon, and physical health is only one of them.

Be proud of your part and participation, and read through these eight areas of Wellness to truly understand why this trend continues to boom. Lock in on the ones that you measure well with, and work on the ones that obviously are not where you want them to be.

Physical Wellness

Physical wellness involves aspects of your life that are necessary to keep yourself in top condition. Optimal physical wellness, is developed through the combination of beneficial physical activity/exercise and healthy eating habits. Elemental components of physical wellness include building muscular strength and endurance, cardiovascular strength and endurance and flexibility.

We will start here, as the average person associates wellness with their own body. Physical Wellness is related to maintaining a healthy mind and body, seeking professional care when and if needed. Physical health is attained through mind fitness, exercise, good nutrition, getting enough sleep and paying attention to the signs of illness and getting help when needed. We live within our skin and have a first hand association with what is going on within our body, by the feelings and signs that our body exhibits. By listening to the signs being radiated by the body, we can make adjustments when necessary.

The wellness approach would be to take preventative measures to optimize the performance of our immune systems, minimize exposure to toxins, identify allergies, eat mostly natural and organic foods, drink plenty of clean water, maintain a healthy percentage of body fat and lean muscle mass, while developing and maintaining strength and flexibility.

While you may think you are healthy, it is entirely possible to get so used to feeling how you are feeling, that you don't realize how much better you could feel, if the right steps were taken.

Emotional Wellness

Emotional Wellness is related to understanding your feelings and coping effectively with stress. It is critically important to pay attention to self-care, relaxation, stress reduction and the development of inner resources so you can learn and grow from life experiences.

Being emotionally well is more than just handling stress. It also involves being attentive to your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, whether positive or negative. Emotional Wellness implies the ability to be aware of and accept our feelings, rather than deny them, have an optimistic approach to life, and enjoy life despite its occasional disappointments and frustrations.

If you are a person engaged in the process of emotional wellness, you are willing and able to:

• Arrive at personal choices and decisions based upon the synthesis of feelings, thoughts, philosophies, and behavior. 

• Live and work independently while realizing the importance of seeking and appreciating the support and assistance of others. 

• Form interdependent relationships with others based upon a foundation of mutual commitment, trust and respect. 

• Take on challenges, take risks, and recognize conflict as being potentially healthy. 

• Manage your life in personally rewarding ways, and taking responsibility for your actions.

Intellectual Wellness

Intellectual Wellness involves having an open mind when you encounter new ideas and continuing to expand your knowledge. It encourages active participation in scholastic, cultural and community activities. The mental dimension of wellness includes developing a healthy personal philosophy, maintaining a learning aptitude and establishing a base of useful knowledge.

To assess and improve our mental health and happiness, we can simply measure our number of happy and satisfied days compared to sad, depressed or unsatisfied days. We can also make a determination as to whether we have developed good coping skills or otherwise. For example, it is proven possible to be happy most days. Do you fit the model?

The greatest strides towards mental wellness come from learning and maintaining the basic fundamentals of nutrition, positive and healthy thinking good habits and a healthy personal philosophy. Healthy and unhealthy habits and our personal philosophies are learned behavior and drastically affect the course and quality of our lives.

Spiritual Wellness

Spiritual Wellness allows you to develop a set of values that help you seek meaning and purpose. Spirituality can be represented in many ways, for example, through relaxation or religion. But being spiritually well means knowing which resources to use to cope with issues that come up in everyday life.

Spiritual Wellness is a personal matter involving values and beliefs that provide a purpose in our lives. While different individuals may have different views of what spiritualism is, it is generally considered to be the search for meaning and purpose in human existence, leading one to strive for a state of harmony with oneself and others while working to balance inner needs with the rest of the world.

The spiritual dimension of wellness includes becoming aware of our life's purpose, developing our innate gifts and using our talents in a positive way and getting in touch with our spirituality. Operating "on purpose" and using our talents can be spiritually lifting and tremendously positive as compared to getting by, pleasing others, or surviving.

Getting in touch with our spirituality can imply a greater sense of awareness, more presence, feelings of being connected and taking time to do things soothing to the soul. Our spirituality can also be expressed as being connected with a universal higher power that we cannot entirely explain.

Social Wellness

The social dimension of wellness includes the careful creation and maintenance of healthy and positive relationships, our contribution and involvement in the community, and our impact on our surroundings or the environment at large.

Social Wellness helps you preform social roles effectively and comfortably, and creates a support network. This dimension of wellness allows you to not only develop encouraging relationships with peers, but also intimate relationships with romantic partners.

The social dimension of wellness encourages contributing to one's human and physical environment to the common welfare of one's community. Social Wellness emphasizes the interdependence with others and nature. It includes the pursuit of harmony in one's family.' As you travel a wellness path, you'll become more aware of your importance in society, as well as the impact you have on nature and your community. You'll take an active part in improving our world by encouraging a healthy living environment and initiating better communication with those around you.

The quality of our relationships with friends, family, neighbors and coworkers can have a dramatic effect on our wellness. All of us are faced with daily decisions as to which relationships to foster, invest and grow and which ones to minimize, avoid or end. Since we cannot control others, we can only make investments in the best relationships and be strong to avoid the needy destructive ones that detract from our wellness.

Occupational Wellness

Occupational Wellness is about enjoying your occupational endeavors and appreciating your contributions. This dimension of wellness encourages personal satisfaction and enrichment in one's life through work.

Occupational Wellness is the ability to achieve a balance between work and leisure time, addressing workplace stress and building relationships with co-workers. It focuses on our search for a calling and involves exploring various career options and finding where you fit.

Because what we do for a living encompasses so much of our time, it's important for our overall well-being to do what we love and love what we do. When people are doing what they were meant to do, they deepen their sense of meaning and purpose.

The occupational dimension of wellness recognizes the personal satisfaction and enrichment in one's life through work. At the center of occupational wellness is the premise that occupational development is related to one's attitude about one's work. Traveling a path toward your occupational wellness, you'll contribute your unique gifts, skills and talents to work that are both personally meaningful and rewarding. You'll convey your values through your involvement in activities that are gratifying for you. The choice of profession, job satisfaction, career ambitions, and personal performance are all important components of your path's terrain.

Financial Wellness

Financial Wellness involves the process of learning how to successfully manage financial expenses. Money plays a critical role in our lives and not having enough of it impacts health as well as academic performance. Financial stress is repeatedly found to be a common source of stress, anxiety and fear for college students.

Financial wellness is an intricate balance of the mental, spiritual and physical aspects of money. This unique combination is an ideal to strive towards in our dealings with money.

Financial wellness is having an understanding of your financial situation and taking 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.

Environmental Wellness

Environmental Wellness encourages you to respect the delicate balance between the environment and yourself. Respect for other living things in our environment is just as necessary as respect for the physical environment itself.

We may not think much about Environmental Wellness as part of an overall wellness plan, but our environment and how we feel about it can have a huge impact on the way we feel overall.

Environmental well-being includes trying to live in harmony with the Earth by understanding the impact of your interaction with nature and your personal environment, and taking action to protect the world around you. Protecting yourself from environmental hazards and minimizing the negative impact of your behavior on the environment are also central elements.