Holistic Wellness for 2017

Holistic Wellness integrates the Mind, Body and Spirit with a balanced flow of energy. It is an ongoing process of choices that ultimately form the stories of our lives.

Mind includes the constructive and creative use of your mind, knowing and living up to your ideals, maintaining a loyalty to your ideals, and nurturing close friendships.

Body includes making the choices that are in your best interest, and the informed and consistent pursuit of nutrition, exercise, and safety.

Spiritual includes self-awareness and nurturance, meaningful endeavours, the expression of feelings to others, and asking for and getting what you need.

Wellness is never static. We never stay in the same place. Every choice you make each day writes your continued journey to wellness … your wellness story.

Dr Brons’ motto sums it up perfectly: “As it is within, so it is without.”

Wellness is about self-exploration. Here’s a small exercise for you to brainstorm and learn how best to go about improving your wellness:

1. Name three things that you know you can do to increase your wellness.

          a.

          b.

          c.

2. Cite just one initiative you can take for each of the three wellness steps above.

          a.

          b.

          c.

3. Specifically plan the next best action for each initiative. One thing that you can begin today that will give you a start in the process of change.

          a.

          b.

          c.

Holistic wellness can be achieved with the proper diet (nutrition), fitness (exercise), lifestyle and mindset.

1. It’s all about consistency. A mild, daily workout will do more for your fitness than one hard workout each week.
2. What you eat is important. Assuming you want to lose weight, what you eat is far more important than the exercise you perform. It’s easy to eat more calories in an hour than a professional athlete can burn off in three. Pushing yourself away from the table might be the best form of exercise.
3. Find a workout buddy. It’s not easy to make it to the gym or to put on your running shoes each day. Knowing that someone else is counting on you increases your compliance.
4. Get expert help. Get some professional guidance. Learn effective techniques and have your coach design an intelligent programme for you.
5. Keep it simple. A few exercises are enough to provide all the benefits you’ll ever need. The basics never go out of style.
6. Make it fun. Find a form of wellness regime that you enjoy. Unless you’re training for a bodybuilding contest, there are many forms of exercise that can fit the bill of increasing your fitness.
7. Be well-rounded. Flexibility, cardiovascular fitness, and strength are all important, especially as you age. If all you do is run, your flexibility and strength will suffer. Ensure that you’re hitting these three areas of concern.
8. Focus on progress. Just a little bit of progress each week can keep your motivation high. Enjoy the fact that beginners make great progress!

Your body is the only one you will have for the rest of your life. It is irreplaceable, and everything about its care and maintenance matters. It reflects the cumulative care you take of it.

Wellness is a state of existence that isn't negative or positive - it just is. In fact, it is more like the opposite--by doing healthy things, you feel good about yourself. You only feel pleasure from your body, not pain.

Holistic Wellness is within the reach of every person alive. It is a choice we make every day - do our actions show that we want to be well, or do we actually focus on being unwell? Do we sit around and talk about how bad we are, or do we find simple things within our reach that we can do to improve our quality of life? Do we look at hope and faith, or do we secretly enjoy feeling doom? The choice is yours. Be well and master Wellness in 2017.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)