Ever heard of the phrase: “holistic wellbeing? Try using the Google search engine and see what pops up. Technology makes me overwhelmed at times, especially with all the knowledge people state in blogs about “DO’s” and “DON’Ts”. I think Google has a way of mocking us due to all the articles available that creates confusion, stress and the “really” messages you tell yourself when you see the number of results when typing a single word.

Maintaining your holistic wellbeing refers to the way we look after ourselves in all aspects of life to enhance our quality of life (happiness, joy, relationships, sexual drive, social life, academics, career satisfaction etc.). However it sounds pretty and perfect but everyone knows we are not perfect. Where do we start? Firstly, we need to realise the importance of our entire body and our lifestyles but mindful of the personal responsibilities as well as commitment requirements. Our bodies are like machines, if one part of your body experiences discomfort; other parts of our body are affected. An example is “My throat is sore” would be an indication that you will get sick, and then you tell your whole body you need medication. Therefore we need to be mindful of our habits and actions. Reason being, our health is related to our lifestyles and environments we engage in.  For example, what we eat, drink, feel, exercise, and the toxins we exposed to affect our health. Vitamins, herbs, minerals etc., only helps for a few days if you remember to take them.  Below is an ideal health picture:

In the image below is a nice depiction of what you may experience. Despite the sample population it’s directed to, I think it is relevant to us as well.

Considerations for healthier you:

Physical wellness:

1. You need to ask yourself whether your body is managing with the foods you are eating. Do you eat enough red meat, vegetables, fish, and other important foods to enhance your metabolism? So you a vegan or meat lover. Are you eating enough foods or over eating? How many diets have you been on and calculate the money you spent on them. Do you prefer take-aways or can you make food? Do you spend less time at home or near a stove and use take-aways as an alternative? Rate yourself below:

Eat healthy?

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average

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2. Do you rest and sleep enough ? or do you rest too much and sleep too much? What are you doing to enhance you energy levels in you free time? Rate yourself rest and sleeping patterns

Sleep patterns	1	2	3	4 (8hours)	5	6	7
Rest				Average

 

3. What do you enjoy doing in you spare time? State your interests, talents and achievements. State your responsibilities and amount of free time. Rate how much time you spend doing things you love, passionate about or things that makes you happy atleast per week:

Happy

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4 (average)

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4. How much energy do you have during the day? Ever feel you a big procrastinator or you always too tired to do things for yourself? Do you make up excuses to treat yourself or are you always spoiling others instead? Rate your energy levels on a daily basis and your level of drive to satisfy yourself.

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Below are a few suggestions for you to practice to maintain an optimal level of physical wellness.

• Engage in physical activity every day for 30 minutes. You may break up your daily 30 minutes into 10 minutes bouts.
• Use stairs instead of the elevator or escalator and walk whenever possible.
• Learn to recognize warning signs when your body begins feeling ill.
• Eat a variety of healthy foods and control your meal portions.
• Maintain a regular sleep schedule and get between 7-9 hours of sleep each night.
• Practice safe sex.

 

Emotional wellness

In life, we come across challenges that may drain us emotionally. We need time to overcome those challenges which identifies your healing process. However we also need to recognize where we were or what we went through in order to become driven, resilient, courageous and motivated. Being positive or optimistic is not only about the good things, its acknowledging the good and bad things to persevere despite your prior mistakes. How do we master emotional wellness?

• Try to Surround yourself with positive people and try to use negative things in humour ( if we can talk about or laugh about a painful memory, we have healed)
• Try to Smile every hour
• Try to do something outside your comfort zone. No one gets it right the first time. Humanity was created to improve the outcomes of their mistakes.
• Seek support and help when needed.
• Show gratitude to friends and family to strengthen your relationship with them.
• Practice being aware of yourself and nature either through meditation or expressing yourself through your talents.
• Try to learn from your mistakes and don’t spend too much time on criticising yourself.
• Find a balance in different aspects of your life.

Financial wellness

Explore available financial options such as applying for bursaries or looking for sponsors. Maybe check out part time or holiday jobs. Find out what are your talents and be innovative with it to get an income. An example if you like painting, why not sell some of them? The internet can also help you get an income if you’re and internet guru.

 

Environmental wellness

Environmental wellness means to be mindful of nature and respecting our surroundings. This promotes a spiritual interaction with nature and your personal environment. In essence we need to respect our surroundings and the people in it. An example of disrespecting someone’s right to environmental wellness is to litter on their front lawn or to damage property or invade someone’s personal space by breaking into their house.

Therefore we should be aware of our daily habits or actions and how it affects surroundings. An example would be: If you are smoking too much and your child starts coughing when he or she surrounds you, rather distance yourself whilst smoking to ensure fresh air in your child’s lungs. However if you feel your lungs are too week and you a regular smoker, why not reduce the number of cigarettes a day? This may enhance your lifestyle because if we are not fearful of getting flu or too low immune systems, we become more confident to tackle the world. Ways to master this is to recycle, conserve energy, volunteer in environmental organizations or spend time outdoors, reduce habits like smoking or drinking or fix your car if it smokes too much. It doesn’t have to be something big. For example we can throw a bottle in a recycle bottle bin. A healthy mind and body requires fresh air, clean water, clean areas or hygiene.

 

Intellectual wellness

This kind of wellness is about using your knowledge, skills, talents and competencies in creative and mentally-stimulating activities. Activities could help you to increase your knowledge and remember a teacher can also become a student… Intellectual wellness can be developed through academics, cultural involvement, community involvement and personal hobbies or other mind challenging activities. Intellectual wellness encourages learning and understanding. Intellectual wellness also increases curiosity. Curiosity is important because it motivates you to try new things and develop an understanding of how you see the relationship between yourself, others and the environment.

Below is a list of suggestions for you to adopt in order to enhance your intellectual wellness.

• Be open-minded.
• Listen. When you participate in active listening you are able to fully comprehend the information that is being given to you.
• Pick up a hobby. Hobbies are great ways to increase your skill set. They can also be fun!
• Travel. The best way to gain knowledge as well as an appreciation for another culture is to experience it yourself.
• Express your creative side by exploring different avenues of creativity and artistic expressions.

Occupational wellness

This kind of wellness refers to our level of encouragement for our future careers and how it ensures personal satisfaction throughout our lives. Your attitude about work is a crucial influence for occupational development. Occupational wellness requires the ability and resources to explore career opportunities available to us. Occupational development usually identifies your skills, experiences, competencies and even talents which could enable you to pursue success. This could be both personally and professionally rewarding. Below are some suggestions to begin your journey to occupational wellness.

• Reflect on yourself and your occupational needs. What occupational tasks do you enjoy? What occupational tasks do you find burdensome?
• Explore both paid and un-paid work and volunteer opportunities that interest you.
• Practice open communication and proper conflict management with your colleagues.
• Set realistic career goals for yourself and constantly work towards accomplishing these goals.

 

Social wellness

Social wellness requires the ability to socially engage and maintain healthy relationships with peers, colleagues, family, friends, spouses or all people in your life. However we need to explore our identities in this social image. You need to ask yourself where do you fit in and what kind of personality do you have. Sometimes it is difficult for a shy person to speak to people if they do not know those people. You need to ask yourself what are the kinds of groups or friends I prefer or feel comfortable with. You also need to ask yourself what do you enjoy and what available activities are available where I could meet people. All of this constitutes a social being. We cannot grow up in isolation.

Maintaining social wellness allows you to practice empathy and active listening. There are many ways you can begin your journey on the route to social wellness. Below are some suggestions on how to enhance your social wellness.

• Reflect on yourself and your social needs. What aspects of your social life do you enjoy? What parts would you like to improve?
• Make an effort to keep in touch with supportive friends and family.
• Practice self-disclosure.
• Participate in group discussions and practice active listening.
• Join a club or organization.

 

Spiritual wellness

Spiritual wellness allows us to be in tune with our spiritual selves. This realm of wellness lets us find meaning in life events and define our individual purpose. Spiritual wellness can be defined through various factors including religious faith, values, ethics and morals.

Explore your inner self. Take time to think about who you are.

• If you experience a life-changing event, take a few minutes to think about what series of events led to this.
• Spend time meditating or practicing mindful relaxation.
• Practice acceptance.
• Be curious. If something happens that makes you even the slightest bit curious, take a moment to explore the experience a little deeper.
• Look for a religious faith that you agree with.

 

Please click on the below links to increase your knowledge about healthy living

Happy wellness living everyone.

 

Written by Carinne Petersen, Student Counselling Bellville BPsych Intern

 

References:

http://indigointernational.org/holistic-health-practices/

https://shcs.ucdavis.edu/wellness/spiritual/#.Vv0u7rcaK1s

http://www.prevention.com/mind-body/10-minute-health-and-wellness-tips