Wellness with Positive Psychology
In this Section on Wellness, The Journey Within offers tools to help you explore your path to wellness & well-being. We offer information on Healthy Eating, Healthy Living, Healthy Birth, Conscious Living & Maintaining Wellness. We hope you will also visit the “Explore” section as it offers a variety of additional tools & resources.
80% of illness is stress related. Stress is the number one complaint leading to an array of disease and ill health that doctors hear from their patients.
The stress related fight or flight response should only be triggered as a reaction to real danger, and not for annoyances such as running late for an appointment. People don’t need to react to most of the stress we experience in our normal daily lives. We can chose to respond to stress instead.
When we become mindful and cognizant of our thinking, we can make a choice to respond to stress instead of reacting to stress. This powerful shift deeply affects our bodies in a responsible manner that puts us in control, replacing and eliminating the victomization and susceptibility to illness that reacting can introduce. The health of our bodies is effected by our thoughts.
Neuro-science research has offered some fascinating information about our minds over the past several years, including the fact that we have about 60 thousand thoughts a day. Most of these thoughts are not serving us and are instead entangling our minds, keeping us from the powerful creatures we are capable of being.
When we become conscious of the options we all have available to us, we can choose thoughts that free us from our minds unproductive chatter, pivoting away from thoughts that are not serving our highest good. As an example, we do not have to become the victim of unproductive chatter such as “My mind just runs away with thoughts I have no control over.” This example is just as absurd as hearing a man say: “My hand had a mind of its own when it just pinched a pretty woman walking by.” Instead, we can choose to take control of our thoughts, our health and our destiny.
Stress can also be reduced by meditating. Research resulting from countless studies has determined that by meditating as little as 15 minutes a day we can empower and shift our lives in a manner that substantially lowers our stress levels.
Wellness is not just the absence of disease. Wellness refers to a “state of well-being”. Wellness is often seen as a “state of acceptance or satisfaction with our present condition.” According to Charles B. Corbin of Arizona State University, “Wellness is a multidimensional state of being describing the existence of positive health in an individual as exemplified by quality of life and a sense of well-being.”
Wellness is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful, happy & healthy existence. You might be wondering what this statement really means:
• Process means that improvement is always possible.
• Aware means that we are continuously seeking more information about how we can improve.
• Choices means that we consider a variety of options and select those in our best interest.
• Success is determined by each individual to be their collection of life accomplishments.
Dimensions of Wellness
Wellness is multidimensional. Below are some of the dimensions of wellness most commonly described:
Social Wellness:
The social dimension of wellness encourages contributing to one’s human and physical environment in a manner that includes the common welfare of one’s community. Social Wellness emphasizes the interdependence with others and nature.
Occupational Wellness:
The occupational dimension of wellness involves finding and manifesting work that offers personal satisfaction and enrichment in one’s life within the work experience. Development of successful occupational wellness can be initiated by shifting our attitude about our work.
Spiritual Wellness:
The spiritual dimension of wellness involves seeking meaning and purpose in human existence. It includes the development of a deep appreciation for the depth and expanse of life and natural forces that exist in the universe.
Physical Wellness:
The physical dimension of wellness encourages cardiovascular flexibility and strength and also encourages regular, physical activity. Physical development encourages knowledge about food and nutrition and discourages the use of tobacco, drugs and excessive alcohol consumption. Physical Wellness encourages consumption and activities which contribute to high level wellness, including medical self-care and appropriate use of the medical system.
This song was first created in German by Clemens Kuby, a man who survived a 50 feet fall in the early 1980 that shattered his 2nd lumbar vertebrae and earned him a medical verdict of “paraplegic for life”. Clemens did not accept this “diagnosis” as a life sentence in a wheel chair and similar to Morris Goodman experienced what can only be labeled as a “miraculous” recovery because science still can’t explain it. It’s not in the text books because it’s not logical. Clemens Kuby still has a shattered 2nd vertebrae yet he walked again in less than 1 year later and still does. Today he holds regular workshops in Germany on the power of self-healing.
Every little cell in my body is happy
Every little cell in my body is well
Every little cell in my body is happy
Every little cell in my body is well
Feel so good
Feel so swell
Every little cell in my body is well
Feel so good
Feel so swell
Every little cell in my body is well
I start my day many times during the week with this wonderful song. Totally gets a smile in my heart and my body 🙂
Intellectual Wellness:
The intellectual dimension of wellness encourages creative, stimulating mental activities. An intellectually well person uses the resources available to expand one’s knowledge and improved skills along with expanding potential for sharing with others.
Emotional Wellness:
The emotional dimension of wellness emphasizes an awareness and acceptance of one’s feelings. Emotional wellness includes the degree to which one feels positive and enthusiastic about oneself and life. It includes the capacity to manage one’s feelings and related behaviors including the realistic assessment of one’s limitations, development of autonomy, and ability to cope effectively with stress.
Environmental Wellness:
It is important to lead a lifestyle that is respectful of our environment. This includes respecting nature and those species living in it. Respect for others living in our environment is just as necessary as respect for the physical environment itself. While today’s climate is one of increased environmental awareness, the average person may still be unconcerned or simply uninformed about what he or she can do to help the environment. You don’t have to be a member of an organization to help; an individual can help by simply leading an environmentally conscious life.
Download the 50 Ways to Save the Planet PDF »
Our Food choice we make has profound Global effects. Just consider these facts when purchasing food for your family and self, eating out or asking yourself “What can I do to help our planet?” One person does make a difference.
It takes over 10 times the amount of energy from fossil fuel to produce a calorie of animal food than it does to produce a calorie of plant food. Since 1970’s 20% Amazon Rain Forest has been destroyed. That’s an area the size of California. 80% of this cleared land is now occupied by livestock.
The worlds cattle alone eat enough grain to feed 8.7 billion people. Nearly 2 billion more than the population on Earth. With all most a billion malnourished people across the globe, redirecting a portion of this grain used to fatten cattle can feed every hungry mouth on the planet. This is so profound.
Gene Baur “Farm Sanctuary” New York, a safe haven for animals who have been abandon or abused states according to the United Nations the livestock industry is a greater contributed to global warning than entire transportation industry.
Consuming dairy and animal products, we are not only harming our own health, were slaughtering 10 billion innocent sentient Beings each year in the US and we are destroying the planet.
These animals have similar desires to parent their young and procreate, give love and be loved by their kind. Yet here we are treating the animals as a commodity to profit from. Have you consider maybe why we have such high levels of depression, anxiety etc… is due to the fact our animals are being force to live in conditions which create these conditions in themselves? We, myself included have for many years been in denial and self absorbed and removed from the animal food source pretending these awful conditions our animals are subjected to for our food source.
Please check out this lecture on October 8, 2012 in San Francisco by Dr. Will Tuttle‘s work and see the connection of how our food is tied into our health issues physically and mentally. We are what we think and We are what we eat. We can do better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3G8r2iE1Z4
Financial Wellness:
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 inevitable financial changes.
Medical Wellness:
Medical wellness is the practice of health and medical care relating to wellness outcomes. The more specific definition of medical wellness is: an approach to delivering health care that considers multiple influences on a person’s health and consequently multiple modalities for treating and preventing disease as well as promoting optimal well-being.
Mental Wellness:
Overall, wellness refers to a holistic approach in which mind, body, and spirit are integrated. It is a way of life oriented toward optimal health and well-being in which body, mind, and spirit are integrated in a purposeful manner with a goal of living life more fully. Mental Wellness is more than the absence of disease, or a state defined as “health.” It incorporates a concern for optimal functioning.
The Journey Within can help you explore your path to wellness. We are infinite spiritual beings having a human experience navigating through our lives, enriching and creating our journey! Find out how a private session can help you as you explore your journey within by scheduling a private session now»