Balance and Wellness: Where do we start?
Hello again, I’m so glad you are here. If you are new, Welcome! If you have found your way here before, thanks for coming back. My name is Teri, I am a licensed clinical social worker, and I recently took a huge leap of Faith. I have worked for many years in the mental health field doing important work with people living with mental health concerns and developing and training professional mental health practitioners to support them. This work was incredibly blessed and rewarding. Recently, I started out on my own due to a need to share space with people in a different way, to help people find their balance, shift their experiences and create a life that they love.
I would like to talk some about balance, wellness and how we begin to notice the areas in our life where we may need to focus more intentionally. Our world and lives are incredibly busy, our days and weeks go by in a flash, we settle into these patterns. Often, we do this day in and out without intention or pause to consider if we are truly living in balance with our values and purpose. You know, those things that are important to us as a unique and special person. It can feel like we pour all the parts of ourselves into a blender and jab the high button. While that high-speed blender might mix up your morning smoothy in a quick hurry, doing this with our lives can leave some of the best parts hanging off the cupboards or ceiling.
The national Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has assisted us in identifying eight dimensions of wellness that help create a picture of balance and functioning that is satisfying too most. I will discuss these eight topics and group them into areas of Mind, Body and Spirit. I hope this will be helpful to you as you consider what in your life might need a little more intention and balance.
Let’s start our journey into the eight dimensions of wellness with the areas that are associated with a healthy and balanced mind; Social, Intellectual and Occupational. Socially we need to be surrounded by others who help us feel safe, supported and valued. We need to have people we can count on in positive ways, who believe in our value and see the best versions of ourselves. Intellectually we as humans need to be challenged. We do better when we can use our brains to have important conversations, solve problems and to learn new things. Occupationally, humans do best when they can find purpose, personal satisfaction and enrichment from their work life. These dimensions are all about getting that brain working and keeping it in good shape to take on new things and build community with others.
Next up, the dimensions that support our body; Physical, Financial and Environmental. Physical wellness is an area that we hear about often, these are our eating, sleeping and exercise habits, the things that keep our body well. This can include dealing with health needs and making choices that keep our physical body functioning optimally. Financial wellness considers our safety, security and the ways that we sustain ourselves in the world. Finances are one of the biggest areas of stress from many people, from meeting basic needs to obtaining and achieving things of value to the individual person. Our relationship with money and resources is an important area of overall wellness. Environmental wellness considers our spaces, do we occupy spaces that make us feel happy, safe and secure. It also speaks to our thoughts on our world, our environmental responsibility such as recycling, minimizing our footprint and protecting our natural resources.
Our final look into the eight dimensions will focus on the spirit; Emotional and Spiritual wellness. Emotional wellness considers our ability to flourish in our lives, to create satisfying relationships, and to process and manage our experiences. Emotional wellness is incredibly complex and is an area that it is easy to get off track when we experience trauma, or things that are difficult to comprehend. Spiritual wellness covers a wide range of areas including our connection to energy higher than ourselves through the practices that bring value and purpose to individuals.
This has been an incredibly brief overview of the areas that impact our happiness and overall wellness. Intentional balancing of these areas in our lives takes constant thought and insight. Our experiences in this journey of life allow for continual evaluation and improvement. At times, finding this balance will be easy and attainable, at other times, it will feel like an impossible goal. The key is to be aware of and understand that when things begin to feel out of control, or uncomfortable, that there are ways to consider where your first steps should lead.
