8 Dimensions of Wellness

Wellness is a state of being healthy body, mind, and spirit.
It is fueling your body, engaging your mind and nurturing your spirit.
It isn’t the absence of illness or stress. You can strive for wellness even if you are experiencing these challenges in your life.
Embracing wellness is about life and living and becoming the healthiest you possible.

The dimensions of wellness

1. Physical wellness is not merely the absence of illness, but about maintaining a thriving lifestyle. This area of wellness involves recognizing the need for physical activity, healthy nutrition, and adequate sleep. Small changes like drinking more water and less soda, replacing processed foods with whole foods, adding a daily walk, turning off all electronics at night and waking up at the same time every day can make a big difference in your physical health.

2. Emotional wellness is the ability to cope effectively with life and build satisfying relationships with others. Emotional wellness encompasses feelings of peace with one’s self and one’s circumstances, optimism, self-esteem, self-acceptance, body-image, and the ability to experience and cope with feelings independently and interpersonally. Activities associated with improved emotional health include walking, meditating, writing in a journal, cultivating feelings of gratitude and maintaining a positive outlook.

3. Environmental wellness is related to the surroundings you occupy. Your environment, both your social and natural surroundings, can greatly impact how you feel. It can be hard to feel good if you’re surrounded by clutter and disorganization. A positive environment has a calming effect.
Do a quick audit of your home and workspace. Do your surroundings support or detract from your wellbeing? Become aware of your surroundings. Take proactive measures like decluttering your home and workspace and strive for pleasant, stimulating living spaces free of health hazards.

4. Financial wellness is a feeling of satisfaction with your current and future financial situation. This dimension of wellness can only be achieved through a comprehensive knowledge of your financial circumstances. Financial wellness includes our relationship with money, skills to manage resources and live within our means, making informed financial decisions and investments, setting realistic goals and learning to prepare for short-term and long-term needs or emergencies. Options for managing financial wellness include having a household budget, starting a savings account and adding to it every month, saving some of your income in an emergency account, cutting back or limiting unnecessary expenses, and donating to a meaningful charity. Track your spending for a month to see where your money is going and set goals based on what you

5. Occupational wellness involves preparing for and participating in work that provides personal satisfaction and life enrichment that is consistent with your values, interests, skills, goals and lifestyle. This dimension includes a thoughtful and proactive approach to career planning and assessing personal satisfaction and performance in one’s work.
Consider not only the ergonomics of your work station but whether the social and emotional aspects of the job contribute to your wellbeing. Do you feel connected to your work’s purpose? Does the work environment support healthy behavior like taking breaks, getting up to stretch, and working reasonable hours? Are your responsibilities challenging without feeling insurmountable?

6. Social wellness is developing a sense of connection, belonging, and a well-developed support system.
The social dimension of health involves creating and maintaining a healthy support network, setting healthy boundaries, using good communication skills that are assertive rather than passive or aggressive, being genuine and authentic with others, and treating others in a respectful way.
The socially well person has a network of friends and family to whom they can turn to for support, validation and sharing of life experiences. These relationships are based on interdependence (rather than codependence), mutual trust and respect, equity of power and cultural competence.
Studies have demonstrated that the happiest people maintain close personal relationships with friends and family. Make at least one social connection daily.

7. Intellectual wellness involves recognizing your unique creative abilities and seeking out ways to use and expand your knowledge and skills. When you foster your intellectual wellness, you participate in creative activities that stimulate mental growth.
People who pay attention to their intellectual wellness often have better concentration, improved memory, and better critical thinking skills.
The intellectually well person values education and engages in lifelong learning, and pursues activities that increase knowledge, develop moral reasoning, inspire curiosity, foster critical thinking and expand worldviews.
Expand your knowledge and find creative outlets that stimulate your mind and sense of curiosity. Read. Learn a new skill or hobby. Teach or tutor others. Travel. Be open to new ideas, insights and wisdom.

8. Spiritual wellness involves seeking and having a meaning and purpose in life, as well as participating in activities that are consistent with our beliefs and values. For some, this is best fulfilled through a connection to a religious tradition, while others find spiritual satisfaction in volunteering, meditation, prayer or exploring different faiths. Devoting time to your spiritual health, whether by attending services or performing a service, is a key component of wellness that can mitigate stress, anxiety, and depression.
A spiritually well person practices gratitude and self-reflection. When we integrate practices of spiritual wellness we are able to connect in mind, body and soul. Signs of strong spiritual health include having clear values, a sense of self-confidence, and a feeling of inner peace.
To improve your spiritual health, it can help to create a quiet place for solitude and contemplation. Enhancing your connection to self and others brings balance and peace to your life. Take time to discover what values and beliefs are most important to you.

Wellness is an on-going pursuit, and can be challenging at times, but striving to make small daily improvements is the key to success. What would your life be like if you optimized all eight dimensions? Setting goals for yourself in each area can help you feel more fulfilled and optimize your health.

THANKS FOR READING

Don’t forget to subscribe to get the latest updates. If you have any questions or suggestions, leave a comment below or contact me here.