As many of you are interested in the issue of wellness, I thought I would take this opportunity to distill my perspective on this issue from 25 years of work and intensive study in the fields of healthcare psychology, coaching, martial arts, yoga, meditation and philosophy into a cohesive package for you. While the early parts of this article speak to those with medical conditions, the latter parts outline my model of wellness independent of medical status.
What do health care professionals define as wellness?
It may come as a surprise to you, but with volumes of criteria established to diagnose medical and psychological illnesses there is no uniform working model of wellness. If you are not content to define health and wellness simply as the absence of disease (or pain), I could not agree with you more. No doubt you have met many individuals in your life who have no apparent disease condition but who are not living balanced, healthy lives. Similarly, there are many examples of individuals with chronic medical conditions who appear to have transcended their disease state to embody what many of us would identify as wellness.
Can I achieve wellness if I have a chronic medical condition?
Wellness does not require that you be free of all medical conditions. That is good news for those of us with bodies! In addition to the reality that accidents and illnesses can impact us profoundly, we are all aging and, of course, we do eventually die. While at least the last two are natural processes, we are not always comfortable discussing these issues in our culture. You may even be wondering why I would bring this up in a discussion on wellness!
Wellness is about embracing the natural unfolding of life.
The author, Byron Katie, states, “When I argue with reality, reality wins, but only 100% of the time.”
If you have a medical condition, it IS a part of your life. Understandably, you have likely spent a good deal of time on a quest to return to “your” life, the life you recall and identified with before your physical condition changed. Your physical condition was a misplaced chapter, maybe accidentally put in your life from someone else’s book! Now, if you could just find the editor-in-chief to take it out so that YOUR story can continue as you were writing it…
Wellness is about embracing YOUR life as it unfolds.
That doesn’t mean that you should become passive or give up. You may be familiar with the Serenity Prayer:
God give me the courage to change what I can
The strength to accept what I cannot
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Wellness is about learning the difference between what you can change and what you cannot and focusing your energies wisely.
You are so much more than the story of your medical condition. Whatever you are experiencing now IS your life. How you relate, or don’t, to your body’s condition and how you embrace or reject exploration your experience will determine the quality and richness of your life, regardless of the state of your body at any given time.
Even if a cure is not possible, healing is always within your reach!
A holistic model of wellness
Most simply, wellness brings a sense of wholeness. Medical conditions are not a uni-dimensional phenomenon. Chronic medical conditions affect an individual physically, socially, psychologically and spiritually. Wellness is an integration of mind, body and spirit so that one has a sense of balance and harmony in life.
Pursuit of wellness is a lifestyle, not a series of disconnected choices. As you know, the world appears to be getting more complex every year. Developing a wellness lifestyle will allow you to revitalize and re-energize yourself so that you can continue to thrive in the face of the ongoing external demands of life, preparing you to cope with the changes that tomorrow inevitably brings. This takes dedication and commitment but the results are well worth the attention.
Wellness is more than developing self-soothing techniques to get you through a rough day. You may have heard about or been taught self-help or stress management techniques that focus you internally and teach you ways to improve your self-care. Some people commit to taking hot baths or listening to music regularly to relax. Others write affirmations and stick them on their mirrors to promote positive thinking. Others may take up journaling. While these types of techniques are useful and certainly have their place in decreasing stress they can fall short for many people. First, new habits are hard to maintain. Just look at how many New Year’s Resolutions end up abandoned in 3 weeks time! Secondly, too often these techniques are used in isolation and don’t seem to relate to how a person is living day to day in relation to their family, their workplace or their circle of friends. The techniques then become little more than bandages for larger problems in a person’s life.
Wellness promotes self-understanding.You are not your body. You are not your thoughts. You are not your emotions. One key aspect of wellness is to learn how to control your thoughts and emotions. This does not mean that you stop having them, but that you stop being controlled by them. Being able to stand outside yourself and gain understanding of your life situation and your reactions to it is a critical piece of gaining control in your life.
Wellness promotes a sense of flow.In our “GO GO GO” culture, we tend to over-emphasize external productivity. Many people identify themselves as “Type A” and take pride in that. As a result, learning how to pace is a big challenge for many people. Another component of wellness is to be aware, respectful of and in tune with your flow between external productivity and rest periods. A well-paced life allows for a sustainable level of productivity so that surges of effort followed by extended “crashes” no longer define one’s life.
Wellness creates a sense of connection and meaning in life. Self-care and self-understanding alone do not define wellness. You are part of a larger system. You may have a family, friends, co-workers, a church or other community. Beyond our human connections, we also have connections with nature and you may also have a sense of spiritual connection to something greater than yourself.
Wellness is mind-body-spirit integration that promotes self-care and self-understanding and connects your life to the larger world. It is a state of being joyfully and enthusiastically engaged with your life, even when it doesn’t turn out exactly as you had planned.
You addressed the issue of "wellness" for those who are faced with chronic physical diseases. You made some good points that can also be applied to those who struggle with various mental/emotional disorders as well. Unfortunately, too many who are given a diagnosis are stigmatized by the label. Learning to be as whole and well as possible despite particular obstacles - whether they are physical or mental/emotional is a challenge worth reaching for.
Posted by: Belladonna | June 07, 2007 at 01:26 PM
Wellness is a condition where your body and mind balance and then move ahead together. It is a holistic approach. Your mind and body becomes one and provide you an exhilarating experience.
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Posted by: Linda | November 02, 2007 at 09:39 PM