Health and wellbeing is something most of us desire and may even strive for…most human beings don’t like or enjoy being unwell or sick…it’s generally not fun at all!! Most of us would like a good quality of life and even a good quantity of life…and health and wellbeing certainly is a key factor in this!! Nobody enjoys suffering…physically, mentally and/or emotionally…
So what does health and wellbeing look like? For each of us it may be slightly different, but to me, when I think of embodying health and wellbeing, it means to simply feel good, have energy, be productive, fruitful, be at peace in myself and with myself, have the physical capacity to fulfil the tasks and activities of life that are important to me, whether it be raising a family, doing a job or going for a bike ride.
Whatever one’s age, I would think we would want to be and enjoy the best possible life that we can: socially, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Some degree of pain and suffering is inevitable in life…one can’t truly live without facing it at some point…from loss of loved ones to disappointment, sickness, loss of job, or broken dreams…it all tends to reach at some point in life…
However, learning how to effectively cultivate one’s own sense of health and wellbeing would certainly strengthen and enable one to walk through those valleys of life with more fortitude and resilience, and with a capacity to not only endure but come out the other side more enlarged and able to live an even fuller life of love, productivity and wellness.
Wellness and health stretches across different aspects of our being. One can be physically sick yet mentally and emotionally strong…it is possible!! Alternatively, one can possess physical health yet be struggling mentally and emotionally with depression, anxiety, loneliness, low self-esteem and or lack of motivation.
So, what are the things we can do to achieve and even maintain a sense of wellbeing and health?
Firstly, for me, I always think a big influencer of our daily lives is GRATITUDE. Life is a gift, yet we often live a lot of our lives with a sense of ‘entitlement’ instead of gratitude. Entitlement often makes us bitter, angry, demanding and selfish. I would not consider any of those characteristics to incorporate a true sense of wellbeing.
What can you be grateful for today? It’s a great way to start each day, I think…pondering through all the things, big and small that one can be grateful for!!